The following is a proposed amendment to the Project Foundation Project Plan. This amendment will be placed within Phase Two, as Task 1, which will increment further task numbers within Phase Two by 1.
This is being brought on by concerns regarding budgets and funding during the exploratory stages, specifically voiced by LurkD in the project plan thread. As such, the following is being proposed to be amended:
The Formation of a Budgetary Committee
In order to action certain parts of this Project Plan, and further Project Goals, funds will be required in order to acquire goods and services in the name of the Project. As such, a committee must be formed in order to create, regulate, and keep in good standing all funds for the Project Goals.
A Budgetary Committee will be formed defined as follows:
The budgetary committee shall be responsible for the raising, stewardship, and disbursement of funds related to Project Foundation. In order to accomplish this, a Treasurer will be appointed to action these goals. The treasurer will appoint committee members, subject to Project Foundation Board approval.
Role of the Treasurer
Selection
The role of treasurer will be nominated from a pool of potential candidates. The potential candidate selection or filtering process is not defined within this document, and is to be determined by the Project Foundation Board.
The nominee will ask to consent to their nomination. Upon positive affirmation, the board will vote on the nominee. A super majority of the board is required for confirmation.
The treasurer does not have to be a current board member, but will be expected to participate in the board.
Some definitions:
Donation - A transfer of funds from an outside party, to the fund of the Budgetary Commitee. This can come from any public or private source, and is considered a freely given, non-refundable amount to the Project Foundation funds.
Requisition - A transfer of funds from the Project Foundation funds to another party for the acquisition of goods or services related to the Project. These will require approval from the budgetary committee, through a process defined by the committee. Documentation will be expected of the approval, and receipt.
Withdrawal - A transfer of funds from the Project Foundation funds to another party for non-project related purposes. Any and all withdrawals must be discussed and documented, subject to approval from both the board, and the budgetary committee. These should not be done lightly, often, and theoretically at all.
The treasurer will have the following duties:
- Determine, and acquire an account for the retention of funds, separate from all personal funds and obligations. This account will be held in the name of The Project, until such time that a legal entity can be named as its holder.
- To produce a quarterly report detailing:
- Donations to the above account organized by total, and individual contributors.
- Approved disbursements with a documented receipt, and approval for disbursement
- Withdrawals, with associated approvals from the board and committee, with a documented receipt
The following restrictions are posed on any candidate for the position of Treasurer:
- The candidate must be an adult, within their country of residence. For example in the United States, the candidate must be at least 18 years of age.
Dismissal of the Treasurer
The treasurer can be dismissed by supermajority vote of the board, at any time, for any reason. A Treasurer may similarly be suspended form their duties for either personal or project related reasons for a period of time as defined by the board. In the case of dismissal, a new treasurer will be selected outlined in the above procedure. A dismissed treasurer may serve as treasurer again.
Budgetary Committee
The treasurer will form a committee by nominating committee members, who if consenting to their nomination, will be confirmed by a simple majority of the Project Foundation Board.
This committe will be expected to deliver the following:
- A documented set of procedures and bylaws for the donation, requisition, and withdrawal of funds from the account defined within the Role of the Treasurer section. These procedures should define the processes of Donation, Requisition, Withdrawal, and provide a clause for the disbursement of funds in the case of the project being deemed non-viable. This documentation should also define the voting rules, rights, and restrictions for the decision making process.
Commitee Members will have the following responsibilities:
- Vote on proposed budgetary items commensurate with the documented procedures
- Assist the treasurer in all budgetary related actions
Expected Deliverables
- Documented procedures for the operation of the Budgetary Committee
- Quarterly Budgetary reports, produced on the 15th of every quarter-month (JAN 15, APR 15, JUL 15, OCT 15)
The above is keeping in mind that this person must be a trusted individual. We could argue about how to put checks and balances in, but at the end of the day this will be a staff member, who we're going to have to hold accountable for this stuff.
Please give any objections, additions, or feedback below.
A period of one week will be held for discussion, before voting (barring significant discussion requiring extending this timeline).
Thank you for your dedication, staff-skippers <3