Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Quaker Life Council

Questions and Comments About Administrative, Quaker Life, and Nominating Councils Working as a Joint Council

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Friends who attended Annual Sessions in person or via zoom know that the council Tri-clerks asked for questions about how council functions. We received many more than we were able to answer in the brief period available, so we are sharing the full list of questions here and will be writing responses to share in the next several weeks.

If you have further questions you would like the tri-clerks to respond to, please send them to us to add to the list below.

What questions or comments do you have about the experiment currently underway with Administrative, Quaker Life and Nominating councils working as a joint council?

Please email any question or comment to CFilauro@pym.org. [Read more…] about Questions and Comments About Administrative, Quaker Life, and Nominating Councils Working as a Joint Council

July 2025 | Joint Council Update

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On Saturday, July 12, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—the Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in the joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community following the meeting.

Minutes from the Joint Council meeting this past Saturday are forthcoming. However the council wanted to share the following key updates prior to sessions.

As Philadelphia Yearly Meeting prepares to gather for Annual Sessions, the yearly meeting councils want to particularly highlight two items of their work that will be advancing to the Sessions agenda: the Future of Sessions survey results and an update on evaluating the yearly meeting’s carbon footprint.

[Read more…] about July 2025 | Joint Council Update

May 2025 | Joint Council Update

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On Saturday, May 10, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in the joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.

May 2025 Minutes

[Read more…] about May 2025 | Joint Council Update

April 2025 | Joint Council Update

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On Saturday, April 12, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in the joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.

April 2025 Minutes

[Read more…] about April 2025 | Joint Council Update

February 2025 | Joint Council Update

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On Saturday, February 15, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their meeting in a new joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.

February 2025 Minutes

The Joint Council approved the revision of the job description of the General Secretary. The document was recommended by the Search Committee, which sought input from the Personnel Committee and senior staff. The changes are slight and bring it up to date.

General Secretary Job Description

[Read more…] about February 2025 | Joint Council Update

December 2024 | Joint Council Update

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The three councils that guide Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—recently gathered for their second meeting in a newly adopted joint format. In this structure, the councils come together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. in an article written about this experiment this summer, this practice ensures that the Joint Council can promptly share its minutes with the PYM community after the meeting.

December Minutes and Reports Joint Council Experiment

[Read more…] about December 2024 | Joint Council Update

October 2024 | Joint Council Update

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On Saturday, October 12th, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their first meeting in a new joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. A key feature in the joint format is the approval of minutes during the meeting. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.

October Minutes →

[Read more…] about October 2024 | Joint Council Update

New Schedule for Councils Meeting Jointly

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Our current governance structure was set up with a goal of simplifying our governance and administration. Some adjustments have been made, such as adding a Clerks Group which encourages the clerks of the councils and officers of the yearly meeting to all collaborate. Another change is that the three councils, Quaker Life, Administrative and Nominating, have met jointly for about an hour every month for many years now.  Over the course of the past two years, the clerks and Governance Advisory Committee have been watching for new opportunities that allow the councils to be increasingly effective in meeting our community’s needs, responsive to the spirit and respectful of the council members’ commitment.    [Read more…] about New Schedule for Councils Meeting Jointly

​​​​Spiritual State of the Meeting Report Invitation

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NOTE: The deadline to submit reports has been extended to April 29, 2024

Warm greetings from the Ministry and Care Committee of Quaker Life Council. We trust this communication finds you well, grounded in Spirit and in your community of faith. All meetings are invited to submit their Spiritual State of the Meeting Reports for 2023 no later than April 15, 2024. We look forward to learning about your meeting and having the opportunity to share that learning more widely. Reports will be carefully read by members of M&C to guide our work in the next year and inform the Spiritual State of the Meeting Report for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. To learn more about how these reports are used and how they are typically composed, see these advices. If you have further questions, please contact us at ministryandcare@pym.org. [Read more…] about ​​​​Spiritual State of the Meeting Report Invitation

Tuition Aid for Quaker Children in PYM Friends Schools

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The Yearly Meeting’s Quaker Education Granting Group reminds meetings and families that local meeting members’ children who are applying to or attending Friends schools are eligible to apply for educational support for the 2024-25 school year. Funding for all grants comes from the National Friends Education Fund and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting endowment income from the Jonathan Rhoads Fund and other PYM education endowments. [Read more…] about Tuition Aid for Quaker Children in PYM Friends Schools

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