La The Free Software Foundation has approved two documents that regulate the responsibilities and the behavior of board members and set a new standard for running an organization.
With these new rules to be established, each member of the board of directors must sign the document “Board Member Agreement, which defines the list of responsibilities and work rules.
The second document, the Code of Ethics of the Board of Directors, establishes the general ethical standards of conduct that the members of the board must follow. At the beginning of next year, taking into account the documents presented, it is planned to review the composition of the current members of the board of directors and to start attracting new people to manage the organization.
The new requirements that have been established see the board as a supervisory and advisory body that controls the activities of the Fund's administration (president and executive director) and that, furthermore, its main task is to help achieve the goals established for the Fund.
On the other hand, it is also mentioned that all the members of the council are prohibited from directly interfering with staff and communicating with the media on behalf of the entire organization (All media inquiries should be directed to a specially selected representative, and personnel issues should be resolved in general meetings or through the President / CEO.)
"The FSF has always been a constant beacon for freedom and against the widespread abuse of computer users," said FSF President Geoffrey Knauth. “Last year, the board realized that we faced a challenge and an opportunity to improve our governance practices and recruit new leaders to the FSF board. I am proud of this important step in that ongoing work.
In addition, we can see that the requirements regulate mandatory participation in committees and attendance at annual council meetings, as well as at least 75% of the meetings held by committees. Council members must dedicate at least 100 hours a year to work in the organization. The document also prescribes an annual general discussion with an evaluation of the activities of each participant and prohibits the disclosure of confidential information about the work of the Fund, if its disclosure is not approved in writing.
All current board members have signed and committed to upholding the new governance standards. These standards will be an important part of the new FSF process for evaluating and recruiting board members which is under review and will be announced in early 2022. All candidate board members are expected to uphold these standards when joining the board. .
Knauth said: “We want to make clear what the duties and responsibilities of the board members are, while working hard to attract new talent so that the Foundation continues to move forward into the future, so that it is always there to protect the freedoms it has won. so much effort. «
The Code of Ethics prohibits putting the personal interests and interests of third parties before, including associate members, to the interests of the organization as a whole, or create the appearance of it:
- Prohibits acting on behalf of the organization, accepting bribes or promoting decisions in their own interest
- Exhibiting harassing or discriminatory behavior in the context of organization-related activities
- Violate the confidentiality of internal procedures; use the organization's property, personnel, and other resources for personal purposes
- Participate in activities that harm the organization; seek to induce separation, non-establishment or deterioration of relationships with employees, sponsors and other people or entities of the FSF that interact with him.
Finally, if you are interested in being able to learn more about the news, you can consult the original note in the following link