Policy Development

When a new policy is proposed, we should [put its text on a new page]. It should be clearly labeled as a PROPOSAL. 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 limmited 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

Sales

• Ebay Sales Policy July, 2004

Old Sales Policies that may not be written down

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.
• If someone wants to buy stuff and re-sell it, they doon't get a discount
• Volunteers and staff are not allowed to sell personal items on Free Geek property. Nor are they allowed to sell personal items while representing Free Geek.

Staffing and HR

• Asking for Vacation Policy April 16, 2004
• Determining Seniority Policy April 16, 2004
• Hiring Policy April 16, 2003
• Paid Internship Policy May 21, 2004
• Staff Contracting Policy August, 2004
• Volunteer Discipline Policy May, 2004

Miscellaneous

• Room Use Policy May, 2004

Old Miscellaneous Policies that may not be written down

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 have earned a computer get free tech support at Free Geek during our regularly scheduled tech support hours. This lasts for one year from the date of adoption.
• Tech support does not extend to computers that have had their operating system changed, though we will offer to re-image the system one time.

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.

• Collective Member Review Policy Proposal
• 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.