Community Affiliation Requirements Policy
Requirements
The requirements for all communities affiliated to Freegle are:
- All items offered or requested have to be free - mandatory
- All items offered or requested have to be legal - mandatory
- Selling of items is not allowed - mandatory
- Be a non-profit community - mandatory
- Swapping is not allowed - mandatory
- Inclusion of the Freegle logo on the homepage - mandatory
- Inclusion of a link to the Freegle website on the homepage - mandatory
- All Freegle Volunteers will receive national announcements - mandatory
- Do not allow messages asking to borrow items - highly recommended
- Operate in a geographical area agreed with Freegle - highly recommended
These requirements are our basic shared values. The mandatory ones must be followed by every community listed on the Freegle website, and communities are strongly encouraged to also adopt the ones that are highly recommended.
Our Aims outlines what Freegle and its volunteers can expect of each other.
Local Rules
All communities have to comply with the mandatory requirements, and are expected to also comply with those that are highly recommended. As communities are independent, local guidelines and rules can be adopted, although it's best to have as few as possible. All communities should be run for the benefit of their members, and to ensure Freegle nationally is seen as a positive community service. There are Best Practice guidelines which outline our agreed ways of working.
Geographic Area
Freegle agrees a core geographic area of operation for each affiliated community, but the catchment area a community chooses to operate with is a local decision. Freegle will only agree one community for each core area; it's highly recommended that a community operates within its agreed core geographic area.
Changes to Affiliation Requirements
Affiliation requirements can only be changed by a Freegle Member vote. Additional or amended mandatory requirements need at least 66% of the vote to be adopted. See Document Approval Policy.
This policy was adopted by the Board at their meeting of 27th August 2014, and amended by the AGM in November 2019.
Links:
- AGM Resolution: discourse thread
- Disaffiliation Procedure
- Basic Information
- Glossary
- Previous Freegle UK document: Community Affiliation Requirements Policy
