Samvera Community Volunteer Structure

A key part of strengthening Samvera’s processes around the implementation of the community’s Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy is to clearly delineate the groups of volunteers involved in supporting community safety and their roles and responsibilities. Furthermore, a framework for volunteer rotations and resources for onboarding new volunteers in these roles is needed in order to sustain the structure and the people involved.

This new volunteer structure is the product of the Samvera Community Safety Working Group, building on and aligning with the Code of Conduct Incident Response Plan developed in 2021. It outlines a structure for volunteers operating within day-to-day Samvera activities as well as organized Samvera events, both virtual and online.

The Structure in Summary

• Community Helpers  

  • Are active during day-to-day collaboration

  • Support the Community Guidelines

  • Are trained how to refer reports of CoC violations

  • May be called on to volunteer for Samvera events (Event Helpers) 

• Response Team  

  • Are trained to respond to violations of the Anti-Harassment Policy and the Code of Conduct as needed

  • Could include members of Helpers

  • Incident Team - A subset of the Response Team formed to address a specific incident. Disbanded when response is deemed complete. Includes the Incident Responder who is primary contact for the report throughout the response process.