[This is a draft for the membership committee. Please read and comment. I'd like to be able to submit it to the board for a vote on August 6 for our next board meeting. Guidelines for membership are at the bottom of this mail. Please comment on them as well; it's not easy to define all of this. <http://www.spi-inc.org/corporate/spi-bylaws> has the bylaws. Thanks. --nils.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Resolution 2001-08-06.nl Charter for the Membership Committee ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A charter is hereby granted for the formation and operation of a committee within the guidelines and objectives stated herein. The committee shall operate in the best interest of the free software community and is responsible to the board of directors and to the membership of the organization. Purpose of the Committee --------------------------- It is the responsibility of this committee to manage the Membership of Software in the Public Interest, Inc. This includes defining the criteria for the membership and handling the SPI membership process. The criteria for membership in Software in the Public Interest, Inc. are defined in accordance with Article 3 of the SPI bylaws. Operating Guidelines --------------------------- The committee defines the exact guidelines for membership and is responsible for processing new applicants. The committee shall handle all membership related tasks including verification and approval of all categories of members. The guidelines for membership shall be clearly stated and shall be available to the public. The membership committee has the authority to remove members by unanimous decision. It may also recommend the removal of members to the board, failing a unanimous decision inteh committee. Membership and Organization --------------------------- This committee will consist of a group of people designated by the Board of Directors. The group may request and recommend additional committee members which must be approved by the board. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [this is a separate doc containing the guidelines for membership.] GUIDELINES Non-Contributing Membership --------------------------- This membership can be obtained by applying at <http://nm.spi-inc.org>. The only requirement for non-contributing membership is a valid email address, which is verified automatically by the membership process. This membership does not expire. Contributing Membership ----------------------- Contributing membership grants the member voting power in SPI, and thus should be reserved for people who are actively contributing to the free software community. Contributing membership should be available to the following people: - active members of SPI affiliated projects - active members of any large free software development project - any person who has made a significant contribution to the free software community - any person who actively contributes to the free software community [who else? I'd like some easy criteria that can be applied quickly in most of the cases, but some will not be so easy. The four I've listed are quite clear cut; are there any other categories of people who should have contributing memberships and are easy to define?] [should this be here????] Membership may be granted to other individuals who provide worthwhile contributions to SPI and the free software community.
