Caretaker Groups

Caretaker groups are those handed over to Freegle nationally or abandoned to the ownership of national teams or individuals. The responsibility for running them is then taken on centrally by the Mentor Team.The intent is always to find and train a new volunteer team, but due to time constraints these groups can remain in Mentor hands for a long time.

Assigning a Caretaker Group

A Mentor is allocated as the caretaker owner, with a second member of the mentor team or reliable, known and contactable person acting as a backup owner as a safety measure, and the names of the groups are added to the caretaker list. This list is available here [1]

Running a Caretaker Group

Best Practice guidelines are followed by the Mentors when running a caretaker groups:

Development Group agreed (9th August 2015) the principle that caretaker groups should be managed in a consistent way to simplify moderation, embed good practice and make it easier to pass onto a new mod team. So, for caretaker groups:

1. Mentors should adopt a common set of basic rules - Caretaker Group Rules
2. Mentors should use ModTools with an agreed configuration which provides standard messages with room for flexibility.
3. Individual mod/volunteer groups should be set up to archive messages sent to members.
4. Mentor GAT link members will inform GAT when a group has been accepted as a Caretaker Group.
5. GAT should make recommendations about any changes (area guidelines, logos and names and any other information GAT may have relating to the group) as soon as possible. Agreed recommendations should be implemented, with the least disruption to group members as soon as practicable.

Note: All currently available posting methods will be added on adoption of the group.

Passing over Caretaker Group to new team

When an existing Freegle volunteer or volunteer team offers to take over a Caretaker group permanently , the Mentors should:

• Take into account the Freegle Affiliation Policy.
• Consider the capacity of a team to take on more than the group(s) they are currently moderating.
• Consider the location of the applicant(s) and take into account if they live in the location or adjacent area, or know it quite well having lived there previously or through other connections.
• Find out what rules and working practice are used by the volunteer/team currently.
• Discuss what changes are likely to be made to the caretaker existing basic rules along with the proposed working practices for running the group. The Mentors will use the Best Practice guidelines to inform this discussion.
• Poll on whether it is in the best interests of the group to hand it over to the new volunteer/team taking into account location, capacity, advice from GAT, rules and working practices.
• If the poll doesn't agree to the handover, the group will not be handed over until further discussions have taken place and a new poll is run. Mentors have authority to refuse or accept the offer.

On handover of the group:

• If the poll agrees to the handover, the Mentor caretaker owner should stay as a joint owner for the first 6 months to support the new volunteer/team and also to ensure that any subsequent rule changes or working practice are in the interests of the group. In extremis, the Mentor team should poll on whether changes are fair and have the authority to take back the group into Caretaker status if it is felt necessary.
• The Mentor, in the initial 6 month period, should not actively moderate the group unless messages are being left unmoderated for periods of 24 hours or more.
• If the Mentor is removed from the group as owner before the end of the six months, this will be grounds for possible disaffiliation of the group.

Appeals:

The applicant(s) have recourse to the Complaints Procedure if they are unhappy with the decision to refuse or have the ownership of the group taken back.

Polls:

If a poll is required, it will be for a minimum of 4 days duration, carried by a simple majority of votes.

Links

• Caretaker Group Rules
• Best Practice
• Freegle Volunteer Agreement
• Mentor Team Remit
• Freegle Affiliated Group Area Guidelines
• Freegle Affiliated Group Name and Logo Guidelines
• Glossary
• Document Approval Policy (This document is treated as a Guideline under this Policy)