Membership Process 2016

Approved by board vote in August 2016.

= General Process =

Each year new charter members are nominated and elected by existing OSGeo charter members, in a process operated by the Chief Returning Officer (CRO).

Previously:


 * Membership Process 2014 Approved by board vote in July 2014.

Nominations

 * 1) The nominations period should be roughly 2 weeks, and should be announced by the CRO on the OSGeo announce and discuss lists.
 * 2) An existing charter member can nominate potential new Charter Member(s).
 * 3) * It is your responsibility to verify with the nominee that they are willing to stand for the election (this should include an explanation of Membership_Process.)
 * 4) * Nominees should meet the Membership_Process for Charter Members.
 * 5) A person may ask a  charter member who can vouch for the Positive Attributes of the person to nominate them.
 * 6) Nominations for charter membership should be sent to the discuss@osgeo.org (CCing at cro@osgeo.org).
 * 7) * A nomination must be seconded by at least one other charter member
 * 8) * CRO will gather nominations into a candidates list to be presented to the OSGeo board
 * 9) All OSGeo members (members as well as charter members) are encouraged to discuss candidates on the discuss list.
 * 10) * A veto may be raised by any OSGeo member (members as well as charter members) by sending a private e-mail to the CRO (at cro@osgeo.org)
 * 11) * CRO will gather any and all vetos for the OSGeo board for an anonymous review
 * 12) * If the veto is accepted by the board, then the CRO shall reply to the public discuss@osgeo.org and the nomination is removed from the CROs candidates list
 * 13) Once all the nominations close
 * 14) * A summary of charter candidates will be prepared and presented by the CRO to the OSGeo board
 * 15) * When approved by the OSGeo board the candidates will be added as charter members and posted to the OSGeo discuss list.

= Positive Attributes =

Recommended membership selection criteria include:


 * Previous participation in or support of OSGeo activities
 * The person should already have made a contribution to free and open source geospatial software, education or open data.
 * The person should be willing to put in time and effort on the Foundation, perhaps joining committee(s), or volunteering in some other way that gets the Foundation going.
 * Members should believe in the general goals of the Foundation. To support and promote the use of free and open source geospatial software, education and data in a collaborative manner.
 * Members selected should provide a diversity of geographic regions, diversity of projects, diversity of programming languages and diversity of interests (e.g., corporate, hobbyist, educational, scientific).
 * Members should be prepared to work constructively and positively towards the goals of the Foundation. Good teamwork skills are an asset.

= Responsibilities =

Official responsibilities for charter members are important, but relatively light. As of August 2014, they include:
 * 1) Annually vote for OSGeo Board members.
 * 2) Annually vote for new OSGeo Charter members.
 * 3) Be aware of and protect against a hostile takeover of OSGeo. This threat is incredibly low but has been known to occur in other volunteer organisations.