BLU CONTINGENCY FUND – TERMS OF REFERENCE
November 30, 2010
1.0 OBJECTIVE
This document shall outline the purpose, disbursement procedures, and protocols of the Bunny Lovers United Contingency Fund, and procedures to amend any of the aforementioned sections.
2.0 DEFINITIONS
“Applicant” – a BLU member that is requesting funds from the BLUCF prior to approval or rejection.
“BLUCF” – Bunny Lovers Unite Contingency Fund
“BLUCF website” – dedicated website of the BLUCF; URL: http://blucf.blogspot.com/
“BLU” – Bunny Lovers Unite, a group within the Yahoo! Flickr community.
“Bunny” – beloved pet rabbit; plural rabbits owned by the same person is also referred by this term.
“Contributor” – a member who donates funds to the BLUCF.
“Discussions” – the Discussion section of the BLU group website where most of the social interaction amongst members takes place.
“Member in good standing” – member of the BLU community that has established himself/herself as trustworthy, concerned with bunny welfare, and a consistent contributor to the BLU community over a significant period of time, particularly in the Discussions of BLU.
“Quorum” – minimum number of voting or participating members required to render a decision on a BLUCF matter
“Recipients” – successful applicants to the BLUCF that receive financial assistance from the BLUCF
“Treasurer” – general guardian and administrator of the BLUCF. As of this dating, the Treasurer is Jinting Zhao; username “harlemsmama” on BLU.
3.0 PURPOSE
The purpose of the Bunny Lovers Unite (BLU) Contingency Fund is to provide emergency, temporary funding for the wellbeing of BLU members and their bunnies in the case of extenuating and/or unforeseen circumstances where financial hardship renders the bunny owner unlikely or incapable of paying for the necessary goods and/or services.
4.0 SCOPE
- 4.1 Eligibility
o Contributors: There are no eligibility requirements to contribute to the BLUCF.
o Recipients and Applicants: The Applicant must be a member in good standing of the BLU community in order for their application to be considered. Members not in good standing are ineligible to receive funds from the BLUCF
- 4.2 In Scope
o The BLUCF will support medically and physically necessary goods and services, including but not limited to:
§ Basic food and nutritional requirements
§ Pharmaceuticals
§ Veterinary procedures and expenses
§ Other – determined by quorum approval.
- 4.3 Out of Scope
o The BLUCF will not support goods and services unnecessary or likely harmful to the wellbeing of the bunny, including but not limited to:
§ Euthanasia
§ Abortions
§ Toys and luxury items
§ Medically unnecessary or questionable procedures
§ Other – determined by quorum approval
5.0 CONTRIBUTIONS
- 5.1 Procedure
o Contributions to the BLUCF may be made online via PayPal through the following URL:
o Contributions can also be made through the “Donate” button on the BLUCF website (not the flickr BLU community website).
o Contributions are subject to standard PayPal administrative fees for small non-profit endeavors, assessed at 2.9% plus $0.45 per transaction.
6.0 DISBURSEMENT PROCEDURES
- 6.1 Nomination and Application
o Application
§ In accordance with BLU’s non-solicitation clause, Applicants requesting funds from the BLUCF must do so via one of the following methods:
· The Applicant may send a flickrmail the Treasurer describing financial need and the request for specific goods and/or services for their bunny. The Treasurer will then post the request as an entry on the BLUCF website to table for approval or rejection. The Treasurer will then post in the BLU Discussions section that there is a new post on the BLUCF website, thereby diverting away from the BLU community site.
· The potential Applicant may be nominated by another BLU member in good standing. This can occur in the BLU Discussions in any existing thread. The application will then be tabled within the originating thread.
- 6.2 Amount of Disbursement
o BLUCF may not be able to provide all the funds requested, but may only provide a portion. Decisions on what proportion of the fund to disburse per application will be made in accordance with the Decisions by Quorum procedure.
- 6.3 Decisions by Quorum
o Approval and/or Rejection
§ Approval of an application will require either of the following:
· Expressed support by at least fifteen (15) members in good standing, regardless of whether or not they have contributed to the fund.
· Expressed support by at least ten (10) of the 20 most recent BLUCF contributors, or 50% of the most recent contributors if the total number of contributors is less than 20.
· Contributors and members in good standing must clearly express support by commenting appropriately under the request on the BLUCF website, OR on the originating thread if the application was nominated.
· If the application does not receive sufficient support within a fourteen (14) day period from the day it is publicly tabled, the application is rejected.
- 6.4 Fund Misuse and Reapplications
o All quorum decisions are final.
o In the event that it is discovered that the funds disbursed were used in a dishonest, fraudulent, or otherwise deceptive manner, the Recipient will no longer be a member in good standing, and any future applications or nominations by that member will be automatically rejected.
- 6.5 Disbursements and Reimbursements
o Every reasonable attempt will be made by the BLUCF to ensure that its disbursements are not without supporting documents such as receipts, invoices, etc.
o Every reasonable attempt will be made by the BLUCF to ensure that funds are not directed towards inappropriate causes not in accordance with the wishes of the quorum and the BLU community.
o The BLUCF endeavors to avoid simply sending money to Recipients without appropriate safeguards.
- 6.6 Goods
o Requests for goods will be, whenever possible, purchased through credible online retailers and shipped to the Recipient.
o If there is another BLU member in good standing of close proximity to the Recipient, a delivery of goods may be made to the Recipient instead.
- 6.7 Services
o The preferred method for disbursement regarding services is to send the Treasurer a copy of the invoice for the service after it has been performed. A reasonable facsimile may be acceptable. Only in special circumstances will undocumented disbursements be allowed, as determined by quorum decision-making procedure
7.0 FUND MANAGEMENT
- 7.1 General Management
o The BLUCF will be generally managed and administrated by the Treasurer, currently Jinting Zhao (harlemsmama on BLU). The Treasurer is responsibility for maintaining the PayPal account and its receipts and expenses, disbursement of approved funds, maintaining and updating the BLUCF website, ensuring open and transparent communication.
o The BLUCF PayPal account will be administered under the e-mail account of the Treasurer. Currently, this account is registered under popfizzmusic@gmail.com, the business e-mail of the Treasurer.
- 7.2 Disclosure and Accountability
o The BLUCF aims to be as transparent and open as possible to provide safeguards for its contributors, and guard against fraudulent and unethical activity by its Treasurer.
o A fund Contributor may at any time, request from the Treasurer a copy of the BLUCF financial statements, either publicly or privately, as requested by the Contributor. Personal information will be redacted as necessary prior to release of financial statements.
8.0 AMENDMENTS TO BLUCF TERMS OF REFERENCE
- 8.1 Amendment Procedures
o Amendments may be made to any portion of these Terms of Reference by a modified quorum decision procedure.
§ Amendments must be proposed by a member in good standing, and seconded by another member in good standing. Amendments must be proposed via the BLUCF website in the form of comments. The proposed amendment will then be tabled by the Treasurer on the BLUCF website for decision.
§ Amendments will be approved and adopted by a quorum of at least twenty (20) members in good standing.
