Newsletter

We send out an e-newsletter (once per week at most!) to members who subscribe.  You can see archives of previous editions here.

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Contacts

For press inquiries, please email the County Council at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or phone 415-480-GPSF (480-4773). Mail (and donations by check) can be sent to:

San Francisco Green Party

c/o David Fairley

25 Fair Oaks St

San Francisco, CA 94110

(note the the above address is just for sending us mail; it's not an office)

For questions about donations, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Never email your credit card number or other sensitive information!

To submit events and notices to our newsletter, email a short blurb to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Automated email (spam) will be ignored--if you want our members to know about an event, please send a personal message.

The leadership body of the SF Green Party is the County Council (elected every 2 years, or appointed by the active members--see our bylaws for details).  Our current county council members (through the 2024 primary election) are:

  • John-Marc Chandonia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 415-285-5696
  • Rich Stone

The County Council is looking to nominate new members. Individuals of all walks of life that wish to help build the SF Green Party should email us to seek a nomination. Women, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and young adults are currently under-represented and are particularly encouraged to seek a nomination.

How we make Endorsements

The SF Green Party may issue endorsements at any time; however, most endorsements of candidates occur following the filing deadline for the seats being contested.

The active members of the SF Green Party create a candidate questionnaire for each race, and send it to all candidates who qualify to appear on the ballot.  All candidates' answers to our questionnaires are posted on our website.  All candidates who return a completed questionnaire are invited to attend our candidate forum, which is open to the public.  This forum is intended for Green Party members to ask any follow-up questions based on the candidates' answers to our questionnaire, or to ask any questions not included in the questionnaire.

Following the candidate forum, the active members of the party make the endorsement decision. We conduct straw polls to determine which position is most likely to reach consensus, followed by a formal endorsement proposal.  The proposal may be to issue a ranked choice endorsement, especially if the election uses Instant Runoff Voting (aka Ranked Choice Voting).  Proposals for endorsement also include language describing our reasons for endorsement in further detail.  If we fail to reach consensus on issuing an endorsement, our fallback voting threshold of 75% is a much higher bar than that used by most other political groups.

The SF Green Party may endorse any candidate in a  non-partisan race or in a partisan general election, but does not issue endorsements in other political parties' primaries.  Registered Green Party members are preferred, but are not guaranteed our endorsement.

Ballot propositions are vetted by the appropriate working group, which may choose to make endorsement proposals to the General Membership.  In cases where we require more information about a proposition, proponents and opponents are invited to speak at a forum and answer questions from the audience.  All meetings are open to the public.

About The Green Party

The San Francisco Green Party is part of a large and growing grassroots electoral movement, which is attempting to restore the democratic process and put people in office who truly are working in the best interests of the majority. Only by doing this can we solidify progress, and prevent the rollback of the gains made by society.

We are a part of the Green Party of California, which is part of the Green Party of the United States, one of many Green Parties around the world.

We hold regular monthly meetings on the 4th Wednesday of every month; locations vary, but are announced in our newsletter and in the "events" section on the left side of this page.  New members are welcome to join us!  The agendas are generally set about a week in advance; to suggest items for an upcoming meeting, email the County Council at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Please click on the links to the left, or browse the rest of the site for more information on the Green Party in general or current information on some of the projects of the San Francisco Green Party.

Consensus

The SF Green Party uses the consensus process for making most of our decisions, including endorsements.  In the consensus process, we seek the agreement of a supermajority of participants, and also to resolve or mitigate the concerns of the minority in order to achieve the most agreeable decision.

The consensus process starts with a presentation of a proposal by one or more presenters.  After the presentation, the meeting facilitators take a "stack" of questions designed to clarify any parts of the proposal or facts concerning it that are not clear.  The facilitators alternate between calling on male and female participants ("gender stacking") and may call on people out of turn in order to encourage participants who have not previously spoken.

After the clarifying questions are answered, the facilitators take another stack of concerns and affirmations about the proposal.  People with concerns are encouraged to provide "friendly amendments" that will change the proposal to resolve or mitigate their concern; these amendments may be accepted at the option of the presenters.  All such actions are noted in the minutes.  When all concerns have been heard, the facilitators test for consensus.

If there are no remaining concerns that have not been resolved by friendly amendments, consensus is reached and the proposal passes.

If there are remaining concerns, the presenters may withdraw the proposal, or have the facilitators ask those people with concerns to "stand aside."  If all those with concerns agree to stand aside, the proposal still passes by consensus.

A person with a concern about the proposal may not agree to stand aside, especially if they feel that enacting the proposal would not be consistent with our Ten Key Values.  This is called a "blocking" concern.  If there are blocking concerns about a proposal, consensus is not reached.

In cases where we do not reach consensus, the presenters have the option of attempting to pass the proposal by supermajority vote.  Business decisions (i.e., carrying out an existing policy) require a 2/3 threshold, endorsements a 3/4 threshold, and adoption of new policies requires a 4/5 threshold.  Details of our voting procedure are given in our bylaws.

More Articles...

  1. 10 Key Values
  2. Bylaws