Non-profits can be fully sociocratic, with their board being the Mission Circle and people in leading positions serving as leaders of department circles, therefore also serving on the General Circle. Oftentimes, the Executive Director will be the leader of the General Circle. Pay and authority can be looked at separately – while the structure is the same as in any other organization, some or all of the roles might be filled by paid staff or by (unpaid) volunteers. One significant difference between traditional nonprofit boards and sociocratic nonprofit Mission Circles is the double link between the General Circle and the Mission Circle. That means that the leader of the GC (Executive Director) has full consent rights on the Mission Circle, as well as the delegate from the GC to the MC.
For more information, check out our handbook Many Voices One Song chapter 6