policies:membership [HSBNE Wiki]

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-====== Membership Policy ======
-The HSBNE Inc. constitution allows the management committee to create policies around the process of handling new memberships, fees/dues, the admission/rejection of new memberships, terminating memberships and various other minor things. This document clarifies various procedures and rules. It also documents the executive’s interpretation of the constitution where applicable.
-===== Definitions: =====
-  *
-Interested Person - someone who isn’t a member but is interested in becoming one.
-  *
-Tour - an unofficial process of introducing a non-member to HSBNE and explaining what we have to offer, how the membership process works etc.
-  *
-Written notice - a formal notice that can be delivered via email, discord or in person.
-===== New Memberships =====
-This section is relevant to section (6) and (8) of our constitution. The current process for a new person or previous member to become a member is as follows, and should be completed in this order. The interested person must:
-  -
-attend HSBNE for a site tour. This can happen during a normal open day/night or some other time.
-  -
-sign up via our member portal ([[https://portal.hsbne.org|https://portal.hsbne.org]]).
-  -
-book in and successfully complete an induction. Successfully completing an induction requires that the interested person:
-      -
-sit through an induction session run by a member of the executive or by someone who has been appointed by the executive. The material covered is up to the discretion of the person running the induction and is based on the content in the new member's guide.
-      -
-is provided with a new members guide that they sign and agree to.
-      -
-provide photo ID and be properly vetted by the executive by gathering executive signatures on the relevant page in their member's guide.
-      -
-allow the person running the induction to make a copy of their ID and the page in their new members guide that requires their signature.
-  -
-pay their membership fees in full and give written notice to the treasurer that they are a new member and have just made their initial payment.
-      -
-This is not required if the interested person pays at the end of their induction and the person running the induction is satisfied the payment went through.
-      -
-Their membership is not active until the payment has been processed by the treasurer and their card has been activated.
-Once the above process has been completed, the interested person becomes a member of the organisation as defined in our constitution. The access card they received in their new member's guide can now be activated and they are allowed site access. This should be done as soon as practical. Note that the executive can reject an application for any reason.
-===== Membership Fees and Payments =====
-This section is relevant to section (7) of our constitution. All membership levels at HSBNE receive the same voting rights, site access and access to tools/equipment. The different fee levels are designed to allow equitable membership to HSBNE Inc for everyone.
-==== Payments ====
-HSBNE operates on a monthly membership period. Your membership fees are due on the 1st of each month and must be paid for in advance. At the treasurer's discretion, your site access will be disabled if you don’t make a payment on time and your membership can be terminated if you become 14 days or more in arrears. If you make a written request to the Treasurer prior to the due date, they can use their discretion to extend these time periods.
-If your site access is disabled, you must give the treasurer written notice of your payment and intention to renew membership. It may take up to 5 days for your payment to clear in our systems and site access to be enabled again. You are not allowed to visit or use any HSBNE facilities until your site access is enabled again. Attempting to gain entry to HSBNE or our facilities without having site access will be treated as trespassing and dealt with as such.
-==== Fee Structure ====
-=== Woofing Hacker ===
-Cost: $0 per month
-Special Requirements: This membership level is capped at 10% of the total active membership. All members wishing to select this membership level must reach an agreement with the executive. To be eligible you must meet the requirements as set out in your agreement with the executive. The requirements usually involve a minimum amount of hours of volunteering for HSBNE per week. The executive can revoke your eligibility for this tier at any time with prior written notice.
-=== Starving Hacker ===
-Cost: $30 per month, no further discounts
-Special Requirements: To be eligible for this membership level you must be a currently enrolled student at a registered educational institution (TAFE, University, etc), suffer from financial hardship or genuinely can’t afford the Standard Hacker level. The executive will ask for proof of your eligibility and may ask you to validate it every 6 months thereafter. You must complete the application form and return it within 7 days. Your responses will be assessed and you will be given written notice of the outcome.
-Current Eligibility Requirements:
-You must meet one or more of the following requirements:
-  *
-You must be studying or undertaking an apprenticeship with a study/workload of at least 75% of the normal full time amount in your situation.
-  *
-You must be receiving a regular income assistance payment from the government. We consider regular payments to be at least once per fortnight for any valid assistance program such as youth allowance, jobseekers allowance, etc.
-  *
-You must have a valid healthcare card or pension card.
-In addition to the above, you must also have a yearly income (before tax) of no more than $30,000.
-If you have special circumstances and can’t meet the above requirements, please contact the executive and they’ll take them into account when making a decision.
-Other Notes: For the purposes of signing up, if a member has applied for this level they will be treated as successful until a formal decision has been made. (ie once they pay $30 they get site access etc) However, if an application is rejected they must pay any difference in costs within 7 days or their membership may be revoked.
-=== Standard Hacker (Discount) ===
-Cost: $55 per month
-Special Requirements: To be eligible for this membership level you must pay for at least 3 months in advance in one transaction. (ie $165 every 3 months)
-=== Standard Hacker ===
-Cost: $60 per month
-Special Requirements: There are no special requirements for this membership level.
-=== Backer Hacker ===
-Cost: $100 per month
-Special Requirements: There are no special requirements for this membership level. Extra benefits of this level include a warm fuzzy feeling because you know you’re awesome for giving extra support to HSBNE.
-===== Terminating Memberships =====
-This section is relevant to section (9) of our constitution. There are various ways a membership may be terminated, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
-==== Voluntary Termination ====
-A member must give the executive a written notice of their intention to terminate their membership. If no date or time is specified in the written notice, then it is assumed to take effect immediately. All membership fees will be forfeited and no partial refunds will be given.
-==== Involuntary Termination ====
-The executive can decide to terminate a membership if the member is convicted of an indictable offence, breaches an HSBNE rule or policy, has membership fees in arrears or conducts themselves in a way that’s detrimental to the association.
-Before the executive terminates a membership, they should give the member a fair opportunity to show why their membership should not be terminated. The executive interprets “every opportunity to pay arrears or apply for fees to be waived” as up to 14 days after the due date. It is deemed that every opportunity has been given if arrangements or full payment is not made within 14 days after the due date.
-The Executive should give written notice to the member as soon as practical after the executive decides an outcome. The outcome and any information deemed reasonably necessary for context will be made available to the general membership via the official communications platform. If the member wishes to appeal, they must give written notice within 7 days of their membership being terminated. An appeal for a termination due to substantiated claims of illegal behaviour is not available.