Executive Mentoring Confidentiality Guidelines

The CANVAS Leadership Program is dedicated to ensuring the sustainable future of the field by nurturing a knowledge-based, cooperative partnership among its leaders.

It is the intention of CANVAS to support the work, professional development, and growth of its Grantees by providing their Leaders with access to capacity-building tools, resources, experts, and 1-2 hour long meetings per month with a one-on-one Executive Mentor. The Leadership Program is designed to inspire all members of CANVAS’s Grantee cohort to set, and strive to achieve, reasonable yet optimistic goals; meet professional standards of excellence; and adhere to CANVAS’s core values and community standards.

In keeping with CANVAS’s dedication to an open and transparent environment, a consistent line of communication between a Grantee and their Executive Mentor is essential to an informed, meaningful experience.

In matching Grantees with Executive Mentors, CANVAS intends to provide Grantees with the potential for a respectful, results-oriented, forward-thinking relationship with a vetted professional whose perspective, experience, and advice may help CANVAS Grantees further deepen their approach to and understanding of their roles as leaders in the field. To that end, it is vital that CANVAS Grantees feel comfortable in disclosing and discussing specific organization- or finance-related issues with their mentor, and knowing that this specific information will remain confidential between them.



    

  • In initial intake conversations and meetings, CANVAS grantees may be asked by Executive Mentor to share specific financials, strategic plans, staffing, and other high-level information about their organizations.
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  • Executive Mentor will review and assess CANVAS grantee organizations, and offer advice and guidance to Leaders, based on what they learn from materials and information shared.
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  • The more specific information Leadership Program Executive Mentors have access to, the better tailored their advice and insights may be to help Leaders achieve their goals and desired outcomes.
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  • In order to maintain a sense of trust, safety, and confidentiality between Executive Mentors and CANVAS Grantees, Executive Mentors will not disclose specific information shared by Grantees in intake, or during sessions with CANVAS.
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  • In cases in which an Executive Mentor is CANVAS staff or CANVAS-affiliated consultants, specific information shared about finances, management, etc will still be considered sensitive. However, it is also understood that Executive Mentor will be most effective with access to specific information, so a conversation about what is sensitive and what can be shared with CANVAS must be had by the Grantee and Executive Mentor at the beginning of the engagement. The Leadership Program designer will monitor and record this initial conversation, and will check in periodically, to accurately understand any sensitivities.
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  • During periodic check-ins and final assessments with CANVAS, Executive Mentor will aggregate higher level trends and themes observed during coaching sessions with grantees.
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  • Information shared by Grantees that is supportive to iterative processes, planning, or brainstorming (i.e. working through financial projections or directional/staffing assumptions) will remain confidential to these one-on-one coaching conversations between Executive Mentor and Grantees.
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Leadership Program Executive Mentor will flag for CANVAS Leadership, or request that grantees disclose to CANVAS themselves (as appropriate), any information that:




    

  • Could impact the Grantee’s ability to comply with CANVAS’s core values, Theory of Change, community standards, viability, or participation in CANVAS’s grant-making work;
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  • May suggest the Grantee is facing a situation with significant or notable PR implications;
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  • Indicates unethical behavior on behalf of a Grantee.
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At specific points in the Leadership Program, CANVAS may ask Grantees for feedback in order to continue to improve its offerings. Grantees may decide how much they want to share of any confidential financial information that they have discussed with their mentor/coach. They are under no obligation to share specific financial or staffing information with CANVAS during these check-ins.


Once the initial two-year Leadership Program phase is completed, CANVAS grantees will be asked to complete an evaluation form in order to measure satisfaction with the Leadership Program offerings, and further make improvements for future programs.


At this point, CANVAS grantees are encouraged to share any confidential information that was discussed during their experience (specific or broad strokes) with CANVAS, for the purpose of evaluation and improvement. If anything is shared by Grantees with CANVAS during this final evaluation stage, it is acknowledged that the Grantee has shared it willingly. CANVAS will not share any information from Grantees with external partners or other outside parties except at the highest and aggregate levels.