[Osmf-talk] Draft resolution on membership prerequisites

[Tobias Knerr]

Hi all,

at the 2020 AGM, a 79% majority of the membership asked the board to 
propose prerequisites for membership in the OSM Foundation which would 
ensure that all applicants for membership have made a reasonable amount 
of contributions to OSM (not necessarily through mapping).[1]

We would like to ask for your feedback to a first draft of this proposal 
which you can read below. It uses a definition for "reasonable amount of 
contributions" that is comparable to the active contributor 
membership[2], but has lower requirements: 42 days of contributions ever 
instead of 42 days per year. Existing memberships would not be affected 
by this change.

The 2020 resolution called for a membership vote on this topic in 2021. 
Unfortunately, the board didn't produce a proposal in time for the 2021 
AGM and we would like to apologize for this delay. Our current plan is 
to have the resolution ready for a general meeting on April 30, 2022.


# Potential text of the resolution

Using its powers under §15 of the Articles of Association, the board of 
directors shall reject applications for membership or associate 
membership if the applicant has not demonstrably contributed to 
OpenStreetMap on at least 42 days. The specific form of the 
contributions (e.g. mapping vs. non-mapping) does not make a difference 
for the fulfilment of these prerequisites. The board may delegate 
verification and rejection of membership applications to a working group.

## Rationale:

This change would more firmly establish the OSMF as an entity serving 
the people and communities who create OpenStreetMap. By ensuring that 
votes in Foundation elections and resolutions are cast by OpenStreetMap 
contributors, it becomes more likely that the Foundation will continue 
to support the the project well.

The criteria take inspiration from the fee waiver (known as active 
contributor membership) to allow using a similar implementation. Unlike 
the fee waiver, eligibility will be evaluated as a one-time step during 
application for membership, rather than annually. As such, members do 
not have to fear losing their membership if their activity fluctuates or 
declines. Existing memberships won't be affected.

## Considerations:

This one-time check applies to all member applications including those 
that pay the regular £15 membership fee.


# Footnotes

[1] 
https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Annual_General_Meetings/2020/Suggested_resolutions#Vote_3:_Work_on_membership_prerequisites
[2] https://join.osmfoundation.org/active-contributor-membership/