Status of document. Adopted following consultation with Partners by email and on Partner call 2016-06-10
From Samvera Bylaws approved by Partners April 2021
Bylaws APPENDIX A: Samvera Financial Governance
This document sets out procedures for dealing with monies held by the Samvera Community.
The Samvera Steering Group Board of Directors shall maintain a permanent Finance Subcommittee to deal with routine financial matters. The The Subcommittee shall comprise no less fewer than four members of the Steering Group. In addition the Steering Group may recruit Board of Directors including the Chair and Chair-Elect. In addition, the Board of Directors may co-opt as needed onto the Subcommittee any Samvera staff and up to two non-Steering Group Board of Directors members with appropriate skills and expertise to further its work; such additional members shall not have voting powers.
Formal decisions of the Finance Subcommittee require a majority vote of its voting membership. If If the Subcommittee is deadlocked over a particular decision or wishes to defer, the matter shall be referred to the full Steering Group.
Samvera Community monies are held by a fiscal sponsor.
Any proposed change in fiscal sponsor must be approved by Board of Directors.
Samvera’s assets and finances shall be administered by the Host LLC, with supervision from the Board of Directors and Finance Subcommittee, as provided in the Samvera’s annual budget and the OASIS Open Development Foundation, LLC Operating Rules.
The Finance Committee shall propose and the Board of Directors shall approve an annual budget for each fiscal year, which then shall be submitted for consent to the Samvera Partners using the Samvera Partners' mailing list.
The notion of lazy consensus shall apply; Partners who have not expressed a view within seven days of notification shall be deemed to support the proposal.
The full Steering Group must approve by majority a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the Samvera Community and its fiscal sponsor.
Members of the Steering Group who are employees of the fiscal sponsor may serve on the Finance Subcommittee but may not vote in its decisions. Such members do not count towards the minimum membership.
Each year, the Samvera Community's outline spending plans must be approved by the Samvera Partners using the Samvera Partners' mailing list. The notion of lazy consensus shall apply as defined in 3a above. Major financial sponsors from outside the Partnership should be part of this consultation (see 5 below). The Steering Group The Board of Directors is responsible to the Samvera Community Partners for ensuring that expenditure of Samvera’s monies is consistent with the outline spending plans annual budget, and any potential expenditure which falls outside these should the budget shall be referred back to the Partners for approval.
In addition to Partners, sponsors who donate $5000 or more to the Samvera Community in any given financial year shall have the right to contribute to the overall discussions about how the year's money should be spent.
The Finance Subcommittee shall have day-to-day responsibility for managing the Samvera Community's monies. The Samvera Finance Subcommittee Chair shall serve as Samvera’s Treasurer and primary point of contact for financial matters, until such time as the Board of Directors either designates a separate staff member or other officer as Treasurer.
The Treasurer and Finance Subcommittee must make periodic reports, and upon request, to the full
Steering GroupBoard of Directors. In particular, the Subcommittee must approve and report on each set of periodic financial reports from the Host LLC.
The Subcommittee must make an annual report to the full
Steering Group Board of Directors and to the Samvera Partners.
Two members of the Finance Subcommittee shall be designated Samvera's Financial Stewards and shall be the normal point of contact between the Project and its fiscal sponsor. Such Financial Stewards shall be appointed by the full Steering Group and the appointments shall be reviewed annually.
Either financial steward The Treasurer (and any assistant Treasurer appointed by the Board of Directors) shall be empowered to authorize routine
banking transactions transactions (e.g. payments to vendors) up to the value of
$250 $1000 without prior permission from the
larger Steering Group Board of Directors provided only that the authorizing email be copied to all members of
Steering. Routine payments are identified on the Steering Group page: Project Samvera Accounts (note: this page is restricted to SG members)The financial stewards shall the Board of Directors; and shall be empowered to authorize
banking transactions exceeding
$250 $1000 [that are not already approved in the annual budget] only with the prior, majority agreement of the
wider Steering Group. Once such approval has been received from the Steering group, either steward shall communicate the approval to DuraSpace with cc: to all members of Steering. In the absence of one or both stewards, other members of the financial subcommittee may substitute as signatoriesBoard of Directors.
This financial governance document shall be reviewed by the Steering Group Board of Directors annually. Any resulting minor changes should be notified to the Partner list. Any Any major changes should be voted on by the Partners employing the notion of lazy consensus as defined in 3a above.. Partners who have not expressed a view within seven days of notification shall be deemed to support the proposal.
As at April 2016, Samvera's fiscal sponsor is DuraSpace.