Volunteer Agreement

This is the agreement we ask volunteers to sign — including our Co-Creative Directors, who do substantial work for Stimpunks without being paid for it. What paid staff sign instead is a contract and a scope of work; both paths are described in Staff & Volunteer Onboarding.

You Keep the Copyright

This is the question volunteers most often have no answer to, so we answer it first. Volunteering for us does not transfer ownership of your work to Stimpunks, and we are not asking it to.

It matters more than it sounds. A volunteer is not an employee, so work-for-hire does not apply automatically — which means that without something in writing, the ownership of work a volunteer creates is simply undocumented. That ambiguity does not protect anyone. It is worst for the person who made the thing.

• You grant Stimpunks a non-exclusive licence to publish and share what you create for us. Non-exclusive means you keep every other right, including the right to publish it elsewhere yourself.
• Writing we publish goes out under CC BY-SA 4.0 — the same licence as everything else on this site, so it stays in the commons.
• Rights in images and artwork stay with you unless you tell us otherwise. That is already our stated practice for every artist on the site.
• We credit you, by whatever name you ask us to use. It does not have to be your legal name.
• You can ask us to stop using your work in future materials at any time. We cannot un-publish what is already in the commons under CC BY-SA — that is how the licence works, for everyone, including us — but we will stop putting it into new things.

What We Are Not Going to Pretend

Article V of our bylaws indemnifies directors and officers. It does not automatically cover volunteers.

We found this while writing our onboarding pages, and it is a real gap rather than a technicality: someone doing substantial public-facing work under our name may have no protection, while the people around the board table do.

§5.7 lets the Board fix it by resolution — it expressly permits indemnifying “persons other than Covered Persons when and as authorized by appropriate corporate action” — and that is going to our September board meeting.

Until it is adopted, we are not going to tell you that you are covered when you may not be. The agreement says the same thing, in the same words, before you sign it. We would rather you know exactly where you stand.

This Page Is Public. What You Submit Is Not.

Anyone can read this page. Signed agreements go to our governance records and are never published — including anything you tell us about access needs, which is nobody else’s business.

We publish the blank form so that anyone thinking about volunteering with us can read the terms before they ever have to ask, and so other organizations can take it. We default to open, and that includes the paperwork. If you are borrowing it, take the copyright section. Unpaid people making things for organizations deserve a written answer about who owns the result, and most of them never get one.

The Form

New here? Staff & Volunteer Onboarding lists everything to read and sign.

There is a signature at the end. If signing with a mouse or a finger does not work for you — or if filling in a form is itself the barrier — tell us, and we will take your answers however works and transcribe them for your review.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

This is the agreement we ask volunteers to sign — including our unpaid Co-Creative Directors, who do substantial work for Stimpunks without being paid for it.

It runs in both directions. Some of it is what we ask of you. The rest is what we owe you: reimbursement, accommodations, credit for your work, and — the part volunteers usually have no answer to — you keep the copyright in what you make.

This page is public. What you submit is not.

Part 1 — Who you are

Your name *

What you will be doing *

A role name, a project, or a sentence. Whatever is accurate.

Your email *

Email

Confirm Email

So we can send you a copy.

Starting from *

Part 2 — What you have read

I have read *

• I have read the Stimpunks Covenant, and I agree to be held to it.

I have read *

• I have read the Whistleblower & Concern Reporting Policy, including the part saying I never have to come to Stimpunks first and may report to outside agencies without permission.

I have read *

• I have read how we handle personal information in the Document Retention & Destruction Policy.

Part 3 — What you agree to

I agree *

• I will act in the interest of Stimpunks Foundation’s mission and the people it serves.

I agree *

• I will keep confidences — the circumstances of people who apply for mutual aid, personnel matters, and anything told to us about a named individual.

I agree *

• If I handle anyone’s personal information, I will delete it when it is no longer needed, as the Retention Policy requires, and I will not keep copies elsewhere.

I agree *

• I will disclose any conflict of interest as soon as I become aware of it.

I agree *

• I understand I have no authority to sign contracts, commit funds, or otherwise bind Stimpunks Foundation, unless the Board has specifically authorized me in writing.

I agree *

• I will tell you when my capacity changes, rather than disappearing. Stopping is always allowed.

Part 4 — Your creative work

You keep the copyright in what you make. Volunteering for us does not transfer ownership of your work to Stimpunks, and we are not asking it to. Instead:

• You grant Stimpunks a non-exclusive licence to publish and share the work you create for us.
• Writing we publish goes out under CC BY-SA 4.0, the same licence as the rest of stimpunks.org, so it stays in the commons.
• Rights in images and artwork stay with you unless you tell us otherwise — that is already our stated practice for every artist on the site.
• We credit you, by whatever name you ask us to use.
• You may ask us to stop using your work in future materials at any time. We cannot un-publish what is already in the commons under CC BY-SA — that is how the licence works, for everyone — but we will stop putting it in new things.

Will you be creating work we might publish? *

• No
• Yes

Writing, art, resources, teaching materials, anything.

How should we credit you? *

The name you want on the work. It does not have to be your legal name.

Agreed *

• I have read the licence terms above and I agree to them.

Part 5 — What Stimpunks Foundation commits to you

Reimbursement. Any expense you incur doing this work, refunded. Nobody should be out of pocket for volunteering.

Accommodations. Whatever you need, without a diagnosis, a negotiation, or the sense that a favour is being done.

Credit. Your name on your work, in the form you choose.

The right to stop. No notice period, no explanation owed.

On legal protection, we will be straight with you. Article V of our bylaws indemnifies directors and officers — it does not automatically cover volunteers. §5.7 permits the Board to extend that protection to others by resolution, and the Board is being asked to do exactly that. Until it is adopted, we are not going to tell you that you are covered when you may not be. We would rather you know where you stand.

Acknowledged *

• I have read what Stimpunks commits to me, including the honest note about indemnification.

Part 6 — Access

What do you need in order to do this well?

Timing, format, notice, quiet, captions, written instead of spoken — anything. No explanation needed.

Anything else you want on the record?

Part 7 — Signature

I agree to volunteer with Stimpunks Foundation on the terms above.

Name (printed) *

Signature *

Clear Signature

If signing with a mouse or finger does not work for you, tell us and we will take it another way.

Date signed *

Website

Sign the agreementSave and Resume Later

Document ID: SF-GOV-VOL-AGMT-1.0
Status: Draft — pending adoption by the Board of Directors
Companion to: Staff & Volunteer Onboarding (SF-GOV-ONBOARD-STAFF-1.0)
Note: the indemnification position described above changes if the Board adopts a resolution under Article V §5.7. This document will be reissued at 2.0 if it does.
If you have signed this form, the version above is the one you agreed to.

Related:Staff & Volunteer Onboarding · License · Covenant · Whistleblower Policy · Document Retention Policy · Forms