Sahana Project Council

The Sahana Project Council (SPC) is a decision-making body that allocates SSF funding to eligible projects. It is composed of representatives of projects that advance the mission and goals of the SSF. These projects can be internally focused (ex. Communications & Operations Project which manages the website, nonprofit compliance, etc) and they can be externally focused (ex. Disaster Response Project.) Projects are admitted to the SPC by a vote of SPC members. Once accepted, projects are invited to select one or more of its members to represent the project at the regular SPC meetings where decisions are made pertaining to member funding and SPC operations. Peer support is also encouraged.

The SPC is chartered, funded and overseen by the SSF Board. By participating, projects are required to follow the SPC Project Guidelines documented below.

This is a living document maintained by the Sahana Project Council (SPC) with the intention of being approved by the SSF Board of Directors. Once approved, additional changes to this document must be agreed upon by the SPC and approved by the SSF Board to be in effect.

Description

Guidelines

Projects must meet the following criteria to qualify to join the SPC:

Advance the mission of the SSF
Utilize open source technologies, particularly SSF technology
Led by active members of the Sahana community
Address issues of relief, recovery and/or resilience
Publicly aligns itself with the SSF.
Non-commercial project that produces outcomes that benefit the free/libre/open-source community
Has a unique scope that makes incorporating itself into another SPC project not-optimal
Complies with all SPC Processes

Benefits

The SPC can mobilize a number of resources to support member projects, including:

Endorsement: SSF announces its support for the project and publishes it on the site.
Promotion: SSF uses its communication channels (blog, social media, etc) to spread news and information about projects.
Volunteers & In-kind Donations: SSF can solicit its supporters (community members, volunteer groups, donors).
Fiscal Sponsorship and Back Office: As a 501.c.3 nonprofit, the SSF can leverage its legal status to benefit projects by enabling them to receive tax-deductible donations, access nonprofit-only grant and project opportunities, manage bookkeeping, accounting and legal, maintain compliances, and operate under US-regulated nonprofit. Some of these services might also require approval from the SSF Board of Directors.
Funding: The SPC can allocate a budget to high priority projects.

Process

The Operations project offers templates and will assist projects in meeting these requirements.

All SPC projects are required to maintain specific sets of information about their projects, which includes:

Representatives to SPC.
Activity log related to initial goals and milestones.
Expenses tracking spreadsheet. (template)
If the project is receiving stipends, they must also provide:

A list of project team members who are receiving stipends
Monthly timesheets for each member of the project receiving stipends.

Projects willing to meet our requirements are invited to apply to join the SPC.

Joining the SPC

Projects can access the SSF resources above by joining and participating in the SPC.

Projects can apply to join the spokescouncil by filling out an application. Applications are automatically sent out to the entire SPC membership.
If the project meets the SPC project criteria, the applicant will be invited to present at the next available presentation time slot. Project scheduling will happen on a first come, first serve basis.
Projects are invited to give a 3-5 minute presentation about themselves to the SPC. These presentations may be recorded and published to the site. SPC members are invited to ask the project applicant(s) questions for 7-10 minutes.
After presentation, SPC members deliberate about accepting the project in private. One member must sponsor the project. Once a project has a sponsor, it must receive over 80% approval from the membership to be accepted into the SPC. This session should take no longer than 7 minutes.
When a decision is reached, the applicant(s) will be invited back to the call to hear the verdict. Whether the project is accepted or rejected, its applicants can attend the open portions of the SPC meeting but can’t participate as an SPC member.

If the project is accepted, it will be asked to provide additional documentation (see below). This documentation will be added to the public website and private SSF system.
If the project is rejected, the spokes council will provide feedback explaining the reasoning behind this decision.

Applications

Projects applying to the SPC must provide the following information in their application:

Project Name
Public Tagline
Public Description
Public Contact Information
Representatives Members
SPC Sponsor
Budget URL
Resource URL

Applying for Funding

Once accepted, projects are invited to apply for funds from the SPC by providing the information below.

Amount Requested
Timeline
Explanation
Point Person
Other Sources of Support

Leaving the SPC

Projects can be removed from the SPC for the following reasons:

Persistent non-compliance with SPC documentation requirements
Not sending a representative to an SPC meeting three times in a row (minimum 6 weeks)
Voted out by membership

Meetings

SPC meetings are regular gatherings of SPC members. They take place every month at a regular time publicized through the SSF calendar via online video/voice conference.

Projects are required to maintain a list of people who can represent them in the SPC. Anyone on that list (but only one) can represent the project at an SPC meeting.

The purpose of meetings is to do the following:

accept/reject project applications and remove inactive/non-compliant projects
evaluate budget requests and make decisions about funding member projects
update this governance document
provide peer support to peer projects

The basic agenda structure for meetings is:

Project report backs
Adding/removing projects
Proposals
Open discussion, collaboration and peer support

The following is a list of notes about process and procedure:

Projects that miss three meetings in a row will automatically have their funding/access to network resources suspended until they are in compliance.

Consensus is defined as 80% agreement
Quorum is defined as 2/3rd of member projects
Any and all documented representatives of an SPC project can join the SPC meetings, participate in conversation and collaborate on SPC documents.
Each SPC project can choose one person to vote on behalf of their project at an SPC decision making meeting.
The CEO/President of the SSF can represent and vote on behalf of two SPC projects at an SPC decision making meeting, but this is discouraged.

Projects

Most up to date information project information here.