Trans Affirm: Board of Directors/Sub-Committee Applicant Form

Joining our board means playing a crucial role in guiding our mission to support the trans and gender diverse community in Idaho. As a board member, you'll be involved in several key activities:

Governance and Oversight: You'll help shape the strategic direction of Trans Affirm, ensuring we stay true to our mission and achieve our goals. This involves reviewing and approving policies, budgets, and programs.
Regular Meetings: You'll attend regular board meetings, potentially held 2-3 times a month, mostly online. These meetings are essential for discussing our progress, making decisions, and planning future activities.
Fundraising and Advocacy: You'll assist in our fundraising efforts, which are vital for sustaining our programs. This could include identifying potential donors, participating in fundraising events, and advocating for our cause within your network.
Event Planning: You'll help plan and execute events such as transition resource fairs and pop-up events, ensuring they run smoothly and effectively serve the community.We ask you attend and create 70% of events in your area. 
Community Engagement: You'll act as an ambassador for Trans Affirm, helping to build relationships with community members, other organizations, and stakeholders.

Organizational Structure and Capacity
Trans Affirm is a small, volunteer-run nonprofit (“nano-organization”) with no paid staff or physical office, minus a part-time executive director. Our board members and volunteers directly operate all aspects of the organization — from planning and hosting events to coordinating programs, outreach, and resource distribution.

Despite our size, our team’s lived experience, dedication, and community connections allow us to run impactful programs across Idaho. Each member takes on multiple roles, ensuring that our events, educational workshops, and resource fairs are executed with care and authenticity. We rely heavily on volunteer support and partnerships to keep our programs accessible and community-driven.

Our structure allows for flexibility and direct involvement in the communities we serve, particularly in rural and underserved areas. While small in scale, our team’s passion and commitment ensure that Trans Affirm continues to grow and meet the needs of Idaho’s trans and gender-diverse population.

We understand that this is a volunteer position, and we're committed to being flexible with your time. However, being on a nonprofit board does require a significant commitment. We ask that you dedicate approximately 10-20 hours per month to board-related activities. This time commitment includes meeting attendance, event participation, and any additional tasks you take on. 

It's a rewarding experience where you'll have the chance to make a meaningful impact on the lives of trans and gender diverse individuals in our community! Please note: this application may take some time to complete. We encourage you to set aside enough time to read through it carefully and answer thoroughly. If this position is something you are interested in, please proceed!

As of October 2025, we are looking for the following positions: 

• General Board Member
• Digital and Social Media Specialist 
• Inventory Manager (Twin Falls Location)

Subcommittees:

• Event Planning
• Social Media, Digital Media, & Website 
• Grants & Transition Wear distribution
• Inventory & online shipping (Twin Falls Location only) 
• Education in Community and Allies 

If you have a position you'd like to create, please feel free to add it to the application, and we will review it. It does not guarantee that a position will be offered or given to you. 

💡 Want to Get Involved but Short on Time?
We understand that not everyone has the capacity to commit to a full board position — and that’s okay!

If you’re passionate about supporting Trans Affirm but don’t have the time to take on full board responsibilities, you can apply to join one of our subcommittees instead. Subcommittee members play a vital role in helping us organize events, plan programs, fundraise, and manage community outreach.

Subcommittee work is flexible and project-based, allowing you to contribute your skills and ideas without the ongoing duties of a full board seat. You’ll still be part of the team, collaborating directly with board members to make an impact across Idaho’s trans and gender-diverse communities. If you choose to be the subcommittee chair, you may have a larger role and responsibility than others. 

When filling out the application, simply select “Subcommittee Only” under your preferred areas of interest, and we’ll connect with you about the best fit for your availability and skills.

Please note that this position is open to Idaho residents only!
Trans Affirm serves communities across the entire state, with a special focus on rural areas where access to gender-affirming resources is often limited. Because of that, larger cities like Boise may not see as many events or programs, as we prioritize reaching smaller or underserved towns first.

Please note that our board follows a policy ensuring that we do not have more cisgender members than trans members. This helps us keep the voices of those we serve at the center of our leadership.

That said, ALLIES and cisgender individuals are still very much welcome to apply! Allies play an important role in our work. All cisgender board members will be asked to complete a short training on LGBTQ+ topics to ensure our board space remains safe, inclusive, and well-informed.

Divulging criminal record will NOT disqualify you from the board, so please be honest! Do not include expunged records unless necessary. We do not drug test.

Providing your ethnicity, race, or disability information is completely optional and will never negatively affect your application. Many of our current board members are neurodivergent, and we encourage applicants of all abilities and backgrounds to apply.

Applications from BIPOC, trans, and gender-diverse individuals will be prioritized in order to strengthen diversity and ensure that people directly impacted by our work are guiding the organization

When filling out your application, please include as much detail as possible! The more you share, the better we can get to know who you are, what drives you, and how you might fit within our team. We want to feel confident that we’re bringing on folks who truly align with our mission and values — and that means we want to see you in your answers.

And yes, we really do read every single one. Trust us — our Executive Director is a little bit insane (in the best way) and will probably read your application at least three times 😅

If you’re not super familiar with Trans Affirm yet, that’s totally okay! Just make sure to check out our website before applying so you can get a good sense of who we are and what we do — especially since we focus on supporting rural trans and gender-diverse communities across Idaho! Our Discord is where we do most of our chatting, so make sure you join and get familiar with it!

Read More about TA Here

Board Member Expectations:
Serving on the Trans Affirm Board is a meaningful leadership role that carries both responsibility and impact. Our board exists to guide the organization forward, ensure accountability, and build systems that allow us to continue supporting the trans and gender-diverse community across Idaho. This role is not a social club — it is a job and leadership position that requires commitment, follow-through, and accountability.

We want to be upfront: in the past, we’ve had challenges with board members not participating, not showing up, or needing constant direction to fulfill their responsibilities. This slows down progress and puts extra weight on the few who are consistently involved. Because of this, we are making our expectations clearer than ever before.

What We Expect from All Board Members:

Commitment to Leadership

Be ready to take initiative. While we support one another as a team, board members are expected to act as leaders who can manage their responsibilities independently. You will be thoroughly trained and assisted before this is expected!

Active Participation

Attend board meetings regularly and on time. (Consistent absences may result in removal from the board.)
Engage in discussions, decision-making, and planning. Responding back in our chats and emails. Creating, running, and attending events in your area. Your voice matters, but we need you to be present!

Follow-Through

If you commit to a task, we expect you to complete it within the agreed timeline. We also expect you to fulfill your term as specified in our bylaws, which is one year. Reliability is essential.

Time Commitment

Board service takes real time and energy. Please consider your current schedule, responsibilities, and personal bandwidth before applying.
Expect monthly meetings, occasional additional planning sessions, and time outside of meetings to complete tasks. We work very actively to make sure folks can take mental health and medical breaks, most holidays off, and we have a built-in Saturday break day for the entire board, and 2 scheduled breaks after Pride and for December Holidays. All we ask is that you work to be present, work on tasks in the backround, and make sure board meetings are scheduled into your calendar. 

Professionalism

Represent Trans Affirm with respect and integrity, both inside and outside of meetings.
Remember: this role involves making decisions that affect our entire community. Our community is close, but we must remain respectful, set egos aside, and be ready to work for the cause. 

Community Accountability

Recognize who is impacted by your decisions. Ask: Who is not in the room? How can we include them? How do we prioritize trans voices, BIPOC voices, and gender-diverse voices in our leadership? How do we fight topics that go along with it?

Clarity on Role

Board positions are about governance and organizational leadership.
If your main interest is creating or hosting events, please know that you are more than welcome to collaborate with us without being on the board. A board role is not required for involvement in community events. 

Before You Apply:
Please take time to reflect on the following:

-Do you have the time and energy to commit to this role?
-Are you ready to be an active, reliable leader?
-Are you comfortable taking initiative without constant reminders?
-Are you applying because you want to help guide an organization, or because you’re -mainly interested in social/community events?

If you cannot realistically commit to the expectations above, this might not be the right role at this time — and that’s okay. We encourage you to stay involved in other ways that fit your capacity.

By applying, you are acknowledging that you’ve read these expectations and are ready to take on the responsibility of being part of Trans Affirm’s leadership.

As part of our follow-up process, we may request additional information or schedule an in-person or Zoom interview. We will invite you to our next upcoming board meeting as well. If you have any questions or concerns, please email info@transaffirm.org

Upon election to the board, each member is required to complete a mandatory class on parliamentary procedure, narcan training, binder sizing, and board info to ensure proper understanding of board operations. Cisgender folks will take a LGBTQ training to ensure information is up to date. Detailed information on bylaws, board positions, expectations, and other relevant matters will be provided when an offer is extended.

Certification and Commitment
By signing this application, you certify that all information provided is accurate to the best of your knowledge. You acknowledge the commitments required for board membership and understand that submitting an application does not guarantee selection. Additionally, you understand that any false information provided can result in termination from the board or discontinuation of your application. Misconduct may also result in removal from the board.

Thank you for your interest in serving on the Trans Affirm board! We look forward to reviewing your application.