Matrix.org - ElectionsThe Matrix.org FoundationZola2026-05-02T00:00:00+00:00https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/category/elections/atom.xmlKicking off the nomination period for the 2026 Governing Board elections2026-05-02T00:00:00+00:002026-05-02T00:00:00+00:00Amandine Le Papehttps://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2026/05/election-nomination/<p>On Monday we announced the
<a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2026/04/election-announcement/">launch of the 2026 election for the Foundation's Governing Board</a>.
We have now reached the second milestone and are kicking-off the nomination period!</p>
<p>As a reminder, the full election schedule is as follows:<br />
✅ Announcement on Monday 27th April<br />
➡️ Nominations from Saturday 2nd May to Friday 15th May<br />
◻️ Campaigning from Saturday 16th May to Friday 29th May<br />
◻️ Voting from Saturday 30th May to Friday 12th June<br />
◻️ Results announced on Monday 15th June</p>
<p>Key links:</p>
<ul>
<li>The <a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/foundation/governing-board-elections/2026/">election page</a></li>
<li>The <a href="https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/EV0n4-jfuxdelALG05JSfMM0FL1FiBjj5asZ5AWo-n0/">nomination form</a></li>
</ul>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p>The nomination period is when each member of a constituency group can nominate themselves,
a representative or someone else to be a candidate for the election.
Each nomination will be approved, announced on 16th May and displayed on the
<a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/foundation/governing-board-elections/2026/">election page</a>.</p>
<p>The constituency groups up for election this year are:</p>
<table><thead><tr><th style="text-align: left">Constituency</th><th style="text-align: center">In or out of cycle</th><th style="text-align: center">Seats for election in 2026</th><th style="text-align: center">Term for the elected member</th><th style="text-align: left">Notes</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Guardians</td><td style="text-align: center">In-cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">3</td><td style="text-align: center">2 years</td><td style="text-align: left"></td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">SCT</td><td style="text-align: center">In-cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">2</td><td style="text-align: center">2 years</td><td style="text-align: left"></td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Platinum</td><td style="text-align: center">In-cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">1 (or more)</td><td style="text-align: center">2 years</td><td style="text-align: left">4 seats total.</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Ecosystem</td><td style="text-align: center">In-cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">3</td><td style="text-align: center">2 years</td><td style="text-align: left"></td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Individual</td><td style="text-align: center">Out of cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">1</td><td style="text-align: center">1 year</td><td style="text-align: left">1 GB member stepped down.</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Silver</td><td style="text-align: center">Out of cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">2</td><td style="text-align: center">1 year</td><td style="text-align: left">2 GB members stepped down.</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Associate</td><td style="text-align: center">Out of cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">1</td><td style="text-align: center">1 year</td><td style="text-align: left">Empty seat.</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Gold</td><td style="text-align: center">Out of cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">tbc</td><td style="text-align: center">1 year</td><td style="text-align: left">3 seats total.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2 id="who-can-nominate"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#who-can-nominate" aria-label="Anchor link for: who-can-nominate">🔗</a>Who can nominate?</h2>
<p>You must be a member of one of the constituency groups listed above
in order to nominate yourself or someone else
to be a candidate in the election within the same constituency.</p>
<h2 id="how-to-nominate"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-to-nominate" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-to-nominate">🔗</a>How to nominate?</h2>
<p>You can nominate someone to be a Governing Board member candidate by filling in
<a href="https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/EV0n4-jfuxdelALG05JSfMM0FL1FiBjj5asZ5AWo-n0/">this form</a>.
Remember that all nominees must have consented to nomination <em>before being nominated</em>.</p>
<p>We will review all nominations and confirm whether they have been accepted
within 2 working days by emailing the nominee and the person who nominated them if relevant.</p>
<p>If you encounter any issues with the form,
you may fill in <a href="/media/2026-nomination-form.pdf">this nomination form</a>
and email it to <a href="mailto:elections@foundation.matrix.org">elections@foundation.matrix.org</a>.</p>
<h2 id="who-can-be-nominated"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#who-can-be-nominated" aria-label="Anchor link for: who-can-be-nominated">🔗</a>Who can be nominated?</h2>
<p>All nominees must have consented to nomination <em>before being nominated</em>
and must be a community member in good standing.
That means they must have a clean track record with respect to our
<a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/legal/code-of-conduct/">Code of Conduct</a>.
We want our Governing Board to be a clearing house for a variety of priorities and perspectives,
and to be able to hold space for each other even when there are disagreements.</p>
<p>We will also check that all nominees are indeed a member of the constituency group.
Note that individuals can only be a nominee in one constituency group.</p>
<p>In the case of Individual members,
the eligibility criteria is whether a member’s recurring donation is active and they donate at least $60/£48/€55 per year.
Unfortunately Liberapay doesn’t allow us to access personal information from the donors,
so we will need to cross-check nominees’ details with their Liberapay account.
So if you are nominating a Liberapay donor,
please fill in <a href="https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/xb05yE0uV9Jmj69G8iPeD+HbIAstQ7xi20WzDdZKS0E/">this form</a>
so we can confirm they are indeed an eligible Individual member.</p>
<p>Besides these technical considerations,
we shared in our announcement blog
<a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2026/04/election-announcement/#what-profiles-are-good-for-the-governing-board">an overview of the profiles which would fit well as Governing Board members</a>.
The overall summary is that we are looking for people of a diversity of backgrounds
as we need a variety of view points and skills in our discussions and to support the Foundation.
However <strong>Governing Board members are expected to spend some time actively participating in the GB’s work</strong>.
This includes participating in GB discussions,
being part of Committees and active in Working Groups.
So nominees need to take this requirement into account before submitting their application.</p>
<h2 id="what-s-next"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-s-next" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-s-next">🔗</a>What’s next?</h2>
<p>At the end of the nomination period we will publish the list of nominees on the
<a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/foundation/governing-board-elections/2026/">election page</a>
and launch the campaigning period so voters can get to know their candidates.</p>
<p>We are looking forward to receiving your application!</p>
Announcing the 2026 Governing Board elections2026-04-27T18:00:00+00:002026-04-27T18:00:00+00:00Amandine Le Papehttps://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2026/04/election-announcement/<p>The <a href="https://matrix.org/foundation/governing-board/">Governing Board</a>
of the Foundation is a key player in the governance of Matrix:
it <a href="https://media.ccc.de/v/matrix-conf-2025-75078-governing-board-transparency-update">allows</a>
representatives of every stakeholder of the ecosystem
to have a stronger involvement in how the project is managed
with both an advisory role to the Guardians, Foundation staff, and Spec Core Team,
as well as a participatory one, via the Committees and Working Groups.
It is a great opportunity
for those who wish to be a bit more involved in the project to have more impact,
whilst also representing their constituency.</p>
<p>Today we kick off the third Governing Board election round,
<strong>starting with a two week nomination period that opens on
Saturday, 2nd May and closes on Friday, 15th May</strong>.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p>In order to keep some continuity, we only rotate half of the board every year,
and even years see the seats for representatives of the Guardians,
Spec Core Team, Platinum members and Ecosystem members to be up for renewal.
However there are a few other constituencies with empty seats and
a couple of people stepping down
which means that we will expand the list of constituencies up for election.
So there will be seats coming up for election
across the following constituencies this year:</p>
<ul>
<li>Guardians (in cycle)</li>
<li>Spec Core Team (in cycle)</li>
<li>Platinum (in cycle)</li>
<li>Ecosystem (in cycle)</li>
<li>Silver (out of cycle, both seats)</li>
<li>Individual (out of cycle, one seat)</li>
<li>Associate (out of cycle, one seat as the other one is filled)</li>
<li>Gold (out of cycle, tbc seats)</li>
</ul>
<p>We’ll be doing our best to reach out to every constituent group
to let them know they are eligible to nominate candidates for the election.</p>
<p><em><strong>If you are interested in nominating someone – or yourself – to be a candidate in this election,
read this post in its entirety.
It touches on:</strong></em></p>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2026/04/election-announcement/#logistics"><em><strong>The logistics of the election</strong></em></a></li>
<li><a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2026/04/election-announcement/#what-profiles-are-good-for-the-governing-board"><em><strong>Who we are looking
for</strong></em></a></li>
<li><a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2026/04/election-announcement/#how-to-prepare-yourself"><em><strong>How to prepare yourself and our expectations</strong></em></a></li>
</ol>
<h2 id="logistics"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#logistics" aria-label="Anchor link for: logistics">🔗</a>Logistics</h2>
<h3 id="election-schedule"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#election-schedule" aria-label="Anchor link for: election-schedule">🔗</a>Election schedule</h3>
<p>Here is the full schedule for our election season this year:</p>
<ul>
<li>Announcement on Monday, 27th April</li>
<li>Nominations from Saturday, 2nd May to Friday, 15th May</li>
<li>Campaigning from Saturday, 16th May to Friday, 29th May</li>
<li>Voting from Saturday, 30th May to Friday, 12th June</li>
<li>Results announced on Monday, 15th June</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="how-our-elections-work"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-our-elections-work" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-our-elections-work">🔗</a>How our elections work</h3>
<p>Our Governing Board is made up of 9 different constituency groups
across 3 categories:
Nonprofit and Community representatives, Funder representatives,
and Foundation representatives.
Each group has been allocated seats on the board,
gets to nominate its own slate of candidates,
and gets to vote within that slate of candidates.</p>
<p>For example, Individual Members get to nominate themselves,
and vote on the Individual Members who are qualified candidates.
The only exception is with the Managing Director (which is me for now)
who automatically gets a seat on the Governing Board,
but that’s just one seat of many.</p>
<p>Here is the composition of seats on the Governing Board:</p>
<table><thead><tr><th style="text-align: left">Community representatives</th><th style="text-align: left">Funder representatives</th><th style="text-align: left">Foundation representatives</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">4 Individual Members</td><td style="text-align: left">4 Platinum Members</td><td style="text-align: left">3 Guardians</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">3 Ecosystem Members</td><td style="text-align: left">3 Gold Members</td><td style="text-align: left">2 Spec Core Team Members</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">2 Associate Members</td><td style="text-align: left">2 Silver Members</td><td style="text-align: left">Managing Director</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<p><a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/foundation/members/">Learn how to become a member</a> and
<a href="/foundation/members#platinum-supporters">see a list of our current organizational members</a>.</p>
<p>As mentioned above, we will be seating candidates for both in-cycle
(Guardians, Spec Core Team, Platinum members and Ecosystem members)
and out of cycle constituency groups in 2026,
as a couple of constituencies have empty seats,
namely Individual members, Silver members and Associate members.</p>
<figure style="height:100%;">
<img src="/blog/img/2024-election-years.png" alt="A visual election timeline: in 2024 we elect all constituencies, in 2025 we elect Gold, Silver, Individual, and Associate Members, in 2026 we elect Platinum, Ecosystem, Guardians, and Spec Core Team Members, in 2027 we elect Gold, Silver, Individual, and Associate Members, and so on." />
<figcaption><p>The Matrix.org Foundations’ Governing Board election schedule</p>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The members elected in cycle this year will be sitting for the normal 2-year term,
but those elected out of cycle will see their seats be put up for re-election
next year when the cycle repeats for their constituency.</p>
<p>In short, the seats up for election this year are as follows:</p>
<table><thead><tr><th style="text-align: left">Constituency</th><th style="text-align: center">In or out of cycle</th><th style="text-align: center">Seats for election in 2026</th><th style="text-align: center">Term for the elected member</th><th style="text-align: left">Notes</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Guardians</td><td style="text-align: center">In-cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">3</td><td style="text-align: center">2 years</td><td style="text-align: left"></td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">SCT</td><td style="text-align: center">In-cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">2</td><td style="text-align: center">2 years</td><td style="text-align: left"></td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Platinum</td><td style="text-align: center">In-cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">1</td><td style="text-align: center">2 years</td><td style="text-align: left">4 seats total.</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Ecosystem</td><td style="text-align: center">In-cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">3</td><td style="text-align: center">2 years</td><td style="text-align: left"></td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Individual</td><td style="text-align: center">Out of cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">1</td><td style="text-align: center">1 year</td><td style="text-align: left">1 GB member stepped down.</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Silver</td><td style="text-align: center">Out of cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">2</td><td style="text-align: center">1 year</td><td style="text-align: left">2 GB members stepped down.</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Associate</td><td style="text-align: center">Out of cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">1</td><td style="text-align: center">1 year</td><td style="text-align: left">Empty seat.</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: left">Gold</td><td style="text-align: center">Out of cycle</td><td style="text-align: center">tbc</td><td style="text-align: center">1 year</td><td style="text-align: left">3 seats total.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<p>Some GB members have decided to step down,
making their seat available for election out of cycle.
The Associate constituency seat remained empty at the last election,
but new members have joined since then.</p>
<p>The Platinum and Gold constituencies both have empty seats
(respectively 3 and 2 empty seats)
because we only have one Platinum and one Gold member.
<strong>So anyone <a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/foundation/members/">signing up as a Platinum or Gold member</a>
and nominating a representative for election before 15th May
is guaranteed a seat on the Governing Board!</strong></p>
<h3 id="who-can-nominate"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#who-can-nominate" aria-label="Anchor link for: who-can-nominate">🔗</a>Who can nominate</h3>
<p>You must be a member of one of the constituency groups
in order to nominate yourself or someone else
to be a candidate in the election within the same constituency.</p>
<p>All nominees must have consented to nomination <em>before being nominated</em>
and must be a community member in good standing.
That means they must have a clean track record with respect to our
<a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/legal/code-of-conduct/">Code of Conduct</a>.
We want our Governing Board to be a clearing house for
a variety of priorities and perspectives,
and to be able to hold space for each other even when there are disagreements.</p>
<h3 id="who-can-vote"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#who-can-vote" aria-label="Anchor link for: who-can-vote">🔗</a>Who can vote</h3>
<p>All members of each constituency group are entitled to vote on
the candidates within that constituency group.
We will be reaching out to everyone we have contact information for,
to ensure we have our voter rolls together before voting begins at the end of May.
Anyone who has
<a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/foundation/members/">signed up to be a member to one of the constituencies</a>
before 15th May is eligible to vote for it.</p>
<p>We will hold an election in each of the six constituencies that are up for election this year,
even if a given constituency has fewer candidates than there are seats allocated
for them on the Governing Board.
This is, effectively, a vote of confidence.</p>
<p>If you believe you are eligible to participate but have not heard from us or
<a href="https://www.opavote.com/">OpaVote</a> – the election system we have chosen for this year’s elections – by 23rd May,
<a href="mailto:elections@foundation.matrix.org">please email us promptly</a>.
We cannot change our voter rolls after voting begins on 30th May!!</p>
<p>All of the candidates will be listed on our
<a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/foundation/governing-board-elections/2026/">2026 elections page</a>
starting 16th May.</p>
<h3 id="how-to-nominate"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-to-nominate" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-to-nominate">🔗</a>How to nominate</h3>
<p>We will share a link to a nomination form and a template document on Friday,
1st May.
We’ll be reaching out to everyone who is eligible
and whose contact information we have to let them know.
We’ll also be announcing it on our social channels.</p>
<p>All nominations should be submitted through the form,
though anyone who has technical difficulties can fill out the template document
and email it to <a href="mailto:elections@foundation.matrix.org">elections@foundation.matrix.org</a>.</p>
<h2 id="what-profiles-are-good-for-the-governing-board"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-profiles-are-good-for-the-governing-board" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-profiles-are-good-for-the-governing-board">🔗</a>What profiles are good for the Governing Board</h2>
<p>One feedback we got in the last election was that it wasn't clear
what sort of profiles would be most appropriate for Governing Board members,
and people telling us “I can’t apply, I am not technical”.</p>
<p>To be clear,
the Governing Board supports the Foundation across many different disciplines
and the more diversity in the GB the better.
As per the <a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2026/04/election-announcement/#expectations-what-to-consider-before-accepting-a-nomination">paragraph below</a>,
GB members have a choice of different Committees and WGs to be involved in,
with many others that can be created and with different roles within these.</p>
<p>Here are the type of topics you may be able to contribute to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Website implementation (writing, technical implementation, design, deployment…)</li>
<li>Conference organisation (project management, procurement, sponsor finding,
volunteer management, tooling deployment…)</li>
<li>Governance (ecosystem support: how to support projects and users,
how to grow the ecosystem, GB/WG/Foundation relations,
public directory curation, certification…)</li>
<li>Tooling (for Trust & Safety, for the Foundation…)</li>
<li>Business (support the Foundation’s (lack of) independent finance function,
fundraising, legal & policy, commercial to bring new members, sponsors…)</li>
<li>Documentation</li>
<li>…</li>
</ul>
<p>In short <strong>any profile will be welcome,
because there is so much that can be done
and to get different view points in the discussions</strong>.
Commitment and availability are the only requirements,
and ideally you’re excited by an existing initiative
or looking to bring a new one to fruition.</p>
<h2 id="how-to-prepare-yourself"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-to-prepare-yourself" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-to-prepare-yourself">🔗</a>How to prepare yourself</h2>
<p>If you want to be a candidate in the election,
there are a few things you should know:</p>
<ul>
<li>All candidates will be listed on our website,
grouped by the constituency group.</li>
<li>We do not require people to use their “legal name.”</li>
<li>Candidates who are nominated by an organizational member
will have their affiliation listed.</li>
<li>We expect candidates to provide a short bio and a short statement,
collectively covering qualifications and priorities.
Candidates may also provide a link to an extended statement
or platform on their personal blog or website.</li>
<li>You are encouraged to make yourself available for conversation
with members of your constituency group:
<a href="https://matrix.to/#/%23governing-board-nominee-campaigning-bonfire%3Amatrix.org">campaigning rooms</a>
will be available for each constituency.</li>
<li>The period for campaigning runs from 16th May to 29th May.
Please note our
<a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/legal/code-of-conduct/">community Code of Conduct</a> while campaigning.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="expectations-what-to-consider-before-accepting-a-nomination"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#expectations-what-to-consider-before-accepting-a-nomination" aria-label="Anchor link for: expectations-what-to-consider-before-accepting-a-nomination">🔗</a>Expectations: what to consider before accepting a nomination</h3>
<p>You can familiarise yourself with the Terms of Reference, Bylaws, expectations
and other processes on <a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/foundation/governing-board/#bylaws-processes-and-norms">the Governing Board page of the website</a>.</p>
<p>Besides, as mentioned above, the Governing Board exists to support the project.
The role of the Governing Board is to offer guidance and support to the Guardians,
Foundation staff, and Spec Core Team:
this can only be achieved if Governing Board members are actively involved.</p>
<p>A seat on the Governing Board of the Foundation is <u><strong>not</strong></u> an overseeing one,
and there are some <a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/foundation/governing-board/bylaws/02-bylaws/#3-board-member-expectations">expectations</a>:
we have tried to spell them out below,
so please consider whether you are ready to fulfill them
before signing up for a nomination.</p>
<p><strong>All in all,
we expect a GB member to spend a few hours a week on average
in Governing Board activities,
including Committee and WG involvement.</strong></p>
<h4 id="1-governing-board-meetings"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#1-governing-board-meetings" aria-label="Anchor link for: 1-governing-board-meetings">🔗</a>1. Governing Board meetings</h4>
<p>The Governing Board meets as a full board twice a year,
for at least 90 minutes each time,
and meetings are facilitated by the duly elected Chair or Vice Chair.
Expect one meeting before the end of the year,
and another before the next election.</p>
<p>You are likely to receive a packet of materials before each meeting
which you will be expected to have reviewed.
Most meetings will be held online, though we may convene meetings in-person,
such as at The Matrix Conference.
We will make every effort to make in-person meetings accessible to remote participants,
and no official business will ever happen without appropriate notice,
quorum, and minutes.</p>
<h4 id="2-committees"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#2-committees" aria-label="Anchor link for: 2-committees">🔗</a>2. Committees</h4>
<p>The <a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/foundation/governing-board/committees/">Committees of the Governing Board</a>
are subgroups focusing on specific areas of interest to The Matrix Foundation.
They are the primary working units of the Board
and consist exclusively of Board members.</p>
<p>An important function of Committees is to host Working Groups
which enable broader community participation in the Foundation.</p>
<p>We expect Governing Board members to join and be active in at least one Committee.</p>
<h4 id="3-working-groups"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#3-working-groups" aria-label="Anchor link for: 3-working-groups">🔗</a>3. Working Groups</h4>
<p>The <a href="https://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/foundation/working-groups/">Working Groups</a>
are a collection of groups that are formed to work on specific tasks
or projects that are important to the Matrix ecosystem.
The Working Groups are made up of members from the Matrix ecosystem
and anyone can participate in them.
They are overseen by the Governing Board in that they are attached to a given
Committee and require at least one sponsor from the Governing Board to exist.</p>
<p>We expect Governing Board members to join and be active in
at least one Working Group.</p>
<h4 id="4-ongoing-discussions"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#4-ongoing-discussions" aria-label="Anchor link for: 4-ongoing-discussions">🔗</a>4. Ongoing discussions</h4>
<p>With everything going on in the ecosystem and our attempt to continuously improve,
there are always ongoing discussions within the Governing Board.
We expect every GB member to join our Discourse and participate in these discussions,
in particular to relay potential inputs from their constituency.</p>
<h3 id="what-to-expect-if-you-win-the-election"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-to-expect-if-you-win-the-election" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-to-expect-if-you-win-the-election">🔗</a>What to expect if you win the election</h3>
<p>Congratulations!
All of the winners will be announced on 15th June,
but since the elections conclude on 12th June,
you may get an email with the results of the election
you participated in before 15th June.</p>
<p>All elected representatives will be added to a private mailing list,
Discourse forum, shared calendar and of course Matrix room
so that they can introduce themselves and communicate in between meetings.
I will be reaching out to every elected representative to meet one-on-one,
get acquainted,
and answer questions before we convene for their first Governing Board meeting.</p>
<p>We are looking forward to seeing who will be stepping up for nomination
and welcoming new Governing Board members!</p>
<p>Thank you for your ongoing support,
and good luck to all the candidates in the upcoming elections!</p>
<p>Amandine</p>
Introducing your new Governing Board representatives2025-06-16T17:00:00+00:002025-06-16T17:00:00+00:00Robin Rileyhttps://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2025/06/election-results/<p>It is an honor to unveil the election results and introduce the newest elected representatives of the Governing Board!</p>
<p>Congratulations to the winning candidates, we thank you for your willingness to serve the community. We're also grateful to everyone who threw their hat in the ring, and hope that the candidates who did not get elected consider running again in the future. Thanks also to the outgoing members of the Governing Board for their service in the precedent-setting first cohort!</p>
<p>I'd also like to express our gratitude to all the people who cast ballots in the election, and to everyone who asked questions along the way! We learn a lot in each election and we look forward to improving it each successive year.</p>
<p>Read on to see who is on the Governing Board and a brief discussion of next steps.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p>Our Governing Board has 8 constituencies that have elected representatives. Last year was our first election, and so we ran an election for all 8 constituencies. Starting this year and moving forward, we run elections in only half of the constituencies. This staggered approach to our elections allows us to strike a balance between experienced representatives and fresh perspectives, and the continuity it affords allows us to build up institutional capacity and knowledge over time.</p>
<p>This year we are seating representatives for the following constituencies: <a href="https://opavote.com/results/5202655923666944">Individual Members</a>, Associate Members, <a href="https://opavote.com/results/5206099480805376">Silver Members</a>, and Gold Members. Because we had fewer candidates than seats for Associate and Gold Members, we did not run elections in those categories.</p>
<h2 id="elected-representatives"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#elected-representatives" aria-label="Anchor link for: elected-representatives">🔗</a>Elected representatives</h2>
<p>These are the elected representatives for each of those constituencies:</p>
<p>Individual Members</p>
<ul>
<li>Andy Balaam (he/him)</li>
<li>Gnuxie (she/her)</li>
<li>Greg Sutcliffe (he/him)</li>
<li>J.B. Crawford (they/them)</li>
</ul>
<p>Associate Members</p>
<ul>
<li>Tobias Fella (he/him), KDE e.V.</li>
<li>One vacant seat</li>
</ul>
<p>Silver Members</p>
<ul>
<li>Christian Kußowski (he/him), Famedly</li>
<li>Jan Kohnert (he/him), Gematik GmbH</li>
</ul>
<p>Gold Members</p>
<ul>
<li>Brad Murray (he/him), Automattic (Beeper)</li>
<li>Two vacant seats</li>
</ul>
<p>Learn more about the Governing Board and see the full set of representatives on the <a href="/foundation/governing-board/">Governing Board information page</a>. You can find the entire slate of 2025 candidates on the <a href="/foundation/governing-board-elections/2025/">2025 election page</a>.</p>
<h2 id="next-steps"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#next-steps" aria-label="Anchor link for: next-steps">🔗</a>Next steps</h2>
<p>All of the elected representatives will soon receive a welcome email and details about onboarding which will take place over the next month. We'll hold a Governing Board meeting soon thereafter, in addition to the twice annual meetings that the Terms of Reference require us to convene.</p>
<p>Our next meeting will include updating committee assignments, filling any vacant Chair or Vice Chair positions, and other agenda items within the Governing Board's remit.</p>
<p>I'll be coordinating with our Governing Board Chair and Vice Chair in managing the onboarding and offboarding of Governing Board members to the private Matrix rooms, Discourse forums, and mailing list.</p>
<p>Onwards and upwards 🚀</p>
Announcing the 2025 Governing Board elections2025-04-28T00:00:00+00:002025-05-09T00:00:00+00:00Robin Rileyhttps://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2025/04/election-announcement/<p>Today we kick off the second <a href="/foundation/governing-board/">Governing Board</a> election season for the Matrix.org Foundation!
We start with a two week nomination period that opens on Saturday, May 3rd and closes on Friday, May 16th.
This year’s deadlines are anchored to the UTC timezone, rather than the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anywhere_on_Earth">AOE</a> approach that we used with mixed results last year.</p>
<p>We’ll be doing our best to reach out to everyone in the Gold, Silver, Individual, and Associate Member constituent groups to let them know they are eligible to nominate candidates for the election.</p>
<p><strong><em>If you are interested in nominating someone – or yourself – to be a candidate in this election, read this post in its entirety.</em></strong></p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h2 id="election-schedule"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#election-schedule" aria-label="Anchor link for: election-schedule">🔗</a>Election schedule</h2>
<p>Here is the timeline for this election season, which will happen in the second quarter of every year:</p>
<ul>
<li>Announcement on Monday, April 28</li>
<li>Nominations from Saturday, May 3 to Friday, May 16</li>
<li>Campaigning from Saturday, May 17 to Friday, May 30</li>
<li>Voting from Saturday, May 31 to Friday, June 13</li>
<li>Results announced on Monday, June 16</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="how-our-elections-work"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-our-elections-work" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-our-elections-work">🔗</a>How our elections work</h2>
<p>Our Governing Board is made up of 9 different constituency groups across 3 categories: nonprofit and community representatives, funder representatives, and foundation representatives. Each group has been allocated seats on the board, gets to nominate its own slate of candidates, and gets to vote within that slate of candidates.</p>
<p>For example, Individual Members get to nominate themselves, and vote on the Individual Members who are qualified candidates. The only exception is with the Managing Director (hi, that’s me) who automatically gets a seat on the Governing Board, but that’s just one seat of many.</p>
<p>Here is the composition of seats on the Governing Board:</p>
<table><thead><tr><th style="text-align: center">Community representatives</th><th style="text-align: center">Funder representatives</th><th style="text-align: center">Foundation representatives</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center">4 Individual Members</td><td style="text-align: center">4 Platinum Members</td><td style="text-align: center">3 Guardians</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center">3 Ecosystem Members</td><td style="text-align: center">3 Gold Members</td><td style="text-align: center">2 Spec Core Team Members</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center">2 Associate Members</td><td style="text-align: center">2 Silver Members</td><td style="text-align: center">Managing Director</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<p><a href="/membership/">Learn how to become a member</a> and <a href="/support/">see a list of our current organizational members</a>.</p>
<p>We will be seating candidates for half of the constituency groups in 2025, namely: Gold, Silver, Individual, and Associate Members.</p>
<p><img src="/blog/img/2024-election-years.png" alt="A visual election timeline for the next few years: in 2024 we elect all constituencies, in 2025 we elect Gold, Silver, Individual, and Associate Members, in 2026 we elect Platinum, Ecosystem, Guardians, and Spec Core Team Members, in 2027 we elect Gold, Silver, Individual, and Associate Members, and so on." /></p>
<p>There are currently no term limits, but term limits are a best practice in open governance so we intend to introduce them as we find our collective footing.</p>
<h2 id="who-can-nominate"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#who-can-nominate" aria-label="Anchor link for: who-can-nominate">🔗</a>Who can nominate</h2>
<p>You must be a member of one of the constituency groups in order to nominate yourself or someone else to be a candidate in the election. By far our largest constituency group are Individual Members, who number in the 100’s. If you have donated at least $60 USD to the Foundation since April 20, 2024 on <a href="https://donorbox.org/keep-matrix-exciting">Donorbox</a>, then you are eligible to nominate and vote. You must donate before the election period begins, as we cannot change voter rolls after that.</p>
<p>All nominees must have consented to nomination <em>before being nominated</em> and must be a community member in good standing.
That means they must have a clean track record with respect to our <a href="/legal/code-of-conduct/">Code of Conduct</a>.
We want our Governing Board to be a clearing house for a variety of priorities and perspectives, and to be able to hold space for each other even when there are disagreements.</p>
<h2 id="who-can-vote"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#who-can-vote" aria-label="Anchor link for: who-can-vote">🔗</a>Who can vote</h2>
<p>All members of each constituency group are entitled to vote on the candidates within that constituency group. We will be reaching out to everyone we have contact information for, to ensure we have our voter rolls together before voting begins at the end of May.</p>
<p>We will hold an election in each of the four constituencies that are up for election this year, even if a given constituency has fewer candidates than there are seats allocated for them on the Governing Board. This is, effectively, a vote of confidence.</p>
<p>If you believe you are eligible to participate but have not heard from us or <a href="https://www.opavote.com/">OpaVote</a> – the election system we have chosen for this year’s elections – by May 24th, <a href="mailto:elections@foundation.matrix.org">please email us promptly</a>. We build our voter rolls on May 31st and can't change them after that!</p>
<p>All of the candidates will be listed on an elections page here on our website which we’ll publish on May 17th.</p>
<h2 id="how-to-prepare-yourself"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-to-prepare-yourself" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-to-prepare-yourself">🔗</a>How to prepare yourself</h2>
<p>If you want to be a candidate in the election, there are a few things you should know:</p>
<ul>
<li>All candidates will be listed on our website, grouped by the constituency group. (<a href="/foundation/governing-board-elections/2024/">See last year's election center here.</a>)</li>
<li>We do not require people to use their “legal name.”</li>
<li>Candidates who are nominated by an organizational member will have their affiliation listed.</li>
<li>We expect candidates to provide a short bio and a short statement, collectively covering qualifications and priorities. Candidates may also provide a link to an extended statement or platform on their personal blog or website.</li>
<li>You are encouraged to make yourself available for conversation with members of your constituency group.</li>
<li>The period for campaigning runs from May 17th to May 30th. Please note our <a href="/legal/code-of-conduct/">community Code of Conduct</a> while campaigning.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="what-to-expect-if-you-win"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-to-expect-if-you-win" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-to-expect-if-you-win">🔗</a>What to expect if you win</h2>
<p>Congratulations! All of the winners will be announced on June 16th, but since the elections conclude on June 13th, you may get an email with the results of the election you participated in before June 16th.</p>
<p>All elected representatives will be added to a private mailing list and Matrix room so that they can introduce themselves and communicate in between meetings. I will be reaching out to every elected representative to meet one-on-one, get acquainted, and answer questions before we convene for their first Governing Board meeting.</p>
<p>The Governing Board meets as a full board at least twice a year, for at least 90 minutes each time, and meetings are facilitated by the duly elected Chair or Vice Chair. Expect one meeting before the end of the year, and another before the next election.</p>
<p>You are likely to receive a packet of materials before each meeting which you will be expected to have reviewed. Most meetings will be held online, though we may convene meetings in-person, such as at The Matrix Conference. We will make every effort to make in-person meetings accessible to remote participants, and no official business will ever happen without appropriate notice, quorum, and minutes.</p>
<p>While the Governing Board is an advisory board, members are encouraged to play a role in helping to carry out the activities that support the staff in delivering on the Foundation’s collective remit, such as coalescing priorities to share with the Spec Core Team and connecting with contributors and funders to implement proposals.</p>
<p>Most of the work of the Governing Board happens in its Committees and their Working Groups, who meet in between Governing Board meetings and present their assessments and recommendations to the Governing Board.</p>
<h2 id="how-to-nominate"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-to-nominate" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-to-nominate">🔗</a>How to nominate</h2>
<p>We will update this blog post with a link to a nomination form and a template document on Friday, May 2nd. We’ll be reaching out to everyone who is eligible and whose contact information we have to let them know. We’ll also be announcing it on our social channels.</p>
<p>All nominations should be submitted through the <a href="https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/7a4+m2eSNxmdPGf5kWh4GQ6i2wzUK315LdNJyBoAVsc/">form</a>, though anyone who has technical difficulties can fill out the <a href="/media/2025-nomination-form.pdf">template document</a> and email it to <a href="mailto:elections@foundation.matrix.org">elections@foundation.matrix.org</a>.</p>
<p>For discussion related to the Governing Board and the elections, we encourage people to drop by the <a href="https://matrix.to/#/#governing-board-office:matrix.org">Office of the Governing Board (#governing-board-office:matrix.org)</a>.</p>
<p>Thank you for your ongoing support, and good luck to all the candidates in the upcoming elections!</p>
Introducing our first elected Governing Board2024-06-03T19:00:00+00:002024-06-03T19:00:00+00:00Josh Simmonshttps://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2024/06/election-results/<p>It is an honor and a pleasure to unveil the election results and introduce the first elected Governing Board for the Matrix.org Foundation!</p>
<p>Congratulations to the winning candidates, we thank you for your willingness to serve the community. We’re also grateful to everyone who threw their hat in the ring, and hope that the candidates who did not get elected consider running again in the future – noting that we have an election of Gold, Silver, Individual, and Associate Members scheduled for next year.</p>
<p>Thanks also to all of the people who cast ballots in the election, and to everyone who asked questions along the way! We learned a lot in this first election process that we look forward to incorporating into the next one.</p>
<p>The level of engagement with the process was a very encouraging sign for the health of the Matrix ecosystem, and we’re proud to have had 100% voter turnout in all but one constituency.</p>
<p>Read on to see who is on the Governing Board, a brief discussion of next steps, and reflections on some of the work that remains to improve representation.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h2 id="the-governing-board"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#the-governing-board" aria-label="Anchor link for: the-governing-board">🔗</a>The Governing Board</h2>
<p>Representing <a href="https://opavote.com/results/5140858738311168">Individual Members</a>, we have:</p>
<ul>
<li>Andy Balaam (he/him)</li>
<li>Greg Sutcliffe (he/him)</li>
<li>J.B. Crawford (they/them)</li>
<li>Sumner Evans</li>
</ul>
<p>Representing <a href="https://opavote.com/results/5661642078552064">Ecosystem Members</a>, we have:</p>
<ul>
<li>Bram van den Heuvel (he/they), Elm SDK</li>
<li>Kim Brose (he/him), Matrix Community Events</li>
<li>Nicolas Werner (he/him), Nheko-Reborn</li>
</ul>
<p>Representing <a href="https://opavote.com/results/6484668047163392">Associate Members</a>, we have</p>
<ul>
<li>Cleo Menenez Jr. (he/him), GNOME Foundation</li>
<li>Tobias Fella (he/him), KDE e.V.</li>
</ul>
<p>Representing <a href="https://opavote.com/results/4762997481275392">Platinum Members</a>, we have:</p>
<ul>
<li>Neil Johnson (he/him), Element</li>
</ul>
<p>Representing <a href="https://opavote.com/results/6283574079651840">Gold Members</a>, we have:</p>
<ul>
<li>Brad Murray (he/him), Beeper</li>
<li>Kevin Boos (he/him), Futurewei Technologies</li>
</ul>
<p>Representing <a href="https://opavote.com/results/6615071399608320">Silver Members</a>, we have:</p>
<ul>
<li>Jan Kohnert (he/him), Gematik GmbH</li>
<li>Thor Arne Johansen, Verji Tech AS</li>
</ul>
<p>Representing <a href="https://opavote.com/results/5342481448173568">Guardians</a>, we have:</p>
<ul>
<li>Amandine Le Pape (she/her)</li>
<li>Matthew Hodgson (he/him)</li>
<li>Ross Schulman</li>
</ul>
<p>Representing <a href="https://opavote.com/results/5127688657305600">Spec Core Team members</a>, we have:</p>
<ul>
<li>Richard van der Hoff (he/him)</li>
<li>Travis Ralston (he/him)</li>
</ul>
<p>And, lastly, representing Foundation staff in an ex officio capacity, we have:</p>
<ul>
<li>Josh Simmons (he/they)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="next-steps"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#next-steps" aria-label="Anchor link for: next-steps">🔗</a>Next steps</h2>
<p>All of the elected representatives will soon receive a welcome email and details about onboarding which will take place over the next two months, with our first official meeting being in August or September. That first meeting will include chartering committees, establishing initial committee assignments, and other agenda items within the Governing Board’s remit.</p>
<p>All Governing Board members will soon be added to a private Matrix room and mailing list. We also hope to hold informal gatherings before that first meeting, so that Governing Board members can get to know each other before we dig into business.</p>
<p>We will continue to use the <a href="/governing-board/elections/2024/">2024 elections page</a> as a place to aggregate information about the current Governing Board, and our <a href="/about/">About</a> page will soon be updated. Before next year’s election we will establish a more general landing page for the Governing Board that is not specific to any one year.</p>
<h2 id="reflecting-on-representation"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#reflecting-on-representation" aria-label="Anchor link for: reflecting-on-representation">🔗</a>Reflecting on representation</h2>
<p>Our mission is to bring secure, private, free and open, unencumbered communication to everyone. In order to succeed in that, we need to bring a representative cross-section of perspectives to bear on our governance and development.</p>
<p>And while we haven’t yet conducted formal surveys of demographics, such that we can be confident about the baseline we’re working from, it’s plain to see that our contributor communities are not yet as representative as we need them to be. This isn’t news to anyone, but the election results make it all the more obvious.</p>
<p>The issue of representation is something we must tackle across the whole of the Matrix ecosystem, and we intend for the Foundation to play a leading role in addressing this internally and externally. We can learn from other successful initiatives, and I myself have been successful in tackling these challenges in partnership with other communities, so I know we can get to where we need to be.</p>
<p>In electing our first Governing Board, we have dramatically expanded the number of perspectives and lived experiences that are directly engaged in the evolution and direction of Matrix. Coming from a place where the majority of decisions were being made by people associated with one company, this is a huge improvement. This is something we should be proud of!</p>
<p>But to be extremely clear: we need to drastically increase the representation of women and people outside of Europe and North America. There may be other lived experiences we are short on, but these two stand out.</p>
<p>I’m eager to dig into this work with everyone here around Matrix. Please stay tuned for a follow up blog post specifically on this subject.</p>
<p>Onwards and upwards 🚀</p>
Voting has begun in the Governing Board elections2024-05-17T00:00:00+00:002024-05-17T00:00:00+00:00Josh Simmonshttps://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2024/05/voting-begins/<p>Voting has started for the Governing Board elections and runs till May 31! This is our first election and we are very excited. All of the results will be published here on the blog on June 3.</p>
<p>You can learn about all of the <a href="/governing-board/elections/2024/#nominees">candidates</a> on our <a href="/governing-board/elections/2024">2024 election page</a>. All eligible voters should have received an email from <a href="https://www.opavote.com/">OpaVote</a>, the election system we have chosen for this year’s elections.</p>
<p>If you believe you are eligible to participate but have not heard from us, first check the inbox and spam folders of the email address you have on file with us (such as through Donorbox or Patreon). Please <a href="mailto:elections@foundation.matrix.org">email us</a> if you have any questions.</p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span>
<p>All members of each constituency group are entitled to vote on the candidates within that constituency group. Generally, we will hold elections for half of the constituency groups each year. However, this year we are holding elections for all of the constituency groups:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Community representatives</strong>
<ul>
<li>4 seats for Individual Members – these are people who currently provide financial support to the Foundation.</li>
<li>3 seats for Ecosystem Members – these are FOSS projects and communities around Matrix.</li>
<li>2 seats for Associate Members – these are FOSS foundations, academic institutions, and other communities that are aligned with key parts of our mission.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Funder representatives</strong>
<ul>
<li>4 seats for Platinum Members – these organisations sponsor at the highest level.</li>
<li>3 seats for Gold Members — these organisations sponsor at a high level.</li>
<li>2 seats for Silver Members — these organisations sponsor at a level commensurate with the size of their organisation.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Foundation representatives</strong>
<ul>
<li>3 seats for Guardians – these are the members of the Foundation's board of directors.</li>
<li>2 seats for the Spec Core Team – these are the members of the Spec Core Team that looks after the spec.</li>
<li>Managing Director – this is the Foundation's head of staff, no election is run for this seat.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Next year, we'll run elections just for Gold, Silver, Individual, and Associate Members.</p>
<p>For more background on the Governing Board and its place in the growth and evolution of the Matrix ecosystem, read: <a href="/blog/2023/12/electing-our-first-governing-board">The Governing Board, our next big step in open governance</a>.</p>
Announcing the 2024 Governing Board elections2024-04-12T14:00:00+00:002024-04-24T10:30:00+00:00Josh Simmonshttps://4977ac0e.matrix-website.pages.dev/blog/2024/04/election-announcement/<p><em>Update: the terms of the board have been updated with the follow changes:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><em>Allow for filling vacancies by appointment or by-election at the discretion of the Managing Director and the Guardians, in consultation with a Governance Committee. (2.7.1)</em></li>
<li><em>Allow for the Governing Board to adopt voting mechanisms other than simple majority on a case-by-case basis. (5.5)</em></li>
<li><em>Disallow nominees from running for election in more than one constituency at a time. (2.4.1)</em></li>
<li><em>Change UTC to AOE in timeline. (2.3)</em></li>
</ul>
<p>Welcome to the first ever Governing Board election season for the Matrix.org Foundation! We start with a one week nomination period that opens on Saturday, April 20th and closes on Friday, April 26th <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anywhere_on_Earth">AOE time</a>.</p>
<p>We’ll be doing our best to reach out to every constituent group to let them know they are eligible to nominate candidates for the election. That said, this is our first election and we don’t yet have contact information for everybody who is eligible, so we want your help getting the word out.</p>
<p><strong><em>If you are interested in nominating someone – or yourself – to be a candidate in this election, read this post in its entirety.</em></strong></p>
<p>To learn about what the Governing Board is, what it does, and the context it operates in, read this <a href="https://matrix.org/blog/2023/12/electing-our-first-governing-board/">blog post from last December</a>. You are also welcome to read <a href="https://matrix.org/media/2024-04-governing-board-terms-of-reference.pdf">the Governing Board’s current bylaws</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://matrix.org/blog/2024/04/election-announcement/#how-to-nominate">Go here for instructions on submitting a nomination!</a></p>
<span id="continue-reading"></span><h2 id="election-schedule"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#election-schedule" aria-label="Anchor link for: election-schedule">🔗</a>Election schedule</h2>
<p>Here is the timeline for this election season, which will happen in the second quarter of every year:</p>
<p><img src="/blog/img/2024-election-timeline.png" alt="A visual election timeline for this year: Announcements on April 15, Nominations begin April 20, Campaigning begins April 27, Voting begins May 18, and Results announced on June 3." /></p>
<p>To minimize confusion, and maximize inclusion given our international community, we will be using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anywhere_on_Earth">“Anywhere on Earth” (AOE) time</a>. If you’re not familiar with AOE time, here’s what it means using our nomination period as an example: so long as it’s still Friday, April 26th in any timezone on the planet (from UTC+12 to UTC-12), the nomination period is open.</p>
<h2 id="how-our-elections-work"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-our-elections-work" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-our-elections-work">🔗</a>How our elections work</h2>
<p>Our Governing Board is made up of 9 different constituency groups across 3 categories: nonprofit and community representatives, funder representatives, and foundation representatives. Each group has been allocated seats on the board, gets to nominate its own slate of candidates, and gets to vote within that slate of candidates.</p>
<p>For example, Individual Members get to nominate themselves, and vote on the Individual Members who are qualified candidates. The only exception is with the Managing Director (hi, that’s me) who automatically gets a seat on the Governing Board, but that’s just one seat of many.</p>
<p>Here is the composition of seats on the Governing Board:</p>
<table><thead><tr><th style="text-align: center">Community representatives</th><th style="text-align: center">Funder representatives</th><th style="text-align: center">Foundation representatives</th></tr></thead><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center">4 Individual Members</td><td style="text-align: center">4 Platinum Members</td><td style="text-align: center">3 Guardians</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center">3 Ecosystem Members</td><td style="text-align: center">3 Gold Members</td><td style="text-align: center">2 Spec Core Team Members</td></tr>
<tr><td style="text-align: center">2 Associate Members</td><td style="text-align: center">2 Silver Members</td><td style="text-align: center">Managing Director</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<p><a href="https://matrix.org/membership/">Learn how to become a member</a> and <a href="https://matrix.org/support/">see a list of our current organizational members</a>.</p>
<p>We will be seating candidates for all constituency groups in our first election. Starting in 2025, we’ll run elections for half of the constituency groups. This is so that we maintain some level of continuity and institutional knowledge across each election. Consequently, while the first elected representatives from the Guardians, Spec Core Team, Platinum, and Ecosystem Members will serve 2-year terms, the first elected representatives from Gold, Silver, Individual, and Associate Members will serve a 1-year term. We anticipate that many people in those constituencies who are elected this year will run for re-election in 2025.</p>
<p><img src="/blog/img/2024-election-years.png" alt="A visual election timeline for the next few years: in 2024 we elect all constituencies, in 2025 we elect Gold, Silver, Individual, and Associate Members, in 2026 we elect Platinum, Ecosystem, Guardians, and Spec Core Team Members, in 2027 we elect Gold, Silver, Individual, and Associate Members, and so on." /></p>
<p>There are currently no term limits, but term limits are a best practice in open governance so we intend to introduce them as we find our collective footing.</p>
<p>For greater detail, <a href="https://matrix.org/blog/2023/12/electing-our-first-governing-board/">please read this blog post from last December</a>.</p>
<h2 id="who-can-nominate"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#who-can-nominate" aria-label="Anchor link for: who-can-nominate">🔗</a>Who can nominate</h2>
<p>You must be a member of one of the constituency groups in order to nominate yourself or someone else to be a candidate in the election. By far our largest constituency group are Individual Members, who number in the 100’s. If you have donated at least $60 USD to the Foundation since April 20, 2023, on any of Donorbox, Patreon, or Liberapay, then you are eligible to nominate and vote.</p>
<p>All nominees must have consented to nomination <em>before being nominated</em> and must be a community member in good standing. That means they must have a clean track record with respect to our <a href="https://matrix.org/legal/code-of-conduct/">Code of Conduct</a>. We want our Governing Board to be a clearing house for a variety of priorities and perspectives, and to be able to hold space for each other even when there are disagreements.</p>
<h2 id="who-can-vote"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#who-can-vote" aria-label="Anchor link for: who-can-vote">🔗</a>Who can vote</h2>
<p>All members of each constituency group are entitled to vote on the candidates within that constituency group. We will be reaching out to everyone we have contact information for, to ensure we have our voter rolls together before voting begins in May.</p>
<p>We will hold an election for every constituency even if a given constituency has fewer candidates than there are seats allocated for them on the Governing Board. This is, effectively, as a vote of confidence.</p>
<p>If you believe you are eligible to participate but have not heard from us or <a href="https://www.opavote.com/">OpaVote</a> – the election system we have chosen for this year’s elections – by May 10th, <a href="mailto:elections@foundation.matrix.org">please email us promptly</a>. We build our voter rolls on May 17th and can't change them after that!</p>
<p>All of the candidates will be listed on an elections page here on our website which we’ll publish on April 29th.</p>
<h2 id="how-to-prepare-yourself"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-to-prepare-yourself" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-to-prepare-yourself">🔗</a>How to prepare yourself</h2>
<p>If you want to be a candidate in the election, there are a few things you should know:</p>
<ul>
<li>All candidates will be listed on our website, grouped by the constituency group.</li>
<li>We do not require people to use their “legal name.”</li>
<li>Candidates who are nominated by an organizational member will have their affiliation listed.</li>
<li>We expect candidates to provide a short bio and a short statement, collectively covering qualifications and priorities.</li>
<li>You are encouraged to make yourself available for conversation with members of your constituency group.</li>
<li>The period for campaigning runs from April 27th to May 17th. Please note our <a href="https://matrix.org/legal/code-of-conduct/">community Code of Conduct</a> while campaigning.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="what-to-expect-if-you-win"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-to-expect-if-you-win" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-to-expect-if-you-win">🔗</a>What to expect if you win</h2>
<p>Congratulations! All of the winners will be announced on June 3rd, but since the elections conclude on May 31st, you may get an email with the results of the election you participated in before June 3rd.</p>
<p>All elected representatives will be added to a private mailing list and Matrix room so that they can introduce themselves and communicate in between meetings. I will be reaching out to every elected representative to meet one-on-one, get acquainted, and answer questions before we convene for our first Governing Board meeting. Given the size of the board and the international nature of our ecosystem, those one-on-one meetings will likely happen over the course of a couple months.</p>
<p>The Governing Board will meet as a full board twice a year, for at least 90 minutes each time, and our first 1-2 meetings will have a professional facilitator to help us collectively put our best foot forward. Expect one meeting before the end of the year, and another before the next election.</p>
<p>You are likely to receive a packet of materials before each meeting which you will be expected to have reviewed. Most meetings will be held online, though we may convene meetings in-person, such as at the (soon to be announced) annual Matrix Conference. We will make every effort to make in-person meetings accessible to remote participants, and no official business will ever happen without appropriate notice, quorum, and minutes.</p>
<p>While the Governing Board is an advisory board, members are encouraged to play a role in helping to carry out the activities that support the staff in delivering on the Foundation’s collective remit, such as coalescing priorities to share with the Spec Core Team and connecting with contributors and funders to implement proposals.</p>
<p>We intend to charter committees – such as for finance, which would review our annual budget in detail – who will meet in between Governing Board meetings and present their assessments and recommendations to the Governing Board. These committees are where the bulk of the activity will take place since the board, which may have up to 24 members, is quite large.</p>
<h2 id="how-to-nominate"><a class="zola-anchor" href="#how-to-nominate" aria-label="Anchor link for: how-to-nominate">🔗</a>How to nominate</h2>
<p>Please <a href="https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/Fjksk0AMwLWnp4T6t+tTsmNoWSMsJJg8jLXdPzIGkpc/">use this Cryptpad form to nominate for the Governing Board elections</a>. If you are unable to use the form, please refer to <a href="https://matrix.org/media/2024-nomination-form.pdf">this nomination document</a> and email your responses to <a href="mailto:elections@foundation.matrix.org">elections@foundation.matrix.org</a>.</p>
<p>All nominations are subject to review in accordance with our bylaws. We will email you to confirm receipt within 2 business days, and we will publish our elections landing page with all of the nominees, and other details, by April 27th.</p>
<p>Thank you for your ongoing support, and good luck to all the candidates in the upcoming elections!</p>
<p>Ad astra per aspera 🚀</p>