The purpose of this page is to outline the responsibilities of board members and committee chairs and estimated time one needs to spend volunteering for the .NET Foundation.
Summary
The purpose of the board of directors is to drive the strategic direction of the .NET Foundation in order to have a meaningful, positive impact on the .NET ecosystem and community.
The board takes into consideration many things including approving budgets spend, driving membership, bringing in sponsorship income, supporting projects, growing our community, education and awareness, and legal issues to support the strategic initiatives. Many of these areas are driven by committees and working groups.
The board functions as a leadership team, directing the activities of these committees. In addition, the board has the responsibility to create the foundation’s budget and track progress on income and expenses based on that budget. The board uses these income projections to plan how quickly the foundation can scale its activities.
The .NET Foundation is a young organization, therefore it has an active board. Each board member is responsible for the success of at least one committee, either by chairing the committee or being an active participant. Each committee has a different set of priorities and number of volunteers helping. Depending on the committee, a board member may need to take a very active role as a committee chair, or may be able to participate in multiple committees that require less time. In either case, the board member’s role is to provide insight into the foundation’s activities as a whole and its current financial health.
Board responsibilities
The .NET Foundation board functions as the leadership team for the .NET Foundation. The board:
- Sets goals for the foundation
- Sets strategic direction to achieve those goals
- Sets the yearly budget to ensure the financial wellbeing of the foundation
- Manages the foundation’s performance against the yearly budget
- In addition to the overall direction of the foundation, individual board members are active in each of the Foundation’s committees. On these committees, the board member may take an active leadership role, or may function as a liaison with other committees and the board as whole. Committee chairs are chosen at the first board meeting following new board members being sworn in. The new board members and current committee chairs work together to determine new and changed assignments.
Board members are expected to allocate at least 4 hours per week to Foundation tasks. This encompasses the overall board tasks and all committee related tasks.
The time commitment breakdown is roughly:
- 1.5 hours a month for the Board Meeting not including time to prepare for the meeting
- A maximum of 5 hours per month serving on one of the .NET Foundation Committees.
- 4 - 6 hours a month on tasks for the committees or working with foundation members.
It is benefical to become familiar with the .NET Foundation Bylaws if you are considering nominating yourself as a member of the Board of Directors for the .NET Foundation.
Committee chair responsibilities
As a member of the board, there will be an expectation for you to chair at least on of the committees. Which committee will be discussed as part of you joining the board and you can state your preference.
Membership Committee
Time commitment: 3 - 5 hrs./month
About
The committee is responsible for evaluating new member applications, discussing membership criteria, and providing services to the foundation's individual members.
High-level goals:
- Grow the membership in the foundation.
- Ensure that the foundation provides value to members.
- Provide programs that facilitate communication among and between members.
- This committee works to create new initiatives that encourage our membership to participate more in the foundation’s activities. These encompass many different roles, from open source projects to career development and mentoring to education opportunities.
Chair responsibilities
- Create the agenda and run the meetings. This includes:
- Reviewing any membership applications that need discussion
- Assigning who is going to review incoming membership applications
- Discussing progress on membership initiatives to improve the value proposition for members
- Discussing new membership initiatives
- Update the membership meeting minutes in GitHub
- Review GitHub issues and add to agenda if they need discussing
- Informing the committee about any Board discussions that impact them
- Reporting to the board the committees actions, their impacts and any pending blockers that they are facing
- Often actions come from the meetings as well.
Marketing Committee
Time commitment: To be confirmed
About
The marketing committee is here to help spread the message of openness in the .NET ecosystem. We support community and project initiatives, drive awareness and increase membership. We create consistent, powerful storytelling to increase share of conversation and establish industry relevance for the .NET Foundation.
The marketing committee is composed of volunteers that are primarily marketers, not developers (although there are some more technical than others). They are developer marketing and technical marketers that care about and/or have bet their businesses on .NET. This is a smaller committee because most people that show interest in volunteering are not interested in marketing and are referred to the outreach committee which is focused on community activities and education.
The main goals of the marketing committee are:
- Increase membership
- Generate awareness (of .NET open source and the .NET Foundation itself)
- Foster and grow an open, healthy.NET community
- Marketing Committee Chair
- The marketing committee chair is responsible for directing the committee’s marketing strategy and execution.
Chair responsibilities
The chair runs monthly meetings with members and is on point for all announcements and air cover (for dealing with bad PR if needed as it arises). They are responsible for the foundation’s web presence, running all the social handles (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) and growing followers, pulling together and sending the bi-monthly newsletter (MailChimp), driving leads (for newsletter and membership), running the SWAG store, writing and sending press releases.
They are also responsible for new project “go-to-market” GTM, co-marketing initiatives, event sponsorships & presence, some event management (i.e. .NET Conf), website design & copy,branding and logos, surveys, presentation decks, and coordination with other committees around messaging and awareness as needed.
Outreach Committee
Time commitment: To be confirmed
About
The Outreach Committee is here to welcome developers of all backgrounds,education, and technology ecosystems into the .NET ecosystem. We are here to help you organize and evangelize.
High-level goals:
- Encourage new developers to build with .NET
- Empower underrepresented segments of the coder community to become leaders and contributors
- Assist event organizers with evangelism and growth
Chair responsibilities
To be confirmed
Maintainers Committee
Time commitment: To be confirmed
This group is intended to allow project maintainers to voice their concerns and make suggestions to the .NET Foundation Board about the support they need in maintaining their projects.
Chair responsibilities
To be confirmed
Projects Committee
Time commitment: To be confirmed
The Project Committee manages the day to day requirements of Projects. This includes but is not limited to the following:
- Review and evaluate new Project applications
- Monitor health of existing Projects
- Handle the retirement of Projects
- Provide support to Projects
Chair responsibilities
To be confirmed
Sponsorship Committee
Time commitment: To be confirmed
The committee is responsible for working with sponsors of the foundation and acquiring new sponsorship opportunities.
Chair responsibilities
Education Committee
Time commitment: To be confirmed
The education committee is responsible for developing, sponsoring, and providing educational opportunities for the .NET community.
Chair responsibilities
To be confirmed