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Resolution for an Administrative Committee

Full Admin Committee Charter found below resolution.

Last updated Nov 13, 2024.

Whereas, there exists an overlap between Membership Committee and Communications Committee’s goals of outreach, turnout, and retention.

Whereas, there exists important work that does not clearly fit under either the Membership or Communications Committee, but which falls under general administrative work, such as maintaining our tech infrastructure.

Whereas, Membership Committee and Communications Committee have lower membership than most other working groups and would benefit from combining active membership and sharing more responsibilities.

Whereas, Membership Committee and Communications Committee have already had combined meetings for two months as a pilot of the Administrative Committee without any concerns or objections raised by its members.

Whereas, admin functions are necessary for the basic functioning of the chapter and would benefit from Steering Committee input and visibility.

Resolved, the Administrative Committee is formed as a standing committee with the following charter: Administrative Committee Charter.

Resolved, the Membership Committee and Communications Committee are dissolved.

Resolved, the current Membership and Communications Committee co-chairs will serve as Administrative Committee co-chairs for the remainder of the 2024 NCTDSA Steering Committee term. Candidates for the following Steering Committee should run with the expectation of potentially taking on an ex officio position and raising Administrative Committee-related issues to the rest of the Steering Committee as necessary.

Administrative Committee Charter

Purpose

The Administrative Committee (the “Committee”) is a committee of the NC Triangle Democratic Socialists of America chapter (the “Chapter”) established to facilitate routine Chapter functions aimed at growing, developing, and retaining membership.

The Committee will serve as a standing committee of the Chapter and take over the responsibilities of the previous Membership Committee and Communications Committee, though its scope may expand beyond that of those committees. The Committee shall exist until general membership votes to dissolve the Committee.

Responsibilities

Chapter functions under the Committee’s purview will change, but some current functions include (but are not limited to):

  • Member onboarding
    • Running the monthly New Member Orientation for new Chapter members who joined in the past month and any prospective members, or
    • Maintaining the Mobilizer Program to have 1-1s with any member or potential member interested in engaging with the Chapter
  • Social media outreach
    • Posting about Chapter events, fulfilling posting requests by general membership, and generally promoting DSA on our Chapter Twitter and Instagram
    • Creating graphics for social media posts
    • Maintaining a standard for our social media engagement
  • Socials
    • Hosting small monthly socials at various branches of the Chapters, both to increase membership by drawing in non-members and to retain membership by providing a low-stakes event to engage them
    • Planning larger socials for special events
  • Developmental trainings
    • Running training sessions to develop general membership to be able to organize more effectively, such as through leadership . Organize boot camps quarterly, by encouraging and asking members who have attended the previous organizing bootcamp sessions to facilitate the next session.
    • Organize discussion sessions for Working Group Leadership, Association Contacts, and Section Contacts to share best-practices with each other on months that do not have trainings scheduled.
  • Newsletter drafting
    • Fulfilling newsletter requests, editing them into a coherent weekly “Cardinal Points” email to be sent to members and potential members signed up to our mailing list
  • Technology infrastructure
    • Improving general tools used by the chapter, such as our internal communications platform Discord, our voting platform OpaVote, our video conferencing platform Zoom, etc.
    • Maintaining membership data to send out ballots and track membership trends
    • Maintaining our website with new statements, changes to bylaws, UI improvements, etc.
  • Chapter statements
    • Publishing statements or pieces to publicize and defend the Chapter’s political stances
    • Editing member-submitted pieces for consistency and adherence to Chapter standards
  • Event turnout
    • Textbanking, phone banking, and directly asking general membership to turn out to particularly important events
  • Fundraising
    • Managing fundraising activities for different causes as directed by chapter priorities or the Chapter Treasurer
    • Purchasing, maintaining inventory, and distributing Chapter merchandise
  • Tabling
    • Setting up a table at events to expand DSA and Chapter presence and recognition
    • Maintaining and tracking tabling kits

The Committee is responsible for ensuring these key functions are operating, but Committee membership is not responsible for actually performing all these functions. Where possible, work should be delegated to general membership who will perform these functions, with the Committee advising, training, or helping them when desired and possible.

Meetings

The Committee will meet at least every 2 weeks for regular Committee business where voting and decision making will occur. Both co-chairs are expected to attend all meetings and alternate chairing the meeting, but at least one co-chair must be present for business to be conducted. Special meetings can be called as necessary, but no votes can be made at special meetings.

The Committee will post meeting agendas and notes online, and store and maintain all relevant documents in the Chapter’s Google Drive account with the Chapter as owner of all materials.

Data Stewardship

Due to the fact that the Committee will have access to sensitive membership information, the Committee co-chairs and Steering Committee will limit access to said data. Data will be shared with committee members only as necessary for completion of Committee tasks, and unshared afterwards.

Structure

As the Committee grows and a large group of members cohere around a specific Committee function, the Committee may motion to form (or dissolve) a subcommittee focused on that particular function’s responsibilities. Subcommittees can choose how they meet and accomplish their tasks, but their decisions may be overruled by the Committee. Subcommittees do not need to regularly report back to the Committee, but they are responsible for informing the Committee when said tasks cannot be completed. Subcommittee meetings and notes must be open to Committee members; where sensitive data is concerned they may enter an executive session.

Membership

The Committee and its meetings will be open to Chapter members in good standing. Members wishing to vote will need to have maintained active status, defined as having attended at least 2 of the 3 previous Committee meetings, or having communicated absences in advance.

Leadership

Leadership will consist of two ex officio co-chairs selected by the Chapter Steering Committee, who are elected by general membership every year along with the rest of the Chapter Steering Committee.

Co-chairs will be responsible for maintaining an active list of members, calling for and posting agendas, chairing meetings, and generally assisting Committee members with completing their responsibilities. It is also expected that co-chairs will report on the status of the Committee and its programs to the rest of the Steering Committee, particularly any developing issues that need to be addressed.