Coming up: General Assembly 2015
Written by amnesiac84 9 years agoEvery year, BeVolunteer, the mother organisation behind BeWelcome, organises a General Assembly (GA). This year, the GA takes place in Düsseldorf, Germany, on Saturday November 7 and Sunday November 8.
Who joins this GA?
Theoretically, everyone could join the General Assembly. In reality, a part of the active members of BeVolunteer comes together. Some members chose to follow the GA and participate online. Although everyone may join, only active members can participate in discussions and vote on certain topics.
What's the purpose of a GA?
The main purposes of the GA are to control the Board of Directors (BoD): they have to send out both an annual and financial report, which will be checked by the members of BeVolunteer. In the end, at least 3 members should receive a mandate to form a new BoD, which is the executive organ of BeVolunteer for a period of a year.
If needed, important topics are discussed and agreed or voted upon. This is where some decisions can be made, for example on official documents, future strategies or the budget for next year. Those topics are so important to BeWelcome, that a decision should not be left to the small number of Directors. This is one of the reasons why it's highly unlikely that BeWelcome ever gets sold: it would need a 3/4th majority of active members of BeVolunteer.
Why can't I decide over those topics?
You can! BeWelcome tries to include all opinions, and where possible, let members participate in decisions. However, to not risk a hostile takeover or influence, the most fundamental decisions are taken by the volunteers working on BeWelcome. The idea behind this is that those members who care about BeWelcome so much that they dedicate their time to volunteering and running BeWelcome on a day-to-day basis, decide about the way BeWelcome takes.
Every member of BeWelcome can volunteer and become a member of BeVolunteer. Then you can participate on decisions in the General Assembly or candidate for a role in the BoD.