Candidate Handbook¶

Status: Draft, pre-formation. Adopted on board approval of the certification program.

This handbook is for anyone joining the Guild — whether you have no Ganjier-program achievement yet, hold a Ganjier Product Specialist Level 1 (GPS L1) milestone, or hold a Certified Ganjier (CG) credential. It explains what the Guild does (and does not do), what subscription tier you'll be on, what shows up on your profile, and what's asked of you.

The two-tier picture. The Guild has two paid subscription tiers in WooCommerce:

Community Education tier — the Student tier. Anyone joining without a Certified Ganjier credential is on this tier. If you hold a verified GPS L1 milestone badge, you're still on this tier; the GPS L1 shows up on your internal profile as a recognized achievement.

Full Membership tier — reserved for Certified Members (verified Certified Ganjiers). This tier unlocks the public-directory opt-in, the "CG" post-nominal, full voting rights, and eligibility to join The Guild Collective Co-op (a separate Maine cooperative whose purpose is a profit-sharing waterfall to qualifying Guild members).

You don't choose your tier directly — it's determined by your credential status. If you later earn Certified Ganjier, your subscription upgrades from Community Education to Full Membership (with proration and consent).

Read this first¶

The Guild is not the Ganjier program. The Ganjier program is a separate entity that issues the Ganjier credential. The Guild is a 501©(6) trade association that recognizes that credential as a member attribute and operates a community, continuing-education, and advocacy program around it. See ADR-0008 for the full structural relationship.

If you are looking for information about how to earn a Ganjier credential, the Guild is not your source — that is the Ganjier program's responsibility. If you are looking for information about how to be a Guild member, you are in the right place.

What you get at each membership level¶

Benefit	Student (Community Ed tier)	Student with verified GPS L1 milestone (Community Ed tier)	Certified Member (Full Membership tier; verified CG)
WordPress / WooCommerce subscription	Community Education tier	Community Education tier (no change from Student)	Full Membership tier
Internal member directory listing	Yes	Yes	Yes
Opt-in public directory on `ganjierguild.com`	No	No	Yes — opt-in with "Recognized Credential: Certified Ganjier"
GPS L1 milestone badge on your internal profile	No	Yes	Yes (kept historically if earned previously)
CE-hour tracking	Yes	Yes (against the GPS L1 recertification cycle if applicable)	Yes (against the CG recertification cycle)
Access to continuing-education through the Guild LMS	Yes	Yes	Yes (advanced track)
Regional chapters and member referral network	Yes	Yes	Yes
Discounted registration on Guild events and conferences	Yes	Yes	Yes
Post-nominal in Guild-affiliated communications	None	None	"CG"
Voting rights at the Annual General Meeting	None / advisory	None / advisory	Full (vote in board elections; eligible to run after 1 year)
Co-op eligibility (The Guild Collective profit-sharing waterfall)	No	No	Yes — reserved to Full Membership

GPS L1 in plain language. GPS L1 is a milestone badge, not a Guild membership credential. The Guild verifies it and shows it on your internal profile so Guild staff and other active members can see your progress. It does not move you off the Community Education tier and does not unlock the public-directory listing, post-nominal, or co-op eligibility. Those are reserved for Certified Members (verified Certified Ganjiers).

Why Community Education + GPS L1 is its own column. Same subscription product as Student, same dues, same tier-level benefits — the difference is purely the milestone badge on your internal profile. We list it separately so it's clear what the badge does and doesn't unlock.

What is asked of you¶

Obligation	Detail
Provide accurate information for your member profile	Including your verified Ganjier credential identifier
Abide by the Guild Code of Ethics and Online Community Code of Conduct	Annual ethics attestation required
Pay dues on the cadence you choose	Monthly or annual, with auto-renewal unless cancelled in writing 7+ days before renewal
Maintain the continuing-education hours your Ganjier credential requires for recertification	The Guild offers programming that counts toward this requirement and tracks your hours through Guild channels — your underlying recertification with the Ganjier program is your responsibility
Disclose conflicts of interest if you hold a position of influence in the Guild	Committee members, instructors, and assessors

The five-step intake process¶

1. Sign up      →  2. Verify        →  3. Onboard     →  4. Activate     →  5. Engage
   (online)        credential          (orientation)     (directory +       (events,
                   (Membership                            CE tracking)       chapters, CE)
                   Committee)

You complete the Certified Ganjier tier signup at ganjierguild.com/join. You provide:

Your legal name and preferred display name
Your contact email and phone (phone optional)
Your Ganjier credential identifier (one of: Credly badge URL, Ganjier program certificate ID, or program-issued lookup token)
Your professional context (employer, region, area of practice — optional)
Payment for your first dues period

You do not pay your full annual dues until your credential is verified. Sign-up establishes a pending Certified Ganjier record; dues processing pauses until verification clears.

Step 2 — The Guild verifies your credential¶

A member of the Membership Committee (or a delegated administrator) verifies your credential through the Ganjier program's published verification channel. This typically takes one to three business days.

What we record:

Your credential tier and issue date
Your verification source (Credly URL, certificate lookup, or other)
The date and identity of the Guild staff member who verified
The credential's expiration date (so we can prompt your recertification cycle)

If verification clears, your subscription processes through WooCommerce and you advance to onboarding. If verification is inconclusive (we can't reach the verification source, or the credential record is unclear), we contact you with what we need — your subscription stays in pending state. If verification fails, you stay at the Student profile role with a clear written reason and an appeal pathway to the Membership & Ethics Committee. Your subscription is unaffected; only the credential indicator and post-nominal differ.

Step 3 — Onboarding¶

Within seven days of verification, you receive an onboarding email containing:

A link to a 25-minute orientation video (Guild structure, member services, how to use the portal)
The Code of Ethics, the Code of Conduct, and the Conflict of Interest policy — for review and electronic signature
A walkthrough of the Member Portal (your profile, the directory, the LMS, the library)
An invitation to your regional chapter's introductory meeting (if one is active in your area)

Onboarding completion is recorded in your profile.

Step 4 — Activation¶

Your activation triggers:

Your internal directory entry goes live (visible to Guild staff and other active members)
Your CE-hour tracking begins on the next day after onboarding
You are added to the regional chapter mailing list and any committee waitlists you opted into
Your member ID is propagated to Klaviyo (for member-only emails) and Moodle (for course access)

What else activates depends on your level:

Student (no credential). Above only.
Student with verified GPS L1 milestone. Above + the GPS L1 milestone badge on your internal profile.
Certified Member (verified CG). Above + your subscription is on Full Membership tier + you're offered the public directory opt-in (with the "Recognized Credential: Certified Ganjier" indicator) + the "CG" post-nominal enables on Guild-affiliated communications + co-op eligibility opens. The public listing only appears after you opt in.

Step 5 — Engage¶

You're a full member. The Guild's job from here is to be useful to you:

Send relevant CE programming you'll actually want to attend
Connect you with peers in your region and area of practice
Make it easy for you to contribute (committee work, mentoring new members, event volunteering)
Track your CE hours and notify you well before any recertification deadline
Recognize your contributions publicly when you give time to the Guild

How CE tracking works for you¶

The Guild operates a CE ledger that records every CE-eligible activity you complete through Guild-operated channels. You can see your ledger in your member profile under My CE.

What gets logged automatically:

Guild courses and quizzes completed in Moodle
Webinar attendance verified through Zoom
Conference and event session attendance verified by check-in
Committee service hours documented through the volunteer program
Annual ethics attestation

What you submit manually (with documentation):

External CE earned outside the Guild that you want recorded against your recertification — for example, a sensory workshop run by another organization. The Guild reviews and either accepts or declines based on the Ganjier program's published recognition rules.

The Guild shares your Guild-tracked CE with the Ganjier program at your recertification window only if you have authorized that data sharing in your profile. Authorization is a one-time setting you control. The Guild does not unilaterally disclose your CE to the Ganjier program.

What the Guild issues to you (its own recognitions)¶

These are Guild recognitions — they are not the Ganjier credential.

Recognition	When you earn it
Course completion certificate	You complete a Guild-authored Moodle course and pass the final assessment
CE-hour attainment letter	You cross a CE-hour threshold (e.g., 20 hours within a 24-month window)
Committee service letter	You complete a documented term of committee service
Annual ethics attestation receipt	You re-sign the Code of Ethics each year

Each is a verifiable PDF carrying your name, the recognition, the date, the issuing body, and a verification URL. They are revocable for documented ethics violations under the appeals-and-revocation process.

What happens at recertification¶

Your Ganjier credential has a recertification cycle defined by the Ganjier program. The Guild does not set that cycle — but the Guild helps you meet it.

About 90 days before your recertification window opens, the Guild sends you:

Your current CE ledger as a PDF
A gap analysis: what you've earned vs. what your credential requires
A list of upcoming Guild programming that fits your remaining gap
A reminder that your annual ethics attestation is current (or due)

You complete recertification with the Ganjier program directly. The Guild updates your verification record at the next verification window or sooner if you supply updated credential evidence.

If your Certified Ganjier credential lapses without timely recertification:

Your profile moves to a 90-day grace state. If you've opted into the public directory, your listing remains visible with a "Recertification pending" indicator during grace.
After 90 days without renewed verification, your profile role drops to Student and the public-directory listing is removed. Your internal directory entry remains. Your subscription transitions from Full Membership tier back to Community Education tier in WooCommerce (with refund of the unused difference, per the Guild refund policy). Co-op eligibility ends. The "CG" post-nominal is disabled. Any historical GPS L1 milestone badge stays on your profile.
You can return to Certified Member status at any time by re-verifying with current credential evidence; your CE ledger is preserved, your subscription upgrades back to Full Membership tier with proration, and you can re-opt-in to the public directory.

If your GPS L1 milestone lapses (where the program defines an expiration), the badge is removed from your profile but no other change occurs — you remain a Student on Community Education tier.

See recertification.md for full operational detail.

How to leave or pause membership¶

What you want to do	What it looks like
Pause for life events	Email `members@ganjierguild.com`. We move you to a "paused" state for up to 12 months — no dues, no directory listing, profile preserved. Return at any time.
Cancel for the next renewal	Toggle auto-renewal off in your profile, or email us at least 7 days before your renewal date
Cancel immediately with a refund of unused months	Email `members@ganjierguild.com` with a brief reason. Refunds are pro-rated to the day of the request, less any current-month processing
Become a Friend of the Guild instead	Tell us; we move you to free tier, your profile and CE ledger are preserved if you ever want to return

The Guild does not penalize members who pause or leave. Stepping back when life requires it is a feature.

Questions¶

For	Email
Membership questions, verification, dues, profile	`members@ganjierguild.com`
CE questions, course access, recertification support	`learning@ganjierguild.com`
Ethics, conduct, appeals	`ethics@ganjierguild.com`
Anything else	`hello@ganjierguild.com`