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Dear Free Software Supporter,

The board of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) announced today that
associate members of the FSF will be able to nominate and evaluate
candidates for the nonprofit's board of directors for the first time
in the organization's 37-year history. FSF currently has just over
5,000 associate members.

Under new procedures adopted by the FSF board on January 17 and
summarized here, the organization will proactively engage [associate
members][1] with a sufficient history of association with the FSF in
the recruiting process by inviting them to suggest board nominees and
then research collectively those nominees' suitability for a position
on the board, including most importantly their record of commitment to
free software ideals.

[1]: [link removed]

The new community engagement process is a key result of a six-month
consultant-led review designed to help make FSF governance and
recruitment practices more transparent and participatory, while more
systematically ensuring their commitment to the FSF's values and
principles.

Following the new procedures, voting members (which include all
current directors and are listed [here][2]) can start a process to
recruit new directors, or a modified process to reconsider existing
directors. To understand further the relationship between voting
members and directors, see the [FSF Board Frequently Asked
Questions][3].

[2]: [link removed]
[3]: [link removed].

The FSF intends to first add several new directors in 2022, utilizing
these new procedures, and then begin a review of existing directors.
The FSF staff and board have made this expanded engagement process a
high priority and are working together to put in place the necessary
infrastructure to support it, with a target to activate it within the
first quarter of 2022. The FSF will publicly announce each stage in
the process.

"Opening the director recruitment process to our associate members is
a historic and welcome milestone for the FSF," said FSF president
Geoffrey Knauth. "We are pleased to engage the free software community
in attracting new talent to our leadership who will keep the
freedoms."

Voting members will review the community's nominations. A nominee may
be removed from consideration if at least two voting members vote to
do so without opposition from other voting members.

The voting members will discuss the candidates and decide which should
move forward in the process next. The FSF's associate members will
then review each nominee's application, then evaluate and comment on
those nominees in a private, staff-moderated discussion forum.

Voting members will review this input and privately interview the
finalists to assess their candidacy, ideals, and commitment to free
software, then vote on their appointment.

Finalists who receive a majority vote of the voting members will be
invited to join the board as trial directors for three months and
asked to sign the newly adopted [Board Member Agreement][4]. During
the trial period, trial directors will be invited to all meetings and
be privy to all board information but will not be able to vote. A
trial director is appointed as a full director by a majority of the
voting members after the trial period. The voting members can shorten
or extend a trial director's trial period if necessary.

[4]: [link removed]

After the new directors are selected, a similar review process will be
run for all previously sitting directors who wish to continue their
service. The review process for existing directors will not include a
nomination or trial period.

The process is designed such that new iterations for both recruiting
new directors and reviewing existing directors can be run whenever the
need arises in the future.

Today's announcement of this community engagement process for board
recruitment and review follows the FSF's [recent implementation][5] of
two new measures designed to help improve FSF governance -- a Board Member Agreement that enumerates the responsibilities of directors,
and a [Code of Ethics][6] that lays out principles to guide their
decision-making and activities.

[5]: [link removed]
[6]: [link removed]

"We have worked hard to strengthen governance standards at the FSF and
to create a transparent leadership recruitment process. We look
forward to tackling new challenges and opportunities this year."
Knauth said. "Our next steps are to publish the forms for board
candidate nominations and applications, and to host an online
discussion forum to foster community engagement around the nominees."

In freedom,

Free Software Foundation Board of Directors

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Sent from the Free Software Foundation,

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