This provides a non-legal summary of the Foundation’s governance model as established in the articles of association.
Overview
The Foundation for Public Code is a member-owned association (vereniging) under Dutch law. Only wholly publicly owned organizations may become members.
This means members are responsible for and steer the Foundation’s operations, including priorities and annual budget for the organization.
Foundation bodies
The Foundation consists of four bodies:
- general assembly
- board of directors
- advisory board
- staff
General assembly
All members are represented in the general assembly.
The general assembly:
- approves the Foundation’s operational plan for the coming year
- elects the board of directors
These decisions are agreed through a majority vote. Voting rights are proportional to members’ membership dues. This ensures democratic ownership and control by all members.
The general assembly meets at least once every year. Minutes from the general assembly meetings are shared with all members and publicly archived.
We commit to holding all meaningful votes electronically, so that all members can be represented regardless of ability to attend physically.
Board of directors
The board of directors is elected by the general assembly. By law, it must include a chair, a secretary and a treasurer. The general assembly can vote to add more roles to the board of directors.
The board of directors:
- proposes the Foundation’s operational plan and budgeting for the coming year
- approves membership applications
These decisions are agreed upon through majority vote.
The board of directors meets regularly and is required to keep the general assembly informed about its activities. Minutes are publicly archived.
The current board members are:
- Ben Cerveny (Chairman)
- Richard Pope
Advisory board
The advisory board members are experts that support the general assembly, board of directors and staff. There are some decisions for which they must be consulted.
Staff
The staff of the Foundation for Public Code carry out the Foundation’s day to day work.
The staff are responsible for:
- codebase stewardship, including codebase auditing
- maintaining the Standard for Public Code
- administering the Foundation, including organizing member events and financial administration