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Volunteer role catalog

Status: Draft, pre-formation. Each role here is a planning placeholder. Before recruitment opens for any role, the supervising committee chair, event lead, or project sponsor must confirm it, and the Volunteer Program Lead must publish the live posting at the URL on the Guild website.

Every role description in this catalog uses a fixed format so volunteers can compare them apples-to-apples.

Role description format

Each entry contains:

  • Purpose — one paragraph
  • Duties — bullet list of what the volunteer actually does
  • Authority — what the volunteer can decide, sign, or commit; what they cannot
  • Prerequisites — credentials, experience, or training required
  • Time commitment — hours per period
  • Term — start, end, renewability
  • Supervisor — exactly one role
  • Risk profile — Low / Standard / Sensitive (drives screening depth)

Risk profile definitions:

  • Low: No access to PII, finance, or external communications on Guild's behalf
  • Standard: Limited PII (e.g., committee work touching member roster); routine internal communications
  • Sensitive: Access to financial systems, member PII at scale, ethics complaint information, lobbying records, or external speaking on behalf of the Guild

Committee volunteers

Audit & Finance Committee member

  • Purpose: Strengthens financial oversight by reviewing budgets, audited statements, internal controls, and Form 990 prior to board approval.
  • Duties:
  • Attend ~6 committee meetings per year (90 minutes each)
  • Review monthly financial reports
  • Review draft Form 990 prior to board adoption
  • Review the engagement letter and findings of the audit/review firm
  • Recommend financial policies and internal controls to the board
  • Authority: Recommends, does not bind. Cannot sign agreements.
  • Prerequisites: Practical exposure to nonprofit, association, or business finance; ability to read financial statements. Active member of the Guild.
  • Time commitment: ~5–8 hours/month, heavier during audit and 990 windows
  • Term: 2 years, renewable once
  • Supervisor: Audit & Finance committee chair
  • Risk profile: Sensitive (financial information, internal controls)

Nominating & Governance Committee member

  • Purpose: Maintains the pipeline of board and committee candidates and keeps the bylaws and policies current.
  • Duties:
  • Identify and vet candidates for board, officer, and committee chair roles
  • Review bylaws, policies, and conflict-of-interest disclosures annually
  • Recommend a board slate and propose policy updates
  • Authority: Recommends. Does not appoint.
  • Prerequisites: Governance familiarity preferred. Active member of the Guild.
  • Time commitment: ~3–6 hours/month, heavier in nomination season (Sept–Nov)
  • Term: 2 years, renewable once
  • Supervisor: Nominating & Governance committee chair
  • Risk profile: Sensitive (candidate disclosures, sometimes ethics referrals)

Membership & Ethics Committee member

  • Purpose: Reviews membership applications, dues categorization disputes, and ethics complaints under the Code of Ethics.
  • Duties:
  • Triage member complaints per the ethics complaint procedure
  • Recommend findings; preserve due-process documentation
  • Recommend membership-tier adjustments where ambiguous
  • Authority: Recommends sanctions to the board. Cannot impose them unilaterally.
  • Prerequisites: Demonstrated discretion, no active complaint pending against the volunteer, ability to recuse appropriately. Active member.
  • Time commitment: Variable — 2–8 hours/month depending on case volume
  • Term: 2 years, renewable once
  • Supervisor: Membership & Ethics committee chair
  • Risk profile: Sensitive (complaint information; confidentiality essential)

Education & Certification Committee member

  • Purpose: Develops and maintains the Guild's education programs and certification standards.
  • Duties:
  • Review curriculum proposals
  • Vet continuing-education content for member relevance and rigor
  • Maintain credentialing standards for Community Education members, GPS credential holders, and Certified Ganjiers
  • Authority: Recommends standards and content; final adoption by the board.
  • Prerequisites: Educator, trainer, or credentialed practitioner background. Active member.
  • Time commitment: ~4–6 hours/month
  • Term: 2 years, renewable once
  • Supervisor: Education & Certification committee chair
  • Risk profile: Standard

Events Committee member

  • Purpose: Plans the annual founding convening and other Guild events.
  • Duties:
  • Help select venues, speakers, formats, and sponsors
  • Coordinate volunteer recruitment for the event itself
  • Lead post-event debriefs
  • Authority: Recommends; cannot sign venue or sponsor contracts.
  • Prerequisites: Event planning, hospitality, or operations background helpful. Active member.
  • Time commitment: 4 hours/month baseline; 8–15 hours/month in the 60 days before an event
  • Term: 1 year, renewable
  • Supervisor: Events committee chair
  • Risk profile: Standard

Communications Committee member

  • Purpose: Reviews and amplifies the Guild's external communications and brand expression.
  • Duties:
  • Review newsletters, press boilerplate, and member communications
  • Recommend brand-aligned content
  • Spot-check social posts for ethics and brand-guide adherence
  • Authority: Reviews; cannot speak for the Guild.
  • Prerequisites: Communications, journalism, marketing, or design background helpful. Active member.
  • Time commitment: ~3 hours/month
  • Term: 1 year, renewable
  • Supervisor: Communications committee chair
  • Risk profile: Standard (occasional embargoed content)

Advocacy Committee member

  • Purpose: Tracks legislation, regulation, and rulemakings relevant to the Guild's industry purpose; recommends Guild positions.
  • Duties:
  • Monitor federal and state regulatory dockets relevant to cannabis professionals
  • Draft position summaries for board review
  • Coordinate with retained advocacy counsel where engaged
  • Authority: Recommends positions. The board approves any public position. No direct lobbying contacts unless specifically authorized in writing.
  • Prerequisites: Active member. No undisclosed conflicts with regulated parties. Background in policy, regulatory affairs, or advocacy helpful.
  • Time commitment: ~3–5 hours/month
  • Term: 1 year, renewable
  • Supervisor: Advocacy committee chair
  • Risk profile: Sensitive (lobbying disclosure compliance, §6033(e) implications)

Event volunteers

Conference greeter / registration

  • Purpose: First point of contact for attendees at the annual convening.
  • Duties: Welcome attendees, check registrations, distribute badges and materials, direct attendees to sessions, escalate accessibility or accommodation needs to event lead.
  • Authority: Cannot make ticket-price exceptions. Refers all complaints to event lead.
  • Prerequisites: Active member or member-in-good-standing-equivalent (e.g., scholarship recipient).
  • Time commitment: 4–8 hours over the event days
  • Term: Per event
  • Supervisor: Event lead
  • Risk profile: Low

Session moderator

  • Purpose: Introduces speakers, manages Q&A, keeps sessions on time.
  • Duties: Pre-event speaker prep call, in-session timekeeping, Q&A facilitation, post-session feedback collection.
  • Authority: May curate Q&A but does not edit content. Defers to speaker on substance.
  • Prerequisites: Comfortable with public facilitation. Active member.
  • Time commitment: 1 hour prep + 1 hour per session moderated
  • Term: Per event
  • Supervisor: Event lead or program chair
  • Risk profile: Low

Program reviewer (call-for-proposals)

  • Purpose: Reviews speaker and session proposals using a published rubric.
  • Duties: Review assigned proposals; submit scored feedback by deadline; flag conflicts of interest to the program chair.
  • Authority: Recommends scores. Final program decisions are the program chair's.
  • Prerequisites: Subject-matter familiarity in at least one program track. Active member.
  • Time commitment: 4–10 hours total during the review window
  • Term: Per event
  • Supervisor: Program chair
  • Risk profile: Standard (proposal contents are confidential to the review committee)

Project volunteers

Project volunteers are recruited against a written project charter that the project sponsor signs. The charter covers scope, deliverables, time commitment, supervisor, and end date. The Volunteer Program Lead keeps a copy.

Examples of typical Year-1 project roles

Project Volunteer role Time Supervisor Risk
Member portal usability test Tester 2–3 hours IT lead Low
Curriculum draft for Friend-tier orientation Curriculum contributor 8–15 hours over 6 weeks Education & Certification chair Standard
Founding convening photographer Photographer Per event Events chair Standard (image rights)
Repository documentation reviewer Reviewer 2–6 hours Volunteer Program Lead Low
Translation of public materials Translator Per piece Communications chair Standard

Roles the Guild does not offer to volunteers

These are intentionally excluded from the volunteer program. Compensation or formal contractor engagement is required where any of these are needed.

  • Bookkeeping or accounts payable
  • Negotiating or signing contracts on the Guild's behalf
  • Acting as a registered lobbyist
  • Representing the Guild before regulators
  • Independent custody of member PII outside of approved Guild systems
  • Any role for which the Guild's insurance does not cover a volunteer

Posting and recruitment

When a role in this catalog is opened for recruitment, the Volunteer Program Lead publishes a short live posting that includes:

  1. Title
  2. Purpose paragraph
  3. Duties (3–6 bullets)
  4. Time commitment, term, supervisor, risk profile
  5. Application link
  6. Application deadline
  7. Expected start date

See onboarding.md for what happens after the application is received.