Membership

The GNOME Foundation is a membership-based nonprofit corporation. Members play a critical role in the governance of the organization, voting in elections, and acting as active stakeholders in the organization.

Our membership rules have legal basis in California law and are additionally codified in section 6 of the GNOME Foundation bylaws. Memberships are managed by the Membership Elections Committee, and the list of current members can be found on the main membership page.

Membership rights and benefits

GNOME Foundation members have a number of rights within the organization, including:

• voting in the annual Board of Directors elections,

• running for the Board of Directors,

• accessing certain information about the Foundation, such as financial information (as provided in the Annual Reports),

• being invited to Annual General Meetings.

The GNOME Foundation also provides additional benefits for members, which are described on the benefits page.

Becoming a member

Individuals who have made non-trivial contributions to the GNOME project are eligible to become members. Contributions may include code, documentation, translations, maintenance of project-wide resources, or other non-trivial activities which benefit the GNOME Project. Large amounts of advocacy or issue reporting also qualify. These qualifications are set out in section 6.1 of the bylaws.

To become a member, open a membership application and provide:

• Details about recent contributions which qualify as grounds for membership.

• A short list of existing maintainers or contributors who can vouch for your contributions.

Renewals

Membership terms are two years in duration, and must be renewed after this time. Members are notified when their membership needs to be renewed. The renewal process is identical to applying to be a new member.

Those whose membership is due for renewal and no longer meet the membership criteria may apply for emeritus membership.