General Secretary

General Secretary Report – Autumn 2020

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Program and Ministry:

• Fall Continuing Sessions was held by Zoom on its regularly scheduled date, which fell on the Saturday after the election. In anticipation of having not knowing in advance what would be happening in our world on that day, Continuing Sessions focused on worship and youth programs only. It postponed business until Tuesday, December 8.
  • Over 160 Friends gathered for worship with storytelling and traditional waiting worship. The election results were called during our worship.
  • Participation in afternoon events was decreased as a result of the election results. Some Friends joined together for lunch by zoom in small groups. Some Friends returned for worship sharing in the afternoon.
  • Youth Programs Virtual gatherings for Children & Families, Middle School Friends and Young Friends took place in the afternoon.

[Read more…] about Report to Councils

Summary of PYM program News – Mid-May to Mid-June 2020

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Covid Response

• We are in the process of developing a re-opening plan for PYM staff, which will entail a partial re-opening. 10 members of staff will be permitted in the office at any given time, following appropriate safety practices. Certain staff whose duties require them to be in the office (things to do with accounting, receiving mail, signing checks, etc.) have priority access to the office for their work.

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Summary of PYM program News – Mid-March to Mid-May 2020

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Covid Response

• PYM went from business as usual to work from home under Covid 19 distancing restrictions after four intense days of planning in the second week of March. In doing this we safeguarded staff health & wellness, developed a remote accounts payable system, secured necessary laptops and software, and implemented Zoom conferencing systems that served both staff and the Yearly Meeting.

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Business and Finances

• PYM was funded for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan from the Small Business Administration (SBA) in April. The SBA gave specific guidance to faith-based nonprofits, encouraging them to apply.  PPP loans cover 2.5x a small business’s average monthly payroll.  The loan may be forgiven in full if the organization maintains its staffing and payroll levels for the eight weeks following funding, which PYM intends to do. The loan is welcome support in a time of financial uncertainty.

[Read more…] about Report to Councils

Our General Secretary, Christie Duncan-Tessmer has served PYM as staff for over 14 years and served as General Secretary for more than five years.

With gratitude for the work accomplished and a desire for her to be at her best as she continues to serve Friends, the Administrative Council began planning a three-month wellness leave in the winter with final approval in February.  This is a paid leave during which she will have the time and space to rest and be renewed.

[Read more…] about General Secretary to Take Wellness Leave

Mid-January to Mid-February 2020

Business and Finances:

• In partnership with Friends Fiduciary, PYM has made a $1 million investment in the Impact Accelerator Bridge Loan Fund I, sponsored by the Reinvestment Fund.  Friends previously briefed on this potential investment at Annual Sessions in July received the report warmly.  This project required many hours of staff and finance committee support to bring to fruition, so we are happy to celebrate its launch. 
• The audit was received (but has not yet been reviewed by the audit committee). Completing this year’s audit was an enormous project taking much time and requiring pages of accompanying documentation. Reporting standards have changed, and details needed to be delved into at a deeper level to ensure everything is properly represented. For example, the way in which a fund was cared for during the depression (yes, from nearly 100 years ago) affected the way details were represented today. 

[Read more…] about General Secretary Report to Councils

Mid-November 2019 to Mid-January 2020

Business and Finances:

• The Christmas appeal was mailed on December 4^th and launched electronically on December 3. We are still counting the gifts and it looks like response is on par with the previous year.
• As last year, the final emailed appeal in late December focused on asking Friends to make a gift to their monthly meeting. There were almost 50 MM gifts that came in that day and for the whole month we collected 320 gifts for monthly meetings. Online giving to meetings was up 13% in December over last year.
• We completed the work for the FY19 audit, almost. The required new format has necessitated additional detail work for 2019 and re-formatting for 2018 so the two years can be compared.
• The General Secretary made a presentation to the Friends Fiduciary’s board (on which she sits) on PYM’s finances since 2012.  It was well received, and Christie will adapt it for the Councils and other audiences when it is updated for FY 2019 on completion of the audited financial statements.
• A major renovation project started at Arch Street in December with the long-planned relighting of the East Room.  Flexible new lighting will enhance the East room’s service as a multi-purpose room for exhibits, events and performance.
• Staff met with archivists from Swarthmore to learn about best practices for digital archiving.

Program and Ministry:

• The Associate Secretary for Advancement and Relationship convened Quarterly Meeting reps for lunch and conversation on the next printed newsletter which will feature the Quarters and how they serve and engage our yearly meeting.
• The Youth Religious Life Coordinator visit facilitated multigenerational forum after worship at Old Haverford Meeting.
• The Youth Religious Life Coordinator facilitated the first of 3 Saturdays in Godly Play and Faith & Play training for PYM Friends at Pendle Hill, January 11.
• The Religious Education and Youth Work Thread Gathering was held at Wilmington Meeting to explore the ways in which our meetings can support religious education and programs for children, youth, and families.
• Friends in Business in November featured dinner and talk by Scott Wallace on super PAC funding and the way it sways election outcomes with 55 people in attendance.
• At the Quaker Family Meetup parents shared experiences and support of parenting during the holidays at Birmingham Meeting.
• Young Adult Friends held a Holiday Potluck on 12/14/19 which 21 people attended.
• The Young Adult Friends Winter Retreat was a “Skill Share” weekend.  23 people came, including 5 new people and a 6 week old baby!
• The Young Friends Christmas Gathering at Woodstown Meeting featured workshops by young Friends relating to identity and exploring the ways in which we are all superheroes.
• The Winter Family Overnight was held on January 11-12 with 12 families and 30+ participants at Camp Onas. They played, worshiped, prepared meals together and explored their theme of “Use your voice!”

Inclusion and Anti-Racism: 

• We continue to refine our onboarding procedures as a way of being transparent about the way in which we function as a community. Part of our process is for each new staff member to meet with each current staff member about their work.  We are catching up for those who are already on staff by asking each person to give their onboarding spiel to all staff at staff meetings.
• The General Secretary and two Associate Secretaries began individual coaching with Prototype Entities.
• We completed our third all-staff training with Prototype Entities. This final training focused on microaggressions.  The staff is forming a sprint to consider the next steps for expanding and operationalizing those learnings.
• We received a preliminary report from Prototype Entities based on the documents they reviewed and the staff they met with. A summary of that report was shared with staff and discussed.  We will prepare a summary for PYM Friends as well.

Communications and Technology:

• PYM website was redesigned and relaunched over Christmas. The new framework has better technical support and improved user experience. We now have improved legibility, mobile experience and SEO possibilities as well as faster page load times. The home page, interior page layouts and most of the content did not change.
• The website navigation was improved so that it works better for all our intended audiences (Members, Attenders, Seekers, etc.) by being simpler, not relying on insider knowledge of PYM and concentrating on the most visited pages.
• The PYM graphics on all social media channels were upgraded
• A reporting method was developed to document how people search on the Grants and Quaker Aging Resources webpages.
• December and January editions of “Tote Bag” religious education and family resources e-newsletter were sent.

Staff and Administration:

• Open enrollment just ended and PYM’s health insurance is basically status quo for 2020.  The platinum-level plans that we can offer in 2020 are nearly identical to what was offered in 2019 and very similar to those we offered in 2018.  The cost of health insurance coverage will increase by a maximum of 4.5%, which is within our budget and the employee contribution remains stable.
• We implemented a new policy that provides a monthly stipend to offset the cost of health insurance for staff who are part-time and do not qualify for PYM health benefits. Nearly all of the part-time staff immediately provided required paperwork and began participating.
• We hired New Children and Families Program Assistant, Crystal Hershey. Crystal grew up in PYM’s youth programs and now is one of the adults nurturing our current crop of children!
• National searches were launched for two positions: Executive Director of Arch Street Meeting House and Director of Human Resources & Inclusion. Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion consultants are supporting the HR & Inclusion search.
• The Office Assistant had her baby and is on parental leave. Jess Purvis who has served in this role on an interim basis in the past stepped in to help out again.

Staff visits:

• Melinda Wenner Bradley, Youth Religious Life Coordinator, and Meg Rose, Young Adult Friends Coordinator, met with Pendle Hill Education program staff for a regular meeting on how our organizations can collaborate.
• Grace Sharples Cooke, Associate Secretary for Advancement & Communications, visited Lansdowne meeting to talk about how to increase the effectiveness of Monthly Meeting Fundraising.
• Christie Duncan-Tessmer, General Secretary, attended the Conference of National Black Churches as an invited member of the National Council of Churches Board
• Christie attended the National Council of Churches gathering for “Heads of Communion” for a silent retreat and sharing.

Mid-November 2019

Business and Finances:

• Our annual audit field work was completed this week. This year new requirements in audit format are in effect and we have different people in the controller role. The process has been smooth so far. 
• Key staff, governance and granting group members have been meeting, talking and sharing documents to resolve issues and support the highest effectiveness of the Greenleaf Fund which supports those who are aging. 
• PYM staff, archivists from Swarthmore and Haverford College Libraries and members of the laid-down Record Services Group are making plans for supporting PYM’s and monthly and quarterly meetings’ archival processes. 

Program and Ministry:

• Continuing Sessions was held at Arch Street Meeting House.  Reports and minutes are posted on the web (www.pym.org/news). 
• We launched the Quaker Self Portrait project which includes a census of how many people are attending our meetings on Sundays and an invitation to share what our meetings look like with selfies, quilt squares or any way a meeting would like to (haikus?!).  It also included a “soft launch” of an invitation to individual Friends to share more detailed demographics such as race and gender identity in order to create a baseline of our community demographics. 
• We hosted 15 Friends at the first Friends in Fellowship this year with Taiya Smith (Solebury Meeting) speaking on carbon pricing and climate change. Tayia is a highly regarded China expert specializing in climate issues. She was key to designing and managing the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) under Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson. During Obama’s presidency she served as the point person on Darfur, working with the Sudanese government and rebel factions. She has also been a Presidential Management Fellow in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (based in Washington) covering Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire. 
• Held a first meeting of key Friends to explore how Philadelphia Yearly Meeting can enhance and sustain new and important expressions of Quakerism, under the direction of the Quaker Life Council.  
• The Community Engagement staff team met with staff at Pendle Hill to continue relationship building and seeking opportunities for collaboration. 
• Middle School Friends had a wonderful Fall Gathering at West Chester Meeting, 10/18-10/20.  
• Young Adult Friends is continuing ministry in migrant justice through involvement in “Drive PA Forward Campaign” connecting with YAFs who work with New Sanctuary Movement and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
• Young Adult Friends Leadership has changed. Here is the new lineup. This new group will have dinner at Friends Center after Thanksgiving.  
  • Clerks: Mary Tierney and Catherine Campbell.  
  • Pastoral Care: Eleanor Barba and Kimani Keaton.  
  • Recording Clerk: Carl Stanton.  
• Young Adult Friends met at Pendle Hill on Thursday 11/14. 
• Quaker Life Council has asked for support in the process of recruiting members for the Sessions Coordinating Committee and the Program Committee. If people have ideas of who could serve on either one, please contact Zachary Dutton. 

Communications and Technology:

• We initiated new tech to track traffic on our website. 
• We added a “Quaker Directory” (https://www.pym.org/quaker-directory) to the website (this is an ongoing project). 
• We started using a news aggregator tool (Feedly) to find Quaker news from around the world. 
• A report and minutes from Continuing Sessions was up on the PYM website within a day of the event with both a news article on the morning program and the finalized minutes posted Monday. Our news feed featured the work of the group of Friends who volunteered at Annual Sessions to help in anti-racism work. Later that week, we pushed out antiracism information and tools in the weekly email.   
• Staff training on an integrated Salesforce email system was given.  

Staff and Administration:

• The Executive Director of Arch Street Meeting House (ASMH), Lynne Calamia, resigned after nearly seven years of service. During that time historic preservation of the meetinghouse property became paramount and we secured funding for improvements to our interpretational programs. Lynne created important partnerships with the historical community and led the campaign to have Arch Street Meeting House named as an International Site of Conscience. 
• Caroline Boyce, of Inter-Mission LLC is serving as Interim Executive Director at ASMH and is supporting the board in the search for the next Director. 
• Lucas Richie began working with PYM as the Grants Associate (following the promotion of Nick Gutowski to Director of Grantmaking).  Lucas brings recent experience with the Bread & Roses Community Fund and with Quaker Voluntary Service – as well as with PYM. 
• We are in the final stages of the search for Middle School Friends Program Assistant, Children & Families Program Assistant, and Events & Resources Coordinator. The Advancement & Communications Coordinator search is in full swing. The searches for program and development positions at ASMH have been suspended while the Executive Director search is prioritized; interim support options are being explored. 
• Staff made waffles for lunch in the GenSec office one afternoon. 

Inclusion and Anti-Racism: 

• The Associate Secretary for Program & Religious Life and the Youth Religious Life Coordinator attended Niyonu Spann’s Beyond Diversity 101: Race training at Pendle Hill the week of 10/22.  They shared their experience with staff over lunch. 
• Staff has explored how we want to arrange support for ourselves as we engage in anti-racism and inclusion training and taken steps to put that support in place. 
• The General Secretary was invited by the Pastors Wives of the Church of God in Christ in the Pittsburgh region to accept an award for Quakers for our historic work in anti-slavery and to provide the Response to the Opening Remarks at the awards dinner.  She offered remarks on our complex history and continued need to address racism.  Friends from Pittsburgh Friends Meeting were invited to attend, and several did. 

Staff visits: 

• Melinda Wenner Bradley, Youth Religious Life Coordinator, visited the Chester Quarter retreat and presented about support for youth and families in local meetings. 
• Melinda visited Gwynedd Meeting for worship and led multi–generational program on 10/27.  
• Grace Sharples Cooke visited Third Haven and Chester River Meetings, and had lunch with Friends from Upper Darby Meeting. 
• Christie Duncan-Tessmer, General Secretary, attended FGC’s annual meeting of the Central Committee. 
• Christie attended FCNL’s annual meeting. 
• Christie attended the Friends Fiduciary Investment Committee meeting and Finance Committee meeting. 

Mid-September 2019

Business and Finances:

• The 2019 fiscal year is drawing to a close with 92% of the year complete as of August 30.  Support & Revenue is close to budget.  Expenses are trending below budget.
• The final appeal is in mailboxes and final email campaign is underway and we look on track to meet our Annual Fund goal of $300,000. Some highlights include: donors who gave this year and last year increased their gifts by an average of 7% and out-of-state donors increased giving by 9.5%; so far this year 206 Friends who had lapsed in giving gave this year – and gave $44,878; one of the email appeals will also remind Friends to give to their monthly meeting.
• PYM’s auditors did a week of planning in August in preparation for the November audit.  This year PYM will be implementing changes required by the FASB’s (Financial Accounting Standards Board) Accounting Standards Update 2016-14, Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities.  The title is more formidable than the actual changes.  Mainly, the three-column audit presentation format of recent decades, Unrestricted, Temporarily Restricted and Restricted, is being replaced with two plain English columns, Without Donor Restrictions and With Donor Restrictions.  It should make PYM’s financial statements more readable and informative.
• Over the summer we explored The Reinvestment Fund as a prospect for PYM investments in order to increase the impact of our investments. In particular we are investigating their community development bridge loan fund which would lend to projects such as community health centers, child care centers, and affordable housing.  Many community development projects include funding sources that will only pay in over time or on project completion.  These projects may have little access to other financing.  A bridge loan allows them to move forward and creates jobs.  PYM would invest through Friends Fiduciary.  The prospect was well received at Sessions and Admin Council will make a progress report at Continuing Sessions in November.
• The Legacy Fund is launched with four gifts – total collected $71,749. What is the Legacy Fund? This is a named gift that conserves principal and generates income in perpetuity. It also makes room for the life stories of Legacy fund donors, the listing of donor names in the annual report, and the placement of these stories on our Website. In time, hundreds of Friends lives, their contributions to humanity, their communities, and the Quaker faith will be documented by the reporting we automatically do around this Legacy Fund. Initial gifts are in the names of Kirk Norris, Charlie Ufford, S. Francis Nicholson and Anne Hollingsworth Thomas Moore.

Program and Ministry:

• The funding cycle has begun for collaboratives, sprints, and other groups in the PYM who can request funding for projects from the Quaker Life Council. A housekeeping email went out detailing the process for applying and other supportive resources for PYM groups.
• The core team of staff who support PYM programs is called the Community Engagement Team; this team sets goals for the year in September. One of the team goals is to spend time articulating clearly the Quaker tradition so that staff can speak about it positively and confidently in the course of running programs and talking about Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
• Young Adult Friends have had a leadership transition, and staff have supported them through developing a new clerking team.
• August and September included many events for youth and families: a Family Play Date, Young Friends Late Summer Gathering, Young Friends Peace Fair, and the Quaker Family Meet Up.
• Our first reception for supporters was held at the General Secretary’s home. 24 people came, enjoyed fellowship and shared their thoughts about why they give to PYM.

Communications and Technology:

• We have evaluated and re-valuated which email system to integrate with our database. We settled on a program called Pardot and have carefully been setting up the behind-the-scenes infrastructure, testing it and creating templates that provide a structure and recognizable look and feel.
• The online registration form for annual sessions is being rebuilt, and our staff who run the registration process attended a training on the registration program to learn more about how to facilitate an efficient and effective process.
• Interesting web fact: PYM.org became an unlikely internet star in September. We are the first resource that comes up when people do a google search for resources on how to open a spiritual retreat. This is bringing 5000 hits a year on this topic and it comes from all over the world. Check the page out yourself:

Staff and Administration:

• The Director of HR and Inclusion has resigned that position but is maintaining support for two key projects during the interim period. We will post the position at full time as we’ve learned it requires 35 hours a week to meet the goals of the job.
• The Executive Director of the Arch Street Meeting House is on a temporary leave through mid-October. An Interim Executive Director is maintaining stability for this time period.

Inclusion and Anti-Racism: 

• Following the past year of staff work to identify goals for anti-racism and inclusion work we have developed a relationship with Prototype Entities to support us in moving forward. Prototype Entities is the organization that was recommended by the Multicultural Audit Steering Committee to provide an audit for PYM.
• The planned work with Prototype includes training for all staff and for supervisors, coaching for key staff, establishing a baseline of staff experience and developing a climate survey tool that can be used every six months and a review of the policies, procedures and documents in place.

Mid-May to Mid-June 2019

Business and Finances:

• Completed the FY 2020 Draft Budget for Finance Committee, which will recommend to Admin Council that it be shared with the monthly and quarterly meetings.  A final Proposed Budget, adjusted for any new information, will be completed in early July for approval at Annual Sessions. 
• Stewarded two bequests from Friends who are no longer with us. One of these is directed to the new Legacy Fund.

Program and Ministry:

• Annual Sessions registration is live! Register and find out details at www.pym.org/annual-sessions.  
• We’re coming into the home stretch before our Quakers Got Talent fundraiser on June 17th.  This month we nailed down a diverse roster of performers for the show; supported the YAF QGT pre-party with the support of a donor to cover partial costs; mailed publicity to monthly meetings, and all Quaker schools (some placed ads), met our goal in advertising in the program and secured the gift of a pair of earrings (value $3000) for our Quakers got Talent auction. 
• The dates for PYM Programs are set for September 2019 through July 2020. There are around 40 programs that range from camping sleepovers for families to skill building on property issues to gatherings for monthly meeting clerks.  See the PYM calendar for upcoming events  
• We laid the groundwork for the first effort to bring together PYM Friends who represent us to other Quaker organizations so they can know each other, PYM can hear what they are working on and they can hear PYM’s priorities. 
• The first Quaker Institute was held at Pendle Hill, which PYM program staff helped frame and facilitate in collaboration with Pendle Hill.  The PYM Youth Religious Life Coordinator facilitated the workshop titled “Recognizing the Gifts of Young People in Community and Worship”. PYM communications collaborated to promote awareness of the Quaker Institute with a news story plus regular inclusion in our PYM weekly email featuring news and events. 
• The Youth Religious Life Coordinator trained with Interfaith Philadelphia to become a facilitator of “Civil Conversations” for youth. https://www.interfaithphiladelphia.org/facilitator-trainings 
• Several staff met with David Johnson, author of A Quaker Prayer Life, to talk about the movement of spirit amongst young adult friends in the world. David is travelling in North America for 4 months. 

Communications and Technology:

• The June issue of “Tote Bag” – an electronic newsletter resource on religious education was published.  
• Designed materials for the Quakers Got Talent event including a poster, ad book advertising campaign, and program. 
• Designed and mailed compelling tri-fold publicity for Annual Sessions. 
• Our new database provided all the data it is meant to provide for the spring fundraising campaign – this is the first time we’ve relied 100% on that resource.
• We developed a plan for managing the data held in our communications tool, Constant Contact, as we shift to reliance on one database, Salesforce. 
• We laid the groundwork for a new communications tool that synchs with Salesforce and successfully tested it with two emails to the group of people who are identified in Salesforce as Bridge Contacts. 
• Repaired new web defect that made it impossible to submit news or events to our website.

Staff and Administration:

• PYM’s Young Adult Engagement and Sessions Coordinator has enrolled in school and will vacate the Session Coordinator role effective 8/2/2019.  She will remain with PYM as the Young Adult Engagement Coordinator in a part-time capacity.   
• The position “Transitional Meeting Engagement and Data Coordinator” expires at the end of the summer.  This position was created as a temporary way to explore what kind of staff support we need in the new Advancement & Communications department.  This change together with the vacancy in the Sessions Coordinator position, also happening at the end of the summer, created space for implementing some new positions. Two positions are in the works.  One is a full-time position to coordinate events (including Sessions) and resources.  This will allow the sessions support to be part of a full-time position and also allows us staff capacity to curate resources from monthly and quarterly meetings to make them available across the yearly meeting and to keep our website current with resources for addressing racism and racial justice and events and trainings on anti-racism that PYM Friends could attend.  The other position is a part-time, benefits-eligible position to deepen the bench on our communications and fundraising activities. 
• Staffing plans are in use for vacant youth program positions, drawing mostly from a reserve of program staff.  A temporary sessions assistant has been hired for Annual sessions and recruitment is ongoing for a Middle School Friends Assistant and Children and Families Assistant. 
• We talked with three different consultants about helping us to manage recruitment for open positions.  We sought an organization that could reliably use approaches that would help us with increasing the amount of diversity in our candidate pools. As a result, we are looking forward to working with AFSC’s HR department again.   

Inclusion and Anti-Racism: 

• The National Council of Churches hosted a semi-annual Jewish-Christian Dialogue at Mother Bethel AME Church on anti-Semitism and racism.  The General Secretary was invited to speak on the experience of a faith community in engaging in anti-racism work. 
• The General Secretary and the Director of HR and Inclusion continued conversations with Prototype Entities about training and other opportunities for staff and/or the wider community. 
  • Staff meetings are held every other month; in June our meeting was five hours long and focused mostly on the inclusion and anti-racism work we’re doing.  In particular we: 
  • Heard from the Operations Team (Senior Staff) about their experience with holding space for reflecting on racism and other oppression we observe or experience in Quaker community. 
  • Considered if we want to hold that same kind of space for all staff and if so what would it take to do it in a way that is generative and expanding. 
  • Considered what kind of training we want 
  • Learned about Diversity Statements and began a process of writing one for ourselves 
  • Reviewed all of the other conversations and steps we’ve taken in this direction and then identified what we have the most energy for going forward. 

Visits to Quaker Meetings and Organizations:

• Many staff visited The College of New Jersey on June 11to prepare for Annual Sessions  
• Melinda Wenner Bradley, Youth Religious Life Coordinator, visited Medford Meeting June 9. 
• Meg Rose, Young Adult Engagement and Sessions Coordinator, and Zachary Dutton, Associate Secretary for Program & Religious Life, attended Sunday of Continuing Revolution with Young Adult Friends at Pendle Hill.  
• Grace Cooke, Associate Secretary for Advancement & Relationship, visited Quakertown Meeting 
• Christie Duncan-Tessmer, General Secretary, attended the board meeting and the finance committee meeting of Friends Fiduciary and the board meeting of Friends Center 
• Christie met with the heads of other Quaker organizations for a half day meeting focused on courage and on relationship