Community Programs and Standards Policy

ARTICLE I: PURPOSE AND AUTHORITY

This policy is adopted by the Board of Directors pursuant to Sections 3.2 and 3.3(h) of the Bylaws of The Open Accounts Receivable Collective Foundation. It establishes the operational terms of two programs and the standards applicable to participants in each:

• The recognition membership program, authorized by Bylaws Section 3.3, through which an individual is recognized as a member of the Foundation’s community; and

• The Mission Supporter program, authorized by Bylaws Section 3.2, through which an organization states publicly that it supports the Foundation’s charitable mission.

This policy governs the Foundation’s administration of both programs. The terms that bind a participant are set out in the Membership Application or the Mission Supporter Statement of Support executed by that participant, which reproduce the Community Participation Terms in Appendix A. This policy neither adds to nor limits those terms. This policy confers no rights beyond those set forth in Bylaws Sections 3.2 and 3.3, and nothing in this policy creates a vested right in either program or its continuation. The Board may modify or discontinue either program at any time.

ARTICLE II: MISSION AFFIRMATION

Section 2.1. The Mission Statement

Every applicant to either program will be presented with the Foundation’s mission statement before applying:

The Open Accounts Receivable Collective Foundation works to make accounts receivable and debt collection more transparent, more compliant, and more accountable to the consumers it touches. It builds software under an open-source license so anyone can run, inspect, modify, and redistribute it at no cost. The Foundation also publishes open educational and compliance resources, develops shared standards, delivers training, and maintains a neutral, community-governed commons where practitioners learn from one another.

Section 2.2. Affirmation Required

An individual applicant will affirm that the applicant has read the mission statement and supports the Foundation’s charitable mission. An organization affirms the same through execution of the Statement of Support. The affirmation is a condition of admission to either program.

The affirmation is a condition of admission only. Continued support for the Foundation’s mission is not a condition of continued participation, and a change in a participant’s views is not a ground for suspension or revocation under Article VII. Only a material misrepresentation made at the time of application is a ground for action, and only under Section 7.2(ii) or Section 7.3(i).

Section 2.3. Scope of the Affirmation

The affirmation is limited to support for the Foundation’s charitable mission. It is not an affirmation of any position regarding industry practices, regulation, litigation, pending legislation, or the conduct of any person or company, and no applicant will be asked to take any such position. Admission will not be conditioned on agency size, organization type, trade association affiliation, employer, financial contribution, business model, or any viewpoint regarding industry practices.

Section 2.4. Community Participation Terms

The Community Participation Terms in Appendix A will be reproduced in full on the Membership Application and on the Mission Supporter Statement of Support, and will be agreed to as a condition of admission to either program. The Terms are identical for both programs except where they state otherwise.

ARTICLE III: RECOGNITION MEMBERSHIP

Section 3.1. Eligibility

Membership is open to any individual who is professionally engaged with the accounts receivable industry or who supports the Foundation’s charitable purposes, and who makes the affirmation required by Article II, subject to the admission and verification procedures in this Article. Membership does not require that the individual’s employer or any other organization participate in the Mission Supporter program, and the Foundation will not condition admission on the participation of any organization.

Section 3.2. Application

An applicant for membership will provide the applicant’s name, email address, professional role, and employer or affiliation, together with any additional information the Program Administrator reasonably requires to verify professional engagement with the accounts receivable industry or support for the Foundation’s charitable purposes. The applicant will make the affirmation required by Article II and agree to the Community Participation Terms. Submission of an application constitutes the applicant’s agreement to this policy, including the community standards in Article VI.

Section 3.3. Verification and Admission

The Program Administrator will review each application and verify the applicant’s identity and professional engagement through procedures established under this policy, which may include confirmation of the applicant’s email address and review of the stated employer or affiliation. Admission is complete upon verification. Any material misrepresentation in an application is grounds for denial of the application or, if discovered after admission, for revocation of membership under Article VII. Where an application is denied, the Program Administrator will provide the applicant written notice of the denial and its basis, and the applicant may appeal under Section 7.6.

Section 3.4. Member Numbers

Each member will be assigned a sequential member number upon admission. A member number is unique and personal to the individual member, will not be reassigned or reissued to any other person, and confers recognition only.

Section 3.5. Member Register and Privacy

The Secretary, or a person designated by the Secretary, will maintain the register of members, including each member’s name, email address, professional identification, member number, admission date, affirmation date, and membership status. Information collected under this Article will be used solely to administer the membership program and the Foundation’s community platforms, will not be sold, and will not be disclosed to third parties except as required by law or as necessary to operate the program.

Section 3.6. Use of the Member Designation

A member is granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable license to describe himself or herself as a member of the OpenAR Collective, on the terms set out in the Membership Application. The license is personal to the individual member and terminates automatically upon withdrawal, suspension, or revocation of membership.

A member may state the member’s own membership and may cite the member’s member number. A member will not state or imply that the member’s employer or any other organization is a member, partner, affiliate, sponsor, or contributor of or to the Foundation on the basis of the member’s own membership, will not describe himself or herself, any employer, or any product or service as certified, approved, accredited, endorsed, or recommended by the Foundation, and will not represent that the member speaks for the Foundation or holds any role in its governance.

The Foundation does not publish a list of members. On request, the Program Administrator will confirm or deny whether a named individual is a member in good standing, and will disclose nothing further about that individual.

The Foundation may issue physical insignia bearing its marks, such as ribbons or tags worn with conference credentials, to members at events the Foundation hosts or attends. Insignia are produced and distributed by the Foundation and are issued only to individuals whose membership the Foundation has verified at the time of issuance.

The Foundation may also, but is not obligated to, issue badge images incorporating its marks for use by members in digital and printed materials. A badge issued to a member may incorporate that member’s member number. No digital badge program is in operation at present.

Any insignia or badge is issued by the Foundation, may be used only in the form issued and without modification, may be used only while the member remains a member in good standing, and is subject to the Trademark Policy and the terms of the designation license. No member may create a badge, insignia, seal, emblem, or other graphic incorporating the Foundation’s marks. Issuance does not enlarge the license granted under this Section, and neither insignia nor a badge indicates certification, approval, accreditation, or endorsement by the Foundation.

The Program Administrator is responsible for monitoring use of the member designation, on the same terms as apply to the Mission Supporter designation under Section 4.6. The permitted and prohibited uses set out in the Membership Application will be reviewed by the Foundation’s trademark counsel, and the officers are authorized to conform those terms to counsel’s advice, provided that no such conformance will broaden the scope of the license.

Section 3.7. Non-Transferability

Membership is personal to the individual member and may not be sold, assigned, transferred, or inherited. Membership is not conferred on an individual by the participation of that individual’s employer in the Mission Supporter program.

ARTICLE IV: MISSION SUPPORTER PROGRAM

Section 4.1. What Participation Is

Participation in the Mission Supporter program is a statement by an organization about itself. A participating organization states that it supports the Foundation’s charitable mission, and the Foundation records and publishes that statement.

Section 4.2. What Participation Is Not

Participation is not a recognition, review, approval, certification, endorsement, or accreditation by the Foundation of any organization, or of any organization’s products, services, personnel, or business practices. The Foundation does not evaluate a participating organization before or after admission, and admission implies no assessment of any kind. This limitation will be stated on any page or document on which the roster is published.

Participation is separate and independent from the Foundation’s sponsorship program. Participation is not a sponsor recognition tier, and will not be offered, described, or bundled as a benefit of any sponsorship tier. An organization may participate in both programs, and the Foundation will administer and publish each program independently of the other.

The Mission Supporter program and the recognition membership program are independent in both directions. Participation confers no membership on any individual, and no individual employed by or affiliated with a participating organization is required to be, become, or remain a member. An individual’s membership confers no participation on that individual’s employer, and no organization is required to participate because any of its personnel are members.

Section 4.3. Eligibility and Admission

Participation is open to any organization that supports the Foundation’s charitable mission and is willing to state that support publicly. Participation does not require that any individual employed by or affiliated with the organization be, become, or remain a member of the Foundation’s recognition membership program, and the Foundation will not condition admission on the membership of any individual. An organization participates by having an individual with authority to bind the organization execute the Mission Supporter Statement of Support on its behalf, identifying that individual by name, title, and business email address. An organization will notify the Foundation when its authorized representative changes, and the Foundation may request confirmation of continued participation from a successor representative.

The Program Administrator will review each executed Statement of Support, confirm that the signatory organization and its representative are identifiable and that the Statement is complete, and record the organization in the roster. Admission is complete upon that recording. The Foundation may decline to admit an organization that it is unable to identify, that submits an incomplete Statement, or whose participation would be unlawful. Where the Foundation declines to admit an organization, the Program Administrator will provide the organization written notice of the decision and its basis, and the organization may appeal under Section 7.6.

Section 4.4. Effective Version

Each executed Statement of Support binds the signatory organization to the version of that Statement in force on the date of execution. The Foundation will record the version executed by each organization. A later version will not apply to an organization that executed an earlier version unless that organization executes the later version.

Section 4.5. The Roster

The Foundation will publish a roster of participating organizations on its website, identifying each organization by name and, where the organization has provided one, linking to the organization’s website. The roster is a plain list of names. The Foundation does not display organization logos, marks, taglines, product names, or promotional material on the roster.

All participating organizations will appear on the roster on identical terms. The roster will be presented in alphabetical order, will not be divided into tiers or levels, will not indicate the date of admission as a mark of standing, and will not indicate whether an organization has made any financial contribution to the Foundation. Each organization appears in the same form as every other, with no variation in size, placement, styling, or prominence.

Wherever the roster is published, the Foundation will state that listing reflects the organization’s own statement of support, that listing is not a review, approval, or endorsement by the Foundation, and that participating organizations make no financial contribution to the Foundation.

Section 4.6. Use of the Designation

A participating organization is granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and revocable license to use the designation “OpenAR Collective Mission Supporter” in its communications, on the terms set out in the Statement of Support. The license is personal to the participating organization and terminates automatically upon withdrawal or revocation.

The Foundation may issue physical insignia bearing its marks to representatives of participating organizations at events the Foundation hosts or attends, and may also, but is not obligated to, issue badge images for use by participating organizations in digital and printed materials. No digital badge program is in operation at present.

Any insignia or badge is issued by the Foundation, may be used only in the form issued and without modification, may be used only while the organization remains in the program, and is subject to the Trademark Policy and the terms of the designation license. No participating organization may create a badge, insignia, seal, emblem, or other graphic incorporating the Foundation’s marks. Issuance does not enlarge the license granted under this Section, and neither insignia nor a badge indicates certification, approval, accreditation, or endorsement by the Foundation.

The Program Administrator is responsible for monitoring use of the designation. Where the Program Administrator identifies a use inconsistent with the Statement of Support, the Program Administrator will notify the organization in writing, identify the use, and request correction within a reasonable period. Where a use is corrected, no further action will be taken. Where a use is not corrected, or where a use is repeated after correction, the Program Administrator may revoke participation under Article VII.

The permitted and prohibited uses set out in the Statement of Support will be reviewed by the Foundation’s trademark counsel. The officers are authorized to conform those terms to counsel’s advice, provided that no such conformance will broaden the scope of the license. Conformed terms will be issued as a new version of the Statement and will apply prospectively.

Section 4.7. Records and Privacy

The Foundation will record for each participating organization: the organization’s legal name and any trade name, its website, the name, title, and business email address of its authorized representative, the date of execution, and the version of the Statement executed. The Foundation does not collect financial information in connection with this program.

Information collected under this Article will be used to administer the program, to publish the roster, and to communicate with the organization about the Foundation’s work, which may include invitations to support the Foundation financially. The Foundation will not sell this information and will not disclose it to third parties except as required by law or as necessary to operate the program. An organization may opt out of Foundation communications at any time without affecting its participation, and an opt out does not remove the organization from the roster.

ARTICLE V: COMMUNITY STANDARDS

Members will conduct themselves professionally in all Foundation community spaces, including the Foundation’s Discord server, GitHub repositories, events, and any other platform the Foundation operates. Members will:

(a) Treat all participants with respect. Harassment, discrimination, personal attacks, and intimidation are prohibited.

(b) Refrain from publishing or threatening to publish another person’s private information without consent.

(c) Protect consumer privacy. Members will not share any consumer’s personal or account information in any Foundation community space, whether or not the member believes the information is anonymized.

(d) Comply with antitrust law. Foundation community spaces may not be used to discuss or reach any agreement or understanding among competitors concerning prices, fees, rates, terms of service, allocation of markets or customers, or refusal to deal with any business. A member who believes a discussion is approaching these subjects will end the discussion and notify a moderator.

(e) Maintain accurate professional identification, and promptly notify the Foundation when the member’s employer, role, or professional status materially changes.

(f) Respect intellectual property, including the Foundation’s trademarks and the license terms of the Foundation’s software and published materials.

(g) Refrain from unsolicited commercial promotion, recruitment, or spam, except in spaces the Foundation expressly designates for those purposes.

(h) Comply with the reasonable directions of moderators and with the published rules of each platform.

Conduct that is unlawful, or that is materially inconsistent with the Foundation’s charitable purposes, violates these standards whether or not it is separately enumerated above.

Good-faith criticism of the Foundation is never a violation of these standards. A member may question, criticize, or publicly disagree with the Foundation’s board, officers, software, technical decisions, educational materials, published positions, governance, or this policy, without any risk to that member’s standing. Disagreement with the Foundation is not conduct inconsistent with its charitable purposes, and neither the affirmation required by Article II nor any provision of this policy will be applied to restrict it. The obligations in this Article govern how a member treats other participants, not what a member thinks of the Foundation.

These standards apply to individuals. Where an individual participates in a Foundation community space on behalf of a participating organization, the individual is bound by these standards personally, and the organization’s participation in the Mission Supporter program is not affected by that individual’s conduct except as provided in Section 7.5.

ARTICLE VI: PLATFORM MODERATION

Section 6.1. Moderator Authority

Moderators designated by the Program Administrator may take platform-level actions on any Foundation community platform, including warnings, removal of content, temporary timeouts, and suspension of platform access. Platform-level actions may be taken immediately and without prior notice where a moderator determines that the conduct warrants it.

Section 6.2. Effect of Platform Suspension

Suspension of access to a platform is a moderation action and does not itself suspend or revoke membership. A platform suspension operates as a cooling-off period, and the suspended member may be reinstated to the platform on the terms the moderator or the Program Administrator determines.

Section 6.3. Membership Review

Each platform suspension will be reported to the Program Administrator, who will review whether the underlying conduct warrants action under Article VII. In most cases, no further action will be taken, and reinstatement to the platform will conclude the matter.

ARTICLE VII: SUSPENSION, REVOCATION, AND WITHDRAWAL

Section 7.1. Withdrawal

A member may withdraw from the membership program, and an organization may withdraw from the Mission Supporter program, at any time and for any reason, by written notice to the Foundation. The Foundation will remove a withdrawing organization from the roster promptly upon receipt. Withdrawal terminates the license granted under Section 3.6 or Section 4.6, as applicable, and the withdrawing member or organization will discontinue use of the designation.

Section 7.2. Grounds for Membership Suspension or Revocation

Membership may be suspended or revoked for: (i) violation of the community standards in Article V; (ii) material misrepresentation in the member’s application or professional identification; (iii) conduct materially inconsistent with the Foundation’s charitable purposes; or (iv) unlawful conduct in or directed at the Foundation’s community spaces or participants.

Section 7.3. Grounds for Revocation of Organizational Participation

The Foundation may revoke an organization’s participation only for: (i) material misrepresentation in the Statement of Support, including as to the signatory’s authority to bind the organization; (ii) use of the designation inconsistent with the Statement of Support that is not corrected after notice under Section 4.6; (iii) unlawful conduct directed at the Foundation, its community, or its participants; or (iv) a determination that continued participation would be unlawful.

The Foundation will not revoke an organization’s participation on the basis of the organization’s products, services, pricing, business model, customer base, or business practices generally, or on the basis of any viewpoint regarding industry practices.

Section 7.4. Action and Notice

The Program Administrator may act on any ground stated in Section 7.2 or Section 7.3, and will provide the member or organization written notice of the action and its basis. Suspension and revocation are discretionary determinations, and neither this policy nor Bylaws Sections 3.2 and 3.3 entitles any participant to a hearing or to any procedure beyond the notice and appeal described in this Article.

Section 7.5. Independence of the Two Programs

Action against an individual member does not affect the participation of that individual’s employer in the Mission Supporter program, and revocation of an organization’s participation does not affect the membership of any individual employed by that organization. Where the same conduct provides grounds under both Section 7.2 and Section 7.3, the Program Administrator will make a separate determination under each.

Section 7.6. Appeal

An applicant whose application for membership has been denied, an organization whose Statement of Support the Foundation has declined to admit, a member whose membership has been suspended or revoked, and an organization whose participation has been revoked may each appeal by written submission to the Board of Directors within thirty (30) days of the notice of the decision.

The Board, or a committee the Board designates, will decide the appeal within a reasonable time, and its decision is final. Any director who made, took, or directed the decision under appeal will not vote on the appeal. One appeal is available from any decision under this policy, and the decision on appeal concludes the matter.

Nothing in this Section limits the right of an applicant or organization whose application has been denied to submit a new application at any time, or limits the readmission provisions of Section 7.7 following a revocation.

Section 7.7. Effect and Readmission

Revocation extinguishes all rights under Bylaws Sections 3.2 and 3.3 and this policy, including platform access and use of the member or Mission Supporter designation, and creates no claim against the Foundation. A person or organization whose participation has been revoked may reapply no earlier than one (1) year after the revocation becomes final, and readmission is at the discretion of the Program Administrator.

Section 7.8. Retention of Records

The Foundation will retain each executed Membership Application and Statement of Support, and the associated register and roster records, in accordance with the Document Retention and Destruction Policy. Records of former participants will be retained as a record of each program’s history and will not be published after withdrawal or revocation.

ARTICLE VIII: POLICY ADMINISTRATION AND REVIEW

The Program Administrator designated by the Board of Directors is responsible for administering this policy, maintaining the roster, and overseeing the community platforms. The Secretary will maintain the member register. This policy may be updated by the Board of Directors and will be reviewed at least annually. Substantive changes will be announced through the Foundation’s official channels and reflected in the dated version of this policy. The current version of this policy supersedes any prior version, including the Membership Program and Community Standards Policy and the Mission Supporter Program Policy, each of which this policy replaces in its entirety.

APPENDIX A: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION TERMS

These Terms are reproduced in full on the Membership Application and on the Mission Supporter Statement of Support, and are agreed to as a condition of admission to either program. In these Terms, “you” means the individual applicant or the participating organization, as applicable, and “the Foundation” means The Open Accounts Receivable Collective Foundation, operating as The OpenAR Collective.

1. What participation is not. Participation gives you no vote, no governance authority, no right to direct or approve the Foundation’s activities, positions, software, or standards, no right to notice of or attendance at meetings of the Board of Directors or its committees, and no ownership, financial, or property interest in the Foundation or its assets. Participation is not membership within the meaning of the Delaware General Corporation Law.

2. No payment, ever. Participation requires no dues, fees, sponsorship, donation, or financial contribution of any kind. No contribution to the Foundation will confer participation, standing, priority, or any preference of any kind.

3. No endorsement in either direction. The Foundation does not review, evaluate, certify, approve, or endorse you, your employer, or any organization’s products, services, or business practices, and makes no representation about them. You will not state or imply otherwise.

4. Antitrust. Foundation community spaces and events may not be used to discuss or reach any agreement or understanding among competitors concerning prices, fees, rates, terms of service, allocation of markets or customers, or refusal to deal with any business. If a discussion approaches these subjects, you will end your participation in it and notify a moderator or the Foundation. This obligation applies regardless of whether the discussion occurs in a Foundation space, and you will not use your participation as an occasion for such a discussion elsewhere.

5. Consumer privacy. You will not share any consumer’s personal or account information in any Foundation community space or with the Foundation, whether or not you believe the information has been anonymized. If you contribute data, code, documentation, or examples, you are responsible for ensuring they contain no consumer information.

6. Confidential and competitively sensitive information. You will not disclose to the Foundation or its community any information you are not free to disclose, including your employer’s confidential information, information subject to a client contract or nondisclosure agreement, and information subject to legal privilege.

7. Reporting concerns, and no retaliation. If you believe in good faith that the Foundation, or any person acting on its behalf, has violated the law or a Foundation policy, you may report it under the Foundation’s Whistleblower Policy, including anonymously. The Foundation prohibits retaliation against any person who makes such a report in good faith or who participates in an investigation, and will not suspend, revoke, or otherwise act against your participation because you made such a report. Reports made in bad faith, or with knowledge that the reported information is false, are not protected.

8. Nothing here is legal or compliance advice. The Foundation publishes educational and compliance resources and develops open-source software. Nothing the Foundation publishes, and nothing said in a Foundation community space, is legal advice or a guarantee of compliance with any law, regulation, or contractual obligation. You are responsible for your own compliance and for obtaining your own professional advice.

9. Intellectual property. You will respect the Foundation’s trademarks and the license terms of the Foundation’s software and published materials. Any use of the Foundation’s name, logo, or marks beyond what is expressly permitted requires separate written permission under the Foundation’s Trademark Policy. Contributions of code or content are governed by the Foundation’s Open Source Policy and its contributor terms.

10. Accuracy. The information you provide will be truthful and current, and you will notify the Foundation promptly when it materially changes. Material misrepresentation is grounds for denial or revocation.

11. Conduct. You will comply with the community standards in Article V of this policy and with the published rules of each Foundation platform, and with the reasonable directions of moderators. Good-faith criticism of the Foundation, its board, its software, its published positions, or its governance is never a violation of those standards and will never affect your participation.

12. Your information. The Foundation will use the information you provide to administer the program, operate its community platforms, and communicate with you about the Foundation’s work, which may include invitations to support the Foundation financially. The Foundation will not sell your information and will not disclose it to third parties except as required by law or as necessary to operate the program. You may opt out of Foundation communications at any time without affecting your participation.

13. Suspension, revocation, and withdrawal. You may withdraw at any time. The Foundation may suspend or revoke participation on the grounds and through the process stated in Article VII of this policy, which includes written notice and one appeal to the Board of Directors. Revocation creates no claim against the Foundation.

14. Changes. The Foundation may amend this policy at any time. You are bound by the version of these Terms in force on the date you were admitted, and a later version applies to you only if you accept it.

15. No contract for services. Participation is not a contract for goods or services and creates no financial obligation on either party.