Board Member

Vancouver Women’s Health Collective Board Member Position Profile

The Vancouver Women’s Health Collective (VWHC) is a grassroots non-profit that has served our community since 1971. Our mission is to help all who self-identify as women and gender diverse foster health, wellness, and equity through intersectional feminist approaches to advocacy, shared knowledge, and minimal-barrier programs and services.

The VWHC currently operates a drop-in centre in the Downtown Eastside, providing access to donations and resources alongside peer support, advocacy, and accessible education. In partnership with practitioners and community allies, we also offer access to Indigenous cultural care, trauma-informed yoga, and naturopathy.

We are in a time of organizational rebuilding. With leadership transitions, internal challenges, and financial constraints shaping our current reality, our board has spent the past year both overseeing and actively supporting the VWHC through a period of stabilization and strategic renewal. With an Executive Director newly at the helm of VWHC's operations, our board is transitioning from a working board to a governance board.

Role Overview

Board members serve as the governing body of the organization, providing leadership, oversight, and accountability to ensure that VWHC’s mission is fulfilled in alignment with its values and fiduciary responsibilities as a registered charity.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Oversight: Shape the long-term vision and strategic direction of the organization.

• Fiduciary Accountability: Oversee financial health, budget decisions, and risk management, ensuring compliance with the BC Societies Act.

• Fund Development: Support fundraising efforts through grant development, donor relations, community connections, or campaigns.

• Governance and Policy: Ensure sound governance practices, including participation in policy development, board recruitment, and performance monitoring.

• People & Culture Support: Help guide decisions related to staffing, human resources, equity-centered organizational culture, and crisis navigation.

• Community Engagement: Represent the VWHC in the community and uphold the organization’s reputation and relationships with those we serve.

Board members are required to act in the best interests of the organization, centering the VWHC’s mission and the needs of the community it serves, while upholding legal compliance. Joining the VWHC board is a serious commitment, and also a powerful opportunity to advance health, equity, and community care. We request that all candidates please assess their personal readiness to take on the extensive responsibilities that come with being a board member prior to confirming interest.

Ideal Candidate Qualifications

We are looking for individuals who are values-aligned and ready to contribute their energy, expertise, and time to strengthen the Collective. While no one is expected to meet every requirement, we are prioritizing individuals with experience or strengths in one or more of the following areas:

• Non-profit governance and/or senior management

• Non-profit and employment law

• Financial oversight or non-profit accounting

• Human resources and employment policy

• Relationships and networks within provincial and federal government

• Communications, marketing, or advocacy campaigns

• Fundraising, grant writing, or donor engagement

• Trauma-informed practice, decolonization, and anti-oppressive leadership expertise, as well as literacy in equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility

• Community health, harm reduction, or mental health care

• Downtown Eastside community engagement

• Lived and living experience related to the VWHC’s mission and services

Term and Time Commitment

• Term Length: 2 years. Consecutive terms are allowed, and may be renewed for a maximum of three terms.

• Time Commitment: 4–6 hours per week, including:

• Monthly board meetings (2 hours)

• Monthly committee meetings, with options including the Fundraising, Media, and Communications Committee, Finance Committee, Volunteer Recruitment Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, and Community Care Circle (meetings vary from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours)

• Ongoing engagement via email/Teams

• Occasional working sessions, document reviews, and purchase approval requests as well as community representation, events, and gatherings

• Flexibility and accommodations are available to support accessibility

Eligibility & Inclusion

We are committed to upholding equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility by honouring the experiences and expertise of those underrepresented by institutional systems. Our team reflects diversity in ability, age, gender identity, sexuality, race, socioeconomic class, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person. We actively strive to practice in alignment with intersectional feminism, which is a form of activism used to resist ableism, ageism, classism, colonialism, homophobia, racism, sexism, transphobia, and other hierarchies that are entrenched within patriarchy. We passionately work to dismantle these forms of systemic oppression, within and outside the Collective.

How to Apply

Interested candidates can submit an application through our online form ( or contact: ***email_hidden***

Please note that there are currently two spaces open on our nine-person board. Successful applicants will be brought forward as board-recommended candidates at our upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) on August 27, 2026 . At the AGM, candidates will have the opportunity to provide a brief speech introducing themselves to the Collective's members. Said members will then participate in an election process to vote for board members to fill our two available positions. Onboarding and training for new board members will begin shortly after the AGM.

Application Deadline: August 17, 2026