Our principal aim is the volunteer management and project development of BeWelcome, a community - platform which promotes hospitality and cultural exchange.
In order to reach this aim we have four objectives:
1) to establish a democratic work environment
We want to benefit from the advantages of a democratic organisation as democracy guarantees many of our organisational values. To make sure the democracy works well we want to follow the principle of subsidiarity: discussions, decisions and actions are done on organizational levels only as high as necessary but as low as possible, i.e. individuals first, then teams, then Board of Directors (BoD), then General Assembly (GA). So the best way to describe our structure is neither a representative nor a basic democracy, but a participative one.
2) to build a transparent organisation
For active volunteer contribution we want to be as transparent as possible. For this we want to make organisational data such as our statutes, the general assembly minutes and our financial statement publicly available. We will openly communicate with you through this wiki page (our library), the forum (our discussion place), news blogs and whatever you suggest us to do.
3) to encourage active member participation
Without our members we are nothing. They are the reason why this organisation exists. We are aware of that and want to show you the benefits of volunteer participation. We want to support and welcome all kinds of volunteers; some very idealistic, others more pragmatic and work oriented.
4) to build a reliable legal and organisational structure
It is important that our members and volunteers can freely contribute without having to worry about legal issues or getting lost in the organisational structure. Our last objective therefore is to provide the legally secure workplace and encourage you not only to understand the different organisational bodies but also to participate in them - if you want.