Disaffiliation Procedure

This procedure was adopted by the Board at their meeting of 29th October 2014.

For groups leaving Freegle of their own volition

If a group decides to leave Freegle, they need to inform GAT. GAT will then:

• Notify the Board and the new groups notification list to remove them from the Freegle website, maps etc
• Give a week's grace on Central, Cafe and working groups to say their goodbyes on those groups.
• Ask them to post on Central about why they're leaving. If they don't, post on Central to say that they've left.
• Consider whether the group leaving enables the acceptance of an application (but not sooner than 4 weeks).
• Send them a helpful goodbye mail (e.g. don't forget to contact ModTools if you rename, please remove the logo from your group).

For groups that are disaffiliated by Freegle:

We believe it is crucial that groups affiliated to Freegle provide a good level of service so that Freeglers have a good Freegling experience. If Freeglers complain about their group, Freegle will always try to find ways to contact the local group moderators and see if there is any help which can be provided. We would hope and expect that most problems can be resolved this way. Occasionally, it may be that there are serious problems with the way a group is run which means that Freeglers will find it unusable or there are or have been circumstances which bring Freegle into disrepute. In such cases we think it would be better for Freegle to cease to list the group on its central website and, when appropriate, consider applications for a new group in that area.

Once concerns about a particular group have been reported to the Board they will decide whether further action is required. If so:

• 1. Every effort will be made to communicate and to provide support to the group.
• 2. If this is unsuccessful within a reasonable and practicable timescale then consideration may be given to delisting.
• 3. A minimum of 7 days notice of any delisting will be given to Freegle UK Central.

Tasks 1 and 2 may be delegated by the Board. Any final decision will be taken by the Board and be eligible for the appeal procedure.

Links:

• Freegle Affiliation Application Procedures
• Amendments to this procedure - refer to Document Approval Policy
• Previous Freegle UK document - Disaffiliation
• Glossary