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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

DEI Vertical at the Center for Nonviolent Communication

The DEI Vertical functions across all domains in our organization.

1.0 Historical Context

  • Marshall’s commitment to power-with relationships, all needs matter, and changing our world.
  • Marshall’s focus on community, social change, and spirituality, in certification
  • Conflict and feedback from IITs
  • Global context, environmental scan, and feedback to CNVC
  • CNVC demographics: ethnicity, age, country of origin, class, gender, sexual orientation and other identities of trainers
  • Conflict within the Board of Directors, Certified Trainers, or Certification Candidates

2.0 Emerging Problems

  • Urgent risk of our organization losing relevance in a changing world due to lack of DEI integration.
  • Patterns of inequity, alienation, oppression and exclusion in CNVC events and global operations
  • Privileging some over others impacts human dignity in life-alienating ways that impact safety and meaning.
  • Addressing DEI issues is completely aligned with safeguarding NVC.
  • CNVC is likely to replicate circumstances of inequity despite personal equity awareness

3.0 Purpose

  • The DEI Vertical supports the organization's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion by providing feedback, facilitating discussions, and helping to shape policies and practices.
  • Cultivate a culture of belonging, safety, and community in all CNVC’s activities
  • Weave DEI-B awareness into structures, policies and practices.
  • Support CNVC leadership to intentionally create more nurturing DEIB spaces 

4.0 DEI-B and Intersectionality

4.1 The DEI-B Framing: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion - Belonging

  • CNVC’s approach to DEI is centered around Belonging, which is a basic human need that everyone experiences in systems and in communities.
  • In an organizational sense, creating a sense of Belonging for everyone includes the following components:
    • Diversity - recognize that we are a non homogenous group with varying identities, backgrounds, experiences, understanding, and context
    • Equity - provide differentiated support based on disparities of access to resources.
    • Inclusion - share power through inclusion in decision making

4.2 DEI-B Framework

4.3 Intersectionality

Intersectionality is the understanding of how different aspects of a person's identity—like gender, race, class, sexuality, neurodivergence, age, disability, and other parameters—combine to create unique experiences of power, privilege, or oppression.  

Far from simply “adding up” advantages and disadvantages, and moving away from transactional compensatory stances, the DEI Vertical’s interventions layered with an intersectional understanding of DEI-B will bring a focus on the bigger picture of how different identities interact within complex systems of power, privilege and oppression​.

The DEI Vertical will integrate Intersectionality in their policies, procedures, advice processes, and other activities, and closely look at how these factors interact and influence each other in different contexts, with a nuanced and context-driven understanding of power and privilege. This can include (but is not limited to):

  • Examining how social categories like race, gender, or class intersect to shape inequalities.
  • Recognizing that inequalities are not fixed; they change over time and in different places.
  • Looking at how structural and political environments shape people's experiences.
  • Exploring how systems of power affect social inequalities.
  • Prioritizing the experiences and needs of the most disadvantaged within a group.
  • Including an understanding of structural, social, economic, and political factors.
  • Considering broader power dynamics and broader social dynamics while understanding individual behaviors.

5.0 Key Activities: Aim, Domain, and Limits of Domain

5.1 Effecting change in governing bodies (policies and activities)

The DEI Vertical will:

  • Write organization-wide DEI goals and policies for the CNVC board to determine how to integrate.

The DEI Vertical has an advice-giving role on the following:

  • Offer feedback, consulting and advice on existing policies and activities
  • Participate in task forces for reviewing or writing policies like trainer agreement, ethics code, etc.
  • Offer feedback, insight, and recommendations to Operations, Board of Directors, Coordinating Circle, Programs Resource Circle (PRC), Assessors Coordinating Circle, and other mandated bodies that are created in the future
  • Offer recommendations and collaborate with Operations on the Annual Survey to gather DEI-B related data
  • Recommend policies across domains
  • Support the creation of new policies, new mandated circles, and new task forces or committees
  • Advise the process for CNVC’s systems - decision making, resource allocation, information flow, feedback and conflict engagement systems in CNVC
  • Support the hiring and firing process to ensure DEI consciousness is integrated.
  • If conflicts arise, the DEI vertical may:
    • Engage the Conflict Engagement System (CES)
    • Raise a Dispute
    • Call a Special Meeting
      (Until the CES is operational, conflicts must be reported to the Board of Directors)
  • The consulting and advice process may take a maximum of 30 days, unless agreed upon by the DEI Vertical and the concerned body.

5.2 Engaging the larger community

DEI Vertical is responsible to:

  • Conduct surveys, review forms, facilitate focus groups, etc.
  • Build a sense of belonging with a focus on connection and community building, not on education or on getting agreement- so that everyone can express their concerns, be heard, ask questions and explore answers, etc.
  • Organize gatherings in the form of an Empathy Café, regular online meetings, facilitated group work, fishbowls, and any other activities they deem supportive for connection across differences.

5.3 Programs for governing bodies (people/awareness)

The DEI Vertical has decision making domain on:

  • Designing and delivering capacity building trainings or gatherings to deepen DEI and systemic awareness for CNVC’s staff, governing body members, Executive Director, and Board of Directors.
  • Allocating the funds given to the DEI Vertical through CNVC’s standard budget allocation process
  • Choosing and hiring facilitators for DEI and systems awareness trainings

Note: DEI Vertical Trainings are different from the Continuing Education Trainings under the PRC, which are geared toward trainers, the NVC community and the public.

Decision-making Domain: DEI Programming;  Allocation of funds by CNVC budget

5.4 Other possible areas of intervention

The DEI Vertical or the Board may propose to add more tasks under the DEI Vertical’s domain. Additional tasks can be added via Board approval, such as
Elections (consulting on a questionnaire to enable candidates to speak to their perspectives)

6.0 Structure and Composition

Please also refer to Section 9.0 Notes on Launching below.

6.1 Membership

  • The DEI Vertical has three members selected by a committee composed of the Executive Director and 2 members of the Board of Directors.
  • It is highly recommended that the selection committee include at least one person of color and DEI expertise. If these qualities are not available in the selection committee, the selection committee may consult with a DEI consultant for the selection process.
  • Selection prioritizes merit, experience, and a balance of race and gender.
  • At least one member is a Certified Trainer with our organization, bringing expertise in Nonviolent Communication principles relevant to DEI work.

6.2 Selection Criteria

  • Proven commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, ideally through previous work, volunteer experience, or personal advocacy in DEI initiatives.
  • Significant experience with DEI principles, including a deep understanding of issues related to race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and other areas of diversity, as well as clear understanding of intersectionality.
  • Personal and professional background and track record that showcases leadership, ethics, and the ability to create inclusive and equitable environments.
  • DEI impact in past roles, projects, or contributions to DEI-focused organizations.
  • All members must have a clear alignment with NVC principles, including empathy, active listening, and conflict resolution.
  • Ability to engage across diverse cultural contexts, with sensitivity and respect for varying perspectives.
  • Strategic thinking and ability to develop, assess, and refine DEI initiatives effectively.
  • Collaboration skills and the ability to work within teams, promoting cooperation and fostering an environment that values everyone’s input.
  • Written and verbal communication skills, especially in sensitive contexts.
  • Ability to facilitate inclusive dialogue.

6.3 Compensation

  • Members will receive a stipend for their contributions.
  • The stipend will be determined by the Executive Director in consultation with the Board Treasurer.

7.0 A note on Relationship with the CNVC Governance System

  • The DEI Vertical is a circle with a special focus that applies vertically - DEI matters across the whole organization. The circle will report to the Coordinating Circle after the first review of this mandate in June 2026 (see section 10.0), and until then they will report to the Board and Executive Director.
  • The Executive Director is responsible for operationalizing the DEI Vertical and managing HR functions.
  • The DEI Vertical supports and partners with different governing bodies as well as Operations and task forces in order to support that the policies, systems, structures, and activities of CNVC are imbued with DEI awareness.
  • However, the DEI Vertical may not make decisions in other bodies’ domains.
  • In extreme cases, the DEI Vertical may recommend that the Board intervenes in case DEI principles are not being upheld.

8.0 Processes

8.1 Decision Making

  • The domain for decision making is defined above.
  • Decisions are made on the DEI Vertical either through the process defined in CNVC’s Governance or through an inclusive process chosen by the DEI Vertical.

8.2 Information Flow

  • In line with system to be designed by Coordinating Circle
  • DEI Vertical will communicate with membership and governing bodies on a regular basis via email and Global Home in order to share their activities
  • Once a year the DEI Vertical will publish a report of their activities and outcomes.

8.3 Feedback

  • DEI Vertical will receive Feedback through our organization's Feedback System.

8.4 Resource Allocation

  • DEI Vertical will be allocated an amount in every financial year to hire consultants, trainers, and other professionals as needed.

8.5 Conflict Engagement

  • In line with the CES which comes under CC (until this is set up, conflicts come to the Executive Director+Board).

9.0 Notes on Launching

  • Job descriptions for the DEI Vertical members to be created and shared by Operations.
  • The Executive Director and Board Treasurer set:
    • Stipend for DEI Vertical Members
    • Funds given to DEI Vertical in the coming year (this needs to be included in the budget here on out)
  • Members of the DEI Vertical are selected by a team of the Executive Director + 2 Board members (see Section 6.0 on Structure and Composition above).
  • DEI Vertical members are not “elected” or “volunteers”, but “selected” and either seen as “consultants” or “employees” who are paid.
  • However, unlike other staff, members may only be removed through a team of the Executive Director + 2 Board members.
  • DEI Vertical will report to both the Board and Executive Director who will hold this in partnership with each other. 

10.0 Mandate Review Timeline

  • The DEI Vertical Mandate is to be reviewed in 1.5 years (the first review process will take place June 2026).
  • The Board is responsible for reviewing the mandate in partnership with the Executive Director and in an advice process with the DEI Vertical.
  • The Board of Directors may do so directly or assemble a Task Force to do so.

 

Privacy Policy

CNVC Privacy and Cookie Policy

1. Who we are

This is the website for the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC), a global organization that supports the learning and sharing of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), and helps people peacefully and effectively resolve conflicts in personal, organizational, and political settings.

CNVC is strongly committed to internet privacy. The type and amount of information we receive depends on how you use the site. This page describes how the CNVC gathers and uses your information and data for this web site.

CNVC is a not-for-profit organization registered under United States law. In this policy, whenever you see the words ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’, it refers to this organization, which is a Data Controller.

Data Protection Notice

CNVC has adopted this high standard of personal data protection so that our website and online practices reflect our own values and standards. This page has the information to help visitors become informed users, and help us be a safe and secure place for people around the world to connect with us and with each other.

Some of the services offered on our website require the processing of your personal data. In such cases, links are available on those pages directing you to the specific information about the processing contained in the relevant data protection notices.

Your personal data and our website:

  • We collect your personal information only to the extent necessary to fulfill a precise purpose related to our tasks;
  • We will use your personal data for purposes you have explicitly agreed to;
  • We do not reuse the information for another purpose that is different to any you have designated;
  • We put in place measures to guarantee that our databases containing your personal data are kept up-to-date and processed securely; 
  • Under certain conditions outlined in law, we may disclose your information to third parties, (such as the European Anti-Fraud Office, the Court of Auditors, or law enforcement authorities) if it is necessary and proportionate for lawful, specific purposes;
  • You have the right to access your personal information, to correct it or have it corrected if necessary;
  • You have the right to recourse at any time if you believe your data protection rights have been breached;
  • We do not keep your personal information for longer than necessary for the purposes for which we collected it;
  • However, we may keep your information for a longer period for historical, statistical or scientific purposes with the appropriate safeguards in place.

2. Why we collect information

For a future where human relations and social systems value human needs

To build this kind of future, we need to have effective communications. By understanding more about how people use the information we provide, we can improve how we communicate information that we believe is relevant and meaningful to you.

To deliver important information about NVC in the world

We consider talking to you directly - via this website, its community platform or our newsletter - is more effective and efficient than reaching you anywhere else. This helps us steward the integrity of the NVC process and reach the right audiences with the right message. 

To save money

We strive to use the money that has been entrusted to us effectively, so we consider how to communicate with our stakeholders in the most cost-effective ways.. Collecting information about you and what grabs your attention allows us to work out the most efficient way to do things so that more funds can be directed into allowing more people to learn NVC.

3. What types of information do we collect?

The information we may collect may include any of the following:

  • Images, photographs or video if you take part in an event with us
  • Details of your visit to our websites, including technical information such as the IP address you use to access the website, your device, browser type and version

If you choose to provide it, we can collect the following types of personal information from you:

  • Your name, email address, country of residence, languages you speak, phone number, along with your preferences on topics, communications you want to receive and how we should contact you in the future
  • Credit card details
  • Information you enter onto our website
  • Any other details which you give us 

We do not collect any other information without the visitor’s knowledge and permission.

4. How do we collect your data? 

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

  • When you create a personal account on this website
  • When your sign up for our trainings, gatherings, or other events
  • When you become a Certification Candidate, Certified Trainer or Supporting Member
  • When you sign up to our newsletter or update your emailing  preferences
  • When you make a donation to us
  • When you participate in other online campaigns or activities 
  • When you apply for a job or volunteering opportunity with us

We may collect information about you by:

  • Direct interaction
  • Automated technologies or interactions, for example when you receive an email, open it, don’t open it, select a link, browse our website,
  • Social media (Facebook, X Twitter, Instagram or Linkedin), depending on your settings or the privacy policies of these social media services. To changes your settings on these services, please refer to their privacy policies which will tell you how to do this.

Those who self-identify as local NVC supporters, local NVC groups or local NVC web sites, or who have a role with the CNVC’s organization (certified trainers, organizers, board members, IIT Resource Team, Educational Resource Team, and designated CNVC staff) can be seen on our site. Users who choose to be visible will also have the option to be contacted through the website forms, rather than make their email address public.

We ask for only the basic information necessary if you wish to be found in relevant searches, it is up to each user to designate what is private and public within your own account settings. You are also responsible for keeping your account information up to date, to remove it if your wishes change, and to delete your account completely.

There are two levels of access for a person’s contact information. The CNVC staff has access to all contacts in the Private section of your Information Profile. That’s the first level.

The second level is for the general public. CNVC does not make personal contact information available to the general public for an individual without the individual’s consent. If you want the public to have your contact information enter it in the Public section of your Profile Information. Contact information for people in certain positions (certified trainers, local NVC supporters, board members, and local NVC groups and web sites) is shown to the general public ONLY if the person has indicated that she or he is willing to be listed and has specified the information she or he wants shared with the public.

5. How will we use your data?

We use personal data for a number of different processing activities which includes:

  • Providing you with the information you have requested
  • To administer your membership as one of the stakeholders
  • Providing you with updates about the work we are doing
  • Keeping a record of your relationship with us
  • Asking for non-financial or financial support
  • Processing donations that we receive from you
  • Managing your communication preferences, including marketing preferences
  • Understanding how we can improve our services, or information
  • Sending you tailored communications and displaying relevant adverts which we think will be of interest to you
  • Sending you marketing materials including campaigning and events
  • Inviting you to events and to take part in campaigns and support our work
  • Analyzing our database for statistical purposes, and to better communicate with you about things we think will be of interest
  • Administering and progress your applications for employment or volunteering opportunities with us
  • Fulfilling any legal obligations

6. How do we store your data?

CNVC does not keep your personal information for longer than necessary for the purposes for which we collected it;

However, we may keep your information for a longer period for historical, statistical or scientific purposes with the appropriate safeguards in place.

7. Legal basis of processing

Data protection law requires us to have a legal justification to process your personal information. We use the following depending on the type of data and the type of processing:

Consent
We require your consent to send you our communications for example to send you emails to update you on our work and our campaigns and to request donations. We will only process your information in this way if you consent. If you fill in our forms or apply for a job with us and provide us with sensitive personal information (including details of your race, ethnicity, gender) we will only process that information with your consent.

Legitimate interest
We sometimes share your personal information with Certified Trainers of your region of residence or who speak your language, if you agreed to share it. This is done to fulfill our legitimate interest in promoting our organization as effectively as possible and enabling our message to reach people who may be interested in Nonviolent Communication.

To fulfill a contractual obligation
If you donate to us or express an interest in joining us we will process the personal data you provided to process that donation or action your membership request.

Legal obligation
We will process your personal information to fulfill any legal obligations placed upon us, such as the prevention of fraud or money-laundering. We will also process your personal information if lawfully required to do so by a legal authority or a court of law (such as the European Anti-Fraud Office, the Court of Auditors, or law enforcement authorities) if it is necessary and proportionate for lawful, specific purposes.

Necessity
For example where you are applying for an employment or volunteering opportunity with us, processing certain information is necessary for employment purposes.

Security

We take appropriate measures to ensure that we keep your information secure, accurate and up to date. We also ensure that we have secure systems for processing payments through our payment services provider. This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. However, your confidential use of this site cannot be guaranteed by CNVC. The Center for Nonviolent Communication shall not be responsible for any harm that you or any person may suffer as a result of a breach of confidentiality in respect to your use of this site or any information you transmitted to this site.

8. What are your data protection rights?

CNVC would like to make sure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following:

  • The right to access – You have the right to request CNVC for copies of your personal data. We may charge you a small fee for this service.
  • The right to rectification – You have the right to request that CNVC correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request CNVC to complete the information you believe is incomplete.
  • The right to erasure – You have the right to request that CNVC erase your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to restrict processing – You have the right to request that CNVC restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to object to processing – You have the right to object to CNVC’s processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
  • The right to data portability – You have the right to request that CNVC transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

If you make a request, we have 30 days to respond to you. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at our email: [email protected]

Call us at: +1 (505) 244-4041

Post address: The Center for Nonviolent Communication

1401 Lavaca Street, Pmb 873

Austin, Texas 78701-1634 United States

9. Cookies

Cookies are short text files stored on a user’s device (such as a computer, tablet or phone) by a website.

Cookies are used for the technical functioning of a website or for gathering statistics.

Cookies are also typically used to provide a more personalized experience for a user for example, when an online service remembers your user profile without you having to login.

When you visit our website, we may collect some data on your browsing experience such as your IP address, the website page you visited, when you visited and the website page you were redirected from.

This information is used to gather aggregated and anonymous statistics with a view to improving our services and to enhance your user experience.

When you visit this website, we will keep the browser history of your visit for a maximum of 13 months. This information will then be deleted.

If you wish to restrict or block cookies you can set your internet browser to do so – click on the following link for more information: www.aboutcookies.org.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

In case of activation of the IP anonymization, Google will truncate/anonymize the last octet of the IP address for Member States of the European Union as well as for other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases, the full IP address is sent to and shortened by Google servers in the USA.

On behalf of the website provider Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage to the website provider. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However, we point out that if you do this, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.

10. Social Media

We use social media to present our work through widely used and contemporary channels. Our use of social media is highlighted on this website.

For instance, you can watch videos, which we upload to our YouTube page, and you can follow links from our website to Google, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Cookies are not set by our display of social media buttons to connect to those services when our website pages are loaded on your computer (or other devices) or from components from those services embedded in our web pages.

Each social media channel has their own policy on the way they process your personal data when you access their sites. For example, if you choose to watch one of our videos on YouTube, you will be asked for explicit consent to accept YouTube cookies; if you look at our X/Twitter activity on X/Twitter, you will be asked for explicit consent to accept X/Twitter cookies; the same applies for Google, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

If you have any concerns or questions about their use of your personal data, you should read their privacy policies carefully before using them.

11. Changes to this policy 

We may amend or update this policy at any time to take account of any changes to data protection law or other legislation. When further updates to the policy are made they will be posted on this page, so please check back here regularly. 

11. Contact

If you wish to exercise any of your rights or have any questions about this policy you may contact us in the following ways:

By post:

The Center for Nonviolent Communication

1401 Lavaca Street, Pmb 873

Austin, Texas 78701-1634 United States

By email: [email protected]

By telephone:  +1 (505) 244-4041

Complaints

If you wish to lodge a complaint about our handling of your personal data please get in touch with us on the details above with the details of your complaint; we aim to respond to all complaints within 30 days.

Legal Information

The Center for Nonviolent Communication reserves the right to modify the information contained on this site at anytime without notice. This site and all information and materials on it are provided to you “as is” without warranty of any kind.


CNVC Legal Notice & Disclaimers

The technical information contained herein is provided by The Center for Nonviolent Communicationsm(CNVC) to CNVC members and non-members. While CNVC makes every effort to present accurate and reliable information on this internet site, CNVC does not endorse, approve, or certify such information, nor does it guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy, timeliness, or correct sequencing of such information. Use of such information is voluntary, and reliance on it should only be undertaken after an independent review of its accuracy, completeness, efficacy, and timeliness. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, service mark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by CNVC.

CNVC (including its employees, members and agents) assumes no responsibility for consequences resulting from the use of the information herein [or from use of the information obtained at linked internet addresses] or in any respect for the content of such information, including (but not limited to) errors or omissions, the accuracy or reasonableness of factual or scientific assumptions, studies or conclusions, the defamatory nature of statements, ownership of copyright or other intellectual property rights, and the violation of property, privacy, or personal rights of others. CNVC is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims all liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to, or reliance on such information. No guarantees or warranties, including (but not limited to) any express or implied warranties of merchant ability or fitness for a particular use or purpose, are made by CNVC with respect to such information.



Open Source & Copyrights

Materials which are available in their entirety on this internet site are copyrighted by The Center for Nonviolent Communicationsm (CNVC) unless otherwise indicated. Please contact the respective publishers for copyright information about any of the various items offered for sale or copyrighted by anyone else on this internet site.

Your contribution to making people aware of Nonviolent Communicationsm work is appreciated and can be a gift. All of the material on our website is available for public use. It can be downloaded reprinted and distributed freely. We request that you include at the bottom:

The Center for Nonviolent CommunicationSM
1401 Lavaca St. #873
Austin, TX 78701-1634
Tel: +1 (505) 244-4041

on any material copied, and give CNVC credit when using any quotes and ideas.

We also request that you include our request for contributions that follows:

"We share our material freely and we appreciate donations. A contribution that reflects your appreciation of what we offer and the value you receive will be used to further the development and distribution of Nonviolent Communicationsm. We hope that you will find enough value to want to support the work we are doing and those of us doing it. There is however no obligation regardless of how many copies you print or distribute unless you are using the information for profit. If you would like to use this information for profit, please contact us regarding licensing the material."


Links to Other Internet Sites

This site contains hypertext links to other sites. The Center for Nonviolent Communication is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites. Such external internet addresses contain information created, published, maintained, or otherwise posted by institutions or organizations independent of CNVC.

CNVC does not endorse, approve, certify, or control these external internet addresses and does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy, timeliness, or correct sequencing of information located at such addresses. Use of any information obtained from such addresses is voluntary, and reliance on it should only be undertaken after an independent review of its accuracy, completeness, efficacy, and timeliness. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, service mark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by CNVC.


Security

This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. However, your confidential use of this site cannot be guaranteed by CNVC. The Center for Nonviolent Communication shall not be responsible for any harm that you or any person may suffer as a result of a breach of confidentiality in respect to your use of this site or any information you transmitted to this site.

Guidelines for Sharing Nonviolent Communication


GUIDELINES FOR SHARING NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION

When people experience the impact of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) in their lives, often they want to share what they have learned with others. It is our dream that through our efforts together, people and organizational structures throughout the world will deepen in their capacity to relate peacefully and serve life more fully.

We welcome your to participate in spreading the dream about the vision of NVC, and we want to inspire you to share authentically and creatively from your heart. The following questions are often asked by individuals who want to share their understanding of NVC with individuals, groups, and organizations.

If you want to encourage anyone to share NVC, why do you create CNVC Certified Trainers?

Our intention is to encourage people to pass on their valuable learning in ways that are meaningful to them. We promote the teaching of NVC through our trainer certification program because we want to protect the integrity of NVC as a body of teaching. We do this by fostering a community of CNVC Certified Trainers who have the shared experience of the CNVC certification process.

Through the certification process, we develop a relationship with and trust CNVC Certified Trainers to communicate the purposes and the intent of Nonviolent Communication in an accurate, thorough, consistent and reliable way. CNVC Certified Trainers are asked to stay in community with CNVC and other CNVC Certified Trainers, and to make a yearly commitment to support the work and mission of CNVC, along with other agreements that can be found in the CNVC Trainer Agreement.

So anyone can share their own experiences regarding NVC?

Yes! We appreciate you sharing from your experiences and clarifying that your experience is based on your own understanding of Nonviolent Communication. When you share your experiences using any of the trademarked terms listed below, we request that you acknowledge and mention local or regional NVC organizations and CNVC Certified Trainers, as well as provide CNVC contact information, www.cnvc.org.

Can we advertise or set up formal meetings regarding Nonviolent Communication?

If you are sharing your NVC experiences through a presentation such as a workshop or practice group, we request that you refrain from using the following terms in the headings, titles, or subtitles of your workshops, materials or media promoting your work such as business cards, brochures, email addresses or Internet domain names. However, feel free to use these terms as you share NVC, and in the body of your materials or media promoting your work.

We have heard requests to create a list of alternative names and/or titles for use by those who are not CNVC Certified Trainers. We would like to support you in your creativity, choice, and freedom to find titles that describe your intent and your own personal focus; we feel that creating a specific list of alternatives might be more limiting than supportive. Instead, we encourage you to be as creative as possible, and we are reminded that there are so many other ways to express the beauty that NVC can bring to our lives.

The trademarked terms include:

  • Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life
  • The Center for Nonviolent Communication
  • CNVC

Can we say that we are “NVC trainers”?

CNVC Certified Trainers are identified as being sponsored by CNVC through use of the term “CNVC Certified Trainer” which signifies their connection with CNVC.  In order to avoid any confusion regarding sponsorship, we request that you use terms that are free of the implication of certification or sponsorship by CNVC or any of the first set of trademarked terms listed above on any media or materials such as business cards, brochures, email addresses and website names. We request that you inform those that you share your NVC experiences with that you are not certified by CNVC as a trainer; however, feel free to provide information about your own work, NVC training, and life experiences.

Is that all? Do you want any financial return from my workshops?

We would enjoy receiving a donation from you as an expression of the giving and receiving spirit in which we hope you are sharing your NVC experience. These funds support CNVC in its mission to make NVC available throughout the world.

May I share materials produced by CNVC or CNVC trainers when I do presentations?

Please engage in a dialogue with CNVC before using these materials. Most materials are produced for specific types of training, and we find that the clarity and integrity of these materials are best received when offered within the context for which they were developed. To use materials created by an individual, please check with that person first. If you use or produce your own materials, please refer to “Nonviolent Communication” as you share your experiences, indicating the materials and content are “based on the work of Dr. Marshall Rosenberg and the Center for Nonviolent Communication”

If you still have questions, we will do our best to answer them.  If you have needs that would not be met by agreeing to these guidelines, please contact the CNVC office for further dialogue before you or your group proceeds outside these guidelines. We look forward to working with you in our quest to create a more peaceful world.

CNVC Educational Services Team
Center for Nonviolent Communication 
30-Nov-2016

If you are interested in pursuing certification, please visit the Certification page for more information.

Financial Assistance for Intensive Training

Financial Assistance for International Intensive Trainings

We realize that life situations make it difficult for some people to raise enough funds to participate in one of our intensive trainings. If this is the case for you, we strongly encourage you to to ask for financial assistance, and we will do our best to support you to participate in this IIT.

Since money can be a loaded topic in our world, for many people asking for financial support is challenging and uncomfortable. If you are inspired to attend an IIT, we invite you to join us in a mutual process to explore possibilities.

HOW IT WORKS:

After applying the available discounts, if you are not able to afford the tuition, you can request financial assistance to further reduce your tuition fee.  (Note: We do not offer assistance for Room and Board, which is a direct expense for the venue). We have a limited amount of financial assistance available and we prioritize people who meet one or more of the following criteria:

  1. Actively collaborating with others in the NVC network.
  2. Can use what they learn in this training to make an impact such as in education, government, environmental sustainability, equity and inclusion, or with an NGO or community-based organization.
  3. From a region that has fewer in-person NVC trainings.
  4. Part of an economic system that offers less access to financial resources.
  5. Come from a disadvantaged group (race, ethnicity, origin, religion, gender identity, class).
  6. Willing to search for other sources of financial support such as their workplace, family, or organizations they are involved in (in order to be in partnership with us about finding the resources to host this training while including as many people as possible).

Instructions for how to request financial assistance will be provided after you submit the IIT pre-registration form.

Discounts for Intensive Trainings

Note: these discounts only apply to tuition payments (not to room & board or other expenses)

10% if you participated in (and paid tuition for) a previous Intensive Training with the Center for Nonviolent Communication 

10% if you have been, or will have been, a Supporting Member of CNVC for 6 months or more before the first day of the IIT

15% if you are a Certification Candidate registered with CNVC. The discount applies only to people who are officially registered candidates.

If you are not sure if you are officially registered as a Certification Candidate, email us at [email protected]. If you're not registered yet, ask your Assessor if it might be possible for you to become registered before the IIT.

If you are not registered as a candidate at the time of payment, you can pay the full price without this discount, and if you become a registered certification candidate by the start date of the IIT, we will refund you the difference (the 15% discount amount).

25% if you are an active Trainer certified with CNVC

The discount applies only to active Certified Trainers. "Active" means that in the last year, you have completed the renewal steps including filling out the Annual Trainer Survey, making an Annual Trainer Contribution, and signing the Trainer Agreement if applicable (if it has been updated).

Note, that there is also a limited number of tuition-free spaces available for Certified Trainers, granted by a committee. For more information, visit this page.

Cancellation Policy for Intensive Trainings

You wanted to attend this event, paid for it, and then something changed in your situation. That is when this Cancellation and Refund Policy becomes important!
We value flexibility and understand that “life happens” and sometimes people need to change their plans. At the same time, we want to acknowledge the financial commitments and other plans made by CNVC, the Organizer, and the venue.

We have established the below policy to take into account all of these needs:


A. If we cancel:

You receive a 100% refund of all tuition and/or room and board payments (alternatively, if you wish, you can apply your money to another CNVC intensive training within 2 years).

B. If you cancel:

Tuition

30 days or more before the start date, you have two options:

  1. Transfer 100% of your payment to a future CNVC intensive training within 2 years (starting the date you canceled); or
  2. Receive a refund on tuition fee minus a nonrefundable 10% cancellation fee

Between 30 days and 4 days before the IIT start date you have two options:

  1. Transfer 75% of your tuition payment to a future CNVC training within 2 years (starting the date you canceled) - we retain 25%; or
  2. Receive a 50% refund of your tuition (we retain 50%).

From 3 days before the IIT start date, no refunds and transfers are available.

You will notice that the closer to the start date, the lower your refund.  This is to acknowledge the financial commitments that CNVC makes in the planning process. E.g. We are often required to pay for a venue, whether or not you show up. We also put considerable human resources into the organization of an IIT and some of these costs are not recoverable.

Since last minute cancellations are mostly because of an injury or a health issue, we recommend that participants take their own insurance to cover these cases.

Refunds will be issued within 10 business days after you cancel.

Room and Board

Refund of the hotel costs for food and lodging is dependent upon the unique contractual factors with the venue. Please contact the Local Organizer for details.

Agreements for Intensive Trainings

We are happy that you will participate in a 9-day Nonviolent Communication training – the International Intensive Training (IIT) sponsored by the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC).

In order to create an environment that is supportive and that offers predictability -- and supports you in making choices for your wellbeing -- we ask you to make a series of agreements.

1. If I complete this training, I will receive a Certificate of Completion, which is different from being authorized or certified as an official trainer of the CNVC. If I share NVC, unless I am already a Certified CNVC trainer, I agree to present myself as a student, supporter, or candidate for certification (if I am a registered candidate for certification) rather than as a CNVC Certified Trainer. Also, I agree to follow the “Guidelines for Sharing NVC for Individuals who are not Certified Trainers.

2. All materials that I will receive are the property of the Trainers who created them. I agree to use these materials only for my personal use -- and refrain from copying or sharing with others -- unless I receive explicit consent from the creators.

3. I understand that while this training might be healing and therapeutic in nature, it is not a substitute for mental health therapy or psychiatric care.

4. I am responsible for my own behavior the entire time I participate in this event. I understand that some activities could be mentally and emotionally challenging. My level of participation in the activities is entirely my choice, and I can modify or end my participation at any time.

5. I agree to follow the COVID regulations as established by the country or municipality where this IIT will take place. I will follow these regulations and not avoid any of them, and at the same time, I will not expect any additional regulations above and beyond what is required by the country or municipality.

6. If I contract an illness from a virus or other pathogen during this training, I am responsible for the costs of medical care and any other related costs such as changing travel arrangements. I will exercise consideration for others when it comes to contagious illnesses and reach out to the organizer to decide on any actions.

7. Since the program is a closed event and only registered participants are allowed to participate in the sessions, I agree not to bring or invite to the sessions anyone who is not registered. If there are areas or spaces designated for participants of this event, like conference areas or dining areas, I agree not to bring or invite anyone who is not a registered participant to these spaces.

8. I agree to the Photo & Video Agreement which ensures me choice and gives the right to CNVC to gather photos and videos, celebrate, and for YOU to have memories. 

Supporting Trainers at Intensive Trainings

 

Supporting Trainers at IITs

At each of our 9-day International Intensive Trainings (IITs), we reserve three or more spaces for Certified Trainers to attend as participants to continue their own learning and bring support. This is one way that we appreciate and acknowledge our Certified Trainers for their contributions, and to give them an opportunity for their own enrichment and development, as well as an opportunity to contribute their skills to support the training team. 

Definition

Supporting Trainers are Certified Trainers who participate in an IIT who are not members of the official training team. They receive free tuition and pay for their own travel and accommodation.

Number

For each IIT we invite three Certified Trainers to join the IIT tuition-free as Supporting Trainers. If the IIT reaches the threshold of 58 paying Participants, a fourth Supporting Trainer can be invited. When 83 or more Participants have registered a fifth Supporting Trainer can be offered a tuition free space.

Also, sometimes we get creative when there are even more Certified Trainers who want to participate as Supporting Trainers (when space is available). For example, if there are 3 spaces and 6 trainers who want to participate, each of them pays an average of 50% of the tuition fee... and often, they decide among themselves how to distribute the payments! Obviously, with more than 900 Certified Trainers, only a relatively small % can participate as an Supporting Trainer each year.

Criteria

Certified Trainers are eligible to be considered for one of the Supporting Trainer spaces if all the following things are true -- the trainer has:

  1. Participated in a previous IIT.
  2. Paid a tuition fee for one or more IITs.
  3. Completed the annual renewal steps for Certified Trainers in the past 12 months.
  4. Not been an Supporting Trainer at an IIT in the past 12 months.

Also, we might prioritize choosing Certified Trainers who have not previously received a free tuition space at an IIT before choosing ones who have. 

How to apply

Fill out the Pre-registration form at the bottom of the Landing Page of the IIT of your choice, and make sure to indicate in the last field ( "Do you have any questions, comments, or requests?" ) that you are interested in the Supporting Trainer role and whether you meet the four criteria above. Thank you!

Selection Process

The decision about which Certified Trainers we invite to participate tuition-free is made by a 3-person committee consisting of the Organizer of the IIT, one representative of CNVC, and one trainer...the same group that makes decisions about how we allocate our financial assistance.

If you are not selected as an Supporting Trainer, you may want to join as a paying participant and pay tuition with a 25% tuition discount.

Financial Contribution

If you find joy in donating to CNVC’s Financial Assistance Fund that would be greatly appreciated -- especially if your financial situation makes that easy to do -- but it is not required or expected.

Suggestions

The suggestions below are for inspiration only -- the final agreements are made between the trainer team and the Supporting Trainers. There are several levels of involvement possible depending on the needs and goals of the Supporting Trainers, and how that fits with the needs of the training team.

Supporting Trainers might want to be participants like other participants in order to learn, be inspired, and restore their energy. Please make sure that you have expressed the level of engagement that you wish for during the IIT, and that you can confirm this with the trainer team before the start of the IIT. Or, the Supporting Trainer might want to be actively involved in some way - see the list below. In this case the Supporting Trainer might see themselves more as a support trainer or an assisting trainer depending on the agreement with the team. In all cases, you are registered as a participant free of tuition, and still pay your own travel and accommodation. 

Here is a list of ways that Supporting Trainers might help to hold the container for the group, create a safe and joyful space, and offer support to participants. This could include the following:

  • Show up fully present in the community meetings, holding the space and presence together with the trainer team.
  • Be a “Flying Giraffe,” meaning that you spend time with participants, receiving them empathically, as well as approaching participants that you sense might need some support.
  • Offer support in breakout sessions when needed or when asked by a trainer - for instance when one participant encounters something challenging and could benefit from individual support.
  • Inform the trainer team when you see/hear things that worry you such as the dynamics in a home group, or conflicts between participants, or the situation of a specific participant.
  • Mediate conflicts between individuals and/or in home groups if you encounter difficulties.
  • Support Certification Candidates with preparations and being present to provide them  with feedback on their offerings, be a sounding board
  • Support people to make sure that daily rememberings are relevant/inspiring and time appropriate.
  • Coordinate evening sessions. For example, is it helpful if all candidates who want feedback on their presentation also have one or more CTs with them in their group.
  • Track announcements and issues to report in Community Meetings.
  • Coordinate volunteers to beautify our spaces with volunteers.

While we are grateful for your presence and support, the trainers’ plates are likely to be full and focused on caring for the group and their sessions… so in most cases, they will not have a lot of availability to hang out with Supporting Trainers as much as they might enjoy.  The training team might provide a liaison to connect the two teams (Supporting Trainers and the official IIT training team), and there may be a couple of meetings together, and yet in most cases, it will probably not go much beyond that other than impromptu interactions in the natural course of the training.

We also suggest that a few weeks before the IIT, when it's clear who the Supporting Trainers will be, that you connect amongst each other to make plans and requests of each other for empathy, a check in about what interests you, and how you might support each other.  We are hopeful that this brings more clarity and predictability to what the experience might be for Supporting Trainers at IITs, and helps you make choices to fulfill the goals that you have in joining the IIT in this role.

Photos & Videos at Intensive Trainings

The Center for Nonviolent Communication would like to use the photos and videos from this event to inform others about what this event is like and to spread Nonviolent Communication (NVC) around the world. In addition, we want to provide memories of the people you met and the experiences that you had. Are you willing to help us with this?

Here is the process that we will follow:

  • We will ask that people abstain from taking photographs for the first three days of the event so that everyone can orient themselves to the experience and get to know their fellow participants.
  • If I do NOT want my likeness in any photograph or video to be taken, the organizers will describe at the beginning of the event how I can avoid having my photograph taken in the first place.
  • Photographs and videos can be uploaded by anyone who was present including participants, trainers, and on-site coordinators within 7 days of the end of the event. You will receive the link on the third day of the IIT.
  • After 7 days, we will reach out to everyone who was present, and offer a 2-week review period. We will provide a way for you to tell us if you want your face blurred, or for a photograph or video that you appear in to be deleted altogether.

At the end of this process, three weeks after the end of the IIT, taking into account that all the participants have had the opportunity to request deletion (or blurring their image), any remaining photographs and videos will be covered by this Photo and Video Release Form. 

By signing this agreement, you agree and consent as follows:

  1. I consent and authorize the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC), to use my likeness in any photograph or video that is taken at this International Intensive Training, in any and all of its publications, including print or web-based publications such as their website and social media accounts. 
  2. I understand and agree that all Photos and Videos are the property of CNVC.
  3. I acknowledge that I am not entitled to any compensation or royalties with respect to the use of the Photos and videos.
  4. I agree to release and forever discharge CNVC from the claims, liabilities, obligations, promises, agreements, disputes, demands, damages, causes of action of any nature or kind, known or unknown, which I, and anyone claiming on behalf of me, may have or claim to have against CNVC in connection with this Release.
  5. I have carefully read and understand the provisions of this Photo Release Form and am freely, knowingly, and voluntarily agreeing.