Social.coop - User contributions [en]

Organizing Circle policy

2025-03-27T16:53:56Z

Ktoddbrown: Updated member type definitions

__TOC__

This is the policy and documentation for the [[Organizing Circle]].

A policy is a general rule designed to establish common procedures. The expectation is that policies will reduce the need for groups to make one-of decisions, increase transparency of group operations, and be iterative for organizational evolution.

''References on policy development:''

* This is loosely modeled on https://www.sociocracyforall.org/policy-and-operations/

== Annual base operations budget report ==
'''Context:''' We need to define a coop financial strategy to guide operations of the Finance Working Group to guide management of our financial resources to support social.coop activities, the broader fediverse, and promote inter-cooperation among coops. We are in the unique position to have more money then we are spending. Social.coop had our first annual budget last year and has not conducted an end of year report historically. We want to steward the resources of the group in a way that supports the broader fediverse community as well as our own co-op. Success here is ongoing abilities to pay direct costs incurred in operations and providing financial support to aligned organizations. We have an immediate need to plan for operational 2025 spending and a long term need of identifying broader financial strategies with the larger social.coop community. Both needs require an assessment of our past spending to identify operational costs and our capacity to support aligned organizations. (More here: https://www.loomio.com/d/ZIEx8Dt2/organizing-circle-meeting-2025-13-february-thursday-1500-utc, https://www.loomio.com/d/NQ3BIMqf/organizing-circle-meeting-2025-27-february-thursday-1500-utc and https://www.loomio.com/d/h5IKL7Td/organizing-circle-meeting-2025-27-march-thursday-1500-utc)

'''Policy''': We ask the Financial Working Group to develop a report of our annual expenditures including defining appropriate income and spending categories by the beginning of January. Based on this report and any anticipated changes to the budget, we ask the Financial Working Group to develop a base operations budget to support core social.coop activities for the next calendar year and identify reserve levels to support these operations (ie our current reserves will support X years of baseline operational budget). This report will also inform broader long term financial strategies.

'''Metrics''': The current reserves/balance from past reports should match https://opencollective.com/socialcoop and budgeted categories for upcoming calendar year approximate the end of year report spending for that year.

==== '''Term''': March 2026 (1yr) ====

== Documenting a proposal ==
'''Context''': We need to clearly record decisions made for future reference. A policy decision is a group agreement that is expected to guide repeated future actions. It is particularly challenging to schedule a revisit of policies on agendas and this policy does not cover HOW to do this just that it needs to be done. How this is done is at the discretion of whomever is creating agendas for the group meetings.

'''Proposal''':

* The wiki (this page) will be updated when a policy decision is made inside Organizing Circle.
* The policies will be listed by review date chronologically on this page.

'''Metrics''': There are no stale policy decisions that have not been reviewed in a timely manner within one month of review date

==== Term: March 2026 (1yr) ====
'''Change log''':

* March 2025 - Extended context and removed 'how' the revisiting should be done
* original accepted August 2004 (6 month term)

== Strategic priorities ==
'''Context''': During the last two OC meetings, we identified the following points (see https://share.mayfirst.org/s/WyKxiJ8C4gLbFxf)

'''Proposal''': We adopt the topics and calendar proposed in the share drive (https://share.mayfirst.org/s/WyKxiJ8C4gLbFxf) and move it over to a wiki page. For reference the below recap narrative is provided:

''Emergent themes in our 30 January 2025 meeting as of the time of writing were: strategic guidance on financing and technical services, onboarding both general social.coop and working group members, setting up an equity assessment and planning group, ongoing improvement of OC documentation and operations, facilitating 'Big Topic' conversation with general social.coop (including: decision making process, and interaction with other instances), and capacity building for self governance and management work of social.coop.''

'''Metrics:''' Development of policy associated with these topics that everyone feels good about.

==== Status: Aceppted 6 month term, reviewed in June 2025 ====

== How to make a proposal ==
'''Context:''' We need to decide how decisions are formulated, consented to, documented, and reviewed in Organizing Circle. We need this process to be transparent, participatory, and nimble enough to respond to changing needs.

Lookio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/ZDEcAJma/decision-making-organizing-circle

'''Proposal:''' Proposals undergo four basic phases:

# ''Scoped'' - proposals will be scoped (identifying the problem) on Organizing Circle calls with possible feedback from Loomio threads. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue. The result of this should be a clear problem statement to provide context for the decision.
# ''Formulation'' - Possible solutions for the scoped problem will primarily be discussed on Organizing Circle calls with possible additional ideas on Loomio thread. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue and possible solutions. The result of this should be a broad list of possible solutions from which a specific proposal can be crafted.
# ''Proposal'' - From the formulation discussion the facilitator (or circle appointed proxy) will craft a proposal Loomio thread that will be posted to the Organizing Circle subgroup for consent. This should provide context, specific text for the proposal, and a term for review; it may also include a metric to measure success of the proposal. Organizing Circle members will be asked to consent to the proposal and the period of consent will include one meeting so that folks can be reminded of open proposals.
# ''Documentation'' - Proposals will be documented on the Organizing Circle Log page on the wiki sorted by review date and linked to their Loomio threads. Where possible reviews will happen on the original Loomio thread. Reviews will go through the same process of the original proposal to ensure the policy is still relevant (scoping - formulation - proposal - documentation).

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

== Description of social.coop member types ==
'''Context:''' In order to move forward with an engagement plan for the community we need to identify and define where we are right now. This will be used to develop introduction material and orientations as well as look to build out our governance model by defining the aspects of membership or ways we connect as members.

'''Definition''': We identified the following types of involvement with social.coop (all engagement is voluntary and at choice):
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Contribution
!Platform
!Subclasses
!Prior conditions
|-
|Microblogging
|Mastodon server
|Members may be '''inactive''' (account abandoned), '''invisible''' (no content generation but reading and possibly sharing via other avenues), and '''visible''' (content generation).
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on monetary contributing ([[Bylaws|https://wiki.social.coop/wiki/Bylaws]])
|-
|Financial
|OpenCollective
|Members may be '''non-contributing''' and '''contributing'''.
|None
|-
|Strategic
|Loomio
|Members may be '''inactive''', '''invisible''', and '''visible'''.
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on contributing.

Required social.coop Mastodon account, no mandate on activity status.
|-
|Operational
|Working groups
|Members may be key role holders or general participants of working groups.
|Invitation is unique for each working group and unspecified here.
|-
|Social
|Matrix, regional meetings, reading groups
|General catch all that comes and goes based on interest.
|Invitation via social connections or announcements on platforms.
|}

==== Term: March 2026 (1yr) ====
'''Change log:'''

* March 2025: made working groups unspecified to reflect diversity of current operations. https://www.loomio.com/d/h5IKL7Td/organizing-circle-meeting-2025-27-march-thursday-1500-utc
* Original discussion: https://www.loomio.com/d/7fdFsRj2/social-coop-governance-scoping

Organizing Circle policy

2025-03-27T16:50:19Z

Ktoddbrown: Added base operations budget report

__TOC__

This is the policy and documentation for the [[Organizing Circle]].

A policy is a general rule designed to establish common procedures. The expectation is that policies will reduce the need for groups to make one-of decisions, increase transparency of group operations, and be iterative for organizational evolution.

''References on policy development:''

* This is loosely modeled on https://www.sociocracyforall.org/policy-and-operations/

== Annual base operations budget report ==
'''Context:''' We need to define a coop financial strategy to guide operations of the Finance Working Group to guide management of our financial resources to support social.coop activities, the broader fediverse, and promote inter-cooperation among coops. We are in the unique position to have more money then we are spending. Social.coop had our first annual budget last year and has not conducted an end of year report historically. We want to steward the resources of the group in a way that supports the broader fediverse community as well as our own co-op. Success here is ongoing abilities to pay direct costs incurred in operations and providing financial support to aligned organizations. We have an immediate need to plan for operational 2025 spending and a long term need of identifying broader financial strategies with the larger social.coop community. Both needs require an assessment of our past spending to identify operational costs and our capacity to support aligned organizations. (More here: https://www.loomio.com/d/ZIEx8Dt2/organizing-circle-meeting-2025-13-february-thursday-1500-utc, https://www.loomio.com/d/NQ3BIMqf/organizing-circle-meeting-2025-27-february-thursday-1500-utc and https://www.loomio.com/d/h5IKL7Td/organizing-circle-meeting-2025-27-march-thursday-1500-utc)

'''Policy''': We ask the Financial Working Group to develop a report of our annual expenditures including defining appropriate income and spending categories by the beginning of January. Based on this report and any anticipated changes to the budget, we ask the Financial Working Group to develop a base operations budget to support core social.coop activities for the next calendar year and identify reserve levels to support these operations (ie our current reserves will support X years of baseline operational budget). This report will also inform broader long term financial strategies.

'''Metrics''': The current reserves/balance from past reports should match https://opencollective.com/socialcoop and budgeted categories for upcoming calendar year approximate the end of year report spending for that year.

==== '''Term''': March 2026 (1yr) ====

== Documenting a proposal ==
'''Context''': We need to clearly record decisions made for future reference. A policy decision is a group agreement that is expected to guide repeated future actions. It is particularly challenging to schedule a revisit of policies on agendas and this policy does not cover HOW to do this just that it needs to be done. How this is done is at the discretion of whomever is creating agendas for the group meetings.

'''Proposal''':

* The wiki (this page) will be updated when a policy decision is made inside Organizing Circle.
* The policies will be listed by review date chronologically on this page.

'''Metrics''': There are no stale policy decisions that have not been reviewed in a timely manner within one month of review date

==== Term: March 2026 (1yr) ====
'''Change log''':

* March 2025 - Extended context and removed 'how' the revisiting should be done
* original accepted August 2004 (6 month term)

== Strategic priorities ==
'''Context''': During the last two OC meetings, we identified the following points (see https://share.mayfirst.org/s/WyKxiJ8C4gLbFxf)

'''Proposal''': We adopt the topics and calendar proposed in the share drive (https://share.mayfirst.org/s/WyKxiJ8C4gLbFxf) and move it over to a wiki page. For reference the below recap narrative is provided:

''Emergent themes in our 30 January 2025 meeting as of the time of writing were: strategic guidance on financing and technical services, onboarding both general social.coop and working group members, setting up an equity assessment and planning group, ongoing improvement of OC documentation and operations, facilitating 'Big Topic' conversation with general social.coop (including: decision making process, and interaction with other instances), and capacity building for self governance and management work of social.coop.''

'''Metrics:''' Development of policy associated with these topics that everyone feels good about.

==== Status: Aceppted 6 month term, reviewed in June 2025 ====

== How to make a proposal ==
'''Context:''' We need to decide how decisions are formulated, consented to, documented, and reviewed in Organizing Circle. We need this process to be transparent, participatory, and nimble enough to respond to changing needs.

Lookio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/ZDEcAJma/decision-making-organizing-circle

'''Proposal:''' Proposals undergo four basic phases:

# ''Scoped'' - proposals will be scoped (identifying the problem) on Organizing Circle calls with possible feedback from Loomio threads. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue. The result of this should be a clear problem statement to provide context for the decision.
# ''Formulation'' - Possible solutions for the scoped problem will primarily be discussed on Organizing Circle calls with possible additional ideas on Loomio thread. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue and possible solutions. The result of this should be a broad list of possible solutions from which a specific proposal can be crafted.
# ''Proposal'' - From the formulation discussion the facilitator (or circle appointed proxy) will craft a proposal Loomio thread that will be posted to the Organizing Circle subgroup for consent. This should provide context, specific text for the proposal, and a term for review; it may also include a metric to measure success of the proposal. Organizing Circle members will be asked to consent to the proposal and the period of consent will include one meeting so that folks can be reminded of open proposals.
# ''Documentation'' - Proposals will be documented on the Organizing Circle Log page on the wiki sorted by review date and linked to their Loomio threads. Where possible reviews will happen on the original Loomio thread. Reviews will go through the same process of the original proposal to ensure the policy is still relevant (scoping - formulation - proposal - documentation).

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

== Description of social.coop member types ==
'''Context:''' In order to move forward with an engagement plan for the community we need to identify and define where we are right now. This will be used to develop introduction material and orientations as well as look to build out our governance model by defining the aspects of membership or ways we connect as members.

Loomio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/7fdFsRj2/social-coop-governance-scoping

'''Proposal''': We identified the following types of involvement with social.coop (all engagement is voluntary and at choice):
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Contribution
!Platform
!Subclasses
!Prior conditions
|-
|Microblogging
|Mastodon server
|Members may be '''inactive''' (account abandoned), '''invisible''' (no content generation but reading and possibly sharing via other avenues), and '''visible''' (content generation).
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on monetary contributing ([[Bylaws|https://wiki.social.coop/wiki/Bylaws]])
|-
|Financial
|OpenCollective
|Members may be '''non-contributing''' and '''contributing'''.
|None
|-
|Strategic
|Loomio
|Members may be '''inactive''', '''invisible''', and '''visible'''.
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on contributing.

Required social.coop Mastodon account, no mandate on activity status.
|-
|Operational
|Working groups
|Members may be key role holders or general participants of working groups.
|Invitation via social connections or sortition process.
|-
|Social
|Matrix, regional meetings, reading groups
|General catch all that comes and goes based on interest.
|Invitation via social connections or announcements on platforms.
|}

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

Organizing Circle policy

2025-03-20T17:13:18Z

Ktoddbrown: Updated documenting a proposal

__TOC__

This is the policy and documentation for the [[Organizing Circle]].

A policy is a general rule designed to establish common procedures. The expectation is that policies will reduce the need for groups to make one-of decisions, increase transparency of group operations, and be iterative for organizational evolution.

''References on policy development:''

* This is loosely modeled on https://www.sociocracyforall.org/policy-and-operations/

== Documenting a proposal ==
'''Context''': We need to clearly record decisions made for future reference. A policy decision is a group agreement that is expected to guide repeated future actions. It is particularly challenging to schedule a revisit of policies on agendas and this policy does not cover HOW to do this just that it needs to be done. How this is done is at the discretion of whomever is creating agendas for the group meetings.

'''Proposal''':

* The wiki (this page) will be updated when a policy decision is made inside Organizing Circle.
* The policies will be listed by review date chronologically on this page.

'''Metrics''': There are no stale policy decisions that have not been reviewed in a timely manner within one month of review date

==== Term: March 2026 (1yr) ====
'''Change log''':

* March 2025 - Extended context and removed 'how' the revisiting should be done
* original accepted August 2004 (6 month term)

== Strategic priorities ==
'''Context''': During the last two OC meetings, we identified the following points (see https://share.mayfirst.org/s/WyKxiJ8C4gLbFxf)

'''Proposal''': We adopt the topics and calendar proposed in the share drive (https://share.mayfirst.org/s/WyKxiJ8C4gLbFxf) and move it over to a wiki page. For reference the below recap narrative is provided:

''Emergent themes in our 30 January 2025 meeting as of the time of writing were: strategic guidance on financing and technical services, onboarding both general social.coop and working group members, setting up an equity assessment and planning group, ongoing improvement of OC documentation and operations, facilitating 'Big Topic' conversation with general social.coop (including: decision making process, and interaction with other instances), and capacity building for self governance and management work of social.coop.''

'''Metrics:''' Development of policy associated with these topics that everyone feels good about.

==== Status: Aceppted 6 month term, reviewed in June 2025 ====

== How to make a proposal ==
'''Context:''' We need to decide how decisions are formulated, consented to, documented, and reviewed in Organizing Circle. We need this process to be transparent, participatory, and nimble enough to respond to changing needs.

Lookio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/ZDEcAJma/decision-making-organizing-circle

'''Proposal:''' Proposals undergo four basic phases:

# ''Scoped'' - proposals will be scoped (identifying the problem) on Organizing Circle calls with possible feedback from Loomio threads. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue. The result of this should be a clear problem statement to provide context for the decision.
# ''Formulation'' - Possible solutions for the scoped problem will primarily be discussed on Organizing Circle calls with possible additional ideas on Loomio thread. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue and possible solutions. The result of this should be a broad list of possible solutions from which a specific proposal can be crafted.
# ''Proposal'' - From the formulation discussion the facilitator (or circle appointed proxy) will craft a proposal Loomio thread that will be posted to the Organizing Circle subgroup for consent. This should provide context, specific text for the proposal, and a term for review; it may also include a metric to measure success of the proposal. Organizing Circle members will be asked to consent to the proposal and the period of consent will include one meeting so that folks can be reminded of open proposals.
# ''Documentation'' - Proposals will be documented on the Organizing Circle Log page on the wiki sorted by review date and linked to their Loomio threads. Where possible reviews will happen on the original Loomio thread. Reviews will go through the same process of the original proposal to ensure the policy is still relevant (scoping - formulation - proposal - documentation).

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

== Description of social.coop member types ==
'''Context:''' In order to move forward with an engagement plan for the community we need to identify and define where we are right now. This will be used to develop introduction material and orientations as well as look to build out our governance model by defining the aspects of membership or ways we connect as members.

Loomio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/7fdFsRj2/social-coop-governance-scoping

'''Proposal''': We identified the following types of involvement with social.coop (all engagement is voluntary and at choice):
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Contribution
!Platform
!Subclasses
!Prior conditions
|-
|Microblogging
|Mastodon server
|Members may be '''inactive''' (account abandoned), '''invisible''' (no content generation but reading and possibly sharing via other avenues), and '''visible''' (content generation).
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on monetary contributing ([[Bylaws|https://wiki.social.coop/wiki/Bylaws]])
|-
|Financial
|OpenCollective
|Members may be '''non-contributing''' and '''contributing'''.
|None
|-
|Strategic
|Loomio
|Members may be '''inactive''', '''invisible''', and '''visible'''.
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on contributing.

Required social.coop Mastodon account, no mandate on activity status.
|-
|Operational
|Working groups
|Members may be key role holders or general participants of working groups.
|Invitation via social connections or sortition process.
|-
|Social
|Matrix, regional meetings, reading groups
|General catch all that comes and goes based on interest.
|Invitation via social connections or announcements on platforms.
|}

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

Organizing Circle policy

2025-02-26T14:48:05Z

Ktoddbrown: /* Strategic priorities */ Updated the like to the shared document

__TOC__

This is the policy and documentation for the [[Organizing Circle]].

A policy is a general rule designed to establish common procedures. The expectation is that policies will reduce the need for groups to make one-of decisions, increase transparency of group operations, and be iterative for organizational evolution.

''References on policy development:''

* This is loosely modeled on https://www.sociocracyforall.org/policy-and-operations/

== Strategic priorities ==
'''Context''': During the last two OC meetings, we identified the following points (see https://share.mayfirst.org/s/WyKxiJ8C4gLbFxf)

'''Proposal''': We adopt the topics and calendar proposed in the share drive (https://share.mayfirst.org/s/WyKxiJ8C4gLbFxf) and move it over to a wiki page. For reference the below recap narrative is provided:

''Emergent themes in our 30 January 2025 meeting as of the time of writing were: strategic guidance on financing and technical services, onboarding both general social.coop and working group members, setting up an equity assessment and planning group, ongoing improvement of OC documentation and operations, facilitating 'Big Topic' conversation with general social.coop (including: decision making process, and interaction with other instances), and capacity building for self governance and management work of social.coop.''

'''Metrics:''' Development of policy associated with these topics that everyone feels good about.

==== Status: Aceppted 6 month term, reviewed in June 2025 ====

== Documenting a proposal ==
'''Context''': We need to clearly record decisions made for future reference and track when these decisions come up for review in order to keep the documentation fresh.

'''Proposal''':

* The wiki will be updated when a policy decision is made inside organizing circle. A policy decision is a group agreement that is expected to guide repeated future actions.
* Policies will have terms for review as well as metrics for success of the policy. The dates of these terms will be added chronologically to the back log and the construction of the agenda will take these dates into consideration.

'''Metrics''': There are no stale policy decisions that have not been reviewed in a timely manner within one month of review date

==== Status: Accepted 6 months term - revisit February 2025 ====
Expectation of 1yrs terms there after

== How to make a proposal ==
'''Context:''' We need to decide how decisions are formulated, consented to, documented, and reviewed in Organizing Circle. We need this process to be transparent, participatory, and nimble enough to respond to changing needs.

Lookio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/ZDEcAJma/decision-making-organizing-circle

'''Proposal:''' Proposals undergo four basic phases:

# ''Scoped'' - proposals will be scoped (identifying the problem) on Organizing Circle calls with possible feedback from Loomio threads. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue. The result of this should be a clear problem statement to provide context for the decision.
# ''Formulation'' - Possible solutions for the scoped problem will primarily be discussed on Organizing Circle calls with possible additional ideas on Loomio thread. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue and possible solutions. The result of this should be a broad list of possible solutions from which a specific proposal can be crafted.
# ''Proposal'' - From the formulation discussion the facilitator (or circle appointed proxy) will craft a proposal Loomio thread that will be posted to the Organizing Circle subgroup for consent. This should provide context, specific text for the proposal, and a term for review; it may also include a metric to measure success of the proposal. Organizing Circle members will be asked to consent to the proposal and the period of consent will include one meeting so that folks can be reminded of open proposals.
# ''Documentation'' - Proposals will be documented on the Organizing Circle Log page on the wiki sorted by review date and linked to their Loomio threads. Where possible reviews will happen on the original Loomio thread. Reviews will go through the same process of the original proposal to ensure the policy is still relevant (scoping - formulation - proposal - documentation).

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

== Description of social.coop member types ==
'''Context:''' In order to move forward with an engagement plan for the community we need to identify and define where we are right now. This will be used to develop introduction material and orientations as well as look to build out our governance model by defining the aspects of membership or ways we connect as members.

Loomio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/7fdFsRj2/social-coop-governance-scoping

'''Proposal''': We identified the following types of involvement with social.coop (all engagement is voluntary and at choice):
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Contribution
!Platform
!Subclasses
!Prior conditions
|-
|Microblogging
|Mastodon server
|Members may be '''inactive''' (account abandoned), '''invisible''' (no content generation but reading and possibly sharing via other avenues), and '''visible''' (content generation).
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on monetary contributing ([[Bylaws|https://wiki.social.coop/wiki/Bylaws]])
|-
|Financial
|OpenCollective
|Members may be '''non-contributing''' and '''contributing'''.
|None
|-
|Strategic
|Loomio
|Members may be '''inactive''', '''invisible''', and '''visible'''.
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on contributing.

Required social.coop Mastodon account, no mandate on activity status.
|-
|Operational
|Working groups
|Members may be key role holders or general participants of working groups.
|Invitation via social connections or sortition process.
|-
|Social
|Matrix, regional meetings, reading groups
|General catch all that comes and goes based on interest.
|Invitation via social connections or announcements on platforms.
|}

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

Organizing Circle policy

2025-02-13T16:43:01Z

Ktoddbrown: Added strategic priorities for 2025

__TOC__

This is the policy and documentation for the [[Organizing Circle]].

A policy is a general rule designed to establish common procedures. The expectation is that policies will reduce the need for groups to make one-of decisions, increase transparency of group operations, and be iterative for organizational evolution.

''References on policy development:''

* This is loosely modeled on https://www.sociocracyforall.org/policy-and-operations/

== Strategic priorities ==
'''Context''': During the last two OC meetings, we identified the following points (see https://share.mayfirst.org/s/9WcFY8LACgp9nFj)

'''Proposal''': We adopt the topics and calendar proposed in the share drive (https://share.mayfirst.org/s/9WcFY8LACgp9nFj) and move it over to a wiki page. For reference the below recap narrative is provided:

''Emergent themes in our 30 January 2025 meeting as of the time of writing were: strategic guidance on financing and technical services, onboarding both general social.coop and working group members, setting up an equity assessment and planning group, ongoing improvement of OC documentation and operations, facilitating 'Big Topic' conversation with general social.coop (including: decision making process, and interaction with other instances), and capacity building for self governance and management work of social.coop.''

'''Metrics:''' Development of policy associated with these topics that everyone feels good about.

==== Status: Aceppted 6 month term, reviewed in June 2025 ====

== Documenting a proposal ==
'''Context''': We need to clearly record decisions made for future reference and track when these decisions come up for review in order to keep the documentation fresh.

'''Proposal''':

* The wiki will be updated when a policy decision is made inside organizing circle. A policy decision is a group agreement that is expected to guide repeated future actions.
* Policies will have terms for review as well as metrics for success of the policy. The dates of these terms will be added chronologically to the back log and the construction of the agenda will take these dates into consideration.

'''Metrics''': There are no stale policy decisions that have not been reviewed in a timely manner within one month of review date

==== Status: Accepted 6 months term - revisit February 2025 ====
Expectation of 1yrs terms there after

== How to make a proposal ==
'''Context:''' We need to decide how decisions are formulated, consented to, documented, and reviewed in Organizing Circle. We need this process to be transparent, participatory, and nimble enough to respond to changing needs.

Lookio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/ZDEcAJma/decision-making-organizing-circle

'''Proposal:''' Proposals undergo four basic phases:

# ''Scoped'' - proposals will be scoped (identifying the problem) on Organizing Circle calls with possible feedback from Loomio threads. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue. The result of this should be a clear problem statement to provide context for the decision.
# ''Formulation'' - Possible solutions for the scoped problem will primarily be discussed on Organizing Circle calls with possible additional ideas on Loomio thread. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue and possible solutions. The result of this should be a broad list of possible solutions from which a specific proposal can be crafted.
# ''Proposal'' - From the formulation discussion the facilitator (or circle appointed proxy) will craft a proposal Loomio thread that will be posted to the Organizing Circle subgroup for consent. This should provide context, specific text for the proposal, and a term for review; it may also include a metric to measure success of the proposal. Organizing Circle members will be asked to consent to the proposal and the period of consent will include one meeting so that folks can be reminded of open proposals.
# ''Documentation'' - Proposals will be documented on the Organizing Circle Log page on the wiki sorted by review date and linked to their Loomio threads. Where possible reviews will happen on the original Loomio thread. Reviews will go through the same process of the original proposal to ensure the policy is still relevant (scoping - formulation - proposal - documentation).

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

== Description of social.coop member types ==
'''Context:''' In order to move forward with an engagement plan for the community we need to identify and define where we are right now. This will be used to develop introduction material and orientations as well as look to build out our governance model by defining the aspects of membership or ways we connect as members.

Loomio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/7fdFsRj2/social-coop-governance-scoping

'''Proposal''': We identified the following types of involvement with social.coop (all engagement is voluntary and at choice):
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Contribution
!Platform
!Subclasses
!Prior conditions
|-
|Microblogging
|Mastodon server
|Members may be '''inactive''' (account abandoned), '''invisible''' (no content generation but reading and possibly sharing via other avenues), and '''visible''' (content generation).
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on monetary contributing ([[Bylaws|https://wiki.social.coop/wiki/Bylaws]])
|-
|Financial
|OpenCollective
|Members may be '''non-contributing''' and '''contributing'''.
|None
|-
|Strategic
|Loomio
|Members may be '''inactive''', '''invisible''', and '''visible'''.
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on contributing.

Required social.coop Mastodon account, no mandate on activity status.
|-
|Operational
|Working groups
|Members may be key role holders or general participants of working groups.
|Invitation via social connections or sortition process.
|-
|Social
|Matrix, regional meetings, reading groups
|General catch all that comes and goes based on interest.
|Invitation via social connections or announcements on platforms.
|}

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

Organizing Circle

2024-12-19T18:39:59Z

Ktoddbrown: add 2024 recap

{{Working Group
|Description=Coordinates the work of working groups and ops teams, providing a space for ongoing strategic conversation and facilitating greater member participation in both operations and governance.
}}

This page holds the general operations information for the Social.coop organizing circle including links to standing Loomio https://www.loomio.com/socialcoop/ threads, descriptions of circle operations, and links to decisions made by the group.

== Agreements and policy documents ==

Each of these agreements should provide a brief context that motivated the decision, links to relevant Loomio threads, the exact wording of the agreement, a term for when the agreement will be revisited, and metrics for evaluation.

[[Organizing Circle policy]]

== Meeting recaps ==

Recaps of regular meetings can be found here:

* '''2024''' https://www.loomio.com/d/QBtcgaOq/organizing-circle-recaps-2024-

== How we work ==

We strive to provide synchronous and asynchronous engagement as well as document decisions as they are being made. Meetings are held every other week for 90 minutes virtually. Agendas for each meeting are posted prior the call on the Loomino group as their own thread. Live notes are taken during the meeting and a recap synthesized afterwards and copies of both are posted to the meeting's loomio thread. Relevant sections of the recap are also copied over to topic-based loomio threads and to a general recap thread.

Agendas typically follow this pattern

# Opening (attendance, duration, past recap review, identify facilitator and notetaker, consent to agenda)
# Check ins (how are you doing? Relationship building)
# Updates
#* past ToDo items from members
#* working groups
#* Loomio discussions of general forum
# Strategic and operational decisions from backlog
# Current ToDo items (What are you doing before next call?)
# Backlog harvesting (What should we be talking about next?)
# Check outs (What could we improve? How are you leaving?)

We strive to have a clear path to membership in the group and a stable enough membership to effectively steward issues. Members for the Organizing circle are selected based on a sortition process from the Loomio community and appointed by the Working Groups. We strive to balance diverse view points with engaged discussions and have between 4-8 members on the circle. At large members selected by sortition have a 2 year term.

* '''Loomio group:''' https://www.loomio.com/socialcoop-organizing-circle/
* '''Recap thread''' (2024): https://www.loomio.com/d/QBtcgaOq/organizing-circle-recaps-2024-

== History of the group ==

==== 2024 Recap ====
Broadly our activities over 2024 broke down into three categories: how we do things in Organizing Circle, coordination activities across working groups with Social.coop and started broad discussions on various topics. We 1) held regular meetings every other week, 2) developed a sense of team, and 3) decided to operate Organizing Circle mostly following Sociocracy patterns with formal agendas, facilitation, note taking, and documented our discussions/decisions on the wiki and in loomio threads. We facilitated coordination between working groups (Tech, Finance, and Community) by exchanging regular updates in our meetings and setting up meetings between Organizing Circle and each working group during the fall. We improved and updated documentation on wikipedia. Finally we started several important discussions on a range of topics including social.coop decision making structures, compensation, and onboarding, as well as collaboration with the external cooperative movement.

We are particularly proud of how we operate as a circle, although there are places to improve. We created a safe/brave space where each member is heard by the rest of the group and created good C-factor in the group (reference from Luis Razeto Migliaro) <nowiki>https://geo.coop/articles/how-create-solidarity-enterprise</nowiki>. Each member has something valuable to offer the group and is missed when someone doesn't attend. Clear agendas (with topics, timings, and durations) make it easier to know how and where to contribute as a member. We are able to hold each other accountable with our todo and update agenda items. Finally this group provided a space for an overview discussion spanning social.coop as an organization.

There are some things that have not worked well over the last year. We have started several conversations around big topics that are unresolved and not clear how they would be. Relatedly there is a backlog of discussion topics that we were unable to clear. The role of Organizing Circle in the broader governance of social.coop is still unclear. We are reliant on 1-2 members of the circle for meeting facilitation and administration duties. How to develop and maintain policy documents still feels tenuous. There is a general feeling of under-engagement of our membership and capacities. While we have tremendous volunteers, we don't know who is donating what time and worry about burnout. Finally there is a feeling that we are not leveraging lessons learned from other organizations and have under-developed our volunteer training.

==== Set up ====
In February, 2023, in consultation with the Community Working Group Operations Team, @Matt_Noyes and @Mattcropp initiated a discussion of the idea of creating an Organizing Circle. (https://www.loomio.com/d/txYOWJ4q/organizing-a-growing-social-coop-an-idea-for-a-proposal/57) The motivation included the following elements:

* Rapid growth of Social.Coop leading to stress on the existing forms of organization, "particularly the Community Working Group Ops Team, which has been taking on onboarding, moderation, education, strategic planning and other tasks."
* Working groups -- Tech, Community, and Finance (a legal working group is in the works) -- that function differently and often with little coordination.
* Discussion and operations spread across multiple platforms – Mastodon, Loomio, Matrix.
* Lack of coordination and internal communication has resulted in, among other things, a tendency to do-ocracy and a deference to members who are perceived to be leaders, either because of longevity, activity on the instance, or other qualities. This raises the risk of “tyranny of structurelessness” type dynamics, and has troublesome implications for diversity and inclusion. It also undermines accountability.
* Lack the kind of organization needed to really operate as – and achieve, if we want it, the legal status of – a cooperative.

After discussion on Loomio and in an online gathering, in July, 2023-07, @Matt_Noyes proposed the creation of an Organizing Circle (OC) in SocialCoop (SC) to:

* increase coordination, accountability, and transparency of SC as a Fediverse actor;
* incorporate members into operations and decision-making;
* lay the groundwork for bylaws that meet legal requirements in case SC becomes an officially recognized cooperative.

In order to achieve this, the OC would be a group of members consistently committed to:

* coordinating among working groups and ops teams,
* providing a space for ongoing strategic conversation and coordination and
* facilitating greater member participation in both operations and governance.

The OC has limited powers, with most operational decisions made by the Working Groups (WG) and decisions related to Social.Coop as a whole subject to member approval.

This proposal passed, with 65 (18%) of the 356 social.coop members on Loomio votes, with 61 agree, 2 disagree, and 2 abstain (see Social.Coop Organizing Circle Proposal (2023-06) > <nowiki>https://www.loomio.com/p/OI8kEjVz/social-coop-organizing-circle-proposal</nowiki>).

After this initial step, we started to organize the next steps for this OC to work and fulfill it's mission:

* each working group choose one person to be on the Organizing Circle,
* we welcomed other members interested in helping organize the OC, + these people organized the juried sortition process for choosing the At Large members. (See Organizing the Social.Coop Organizing Circle (2023-07) > <nowiki>https://www.loomio.com/d/GhC8oEcK/organizing-the-social-coop-organizing-circle</nowiki>)

These steps were carried out and the OC started to operate in 2024-01, documenting it's meetings at the OC group in Loomio (see <nowiki>https://www.loomio.com/socialcoop-organizing-circle/</nowiki>) and putting more durable information on the wiki in [[Organizing Circle|https://wiki.social.coop/wiki/Organizing_Circle]].
[[Category:Working Group]]

Organizing Circle policy

2024-07-17T18:51:30Z

Ktoddbrown: Added policy on documenting a proposal

Organizing Circle

2024-07-17T11:32:02Z

Ktoddbrown: moved links out of paragraph

Organizing Circle policy

2024-07-02T12:45:03Z

Ktoddbrown: added context in introduction

Organizing Circle policy

2024-07-02T12:11:59Z

Ktoddbrown: added how to make a proposal decision to policy book

__TOC__

This is the policy and documentation for the [[Organizing Circle]].

== How to make a proposal ==
'''Context:''' We need to decide how decisions are formulated, consented to, documented, and reviewed in Organizing Circle. We need this process to be transparent, participatory, and nimble enough to respond to changing needs.

Lookio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/ZDEcAJma/decision-making-organizing-circle

'''Proposal:''' Proposals undergo four basic phases:

# ''Scoped'' - proposals will be scoped (identifying the problem) on Organizing Circle calls with possible feedback from Loomio threads. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue. The result of this should be a clear problem statement to provide context for the decision.
# ''Formulation'' - Possible solutions for the scoped problem will primarily be discussed on Organizing Circle calls with possible additional ideas on Loomio thread. Loomio threads may include the General Recap thread, topical subcircle or topical general threads. The group should strive to collect feedback from everyone affected by the issue and possible solutions. The result of this should be a broad list of possible solutions from which a specific proposal can be crafted.
# ''Proposal'' - From the formulation discussion the facilitator (or circle appointed proxy) will craft a proposal Loomio thread that will be posted to the Organizing Circle subgroup for consent. This should provide context, specific text for the proposal, and a term for review; it may also include a metric to measure success of the proposal. Organizing Circle members will be asked to consent to the proposal and the period of consent will include one meeting so that folks can be reminded of open proposals.
# ''Documentation'' - Proposals will be documented on the Organizing Circle Log page on the wiki sorted by review date and linked to their Loomio threads. Where possible reviews will happen on the original Loomio thread. Reviews will go through the same process of the original proposal to ensure the policy is still relevant (scoping - formulation - proposal - documentation).

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

== Description of social.coop member types ==
'''Context:''' In order to move forward with an engagement plan for the community we need to identify and define where we are right now. This will be used to develop introduction material and orientations as well as look to build out our governance model by defining the aspects of membership or ways we connect as members.

Loomio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/7fdFsRj2/social-coop-governance-scoping

'''Proposal''': We identified the following types of involvement with social.coop (all engagement is voluntary and at choice):
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Contribution
!Platform
!Subclasses
!Prior conditions
|-
|Microblogging
|Mastodon server
|Members may be '''inactive''' (account abandoned), '''invisible''' (no content generation but reading and possibly sharing via other avenues), and '''visible''' (content generation).
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on monetary contributing ([[Bylaws|https://wiki.social.coop/wiki/Bylaws]])
|-
|Financial
|OpenCollective
|Members may be '''non-contributing''' and '''contributing'''.
|None
|-
|Strategic
|Loomio
|Members may be '''inactive''', '''invisible''', and '''visible'''.
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on contributing.

Required social.coop Mastodon account, no mandate on activity status.
|-
|Operational
|Working groups
|Members may be key role holders or general participants of working groups.
|Invitation via social connections or sortition process.
|-
|Social
|Matrix, regional meetings, reading groups
|General catch all that comes and goes based on interest.
|Invitation via social connections or announcements on platforms.
|}

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

Organizing Circle policy

2024-06-19T15:34:17Z

Ktoddbrown: Add in member descriptions

This is the policy and documentation for the [[Organizing Circle]].

== Description of social.coop member types ==
'''Context:''' In order to move forward with an engagement plan for the community we need to identify and define where we are right now. This will be used to develop introduction material and orientations as well as look to build out our governance model by defining the aspects of membership or ways we connect as members.

Loomio discussion threads:

* https://www.loomio.com/d/7fdFsRj2/social-coop-governance-scoping

'''Proposal''': We identified the following types of involvement with social.coop (all engagement is voluntary and at choice):
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Contribution
!Platform
!Subclasses
!Prior conditions
|-
|Microblogging
|Mastodon server
|Members may be '''inactive''' (account abandoned), '''invisible''' (no content generation but reading and possibly sharing via other avenues), and '''visible''' (content generation).
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on monetary contributing ([[Bylaws|https://wiki.social.coop/wiki/Bylaws]])
|-
|Financial
|OpenCollective
|Members may be '''non-contributing''' and '''contributing'''.
|None
|-
|Strategic
|Loomio
|Members may be '''inactive''', '''invisible''', and '''visible'''.
|Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on contributing.

Required social.coop Mastodon account, no mandate on activity status.
|-
|Operational
|Working groups
|Members may be key role holders or general participants of working groups.
|Invitation via social connections or sortition process.
|-
|Social
|Matrix, regional meetings, reading groups
|General catch all that comes and goes based on interest.
|Invitation via social connections or announcements on platforms.
|}

==== Status: Accepted 6 month term - revisit October 2024 ====

Organizing Circle

2024-06-19T15:20:29Z

Ktoddbrown: Link in new policy wiki page

Organizing Circle

2024-06-19T15:18:29Z

Ktoddbrown: formatting

Organizing Circle

2024-06-19T15:15:05Z

Ktoddbrown: Drafting working sections

Governance

2024-03-26T14:12:28Z

Ktoddbrown: Added a membership aspects description. Not sure if this is the right place for this or if it deserves a new page.

Social.coop is a self-governing cooperative. Our decision-making processes take place in our [https://www.loomio.com/socialcoop space on Loomio], a platform developed by a worker-owned cooperative. All Social.coop members should also have accounts there.

== Membership aspects ==
We identified the following types of involvement with social.coop (all engagement is voluntary and at choice):

* '''Microblogging''' - via Mastodon server account. Members may be inactive (account abandoned), invisible (no content generation but reading and possibly sharing via other avenues), and visible (content generation)
** Entry: Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on monetary contributing ([[Bylaws|https://wiki.social.coop/wiki/Bylaws]])
* '''Financial''' contribution via OpenCollective account. Members may be non-contributing and contributing.
* '''Strategic''' contribution via Loomio account. Members may be inactive, invisible, and visible.
** Entry: Required OpenCollective account, no mandate on contributing. Required social.coop Mastodon account, no mandate on activity status.
* '''Operational''' contribution via working group involvement and key role holders
** Entry: social invitation, and sortition process
* '''Social groups''' are non-working groups: e.g., reading groups, Matrix discussion board, regional meet-ups.
** Entry: social invitation

==== Context and term ====
In order to move forward with an engagement plan for the community we need to identify and define where we are right now. This will be used to develop introduction material and orientations as well as look to build out our governance model by defining the aspects of membership or ways we connect as members.

Proposed by Organizing Circle March 2024, revisit Sept 2024.

== Core documents ==
* [[Bylaws]]
* [[Code of conduct]]
* [[Defederation of instances]]
* [[Federation abuse policy]]
* [[Partnership with Platform 6]]
* [https://social.coop/privacy-policy Privacy policy] (on Mastodon)

== Tutorials ==
* [[Make a proposal]]