It’s an exciting time to be part of the CoCo community. In the 8 months since we launched, we directed our first rated, in-person tournament and scheduled 8 more live tournaments around the country. When the pandemic hit, we nimbly adapted by holding a series of virtual tournaments, culminating with the recent Virtual World Cup. Once the pandemic ends, we can’t wait to put all those live tournaments back on the calendar in cities around the continent. This is all just the beginning for the CoCo. We’re building the organization up to be a strong, sustainable home for the North American Scrabble community. We’re fostering our credibility internationally and raising our profile here at home. All that is to say that we are serious and we are in this game for the long haul.

Taking us from where we are today to where we want to be requires a diverse and skilled team of leaders who listen to the membership and act in the organization’s best interests. I am really excited to share that today, the CoCo is reaching an important milestone in that journey. For the first time, we are holding elections for our leadership positions. Every senior leadership position in the organization is up for election, and any CoCo member who resides in North America is eligible to run for the positions of Executive Director or Board Member. We hope that many of you will consider serving your Scrabble community by running for election. Here’s why.

Democracy is one of our founding principles. It’s important to us because it holds leaders accountable for advancing what’s best for the members and the organization. It forces the organization to commit to transparency and keep its members informed. You will always have visibility into what we are doing and why. If ever you don’t like where the CoCo is headed, you have the power to step up and steer the organization in a new direction or vote for leaders whose policies align with your vision. We know from experience that this community is pulsing with energy, and there are many players who have yearned for years to have their ideas heard. Now is the time. We are thrilled to provide a warm home for your thoughts on how we can innovate and expand the community.

Already, we have introduced new aspects to our old and much-loved game. Before the pandemic hit, we worked with new and seasoned directors alike to empower them to direct tournaments in novel venues that kept costs low and made events accessible. We developed new technology tools to make manual data entry a relic of the past, thus eliminating the need for small armies of data entry volunteers and making results available immediately for live coverage. We assembled a streaming squad that delivered high-quality content to hundreds of unique viewers, including many people who have never played a Scrabble tournament before. We harnessed the virtual tournament platform through our CURE series to overcome common barriers to entry for players around the world, whether those barriers be time zones, a lack of money to pay entry fees, or a non-expert rating. 

To keep this momentum going, we will soon legally incorporate the CoCo as a nonprofit organization. We have eagerly awaited the right moment to incorporate and hold elections so that you all had time to experience our tournaments and learn about the organization before electing leaders to take it to the next level. Incorporation will establish our legitimacy as an organization, enable new generations of leaders to helm the CoCo without reinventing operations and processes, and maximize benefits to members by making operating costs and donations tax-deductible.

If you’re fired up for the future of Scrabble in North America and want to get involved, head over to our Governance page. You’ll learn about our five teams and the Board of Directors, which sets the vision and strategy for the organization, providing maximum impact for minimal time commitment. You’ll also learn about the Executive Director, who leads the organization, executes the Board’s vision, and is fully accountable to the Board and CoCo membership. 

To run for election to the Board or Executive Director positions, head over to the Elections page and register as a candidate by Saturday, September 12. The following Monday, September 14, we’ll publish each candidate’s pitch and launch our anonymous voting platform. Any person who has registered for a live or virtual CoCo tournament is a CoCo member eligible to vote in the elections, regardless of their country of residence. By our count, that’s 237 people.

If you want to contribute, but aren’t quite ready for an elected leadership position, we’re looking for people to fill out our Teams, too. Each team focuses one of these specific areas: Communications and Marketing, Growth and Outreach, Finance, Legal Accountability, and Tournaments. If you have an area in mind that we aren’t working on already, we want to hear from you. Together, we can transform Scrabble on this continent. We hope you’ll join us.