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Membership & Ethics Committee — Charter

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

Purpose

To steward the Guild's relationship with its members: tier policy, eligibility, scholarship and hardship review, member discipline, and the integrity of the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct (online). The committee is the place where membership policy is developed and where ethics complaints are heard.

Authority

  • Recommends to the board: tier structure, dues, eligibility criteria, scholarship/hardship budget, and discipline outcomes that involve revocation or expulsion
  • Approves directly (under board-delegated authority): individual scholarship and hardship waiver decisions per the waiver policy, and ethics findings that result in warnings, training requirements, or short-term suspensions
  • Conducts intake, investigation, and adjudication of code-of-ethics and code-of-conduct complaints under written procedures
  • Does not approve complimentary memberships outside the four narrow categories — those go to the full board

Composition

  • 3 to 5 members
  • Chair is a director, ideally with prior ethics, HR, professional licensing, or member-services experience
  • At least one member who is a credentialed Ganjier (Certified Ganjier or equivalent) when feasible, to anchor practitioner perspective
  • At least one member who is not a director, to broaden the lens
  • Term: members 2 years, staggered, renewable once
  • Administrator is non-voting staff support and intake coordinator
  • A fact-finder or neutral third party may be retained for serious matters; the committee makes the recommendation

Cadence

  • Monthly routine for waiver decisions and member-services items
  • Within 5 business days to convene on any time-sensitive ethics intake
  • Always meets in January (annual policy reaffirmation, COI refresh), June (mid-year scholarship review), November (next-year budget recommendation)

Specific responsibilities

Membership policy

Scholarship and hardship review

  • Receive and review applications under the Scholarship & Hardship Waiver
  • Apply objective criteria; document brief written rationales; manage budget against board-approved cap
  • Report aggregate counts (no individuals named) in the annual report

Complimentary memberships

  • Review proposed honorary memberships and reciprocal arrangements per the complimentary membership policy
  • Reject any proposal to grant a comp in exchange for service; redirect to recognition or scholarship paths
  • Report all approved comp/honorary/reciprocal/founding-discount actions to the board on the consent agenda

Ethics intake and adjudication

  • Receive complaints submitted via the whistleblower channel, the member portal, email, or in-person reports
  • Run intake within 5 business days; assess scope, conflicts, and whether outside counsel or HR support is needed
  • Conduct a fair, documented process: notice to the respondent, opportunity to respond, evidence review, decision
  • Issue findings with one of: dismissed, warning, training, time-limited suspension, revocation/expulsion (revocation/expulsion requires board ratification)
  • Maintain confidentiality consistent with the policy; keep records per document retention

Member services and feedback

  • Review member-services data quarterly with the Administrator
  • Sponsor the annual member survey and analyze results
  • Recommend operational improvements to the Administrator

Equity, access, and dues relief

  • Monitor scholarship-utilization patterns for equity and access
  • Recommend adjustments to the budget cap, eligibility criteria, or outreach as needed

Decision rights

Decision Authority
Approve a scholarship/hardship waiver Committee approves under delegated authority; aggregate report to board
Approve a comp membership outside the four categories Recommend NO; board may override only by motion
Issue a warning, training requirement, or short suspension Committee approves under delegated authority; written notice
Revoke a credential or expel a member Recommend; board approves by motion
Change tier structure or dues Recommend; board approves
Update Code of Ethics or Code of Conduct Recommend with Nominating & Governance; board approves

Confidentiality

  • Two-track minutes: a public-facing summary of policy items, and a confidential record of individual cases
  • Identifying details restricted to committee members, Administrator, and outside counsel as needed
  • The Administrator, who handles intake, is bound by SECURITY.md data-handling rules

Reporting

  • Written report at every regular board meeting (aggregate; individuals not named on the public record)
  • Annual report covering: applications received and decisions issued (counts and categories), policy recommendations, ethics caseload statistics, member-survey insights

Deliverables in the first 12 months

  1. Adopted scholarship/hardship review SOP and budget allocation
  2. Adopted ethics intake and adjudication SOP with timelines and notice requirements
  3. Annual member survey fielded and analyzed
  4. Adopted business-tier eligibility verification SOP (license check + insurance attestation)
  5. Aggregate annual report on memberships granted, declined, suspended, revoked

Cross-references