Draft Samvera Partnership Working Group Charter
Scope & Objectives
This working Group is charted by the Samvera Board and charged with reviewing the Samvera Partnership structure, dues, and process; drafting recommended changes; and sharing their recommendations with the Samvera Board.
We’re taking on this work in 2026 to reflect on how the current model has served us over the past five years, and to see how it might be adjusted to address new types of implementer institutions; ever-shrinking institutional budgets and staffing levels; and lower participation in Partnership by longtime implementer institutions.
The goal of this work is to recommend a structure and process designed to increase the number of institutions making predictable, annual financial investment in project infrastructure and shared staffing.
Approaches discussed to meet this goal include:
Creating a process that is easy to understand.
Making Partnership attractive to stakeholders. Drawing a clear connection between the financial support of shared staffing/infrastructure, and institutional success through better quality software and reduced local costs.
Creating a dues model that can accommodate institutions of all sizes. This includes implementer types typical in the Hyku community, such as hosting provider consortia and hosted institutions. Consider how the model could also address the need for shared funding of Hyku development and prioritization identified by the Sustaining Hyku grant work.
The Group will:
Review the current Partnership program, Samvera bylaws, and data about funding and Partnership over time; review current and forecasted budget needs for staffing, infrastructure, and overhead costs.
Gather feedback from current and former Partners about the current and potential value of Partnership, and feedback on the current dues structure.
Gather feedback from adopters who are not Partners about what benefits would be beneficial, and what kind of financial contribution model would be attractive or feasible.
Present findings at the Spring Partner meeting/call.
Make a formal recommendation to the Samvera Board regarding revisions to Partnership. The Board will consider the recommendations and if required draft a change to bylaws for vote by the Partners.
Deliverables & Timeframe
The Group will share their recommendations with the Samvera Board by July 1, 2026
Meeting Times & Communication Channels
TBD
Members
Membership will include current and former Board members, and representatives from current and former Partners and from non-Partner institutions.
facilitator's name here, facilitator (facilitator's institution here)
your name here (your institution here)
Kirsten Leonard (PALNI, HykuCommons)
Resources
Meeting Notes
list of links
or table of meeting notes