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Communications Committee — Charter

Status: Draft, pre-formation. Adopted by board motion at or shortly after incorporation.

Purpose

To steward the Guild's voice, visual identity, and reputation: brand, website, member communications, social media, press, and crisis communications. The committee makes sure the Guild sounds and looks consistent, credible, and protective of its members.

Authority

  • Recommends to the board: brand standards changes, communications policy, official statements on contested industry issues, and crisis-communications protocols
  • Approves directly (within policy): editorial calendar, member newsletters, social posts within voice guidelines, website content updates, and routine press responses
  • Coordinates with: every other committee for content sourcing, the Advocacy committee for policy comms, the Events committee for event promotion, and the Administrator/sysadmin for the website and technical channels

Composition

  • 3 to 5 members
  • Chair is a director or senior member with communications, marketing, or journalism background
  • At least one member with professional communications or journalism experience
  • At least one member who is a credentialed Ganjier to anchor member voice
  • Term: members 2 years, staggered, renewable once
  • Administrator is non-voting staff support; an outside fractional comms contractor or agency may attend as needed

Cadence

  • Monthly routine; weekly during launch and major announcements
  • On call for crisis communications
  • Always meets in January (annual editorial calendar), April/August/October (campaign cycles), December (annual report draft)

Specific responsibilities

Brand and voice

  • Maintain the brand guidelines and asset library
  • Maintain the Guild's media boilerplate
  • Defend the two-word "Ganjier Guild" body-copy convention even where the wordmark visually joins the words
  • Maintain voice guidelines so volunteer and staff communicators sound consistent

Website and digital channels

  • Own editorial responsibility for ganjierguild.com content; the sysadmin handles technical implementation
  • Maintain the downloads page and member-portal-facing pages
  • Approve major design changes; routine content edits handled by Administrator
  • Coordinate accessibility (alt text, contrast, captions) on every public asset

Member communications

  • Build and execute the editorial calendar: newsletters (monthly), member announcements, milestone communications, renewal cycles
  • Coordinate with the Administrator on operational comms (dues invoices, renewals, event registrations)
  • Maintain templates: welcome email, renewal reminders, dues notices including the §162(e) member notice coordinated with Treasurer
  • Build the subscriber conversion FAQ with the Membership & Ethics committee at incorporation

Press and external relations

  • Maintain the press contact (navigators@ganjierguild.com) and a media list
  • Use the press release template for official announcements
  • Hold for Board Chair response on substantive policy questions; respond to logistical/factual press inquiries within scope
  • Maintain a position log of public statements

Social media

  • Maintain a published social-media policy and content calendar
  • Apply the Code of Conduct (online) on every Guild channel
  • Train social contributors before publishing access is granted
  • Monitor mentions; surface complaints to the Membership & Ethics committee where appropriate

Crisis communications

  • Maintain a written crisis-communications protocol: who decides, who speaks, who supports, what gets logged
  • Coordinate with counsel and the Board Chair on legally sensitive matters
  • Run an annual tabletop drill with the Audit & Finance committee and IT lead

Annual report

  • Produce the Guild's annual report; coordinate inputs from every committee
  • Coordinate publication of the Form 990 with Treasurer per compliance calendar

Decision rights

Decision Authority
Adopt the editorial calendar Committee approves under delegated authority
Issue a routine press response Chair or designee within policy
Issue an official Guild statement on a policy question Recommend; Board Chair approves; full board for material positions
Change brand standards (logo, colors, name treatment) Recommend; board approves
Crisis-communications response Chair + Board Chair; counsel as needed
Approve a social-media contributor Committee approves under delegated authority

Reporting

  • Written report at every regular board meeting (channel performance, upcoming campaigns, press coverage)
  • Annual report (the Guild's annual report itself is a deliverable of this committee)

Deliverables in the first 12 months

  1. Adopted editorial calendar and voice guidelines
  2. Subscriber conversion FAQ delivered with the Membership & Ethics committee at incorporation
  3. Adopted social-media policy and content calendar
  4. Crisis-communications protocol adopted; first tabletop drill completed
  5. First Guild annual report published

Cross-references