2-tiered effort to engage chapters and support a more inclusive community perspective.

Background:

Over the course of 2020, there have been several discussions on the next steps to support our community growth. I've tried to pull together several proposed ideas, thus the 2-part Wishbone project. Please review the document for the full project summary. This Loomio discussion is a summary below, and aims to introduce this idea, refine it with community support, and open the project for a formal vote. For more background on the topic, please view the SPC Discussion from September 11th which helped to frame the process.

Part 1: Chapter Sharing

A transparent crowdfunded microgrant program for e-NABLE Chapters. Allocated resources would be distributed as need-based non-recurring short-term projects with clear objectives and outcomes. Resources could include funds, equipment donations, and materials.

e-NABLE Chapter Fund Sharing Program Key Features

• Chapters with defined local needs can ask for funds or resources as needed

• Chapters and volunteers can donate materials, equipment, and funds to regional chapters in need.

• Outcomes also serve the wider community through their documentation 

• Awards can encourage model behaviors and chapter reporting 

• Chapter requests can be supported or justified by citing specific cases from EWC

• Open contributions to match requests are encouraged within e-NABLE community for those who are able, including in-kind support of materials and kits.

  Why:

  We want to support chapters with immediate needs. Our community thrives on interconnections, local  and regional chapter partnerships, and international collaborations. We need a proposal and decision making process that is lighter-weight than Loomio, and an administrative process that is lighter-weight than the one required of non-profits corporations. We need someone to be responsible for designing and administering the system. We need seed funds to begin .

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Part 2: Chapter Feedback

An expansive community perspective of chapter activities, achieved through an automated feedback system collecting statistics (a natural complement for the bottom-up Chapter Fund Sharing)

e-NABLE Chapter Feedback Program Key Features

• Quarterly reports of basic activities and annual reports with deeper insights

• Integration in the Chapter Map with active chapters 

• Community-facing insights from the feedback

Why:

Relying on chapters to voluntarily provide statistics doesn’t work. As a decentralized community, there has always been a clear lack of overall statistics and engagement from chapters. We have the ability to directly engage with every chapter. Having statistics of overall trends can better help us understand the reach of our community and the impact on others. With statistics we can be aware of community needs without flying in the dark and constantly guessing what’s best.

Background: EnableFund & Enablio

Currently, The EnableFund (Open Collective) is used to fund community projects through a proposal and voting process via Enablio (Loomio). These projects need to benefit the community as a whole, tend to be  ‘top-down’ (research and development or infrastructure-based) vs. bottom-up (locally based), and are typically multi-thousand-dollar projects. Because the EnableFund is administered by a tax-exempt 501(c)3 corporation (Rochester Enable Limited) it has been able to accept tax-deductible donations from corporations and charitable foundations for redistribution to the community.  However, the accounting, reporting, and liability burdens are significant. To minimize these burdens on Rochester Enable Limited’s unpaid and uninsured administrators, the EnableFund works best for larger, well-documented projects. This is why we need a different mechanism for expedited microgrants for small projects and chapters.

How: A Chapter-Centric Pilot

For several reasons, the proposed pilot program focuses on e-NABLE Chapters. Chapters have become significant entities of the e-NABLE movement, organized to suit the needs, abilities, and governance preferences of their members. Chapters often exist within other traditional organizations (schools, hospitals, businesses). They are financially and politically independent, even as they share interdependent resources (like open source designs). We want to build on this pattern. We have a well-organized process for qualifying and mapping, as well as recognizing and celebrating e-NABLE chapters. We would like to support these chapters to guide others with more visibility into their activities. 

Many e-NABLE chapters have developed their own fund-raising practices.  Their leaders are typically motivated volunteers with strong local networks and networking skills.  We know of several that have sponsored other new chapters in developing countries.  We want to learn from them, celebrate their achievements, generalize their best practices, and get their help funding this project. Over the course of Q4, the pilot program aims to open opportunities for iteration and community feedback. See Project Timeline below for details.

Project Team

Ben Rubin - Media Coordination Project 

Mažvydas Sverdiolas - Lead Development Volunteer

Jon Schull - Finance Oversight Volunteer

Teri Sanor - Community Organizer Volunteer

Who:

‘Active’ chapters would be defined as those recently providing basic statistics. Chapters commonly follow their own organizational guidelines which includes some reporting. An automated system can send out quarterly emails to chapter leaders with unique links to a simple form. The data collected can significantly inform the overall picture of our community and provide guidance to younger chapters.

How:

Almost the entire process can be completely automated, and continue at the beginning of every quarter. The report forms would be sent out to chapters that have been part of the community for +6 months.  A page on the hub can allow admins to initiate the reporting process and/or to see the data coming in. The form itself can be created on the Hub as a passive reminder that the hub exists. We can decide if we want to require chapters to be members of the hub in order to fill it out. The data from the forms would be automatically added to a spreadsheet that would be shared internally. We would have a single spreadsheet with “YEAR Q#“ tabs/pages of data for historical analysis in one place. Every week the automated script could send out reminders. If a chapter fails to respond in the given timeframe, a chapter’s ‘active’ status would be removed from the map until they respond (see Mazvy’s penalty examples). These reports would allow us to not only gather statistics, but also prune out chapters that are no longer active and wouldn’t be there to help those in need or even provide basic information.

Project Timeline

September 2020

• Propose the system, open discussion with the community on Loomio.

• Establish the team.

October 2020

• Document the process.

• Create a separate fund for microgrants, transparently moderated by volunteers. 

  • Transactions distributed via international platform (Paypal?).

• Consider seed fund via small grant proposal in Loomio.

• Pilot process and explore internal campaigns. 

• Establish guides for chapter statistics collecting that improve impact 

  • (delivered devices, recipient volunteer feedback, local stories published)

• Deploy basic chapter feedback form (4 week period for chapters to fill out the forms)

November 2020

• Consider process for non-chapter affiliated volunteers to participate

• Targeted follow-up for chapter feedback form

December 2020

• Chapter map activity adjustments based on October feedback form.

• Establish quarterly insights resulting from microgrant process.

  • (regional, national, and international)

• Deploy annual chapter feedback form.

Q&A

1. Who is eligible to request funds?

   • With a chapter-centric pilot, chapter leaders would be eligible to participate. Since the platform will exist on the Hub, registration will be required. We have an underutilized space for chapter leaders and a member category for chapter leaders to self identify when they register. 

2. How do people request funds? How will the community know?

   • In an identified Hub space, chapter leaders could post their request in the stream, perhaps following a template. Utilizing the pinned post in the community forum, we could employ a bot to dynamically update activity from our fund sharing to the wider community.

3. Who decides if funds are provided? How?

   • Similar to Loomio, a required number of votes, a winning percentage, and an optional ‘block’ could be employed. The Hub features a polling tool in the menu.

4. What is the money transaction process?

   • With our global community, a widely-accepted platform with benefits for international currencies, a low transaction rate, and micropayment options would be ideal. One option is Paypal, which offers organizational discounts.

5. What are the fund recipient’s responsibilities?

   • Similar to Loomio, contingencies could be flexible for each request and may be negotiated during a discussion phase before or during voting. Reporting outcomes could also have a standard template. A chapter’s ability to document how the money was invested and the impact would be critical.

6. How are transactions logged and accounted for?

   • A spreadsheet could be maintained by a designated volunteer(s) with regular oversight from the SPC or perhaps EnableFund representative. Automated reporting could also be involved.

7. Where does the money come from?

   • While we may want to consider seed money to begin, the project is aimed to allow chapters to support each other, and to encourage volunteers around the world to contribute to projects they are inspired by and would like to follow.

Areas for Consideration

• How do we define eligible participants?

  • Volunteers with badges?

  • Can ‘virtual’ chapters be formed with non-local alliances?

• Mapping 

  • A layer for inactive chapters?

  • Can Volunteer Badges be mapped?

  • What about those who are not relying on 3D printing to contribute: individuals, spaces without teams, and other teams?

• Can feedback forms be available in multiple languages? Translation of responses?

Sources

• Centralized e-NABLE Funds | Ben Rubin

• Microgrants | Jon Schull

• Virtuous Activities | Bob Rieger & Ben Rubin

• Chapter Reporting Proposal | Mažvydas Sverdiolas