RFC 1 - National Code and Coffee

Article 1 - National Code and Coffee Community.md

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+# Article of Understanding 1 - National Code and Coffee Community
+
+## Purpose 
+Code and Coffee Collective is a national organization that aims to create in-person communities centered around software development.  
+
+This Article of Understanding serves to formalize the goals of the National Code and Coffee Collective and outlines the relationship between itself and the Local meetups.
+
+
+## Principles
+
+- **Minimal Formality**:  
+The goal of a Local Code and Coffee meetup is to create a space where individuals can personally engage and connect. While we assist community members in achieving personal goals (i.e. improving one's skill set, finding mentorship, or finding a job), our primary purpose is to facilitate that space that encourages meaningful interpersonal connection. We recognize that overly formal (talk-style) structures can be antagonistic to developing personal relationships. However, no formal structure often leads to uneven distribution of effort, resulting in undue burden on local organizers. Therefore, we aim to minimize formality in all our processes where possible.
+
+- **Local Autonomy**:  
+Our main goal is to create personal communities. The kind of place where folks know your name and support you in your life goals. These kinds of communities can only develop if local organizers and leaders have a sense of ownership over how their community are run and structured. The National Code and Coffee Collective should respect Local Autonomy to its maximal degree. Local communities should always be allowed to opt out of national programs and plans when possible and practical. National Code and Coffee Collective may give recommendations to Local Meetup communities on how they are structured, but they may not require Local Meetup communities to be structured in any particular way.
+
+## General Community Principles
+- **Trust**
+- **Safety**
+- **Belonging**
+
+## Local Community Expectations
+
+- **Intro Circle**:  
+All Local Meetup communities should start all meetups with an intro circle. All attendees should be allowed to introduce themselves to the community. The Local Community has full discretion on how this is performed, the kinds of questions asked, and the length of time an intro is given. This is the sole unifying ritual that all Code and Coffee Local Meetup communities perform. This helps start conversations while encouraging everyone to be personal.
+
+- **Regular Predictable Meetups**:  
+Strong communities need both time and space to grow. Local Meetup communities should aim to meet at regular intervals, monthly or bi-weekly, at predictable times in predictable places. This predictability and cadence create confidence in community members that the community is worth investing emotional energy into. This also allows regular attendees to build trust with each other quicker and organically.
+
+- **In Person Meetups**:  
+Code and Coffee aims to be a place for folks to connect authentically away from the digital space. Events should be primarily in-person, allowing for a more genuine connection between community members rather than less personal digital spaces.
+
+- **No Cost**:  
+Code and Coffee aims to include individuals from all backgrounds. Each Local Community's regular meetups should have no cost to attend. Other events that the Local Community holds may have a cost associated with it, but the costs should only be used to offset the costs of hosting the event and should be kept as minimal as feasible. There should be no membership fees or dues for being a community member in Code and Coffee.
+
+- **Don't be a Jerk**:  
+Just don't be a jerk. Organizers, community members, and anyone interacting with or in Code and Coffee should refrain from being jerks. The Local Community should aim to be safe for all attendees regardless of background. This includes technical experience and personal traits like gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, race, national origin, etc. There should be an expectation of respect for others' opinions and backgrounds. Requests to change topics of conversation should always be respected.
+
+## National Structure
+Following our principle of Minimal Formality, the National Code and Coffee Collective strives to follow minimal structure. The main aim of National Code and Coffee Collective is to help new Local Meetup Communities get started and assist existing Local Meetup Communities to help their communities thrive. Ideally, Local Meetup communities should only be worried about taking care of their communities while National takes care of things that the Local Meetup communities would rather not handle. This reduces the friction of starting new Local Meetup communities and the operation burden for existing chapters. We can gain advantages by banding together many meetups communities across the country. National aims to utilize this banding effect to help all the communities. So long as a meetup remains affiliated with the National Code and Coffee Collective, they may benefit from the associated organization as indicated below.
+
+### National Benefits
+* **Covering Meetup.com (or equivilant)**:  
+National aims to cover the cost of each Local Community's Meetup.com or equivalent event management service. By combining many Local Meetup Communities, National can ensure the best rate.
+
+* **Discord**:  
+National provides the cost and manages the administration of a National Discord. Each community should be provided with its own space in the Discord to manage its local meetup communities, but its community members can further participate in the national Community.
+
+* **Fiscal Hosting**:  
+National allows all Local Meetup communities to accept and manage their finances, removing the burden for Local Meetup communities to figure out their own fiscal hosting method. Following the Local Autonomy principle, Local Meetup communities are not required to use the National Fiscal Hosting Solution but are offered one if they are not interested in pursuing their own.
+
+* **National Website and Social Media**:  
+National maintains the National Code and Coffee Collective website and social media accounts, making it easier for Local Meetup communities to be discovered and grow.
+
+* **Documentation**:  
+National provides administration and covers the cost for Notion. This helps local meetup communities organize and makes it easier for different communities to share best practices.
+
+* **Support & Guidance**:  
+All the individuals involved on the National level should be experienced and involved organizers of local Code and Coffee communities. Thus, the national level can provide advice and guidance on best practices for chapters. They can further help disperse effective ideas between communities, allowing all the communities to benefit from the collective experience.
+
+* **Custodians of the Brand**:  
+Code and Coffee, as a national brand, is valuable for local meetup communities in getting venues and sponsorships. National aims to be a proper custodian of this brand by acting as a primary representative. While all Local Meetup communities retain the right to use the brand as they see fit, so long as they follow principles and expectations, National remains the primary source of truth that outside partners can trust.
+
+* **Coordinate Additional Efforts**:  
+National aims to coordinate the efforts of all the other Local Meetup communities to make it easier for them to operate, gain financial sponsorships, or obtain venues. National shall respect the principle of local autonomy and not force participation in any effort, but they shall make these efforts on an opt-in basis. National may restrict some or all of the benefits of these additional efforts to only the communities that opt-in.
+
+### Organization
+National Code and Coffee has one formal office, the National Code and Coffee Collective Executive Director. This office is served at the pleasure of all the Local Meetup communities, and the Local Meetup communities retain the right to select the Executive Director. The Executive Director aims to run the National organization to achieve the benefits set in this Article. The Executive Director may choose other individuals for additional National level positions at their discretion. The Executive Director retains the right to act on behalf of all the communities affiliated with Code and Coffee while respecting the Local Autonomy of all the Local Meetup communities.
+
+## Articles of Understanding
+Following the principle of minimal formality, the National Code and Coffee Collective Community does not have any bylaws, rules, or charters. Instead, the National has Articles of Understanding that lay out the fundamental principles of operation. It is up to communities to determine the best processes to carry out the Articles of Understanding.
+
+Articles of Understanding are inspired by the W3C recommendation process.
+
+All the Articles of Understanding are held in a publically accessible repository. Any community member in Code and Coffee may recommend adding, removing, or changing things in the articles of understanding. These change recommendations will be called a Request For Comment (RFC). Any member of the community may make their opinion heard on the recommendation, and recommendations should only be adopted when there is near consensus.
+
+This is the change process for the articles:
+
+
+1) A member creates a branch of the repository to make their changes in. Once they are satisfied with their changes they then open a pull request with the title "RFC # - [title]" where # is the sequential number of the RFC and title is a human readable title overviewing what the RFC is for. The pull request should include a description of the rationale for the change. The pull request should act as the central point of discussion around the topic.
+
+2) The RFC should be sent out in a general chat available to all community members across all our Local Communities. 
+
+3) The RFC should be made available for comment for a fair period of time, at least 1 week.
+
+4) The RFC can only be accepted if there are no current conversations being had and that general consensus has been reached. Community members may accept or reject the RFC to show their approval or disapproval of the RFC. Community members that disapprove must make their disapproval clear and must be engaged in the discussion if their disapproval is contingent on a part of the RFC instead of the core idea of the RFC. Community members that disapprove who do not make their perspective clear may be overlooked. If consensus of the community members cannot be reached, a 2/3 consensus of the Local Communities, where each Local Communites has a single opinion, may be used in replacement. Local Communities abstain by default if they do not let themselves be heard. Each Local Community may choose their own method of deciding their Local Community's opinion. The default process is a simple majority opinion of all the members participating in the RFC conversation.
+
+5) Once the RFC has been accepted, it will be merged into the main branch.

Article 2 - National Sponsorship Program.md

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+# Article of Understanding 2 - National Sponsorship Program 
+
+## Purpose
+There are a number of costs that are associated with running Code and Coffee, both at the Local Community level and the National level. Some of these costs include but are not limited too:
+
+1) Meetup.com
+2) Discord Boosts  
+3) Notion  
+4) Complimentary Organizer T-Shirts  
+5) Stickers and Misc Swag  
+6) Coffee and Coffee Machines  
+7) Website hosting
+8) Venues
+
+To make Code and Coffee accessible to all, we do not want these costs borne directly by our community members. Instead, we want to manage these costs by having organizations sponor us, covering our costs, for reasonable access to our community. By banding together at a National level we have the oppertunity to create larger and more impactful sponsorships than if we had each individual Local Community create their own sponsorships. We however want to respect our Local Autonomy principle and not force any Local Community into any action that may come out of these National Level Sponsorships.
+
+## Financial Control Structure
+Each Local Community retains the right to raise their own sponsorships and control what happens to funds raised by these sponsorships. National may not require any Local Community to use their funds for any purpose that the Local Community does not deem fit. This principle stands even if the Local Community is being fiscally hosted with National Code and Coffee.  
+
+National covers the cost of National level expenses either by rasing National Level Sponsorships or through the voluntary contributions of Local Communities. National Level Sponsorships may not require the action of any Local Community and instead must be brokered with the Local Communities if they require the Local Communities to do any action.
+
+## National Sponsorship Program
+The National Sponsorship Program makes it easier for National to create large scale National Sponsorships while respecting the Local Autonomy principle. This is particularly helpfull to either newer communities or communities in more rural settings that might otherwise struggle to get sponsorships on their own. 
+
+### Joining the Progam
+National will create a sign up sheet where Local Communities may sign up to the program. Local Communities that sign up to the program will have additional expectations above the standard expectations, in exchange will gain access to additional funds. Local Communities may not be compelled into the program and National aims to cover all the basic expenses of Local Communities regardless if they are in the program or not.
+
+### Leaving the Program
+Local Communities may leave the program at any time, but must fulfil any agreements brokered by National before leaving. For example, if National promised a Sponsor some actions from a particular Local Community for one year, the Local Community may leave the program but must fulfil the agreement. This prevents the degredation of the National brand which could hurt our ability to make sponsorships in the future.
+
+### Expectations
+All Local Communities in the program agree to allow National to acquire Sponsorships on their behalf. The Local Communities must fulfill the actions required by these sponsorships. National may only compell the following actions.
+
+- **Event Brand Placement**:  
+A sponsor may request to place an icon onto the graphic associated with the Local Community's events.
+
+- **Event Blurb**:
+A sponsor may request to place a blurb onto a Local Community's event, meetup.com group page, or website associated with the Local Community.
+
+- **Social Media Shout Out**:  
+A sponsor may request a shout out made from the Local Community's social media account. The Local Community retains the right to modify the shout out to fit their community standards.
+
+- **Intro Circle Shout Out**:  
+A sponsor may request a shout out, up to 30 seconds, to happen verbally during the intro circle of a meeting of a Local Community.
+
+### Benefits
+All funds raised through this program will be split into two pools, a National pool and a Local Pool. The control of all funds in the National pool are controlled by National to be used to cover the costs of National level expenses. All the funds in the Local Pool will be divided between the Local Communities participating in the program. The Local Communities may use these funds for any purpose they see fit.
+
+### Moral Objection
+Local Communities may choose to now follow through on the expectations on a case by case basis if they have a moral objection to the organization involved. The Local Community must let the Executive Director know as soon as possible about this objection and that they are specifically invoking a moral objection.
+
+### Failure of Expecations
+Local Communities that fail to follow the expectations may be removed from the program at the discretion of the Executive Director. A Local Community is not at risk of disaffiliation from Code and Coffee Community for failure to follow these expectations.