Policy Development

Developing a policy at Free Geek

When a new policy is proposed, we should [put its text on a new page]. It should be clearly labeled as a by including this text at the top of the page:

{{policy in development}}

This will include the following text:

This is a page concerning a policy or procedure in development.
Once fleshed out, we'll consider it for adoption as official policy at Free Geek.

Discussion about the proposal should take place in the discussion link for that page. From time to time a rough consensus will be formed around various points in the proposal and at that time the main page should be altered. This allows us to separate the general conversion (ideas that we talk about but may not end up in the proposal) from the actual proposal we end up making.

We need to keep in mind that folks who don't use the wiki will have opinions. These people should be encouraged to use the wiki, but current wiki users should also seek out and summarize their input, recognizing that not everyone who ought to weigh in on an issue will be a wiki user.

When a policy is finalized (when consensus is reached through the wiki, email lists, face to face meetings, and so on) we should re-label the main page as POLICY (as opposed to PROPOSAL). Using the category function in the wiki will make compiled lists of proposals and policies automatic.

Who makes policies?

Overall policies that affect all of Free Geek, policies that affect multiple groups, and policies that are controversial in nature are decided by the Free Geek Community Council (http://lists.freegeek.org/listinfo/council/). Other policies are more limited in nature and decided by the appropriate group or committee.

Proposal and Policy Repository

This is our policy repository. Ideally when a proposal is made, a policy agreed upon, or an old policy unearthed, it should go here. Several Free Geek policies are currently buried in old meeting minutes, or completely unrecorded. Feel free to scour old minutes by browsing the archives of the various email lists at http://lists.freegeek.org/listinfo/ and posting newly discovered policies below.

Please find an appropriate section below and post agreed upon policies here along with an indication of when they went into effect and a link to the minutes or email containing the final wording of the policy.

Hardware Grants

• Instagrants

Informal Grant Policies

Please look for documentation on these, especially specific wording, so they can be moved up to the official policies section.

• Grants are for nonprofit organization, loosely defined. A nonprofit organization does not need to be a 501(c)(3), nor even incorporated. We cannot, however, grant to organizations that we are prohibited from since we are a 501(c)(3). This applies to partisan political organizations and some other types of groups.
• Individuals may not ask for grants, though a nonprofit can ask for a grant and pass it through to an individual. The council has directed the grants group to deprioritize pass-through grants and encourage potential recipients to investigate the adoption program.
• Local requests take priority over distant ones.
• Distant requests need to explain their disposal plan for the day that the granted equipment finally becomes unusable.

Sales

• Ebay Sales Policy July, 2004
• Laptop Sales Policy April 2004
• Personal Sales Policy May 2004

Informal Sales Policies

Please look for documentation on these, especially specific wording, so they can be moved up to the official policies section.

• Volunteers get a 50% discount in the store if they've worked at least 4 hours in the last 90 days. This applies to donated gizmos only. Other items, such as t-shirts and bumper stickers, have a 10% discount for volunteers.
• People who buy a yearly membership to Free Geek get half of a volunteer discount (25% and 5%).
• We don't sell sytems that are equivalent to FreekBoxen in the store. Nor do we sell components that are in such short demand that it might endanger the production of FreekBoxen. In practice this means the systems sold in the store are less than FreekBox spec. But we have recently agreed to sell a limited number of higher end systems (above FreekBox spec) as long as it doesn't impede FreekBox production.
• Even if a volunteer normally would receive a discount in the store they are not allowed to take it on items that they intend to resell.
• If a customer wants to buy something that is not in the store, the store may issue them a 'hall pass' that details where they can go to look for it and what they are looking for.

Staffing and HR

Hiring

• Hiring Policy April 16, 2003
• Paid Internship Policy May 21, 2004
• Converting Interns to Collective Members September, 2004

Vacation

• Asking for Vacation Policy April 16, 2004
• Retroactive Vacation Credit
• Limits on Vacation Accrual

Disciplinary and Grievance

• Volunteer Discipline Policy May, 2004
• Staff Discipline Policy PROPOSAL

Other

• Determining Seniority Policy April 16, 2004
• Staff Contracting Policy August, 2004
• Arriving Late and Cancellations November, 2004
• Collective Member Review Policy January, 2005
• Layoffs and Hours Reduction In process (January, 2005)

Tech Support

• Basic Tech Support for FreekBoxen

Decision Making

• Eligibility for Council June, 2002
• On List Decisions Policy June, 2002

Miscellaneous

• Room Use Policy May, 2004
• Holiday Policy October, 2002
• Groups Volunteering March, 2004
• Busy Bee Duties March, 2004
• Reimbursement for Volunteer's Incidental Expenses March, 2003
• Volunteer Intern Process February, 2004

Informal Miscellaneous Policies

Please look for documentation on these, especially specific wording, so they can be moved up to the official policies section.

• Volunteers in the adoption program can earn a free computer in exchange for 24 hours of work.
• Volunteers in the build program can earn a free computer in exchange for building six computers. The sixth computer is the one they keep, and they can build it themselves.
• Volunteers can only earn one computer per year.
• Volunteers who cannot understand English are welcome to participate in our programs, but they must provide a translator to help them learn the job and otherwise communicate. In http://lists.freegeek.org/pipermail/core/2004-May/001855.html Laurel says:

As we would have done in the past - require them to provide a translator. They're 
supposed to bring a translator while they work and when they come on the tour. No 
need to panic. We have just the same situation as before, no problems have been 
added (unless, of course, someone implies during the class that we would offer 
spanish-language support).

Proposals

Proposals (final wording not yet agreed upon) go here, along with a brief description. If consensus is reached move them up to the policy section.

• Wifi Use Statement -- A policy statement in development: explaining our decision process about using wifi at Free Geek. There seems to be substantial consensus about the wording, but feelings that it needs to be shorter.
• Staff Discipline Policy
• Volunteer Intern Process -- February, 2004
• Nonprofit Assistance Program
• Contractor List