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Founding board recruitment kit

Status: Draft, pre-formation. The materials in this kit are intended for use by the proposal sponsor (administrator) and any nominating committee chair to recruit the founding directors of the Ganjier Guild once the state of incorporation is decided in Issue #1.

This document contains four parts:

  1. Pitch packet — short narrative for the prospective director
  2. Role description — duties, time commitment, compensation
  3. Fiduciary primer — the three duties every director must understand before saying yes
  4. Application form — questions the candidate completes

1) Pitch packet

Why we are building the Ganjier Guild

The cannabis industry has talented professionals but no professional society that holds them to a public standard. The proposed Ganjier Guild is a 501©(6) trade association — modeled on the architectural, sommelier, and clinical-society traditions — that exists to credential, educate, connect, and advocate for cannabis professionals.

The full proposal is published openly at github.com/ginalyncox/ganjier-guild-launch-blueprint. It includes proposed bylaws, six core policies, financial assumptions, a 17-section blueprint, and eight open questions filed as issues.

Why we are recruiting a founding board now

The founding board ratifies bylaws, adopts policies, hires the first staff and counsel, signs the first sponsor and member agreements, and supervises the Form 1024 process. The integrity of the Guild for its first decade is set in its first six months of governance.

What we are looking for in the founding board

Composition target (subject to Issue #5):

  • Size: 7–9 directors
  • Independence: Majority of directors not employed by, or financially dependent on, any single member-company
  • Expertise mix (each director should bring at least one):
  • Cannabis professional practice (cultivation, retail, education, lab/QA, hospitality)
  • Nonprofit or trade-association governance
  • Finance, audit, or treasury
  • Law (corporate, tax-exempt, regulatory)
  • Education, certification, or credentialing
  • Communications, advocacy, or public affairs
  • Member or community representation
  • Geography: Multi-state representation; at least one director from a regulated adult-use state and one from a medical-only or limited state
  • Lived experience: At least two directors with hands-on credentialed practice (Community Education member, GPS credential holder, or Certified Ganjier)
  • Diversity of background, identity, and perspective — explicitly valued and tracked

What the Guild offers a founding director

  • Real influence on a profession that is forming in real time
  • A working board, not a name-on-letterhead board
  • A short, defined founding term so the workload has an end-date
  • Reimbursement of reasonable approved travel; no compensation in Year 1
  • D&O insurance from the day Articles are filed
  • Public attribution as a founding director on the Guild website and in the inaugural annual report

2) Role description

See the full role description for canonical duties. Highlights:

Aspect Founding term
Term length 18 months; staggered into 1, 2, and 3-year classes by lot at first meeting
Time commitment ~6–10 hours per month average; heavier in months 1–3 and around the founding convening
Meetings One organizational meeting (in person or video), then quarterly board meetings, plus one committee. Special meetings as needed for time-sensitive decisions
Committees Each founding director chairs or serves on at least one of: Audit & Finance, Nominating & Governance, Membership & Ethics, Education & Certification. Full charter set at governance/committees/
Compensation None. Reasonable, pre-approved travel and meeting expenses reimbursed
Insurance D&O coverage from formation; certificate available on request
Removal By two-thirds of remaining directors for cause, per draft bylaws

Specific founding-board responsibilities

  1. Adopt bylaws and the six core policies
  2. Approve Articles of Incorporation and choice of state
  3. Authorize Form 1024 filing and engagement of tax counsel
  4. Approve Year-1 budget and dues schedule
  5. Approve initial sponsor agreements and gift-acceptance posture
  6. Oversee the founding convening and the first member ballot
  7. Approve the first audit/review engagement letter
  8. Set the standard for transparency that subsequent boards inherit

3) Fiduciary primer — what every director must understand

Every nonprofit director in the United States owes the corporation three fiduciary duties. The Guild expects every director to understand them before accepting a seat.

Duty of Care

Act in good faith with the care an ordinarily prudent person would exercise in like position. Practically:

  • Read board materials before meetings
  • Ask questions; do not rubber-stamp
  • Attend meetings; if you cannot attend, review minutes and submit comments
  • Rely on staff and experts when reasonable, but verify

Duty of Loyalty

Put the Guild's interests above your own and above any company you work for. Practically:

  • Disclose every potential conflict on signing the annual COI form
  • Recuse from any vote where you, your employer, or a close family member benefits
  • Do not use Guild information for personal gain
  • Treat related-party transactions exactly the way the Conflict of Interest policy describes

Duty of Obedience

Act consistent with the Guild's stated mission, bylaws, and applicable law. Practically:

  • Do not authorize spending or activity outside the mission
  • Do not authorize lobbying that exceeds 501©(6) limits or violates the Lobbying Disclosure Act
  • Honor the bylaws even when inconvenient
  • Demand documented legal review for anything novel

What changes for a 501©(6) (vs. a ©(3))

  • The Guild may engage in unlimited lobbying on issues germane to its industry purpose, but must give members an annual §6033(e) notice of the nondeductible portion of dues
  • Donations to the Guild are not charitable contributions; member dues may be deductible as ordinary business expenses, subject to the lobbying-allocation rules
  • Excess-benefit and private-inurement rules still apply; no part of net earnings may inure to any private member or shareholder

If any of this is uncomfortable, decline the seat. Saying no is a perfectly responsible answer.

4) Application form

This is a working draft. The live form will be a Typeform or Google Form linked from the Guild website once formed.

Section A — Identity and contact

  1. Full legal name
  2. Preferred name
  3. Email
  4. Phone (optional)
  5. City, state/province, country
  6. LinkedIn or professional bio URL

Section B — Professional background

  1. Current role and organization
  2. Years in the cannabis industry
  3. Other professional licenses or credentials held (legal, CPA, nursing, ag, education, etc.)
  4. Existing Ganjier credential, if any (Friend of the Guild, GPS, Certified Ganjier, Community Education member)
  5. Most relevant prior board, committee, or governance service (organization, role, dates)
  6. Brief professional bio, 150 words max

Section C — Why this seat

  1. Why do you want to serve on the founding board of the Ganjier Guild? (200 words)
  2. What expertise do you bring that the founding board needs? (150 words)
  3. Which committee would you most want to chair or serve on, and why?

Section D — Conflicts and disclosures

  1. List every cannabis-industry company in which you, your spouse/partner, or your dependents hold a financial interest greater than 5% or a paid role
  2. List every paid advisory, consulting, or board role you currently hold
  3. Are you a registered lobbyist in any jurisdiction? If yes, where and on whose behalf?
  4. Have you ever been the subject of a regulatory enforcement action, criminal proceeding, or civil judgment that a reasonable person would consider material to a fiduciary role? If yes, briefly describe.
  5. Are you willing to sign and refresh annually the Guild's Conflict of Interest disclosure?

Section E — References

  1. Two professional references (name, role, email)
  2. One peer reference from a cannabis-industry context

Section F — Acknowledgments

  • I have read the proposal at github.com/ginalyncox/ganjier-guild-launch-blueprint and understand the Guild is in pre-formation. (checkbox)
  • I understand the time commitment and term length described above. (checkbox)
  • I understand the three fiduciary duties summarized in the recruitment kit. (checkbox)
  • I am willing to be publicly named as a founding director if selected. (yes / no)
  • I agree to the Guild contacting my listed references. (checkbox)

Submission

Email completed form to the proposal sponsor at the address on the README, or once the Guild website is live, submit through the board-application page.

Process

  1. Outreach — administrator and nominating advisors invite candidates and circulate this kit
  2. Application — candidate returns the form
  3. Reference check — administrator + one nominating advisor contact references
  4. Conversation — 45-minute video call covering motivations, conflicts, and expectations
  5. Slate — nominating advisors recommend a slate to the proposal sponsor and counsel
  6. Seating — at the organizational meeting after Articles are filed, founding directors are seated and sign their COI disclosures and acknowledgements
  7. Onboarding — see board-onboarding/README.md