What are user guides, which user guides do we have in oikos?
User guides offer guidance for your work at oikos international. They give you explanations and instructions on particular topics that are important when working for oikos International.
They are designed by the team for the team and should be the first place for you to go if you want to learn more about a particular internal process. You will find contact details in every user guide, so don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Leave comments when reading the user guides. Your questions & remarks will help us to improve them for you :)
Building up on the constitution, the organizational guideline is a more comprehensive roadmap of all organisation-related topics. The guideline serves to create an overview for everyone who wants to learn more about oikos. Like a red thread, the guideline offers orientation about how things link together in oikos. It has the format of a wike, which you can find here.
At the same time, it fosters accountability & transparency on multiple levels:
For the team to navigate to more details on certain processes & ways of working; the guideline is also very important for onboarding processes
For the community to understand how we are working as an international organization & network; as well as an inspiration for chapter governance
For externals to understand how we are working as an international organization & network It contains summaries and overviews, linking to related documents that offer more detail.
What’s the structure of the guideline?
The document follows the topics addressed in the constitution chapters, complemented by a glossary & FAQ. The aim is to weave a thread, a guideline through all that is going on in oikos, showing how all is connected and where to find more detailed information.
What belongs into the guideline - What doesn’t
DO
DOESN'T
WHO is responsible for the guideline & how is it updated?
The guideline is updated in an annual revision process stewarded by a board member owning the role. Each circle will be contacted with an invitation to update their respective part. You won't have to navigate the backend of the wiki yourself, no worries :)
The oI team shares their consent for the changes to be accepted. Broad communication of the update to the oikos community is very important. In case changes are required beyond the annual update, the change can be requested.
Current Role Owner: Anna
WHAT? as a guiding question:
Things that change very often, eg. on a monthly level
Things that help understand the bigger picture around oikos
The same things that are stated in the constitution
More detailed/accessible than constitution, less detailed than the field guides
Details about daily processes & descriptions of these Eg. single program outlines (HOW?)
Orientation & Overview - what is happening at oikos?, how are we working?
Outcomes of processes, dates, current roles etc.
Things that don’t change every 6 months (more stable, process overview) Eg. purpose of programs & categories, link to program overviews etc.
Understanding & using our oI Governance
Governance - that sounds pretty abstract and difficult - but we at oikos believe that it is about the structures that can give us orientation and help us navigate our organization in this ever-changing world. In order to make this possible, we have 3 layers of governance with different degrees of detail and change-ability:
The constitution outlines the necessary shapes needed for oikos as a Swiss legal entity and doesn’t give a detailed insight into how oikos is currently working. Building up on the constitution, the organizational guideline is a more comprehensive roadmap of all organisation-related topics.
The guideline serves to create an overview for everyone who wants to learn more about oikos. It contains summaries and overviews, linking to related documents, our field guides, that offer more detail:
The 3rd layer of our governance, consisting of field guides, is meant to give the most detailed documented insights into how oikos International is working at the moment. They create clarity about the status quo, and the nature of processes. They are living documents, adapting to contexts and other developments. Field guides describe specific processes and topics in detail and provide more guidance.
Keep in mind, all of these layers are only descriptions, only maps of the territory. As we move and live in the territory, it will be continuously changing. Therefore, the map should stay changeable as well and we should keep updating it. You can find more details on the different layers on the next pages.
You want to let people know how to use or apply something?
Create a User Guide for the team!
FAQ:
Who is responsible for Governance topics?
Every team member contributes to the governance in some way, mainly to the guideline & field guides (see next pages).
In general, the presidents and VPs in charge of Org. Development and Legal Matters should have an eye on the governance and make sure that people use/get used to the processes and structures and that they are perceived as helpful. If not, they are in charge of introducing a revision process.
Why do we define governance like this?
Governance is a broad term, defined differently by most organizations. For us, we decided to define governance as the tangible structures displaying how oikos is working, like a map to the territory.
Working with Roles
At oikos, there are rarely jobs that match one job description. There are no ‘boxes’ on organization charts. Instead, everyone has a unique combination of roles that they agreed on & are committed to
WHAT are roles?
Each role bundles a number of responsibilities & activities that belong together. A particular set of roles is clustered together into a (sub-)circle, or in other words: (sub-)circles contain multiple roles (see user guide for team structure). One person usually has multiple roles in different circles & sub-circles. A role can be owned by one or multiple circle members, rendering it an individual, shared or split responsibility. Roles are created, exchanged and discontinued in response to current needs and they emerge & cease in conversation with the relevant circle they belong to.
All roles of the oikos International team are summarized in the role base on airtable. Each circle has one sheet in the base, introducing categories & questions that support the reflective process around relationships, objectives and processes related to a role. It helps to bring clarity to oneself and the team and can serve as a first orientation in handover processes.
WHY roles?
Clarity: for oneself and in collaboration with teams, first orientation in handover processes
Accountability: Knowing who is responsible for what
Adaptability: to changing requirements & contexts. Job titles and descriptions rarely do justice to unique combinations of roles, and they are also too static to account for the fluid nature of our work. Furthermore, roles can easily be passed on to another person if defined clearly which increases the adaptability of our team as a whole. With a lot of fluctuation in the team, this is particularly useful.
Whole person work: We see our team members as the humans they are and do not want to equal them with what they do at oikos. Therefore, we use this concept of roles rather than positions or job titles. When we believe our job is who we really are, we start thinking and behaving accordingly. Without job titles and descriptions, we are more likely to see ourselves and others as human beings who simply put their energy into specific work for a period of time and we stay more open to different perspectives. Without focusing just on job titles, it becomes much harder for people to merge their identity with the position they hold. Also: people tend to choose (and be appointed to) roles that have a much better fit with their interests and talents. When people can’t turn to a job description to tell them what to do, they have to find their own unique way to fill a role with life and meaning. This also means we can better Identify potential gaps & opportunities to increase fit of roles with interest & talent.
HOW to shape & shift roles?
Roles on the airtable database reflect the reality of your roles within the sub-circle as close as possible. After the initial creation of a role, there will be constant refining & adapting to clarify, change & maybe even discard roles. This means that roles are an ongoing process of refinement, peer consultation and agreement and NOT a final, never-changing position. Despite the agile nature of roles, having a status quo is increasing clarity and accountability. When someone senses the need to create, modify or scrap a role, they step forward, ask for advice (see decision making user guide) by consulting affected people, and make a decision. A team meeting is a great place to have this conversation. If the role extends beyond the team, the initiator can call a meeting, have several one-on-one conversations, or share the suggestion on a broader platform.
An individual or a circle realizes that not all responsibilities are covered by the existing roles & brings the topic to one of the circle meetings. Roles thereby can be as granular or wide as need be. After a reflection on potential names, responsibilities and relationships of the role, it is added to the respective sheet in the role base (see user guide for airtable). You can already add a proposal to the sheet before, highlighting its status as 'visionary'.
This process is usually led by the one(s) who feel responsible for the role/for finding a matching person to take on the role. All people who are directly related to the role have the opportunity to give advice (eg. in 1 on 1 conversations). Once integrated & met with consent by the circle or broader team, the role owner takes over the responsibility & starts filling the role with life.
If a new person will join the team as a result of the newly created role, please ensure to include the people responsible for recruiting & onboarding in the process to ensure transparency and smooth processes (see user guide for recruiting).
Suggestion: Use verbs as titles for your roles. It reinforces the effect of detaching roles from the person and focuses more on the actual responsibilities/activities connected to it.
Roles need to be maintained in order to stay relevant and informative, they need reality-checks so to say. This is a reflective process of looking at your role(s) and asking questions like:
Does the description in the role base still summarize what I am doing in this role?
Is this role still relevant?
If yes, what could improve the clarity around the role, now that I gained experience? Did I meet my goals? Do I need new objectives?
If not, do we have to discard the role? Is another, complementary role needed?
After reflecting and proposing adjustments, invite your direct circle mates to give advice and remove critical objections before you move ahead with the adaptations. This reflective process should take place every 6 months, our recommendation is to put a date into your calendar and maybe do it together with your teammates (FUN!).
In case we identified that a role is no longer needed, there are a number of questions to address:
How to document the learning of the role and store it for future reference? (field guides?)
What other roles are more helpful/needed?
Is the role fundamental for the sustainability of the organization? (if YES, you cannot discard the role, but might have to put some effort into reshaping it)
After this reflection by the role owner is done and presented, the respective circle needs to consent to finally remove the role and potentially take follow up steps. All this should be documented. Change the status of the role in the role base from active to inactive.
Roles make handover processes great again. Seriously!
When it’s time to hand over a role to another person, make sure to think about the following aspects:
Is the role and the entry in the role base up to date? Before handing over, a maintenance process is needed. Feel free to add open questions the new role owner might want to address herself. What do you think is the future of the role?
Have you forwarded all relevant contacts, relationships, documents, emails etc. and explained them to the new person?
Is there any other contextual information to pass on? After talking through the role canvas and sharing about the general rhythm of the work, what else might be helpful for the other person to know?
How can you be reached in the future, in case there are relevant open questions?
FAQ
Roles vs. positions, what’s the difference?
Positions are job titles, are identities many people strip over like a onesie. People tend to identify with their positions, merging with them before realizing how much of themselves they leave behind in the workplace. Roles, in comparison, can be more seen as funky accessories we consciously put on in the workplace as we take on a certain number of commitments. They highlight our identity and help us grow and shine.
How are entries in the role base different to job descriptions?
In comparison to job descriptions, entries in the role base are just a tool to support the reflection and working process of a role owner. In effect, the sum of all your roles equal a "real-time contract", negotiated with the colleagues you work with most closely. Roles are refined and agreed upon directly, and say a lot about the important relationships in this role. The role base supports the relational processes.
Do all roles have the same scope?
Roles differ depending on context. Some roles have a rather narrow scope, while other roles take a broader perspective. There are different degrees of granularity. The fluid arrangement of roles (instead of defined job descriptions) also allows for a better matching of talent with roles.
What about managers, who takes the management tasks within roles?
The traditional tasks of a manager - direction-setting, budgeting, analyzing, planning, organizing, measuring, controlling, recruiting, evaluating, and communicating - are distributed amongst various members of a team. People are not accountable to one manager but to their peers, every one of whom is a boss in some respect. Anybody can put on the hat of “the boss” to make important decisions, launch new initiatives, hold underperforming colleagues to account, help resolve conflicts, or take over leadership if results are bad and action is needed.
How do I know where I fit?
Of course, the whole process around roles makes it much harder to know where you fit. The absence of grades and job titles makes career development and salary progression much less certain. Following the LEAP spirit, we have to work on getting comfortable facilitating our own progression in a self-responsible way. This is not something negative - it gives you ownership of your professional development within the organization. Jobs are defined by people rather than the organization. They emerge from a multitude of roles and responsibilities that reflect the interests, talents, and the needs of the organization. By focusing on what needs to happen rather than jobs, we strive to be more adaptable and responsive.
How do I know who is responsible for what?
Outsiders, and sometimes even insiders, can find the absence of job descriptions and job titles confusing because it is less clear who is responsible for what. At oikos, we encourage people to record the roles they are currently filling [AND WE ARE STILL FINDING OUT WHERE ;)). This adds clarity and helps others understand their expertise. However, oftentimes it is also the case that certain people take over a couple of complementary roles which makes it easier to understand responsibilities on an organization-wide level.
Can I still have a job title?
If need felt, people still can choose to have an additional job title they use for external communication. It is common practice to use one’s circle name as a title. For example – introducing oneself as “Carla from Transforming Education” or signing an email: Carla, Transforming Education, oikos. At the same time, in situations when it is more practical to use a conventional title, each person hasthe freedom to do so. For example, it might be practical for a member of the sales & marketing team to identify as oikos’ marketing manager when addressing marketing services vendors. There is either enough peer pressure or good conscience to avoid fancier ego-driven titles!
What is my scope of responsibility?
While people have clear roles and responsibilities, their concerns don’t need not be limited to these. They can take the well-being of the whole organization to heart. Using the advice process, anyone can take action if they sense an issue. As there are no bosses, there is no one to say, “That is none of your business.” In contrast, everyone is obliged to do something when they sense an issue, even if it’s outside the scope of their roles. That usually means talking about the problem or opportunity with a colleague whose role does relate to the topic. It’s difficult to say: “Somebody should do something about this problem”, and leave it at that, but it is a first step in the right direction.
How are roles allocated?
When a new role is created, in many cases there is an obvious candidate that emerges naturally. It might be the person who sensed the need for the new role, or another team member that everyone sees as the natural person to fill the role. Often, very little discussion is needed. A simple question in a team meeting ("Who feels like taking on this role?" or "I feel Catherine would be the natural person to take on this role, what do you think?") is all that is needed, certainly considering the capacities of individual team members.
How can roles be shifted between team members?
Because roles are granular, it is easy to trade roles within a team. A person who is overly busy can ask someone to pick up one of his or her roles, either temporarily or permanently. Someone who wants to acquire a new skill can ask a colleague to trade a role.
Why do we need roles? Can't we work without formalizing any roles?
By the very nature of the division of labor in organizations, people end up taking up certain roles. We often feel a need for clarity around these roles, for example "I need help with X: who can I talk to?", "I have an idea to change something in this domain: who would be the natural person to make that happen?", "We agreed to do something that didn't get done: who was the person that committed to this?". There is value, therefore, in creating clarity on roles and commitments. Some people can be allergic to any formality or clarity, as it reminds them of traditional, static hierarchies, job titles and job definitions. Remember, roles can be fluidly created, modified, exchanged and scrapped, using peer-based rather than top-down processes. They are a means of facilitating reflective & conversational processes.
Further information: Learn more about roles here. https://reinventingorganizationswiki.com/theory/job-titles-and-job-descriptions/
Or contact Elena & Sophie :)
Roles are like accessoires we can pick out of our closet for certain occassions. Which roles are you wearing?
Internal Communication
Internal communication is the way we communicate with each other as a team and between individuals. It includes the values that are the base of our communication and encompasses also very practical elements like communication channels & formats.
Imagine the following situation...
You sit in a meeting, the fourth one today already. There are 10 people in the call, 5 of them (including you) are not actively listening as the topic of the call doesn't concern them enough to pay attention, so they multi-task to work on other responsibilities. You decide to use the time to work on this important project that kind of fell short over the past weeks. "Where did I store the document again?", you start thinking. After ten minutes of desperately clicking yourself through several Shared Drives and G-Chat threads, you give up and simply create a new one in a folder that is kind of fitting the topic. After the meeting, you start working on the document and remember that you need an important information from your co-worker. "Where can I reach her again? Discord, E-Mail, G-Chat? Or should I simply tag her in the document?" Not knowing what is the best way, you decide to use multiple channels to increase the chances to receive the information soon...
The way that the team members communicate with each other determines how well the information can flow. Do people know where to find what information and how each channel is used? Do they receive the information timely and clearly? Do the channels used serve their intended purpose?
TRANSITION & MORE CONTEXT HERE
Our communication principles
OPEN-MINDEDNESS
Being open to voice and actively listen to our diversity of perspectives and opinions, while having a space for learnings and improvements
CONNECTEDNESS & TRUST
Having a safe and brave space where all the parties are caring and darning to share anything that is relevant for them, while growing beautiful relationships.
TRANSPARENCY & CLARITY
Information shared while communicating should be easy accessible, clear and concise.
HONESTY & DIRECTNESS
Being honest with the other person(s), holding an open space and mind for honest & direct feedback, flagging, voicing tensions, needs, commitments, expectations, ground rules etc.
OWNERSHIP & PROACTIVENESS
Showing up present and proactively contributing to the conversation. Speaking up - while respecting agreed flow, needs, commitments, frequency etc.
The way you will be using the constitution will be mainly for information & reference. In this guide you find out more about the structure & updates.
Structure
The document is structured in 14 articles with several paragraphs, each focusing on critical bodies and core activities within the international organization. There is an appendix looking deeper into the nature of chapters. Find the constitution here
Updates
Changes can only be initiated through the legislative assembly, and are recommended only if there is a relevant reason to do so. The process is facilitated by the board member with the role legal matters & a co-president.
FAQ
Help
Reach out to Caro to learn more!
How to Field Guides
Create a guide for the work of your circle!
Considering that oikos is rather complex, we give our best to create clarity as we ride on the wave of change. Field guides aim to provide this clarity by giving further insight into the work of every circle. They are referred to in the organizational guideline and used by every circle to coordinate & organize their work.
How to set up a field guide
Field guides can have different elements and structures. They are living documents, which means updates can happen in the same document. Here’s a template for a field guide with potential elements that can help you in creating yours. A rule of thumb is: every circle (& if feasible, every sub-circle) should have a field guide & there is no right or wrong way. It is meant to support you in your processes.
Field guides can in general be set up by any oikos International Team member. The ownership lays by a person(s) who takes over the responsibility in the circle. As this is a tool for better working together, make sure to not only create a field guide and say “hey look, here it is”. Always (!!) involve the people affected and consider storytelling, PP presentations or video tutorials when introducing a proposal or implementing changes to make sure people get how you plan to use it.
HOW to update a field guide?
Field guide changes can be expected regularly. The rule of thumb for the revision process, therefore, is: as often as needed, with at least one annual revision by the roles that are most related to the guide. Once updated, the relevant circle is asked for their consent on the update.
WHERE to store field guides?
Store the field guide document in your local folder, close to where the work happens and where you can find it. As a second step, make sure to link the document in the field guide folder, so that we keep an overview of all the guides and make sure they all get updated in time.
HELP & SUPPORT
Contact Sophie or Elena via Discord :)
Navigating our Team Structure
Exploring the structure that shapes our daily work
In our organization chart, you see differently sized & coloured circles that can serve us as a map as to how the oikos International Team works and relates.
What are circles?
Whereas roles are formed out of a set of tasks that go together, circles encompass sets of roles that belong to each other. By owning a role in a circle, a person becomes a member of the circle. In this sense, a circle is kind of like a team.
Sometimes, circles can be part of a wider circle as they hold important information for each other and gain value from communicating frequently. Sub-circles frequently meet in their wider circle, based on jointly agreed rhythms & purposes. People can own roles within several (seemingly unrelated) circles.
What do the different colours mean?
We use several colours in our diagram to indicate different kinds of roles within these circles:
Board membership can be seen as an elected role. Being a student-driven and student-led organization, the oikos board holds an important role in stewarding and role-modeling the values and ambitions of oikos. The main role of the elected board is to listen attentively - to what is going on in the community, in the world around us and in the team itself, and from there, to act and respond in their granular roles and functions in other circles. The board is elected every year and hosts 7 student volunteers and two co-presidents (elected & paid employees). Read more about the board, how it is elected and who might be a board member in the board field guide.
Seeing board membership as a role rather than a position enables the board to live up to the role of stewarding the organization, besides other more hands-on roles in blue circles.
Roles:
board membership
... (see airtable!)
Fundraising is a core responsibility for all of us and we see that we need to work together across circles. Therefore, all sub-circles from initiative & admin send at least 1 representative to the fundraising meetups.
Roles:
Fundraising Action
Finance/Admin Overview
Fundraising support
Meeting participation & facillitation
All of our sub-circles host a particular set of partnerships, and therefore the role of partnership is what brings us together into a teal circle from time to time. It is a core-responsibility to tend partnerships.
Roles:
Partnership hosts
Partner support (see airtable)
We are all part of one team. Ensuring that we grow together, and tend our wellbeing or listening into strategic directions is a core-responsibility of all of us and it is too often that we forget about it. Each and every team member holds a role in the teaming circle, from participant to host.
Roles:
Team participation
Team hosting
collective strategizing
This simple orga chart is pulled out of context in order to simplify & clarify our work as a team. Don't forget, there's a whole community & world around us :)
How & when do we change the team structure?
The team structure as displayed in the diagram above is a map that should help us & others to understand how we work together as a team, and what we are working on. It is important to keep it as close to reality as possible - and therefore update it when we sense a need for it.
Updates can take place whenever needed, and can be proposed by any team member. In general, one can say that as a member of a circle, you have full right to propose changes & updates. Make sure to address any doubts, ideas, questions with your closest team colleagues (or the people responsible for OD topics) and bring your proposal to the whole oI team. Besides this, we will have a look at the structure at least once a year all together. Changes need the consent from the oI team ( see decision making user guide)
How does the team structure influence my everyday work?
At first glance, direct influences might not be visible. At the same time, as mentioned above: The chart can help us to reality check & realign processes to our values as it fosters a sense of collective awareness. Does our current way of working, communicating, deciding, meeting still make sense? What are our needs and how effective does the current way meet them? The org chart is a concept to display an overall structure. It provides a basis for reviewing details like meeting procedures, roles, decision making etc. Have another look at the iceberg of system change. After values & structure follow processes & events :)
What's the theory behind?
Welcome to the realm of self-organizing! There is a lot to learn, and surely one concrete place to start with is Frederic Laloux’ work (book short ,book long, videos, podcast). We loved it because…
It made me appreciate the reasons behind why we do things the way we do. It helped me understand how things that simply feel "right" when we do them (like checking in before starting a meeting) fit into a broader theoretical framework.
It derived the conceptual map through observations from real-life examples
It's simple, clear and sounds so familiar for me in my work at oikos
In general: oikos is a great place to learn about this & we would like to make some space to learn together. Therefore, we will host a monthly SOL : a self-organizing learning session and share our resources with you.
FAQ
Who is a part of the oikos International Team?
All employees and official volunteers (incl. board members). We are all part of one team - and that doesn’t mean that we all have to meet all the time. The circles can provide guidance when it comes to who should be invited to a meeting, and who isn’t relevant in a given context. Just like a model abstracts reality, our organizational structure reduces the complexity and beauty of how we collaborate into a two-dimensional drawing of colored circles. We have to appreciate these limitations!
How will everyone fit into the structure?
The team structure as displayed in the diagram above is a conceptual display that should help us & others to understand how we work together as a team, and what we are working on. It is important to keep it as close to reality as possible. At the same time: this structure is only a map & cannot display exactly how we are working in reality. Together with roles, field guides and other ways of communicating & documenting within the sub-circles, we can showcase an approximation of what's actually happening.
With the new structure, we are actually just trying to represent how we work in reality, and how it changed as we move closer to our values. Doing so helps us at the same time reevaluating whether our structures & processes still make sense. It can provide guidance in making process updates & let go of old ballast.
Working with roles & circles, and in particular the purple -whole team circle’ helps us to generate a team identity that goes beyond positions and is more informed by our strength & a sense of belonging to the same family, even if we do different things & are not all involved in taking all decisions.
And remember: If you don't feel like you belong in our structure, then maybe it is not yet finished! We invite you to propose changes that make you feel represented!
HELP & SUPPORT
For any questions, you can reach us via discord or email. Anna & Sophie
How To User Guides
Want to let your team know how to use or apply something? Create a User Guide!
What is a user guide & who is responsible?
User guides are guides for people working with something, people who apply or use a certain thing. They have the form of an entry in this wiki, and are created by the respective circle. If you have a topic that needs explanation to your team members because they should act upon it autonomously, you might want to think of creating a user guide.
User guides vs. Field guides
While field guides are for internal use within a circle, so to say about your backend processes & structures, how & why you organize,
user guides are for the international team to support them in their work, given the case they have some commitments that are related to your circle in a means of using them.
Field guides are created in g-docs, based on a template & maintained from the circle itself. They are not directly centralized & accessible for the team.
User guides are maintained in this user guide wiki, the process is outlined in here )
HOW to set up a user guide?
Have look around & get inspired by how others set up a user guide
Create a draft on a g-doc & get some advice from your teammates
Hand in the user guide to the user guide coordinator (see below)
The user guide wiki will be updated for you :)
HOW to maintain a user guide?
You can hand in updates whenever necessary. The coordinator will reach out once a year for you to review your entry & propose updates if necessary.
Helpful elements for your user guide:
Explanations are key in user guides, they can take different forms to elaborate on the ‘why’ behind choices & things. Sometimes, bullet points are enough, other times, a written text can be more helpful.
Processes: Describe or visualize a process if it makes sense in your case.
Important documents & drive folders
FAQ & Glossaries: Some points might need more detail & questions might pop up over time. Adding a glossary or a FAQ from the beginning is helpful to keep the document living.
Stories & Visual elements, eg. videos, pictures, flow charts, presentations, .. Get creative with how you present your content. Make it accessible for the users and take them on a journey through the different steps you mention. This way, you’re also practicing your narrative skills :)
Further considerations when writing:
Use light language so that people can relate and pick it up
A user guide should be self-explanatory and always up to date
Use visualisations to explain what you are talking about
As short as possible, as detailed as necessary
Use the different headings to help people navigate the document
FAQ
Can externals access user guides?
User guides in general have been created for an internal audience: the oikos team! That doesn't mean we can never share any user guide with the outside world if it is relevant. In general, it is worth to consider if externals will be able to connect to the information shared, if there is enough context given. A handy solution is to use the base of our team user guide (by using the gdoc version or download the pdf version here in the wiki) and add whatever is needed for the external audience.
Help & Support:
Contact Sophie :)
How we meet
Learn more about where do we meet as a team, what is the frequency of the meetings, what are the potential formats and how do we want to meet - meeting structure & culture.
Where & when we meet?
As a full remote team, our main meeting space is online, but it is the warmest on the Zoom platform, like we are sitting around the bonfire, definitely the coolest, like you are having your own music studio room, and/or the most chill, like having a casual walk in the spring forest
- our oikos virtual office (VO). Following the link below you will find yourself in our main meeting place online, used by both oI team and the oikos community.
Our virtual office has many perks! If you are using Zoom for the first time check out this short that will lead you through you first learnings about this amazing tool. (Cheers for the IT Team for putting it together ).
Everyone is encouraged to drop-in during their working hours, even if they don't have a meeting at the moment. You can hang out in the main room to chat with fellow team members, or join one of our breakout rooms for some co-working (breakout room 'music in the air' is usually the place ).
In this beautiful space we meet as a whole team on a weekly basis, to reconnect with each other, touch points on important updates & requests, share advice on specific topic, and empower & inspire each other.
Meeting transparency & open participation
Upcoming meetings that refer to the whole oI team should be listed in the . This allows all team members to share concerns or ideas for attendance.
All oikos meetings should be held in English.
Sub-circles within our organizational structure are meeting separately, and the frequency and the actors involved depend on the needs of the initiative/project and the sub-circle itself.
Meeting structure
Stressing the importance of personal relationships for our work - a new set of formats that put that into the focus. Every week on Fridays, the International team will gather for a moment around the bonfire. We prepared a set of alternating formats which should be adaptive to our needs & are there for us to play with. It remains the principle that we alternate the facilitation & team members can step up to take a lead as we move :)
Up & beyond, there are weekly opportunities to connect to the wider community in the oikos AGORA: Every Tuesday, we have accessible formats for everyone - and it would be great if all could show up here at least once a month.
Staying Connected - weekly team time
Staying Up to Date - self-organizing our information flow
Special meeting formats:
Focus Calls -
Monthly Meetings -
TEAM (strategy) Days -
TO BE CONTINUED AFTER THE WORKSHOP :)
Meeting culture
Setting up meetings and inviting people:
How we communicate
In contrast to other organizations, we work fully-remote, our team is spread over differnt countries and time zones, we have different working hours and simply no common office space (apart from the VO) where we can quickly chat if something comes up.
Therefore, especially written communication is often the go-to way to exchange information. Connecting back to our communication principles, CLARITY & DIRECTNESS are crucial to prevent misunderstandings and confusion via chat.
Before sending any message, it is recommended to always ask yourself "How can this message be read & understood by the recipient?". Double-checking might take you 1 min more, but can prevent a misunderstanding that takes way longer to solve!
Open door policy
No matter how long you have been part of our team, you can always hit up any team member via chat! As we want to foster a safe space where everyone is welcome, this rule is key to have as little barriers as possible. However, you might want to consider individual preferences of team members when it comes to their preferred communication channel (see oikos homebase for more information).
Our main communication channels
To exchange with each other, our community, and external parties, we have two main communication channels that will be introduced in the following subpages:
How we work & collaborate
At oikos, we use certain tools and structures to work and collaborate effectively with each other. This part of the user guides explains some particularities on what we have in place.
The starting place to explore our team structure and find the most important links and information for our work is our which is located on a Miro board. It entails practical information in some beautiful visualizations.
Google Workspace
Our main software package for online collaboration is Google Workspace. Google Workspace (formerly known as Google Apps and GSuite) is a collection of productivity and collaboration tools and software offered by Google. We do not use the full package but mainly the following applications: Gmail, Google Calendar, GDrive, Google Docs, Sheets & Slides.
Read more about how we use the different tools to work and collaborate in the subpages below:
blue circles are the space where people find roles they associate with their everyday work. Sub-circles frequently meet in the wider circle, based on jointly agreed rythms & purposes.
teal circles convene around roles that mark core-responsibilities which affect all parts of the organization. Every/most blue circles find themselves represented in the teal circle to ensure information flow & share responsibility. Everyone in oikos International has at least one role in a teal circle. What happens in the teal circles is of high importance for the work in the blue circles, they give direction and enable collective action. Here a short insight into nature & roles of our current set of teal circles:
The purple circle represents the oikos International team as a whole. It hosts all of us and holds us together. It indicates that the whole is different to the sum of its parts, and can be referred to as the layer that keeps us safe & home, even if we might be in a process of changing roles & circles.
touchpoints between circles indicate that there is a vivid relationship & interaction. These might take the form of joint meetings, ongoing exchange, or representation from one circle in the other. All relationships should be clarified over time, and it should be clear that no map can show all relationships that are necessary to make oikos thrive :)
Onsite Meetings - most enjoyable ones
‘How’ as a guiding question
The same things that are stated in the constitution, guideline, or user guides
Granular topics that change rather often & description of processes how they change
Too much detail: make sure that the document still serves the purpose to provide orientation
Outcomes of processes, current roles etc. Eg. single program outlines
Templates (link them, but rather create an additional document)
As we use Google Workspace for our main IT infrastructure, Google mail (Gmail) is our email provider (for oikos International and the whole oikos community).
The beginning of a meeting sets the mood. You may use the following practices:
Check-in rounds: Participants share how they feel in the moment, as they enter. This helps all to listen within, to their bodies and sensations, and to build awareness. Naming an emotion is often all it takes to deal with it. Thus, this practice helps participants let go of distractions while supporting everyone to be present for the current meeting.
A minute of silence: to ground people in the moment.
Reference & Reflection: Meetings may start with at short reading that one person has prepared. After a few moments of silence, participants share the thoughts this has sparked.
Appraisal round: Everyone shares a brief story of someone they had recently thanked. This highlights possibility, gratitude, celebration, and trust.
Setting an agenda & deciding on important roles for the meeting might be very useful.
The 3 roles of collective intelligence
In order to ensure effective meetings, different roles can be distributed between the participants:
Taking notes along the way, the person takes care that all elements discussed can be reviewed afterwards. The style is up to the Keeper herself.
This person follows the agenda & takes care that all dedicated time slots are considered.
The person responsible for the energy level and wellness of the group always has an eye on the participants and, if necessary, interrupts the process for a reflection or an energizer.
The roles should be fixed before the meeting starts and can be distributed flexibly, to the preference of the group.
Keeping on track
Additional practices to keep intention and attention in the meeting:
Purpose Reminder: A volunteer holds a pair of bells. If the holder feels ground rules are not being respected, she/he can make them sing. No one may speak until the sound has died out. During the silence, all can reflect on the question: "Am I in the service to the topic we are discussing?”
'Talking stick': use an artifact to regulate turn-taking, slow down the speed of conversation, and increase the quality of listening.
Internal/External facilitator: A facilitator may be used when there are specific requirements to fulfill.
Ending meetings
Check-out rounds at the end of the meeting are a natural complement to the initial check-in round. They leave everyone with a sense of the impact of the meeting. A moment of silence is another way to reflect and conclude.
How we use Discord
Intro and background knowledge
Discord is a "instant messaging social platform" that was originally developed for online gaming. However, it can easily be used like Slack or Microsoft Teams as an informal messaging platform for bigger groups of people & organizations.
You can use Discord in your web browser, with a desktop app and with the app on your mobile device.
Discord terminology
SERVER: Servers are the spaces on Discord. They are made by specific communities and friend groups, e.g. oikos. The oikos servers we use are invitation-only, meaning you need to have the invitation link to join. Currently, there are three servers run by oikos International:
Server
Who you can find there
Managed by
Everyone working for the oikos International team is required to and join our oikos International team server using the following link:
Beyond, everyone should also join the oikos community server which can be joined via this link:
CHANNELS: Discord servers are organized into text and voice channels, which are usually dedicated to specific topics & purposes. In text channels, users can post messages, upload files, and share images for others to see at any time. For now, we mainly use text channels. In voice channels, users can connect through a voice or video call in real time, and can share their screen with others.
Channels can be public or private, meaning they are either visible for anyone on the server or just for a selected group of people. This allows to use the server also as a space to have private sub-circle discussions without bothering the rest of the team.
CATEGORIES: A category clusters several channels under one roof. Similar to channels, they can be either public or private.
Example: The IT team uses a private category called "IT TEAM" that is only visible to them. They have their own channels dedicated to different purposes in order to work & communicate well with each other.
THREADS: A Discord Thread is simply a branched conversation in a channel that doesn't show up in the main chat. The purpose of a thread is to make sure anyone can discuss a topic in detail without cluttering a server's channel. Read more about threads.
Best practices for using threads
Either create the thread starting from a message that was already sent to a channel OR simply start a thread right away when you know the topic will lead to more discussion in the channel.
Choose a thread title that summarizes the topic well.
Make sure to set the "hide after inactivity" time to your preferred time period (1h, 24h, 3 days, 1 week).
Roles
oikos community server
many oikees from all kinds of different chapters, the oikos International team & alumni & friends of oikos
IT team (Peter)
oikos International team server
oikos International team including volunteers, the house facilitators, some project groups
Overview of our communication & collaboration tools
What is Google Workspace?
Google Workspace (formerly known as Google Apps and GSuite) is a collection of productivity and collaboration tools and software offered by Google. We do not use the full package but mainly the following applications:
Gmail
Google Calendar
Google Drive
Google Docs, Spreadsheets & Slides
How do we use Google Workspace to communicate and collaborate?
For each of the applications, you will find a more detailed explanation of how we use it at oikos International below.
Gmail
This is the place to communicate with our partners, external project members and everyone else. The webapplication of Gmail (mail.google.com) provides some basic mail management tools. It's possible to add your mail address to any local mail client you might prefer. (Thunderbird, Outlook, etc.) Please find the information on how to do that with an online search, as it would be a lot to cover in this user guide.
For requesting a new email, please think of the following aspects:
Is it a personal email account and therefore connected to a name or is it a functional account and connected to a role or a circle/team/squad?
If it is functional, do you know of another mail address which is basically the same but it would be great to have several possibilities for easy contact points? (i.e. contact@, info@ and office@)
If it is functional again, how many people do need access to that mail address at a time? One or more?
If more, would it be great if all the people ever joining the bunch see the history of some discussions/mail conversations or do you just need the arriving mails being distributed to several people without any thoughts about mails in the past?
Google Calendar
Google Drive
Google Drive --> to store and share files with each other as well as with external people who are not members of oikos International.
Our Shared Drives atm
Structuring your Shared Drive, best practices and questions to follow:
Use a numbering system
Try to use less than 10 folders as the basic structure of your Shared Drive. Aiming for 7 makes sense?
Sort ALL files in the folder system and not let them float around somewhere
We have a SHARED drive for a purpose. Avoid storing files in your personal Google Drive if they are relevant for other people in the organization
Take advantage of the option called hyperlinks. When you need the same folder/file on multiple places in your drive, to avoid making copies that could create confusion, use hyperlinking.
Is the document ....
Google Docs, Sheets & Slides
Tagging people: When to tag them and what to look out for
😉
How we take decisions
Basics & Processes to help us navigate through the jungle of decision making
Decisions enable the way our self-organized circles work and evolve over time. In most cases, decisions are complex and there is no easy, standardized process to go about them. Over the past years, we developed some principles, process elements and tools to support the journey towards more empowered & helpful decisions.
Get started: Make sure to get familiar with our principles, the basic process and some ground vocabulary for how we make decisions:
Get granular: Not every decision in the same in oikos. Some you can take on your own, others happen in circles or even with the whole oI team. The more people involved, the more energy you need in the process - like when going up a staircase! We therefore call the different kinds of decisions 'decision making stairs'. Here's your guide to understanding the differences & how to go about them!
Get advanced: We use Loomio as a tool to facilitate our decisions asynchronously. Learn more about how we use the digital tool here:
oikos has no physical presence, a lot of what we do only exists in the virtual space. Google Drive is where we store all of our files - any document, presentation or spreadsheet is stored here and accessible to the team which makes Google Drive one of the centerpieces of our organizational infrastructure.
We use several different Shared Drives which are the places where to find team- or content-specific files.
Google Drive also enables us to share files with each other, work asynchronously on them, and even make them available to externals. If you want to learn more about Google Docs, Sheets & Slides, sharing files and more, you can move to the next sub-page:
Best practices to structure a Shared Drive
To make our remote work as a growing team with a lot of fluctuation easier, here some best practices to ensure a structured file storing system:
Use a numbering system to name your folders. Like that, they will stay in the order you want them to be rather than being in alphabetical order
Try to use a limited number of main folders in your shared drive which represent the main areas of your work (rule of thumb: aim for max. 10 folders as the initial structure, then making sub-folders)
Same holds true for every layer of folders. Try to minimize the number of folders in each folder layer!
Try to have not too many layers of folders in your shared drive. Otherwise, you or others will need to click through a labyrinth of folders to get to the searched-for file (rule of thumb: max. 4 clicks to get to a file)
Try to sort ALL files (docs, sheets, slides) in the folder system and not let them float around somewhere.
We have a SHARED drive for a purpose. Avoid storing files in your personal Google Drive if they are relevant for other team members and the organization.
On short-cuts and how to use them:
Sometimes, a certain file could be stored in more than one place as it belongs to multiple topics and it makes sense to make it accessible through multiple folders.
Instead of having to make a copy of a document, Google Drive offers a very practical solution: short-cuts. A shortcut is a link that references another file or folder. Shortcuts point back to the original file so you always have the latest info. Shortcuts are visible to everyone with access to the folder or drive.
Overview of Google Drive permission levels
In general, any oI team members has access (contributor/content manager) to all the Shared Drives, no matter their roles. Like that, we can live up to our TRANSPARENCY principle. Only certain Shared Drives (will) have restricted access to ensure data security and privacy.
Permission level
Permissions
Viewer
View the shared drive, files, and folders
Commenter
View the drive, files, and folders
Comment on files within a shared drive
Contributor
All of the above, and:
Edit the drive, files, and folders
Approve or reject comments and suggestions made by other users
Create new files or folders in the drive
Upload files and folders to the drive
Add people to files in the drive
Restore files and folders in the drive’s trash can
Content Manager
All of the above, and:
Move files and folders within the drive
Move files and folders to the drive’s trash can
Restore files and folders in the drive’s trash can
Manager
All of the above, and:
Move files and folders to and from the drive to another shared drive
Google Docs, Sheets, Slides → tagging people, when to tag, when to send DM → not be restrictive
Basics for decision making
Principles, core process & vocabulary
I. Principles for wise decisions
For every decision taken within oikos International, these three decision-making principles should always be considered:
Take ownership and responsibility: People who hold the most information, feel the urgency or have to implement the consequences take the decision.
We are all in this together: The decision-maker is responsible for seeking advice. Everyone who is impacted by a decision is always welcome to offer advice.
Be brave and learn: Decision-making is encouraged at all times. Moving ahead and learning from a failed outcome of a decision is more valuable than circling conversations and indecisiveness.
II. Process: How to take a decision based on consent (relevant for all 4 practices)
In general, decisions in oikos follow a 3-step process:
Identifying the need for a decision
Preparing for a decision by forming a proposal & integrating advice & objections
Taking a decision based on consent
This process is slightly adapted or less or more formal, depending on the kind of decision (see stairs). When you are taking a decision in one of the stairs (Me, We, All of Us) you always follow this practice in a certain way.
Focus Calls
The following clear steps help to navigate through the process of taking a decision in a focus call:
Proposal Presentation: In the focus meeting, the proposer shares the context & developed proposal. They outline the advice received upfront & how it has been integrated.
Question round: Anybody can seek information or more understanding. It is not yet time for reactions. The facilitator will interrupt any question that cloaks a reaction.
Reactions & Clarification: The group is invited to share reactions to the proposal. No discussions at this point, just an opinion statement. The proposer can clarify the proposal further, or amend it, based on these reactions.
Objection round: The facilitator asks, ”Do you see any reasons why moving ahead with this proposal would cause harm or move us backwards?” Objections are captured without discussion
Integration: The proposal needs reshaping until there are no objections. If an objection is raised, the facilitator tests the objection for validity. If it is found to be valid, s/he leads a discussion to craft an amendment that would avoid the objection. If several objections are raised, they get addressed one at a time, until all are removed. Agreement is made upon consent. If no solution can be found, the facilitators take the objections forward and seek further advice. Once integrated, the focus group comes together and the process starts again.
III. Vocabulary and common understanding
Here’s a common language to talk about the way we take decisions. It will help us to create a shared understanding. This section introduces some fundamental vocabulary and ideas.
Proposal
Proposals present the ‘what, why & how’ you would like to see as an outcome of a decision. They are the basis for advice and decisions and help to make the process more efficient. A proposal starts with the identification of a problem and research on the matter. The proposer researches the topic and discovers perspectives before proposing action. After elaborating the case, make sure to make a clear proposal (possible solution, if needed). The proposal is clearly outlined and targeted to the involved people on Loomio with enough time for the people to scan the message & leave comments. It is also a way to document the process. It is important to make clear whether you ask for advice (advice process, see below), or consent & questions (group consent process), as this determines the answers you can expect. In certain cases, the advice or decision will be made in a meeting format where the proposal is presented as a baseline for the conversation.
Advice
Advice means the decision maker seeks advice from people who are more experienced, have information, and/or are impacted by the decision. Per definition, advice means someone offers input on a decision element, eg. an action to be taken or not in the future. Advice is not the absolute truth and to be handled with care. The decision maker should always consider the advice but is not bound to it in the final decision after shedding light on it from different perspectives.
Consent = no significant objection
Consent means that a decision can be made without everyone's spoken agreement as long as no one has a reasoned, or substantial objection (e.g., veto). Instead of needing everyone to agree on the perfect solution for the foreseeable future, consent allows us to find a “good enough” solution to move forward, knowing we will learn and adjust as we go. If someone raises an objection, the decision is blocked and the solutions must be revisited. This includes giving more information and/or adjusting the proposal. The term differs from “consensus” which means that the majority of people must agree.
Consensus = agreement > Everybody who is involved has to agree on the decision made.
In general, all decisions in oikos are consent-based.
Critical Objection
Critical objections are a means to interrupt a decision-making process and indicate the need to further reflect on and adjust a proposal before a decision is made. A decision cannot be made if there is a critical objection left. Objection means there is an argument against a proposal that reveals evidence for certain consequences or risks that should be avoided or improvements that should also be considered. This might also be a strong gut feeling or a sense that we are heading in the wrong direction. An objection is relevant and valid if you stand up for it, if it is important enough to block the decision from being made. Other than an objection, a concern is relevant yet not critical in terms of hindering the process from progressing. Concerns often are a middle ground, where you can meet with the objector after a proposal has been further elaborated or adjusted.
1.Identifying the need for a decision
Someone notices a problem/opportunity that requires a decision. S/he might be the right one to move the decision ahead or find other people to facilitate the process. This is about clarifying ownership of who is taking the decision and who is facilitating the process. Only this group needs to be involved in the following steps, besides further parties consulted for advice.
2. Preparing for a decision
..by forming a proposal & integrating advice & objections: The people preparing the decision deepen their understanding of the situation & form an initial, concrete and easy-to-understand proposal for all involved. With this initial clarity, they seek input through advice (e.g. in a meeting) & revise the proposal after hearing critical objections. Proposals should be revised until there is no critical objection left. The decision facilitators can use Loomio in this stage to receive advice, keep everyone informed & document the process.
3.Taking a Decision through consent
The final proposal is presented for a decision in consent, either in a meeting or asynchronous communication (on loomio, for example). oI Team members who don’t participate in the call/communication automatically abstain from the decision. A meeting that is called for taking a particular decision is a focus call.
4 Decision-Making Stairs
The 4-fold practice, re-loaded
Self-organized decision-making in oikos is complex. The 4 Decision-Making Stairs give a simplified overview of the different possible decisions making practices we follow
How to choose a practice?
We encourage individuals to make as many decisions on their own and in their circles as possible (1 &2). These decisions are fast and create momentum. We consider the reversibility and consequence of a decision before moving to another decision-making practice. The more people impacted, the higher we move in the decision-making stairs and the more advice we ask for. The highest possible stair represents decisions where the wider oikos community is involved. What you will experience is that you will use less energy in decision processes if you follow the stairs, both of your own and in the team.
In general, you can always ask for advice and also delegate a decision if you believe the decision falls under the authority of another role or circle.
If you are not sure what kind of decision process you’re about to enter, think about:
the questions that guide the decision
the scope of impact (long-term/short-term; few/many people involved),..
or ask your colleagues for advice which process would suit best :)
There is one exceptional case, legislative assembly decisions (see step 4 ALL OF OIKOS)
On leadership in taking decisions
Decisions require leadership from the decider in moments of drafting a proposal, including others in the process and/or handling objections. The decider must not have all the answers and it’s OK to say “I don’t know”. It is much more about inviting different perspectives and being open for critical objections. In the best case, the decider creates an environment in which all ideas find a space and collaborative decision-making can happen.
It also takes leadership in choosing the right decision-making process for an open question. The decider balances reversibility and consequences, and considers/asks for advice from relevant roles and circles. Choosing between group consent process, advice or community advice process is a trade-off between efficiency and group buy-in. Deciders choose the most suitable method based on the context, people impacted by the consequences of decisions, and urgency.
ME - Decisions you take as an individual & role owner
Which decisions:
Decisions that are reversible and have little consequences
Decisions that are clearly linked to one (or multiple) roles you hold as an individual
Who decides: The one who carries out the decision process, based on consent
Who’s involved: Mainly the decider & anyone who is consulted for advice
There is different kind of decisions you are invited to take as an individual which we can broadly cluster in 2 categories:
What you should ask yourself:
Is it safe enough to try & move on?
Are there any critical consequences that might come out of this process?
Who else might have relevant information for me?
Are there any objections I haven’t acknowledged?
WE - decisions taken by & across circles
Which decisions:
Joint Decisions that are clearly belonging and are relevant to your circle
Shared Decisions that are clearly linked to one (or multiple) circle, where the overlap needs advice from other circles
Who decides: The circle that carries out the decision process, based on consent
Who’s involved: Mainly the people in the deciding circle (incl. facilitator) & anyone who is consulted for advice
There is different kind of decisions you might come across as a circle which we can broadly cluster in 2 categories:
Where decisions are taken:
Meetings are not the only places where decisions might manifest. In general, it is important to harvest decision processes so everyone has the possibility to carefully read through the important information, ask relevant questions and raise objections. One way to do so is using , our decision-making tool. Whereas the tool is mandatory for ALL OF US decisions, circles can freely choose to use it in their processes as well.
What you should ask yourself:
Do we need the whole circle involved?
Is the decision as relevant as moving it into this stage of decision making? Do I need the opinion of all people involved? Why?
Is it a closed, strategic question (Y/N) & who is in charge of a proposal?
Is this a decision that can be made by our circle or do we need to include a wider / different circle in the process?
Decisions that are safe to fail, without a major impact on whole oikos
Decisions that require your individual agency
Move ahead & go for it as an individual! This is what can make our work more efficient
Make sure to communicate your decisions properly in any case!
Decisions that are directly & mainly linked to a certain role, without a wider impact on your circle
Decisions in this field might be delegated to you from other people
Of course you can/should ask for advice, but you are the owner & executor of the decision
Examples
buying a Metro ticket during a strategy meeting or
deciding on the color of the flower we buy for the spring-meeting host
Deciding on the weekdays you want to work
Role in marketing/social media: deciding on the color of a poster or the social media planning for the following weeks
Writing a follow-up email with a partner you’re responsible for. You’re the expert & as the matter does not have critical consequences on the long term, you can decide on your own
Inner-Circle Decisions
Cross-circle decisions
Type & advice
Decisions within the circle, following the principles of consent & objection to move ahead
If you feel that a decision is strategic and has much impact on your circle as a whole
The process should be owned/ facilitated by one of the circle members
Advice is critical: who else has relevant information?
Decisions that cross the responsibility of one circle in a way that requires collaboration between circles
Follow the principles of advice & consent to move ahead
The process should be owned/ facilitated by one of the circles involved, who in the end also decide through consent
You might need meetings &/remote communication to align between the circles. Focus calls are great for this
Any critical objections of the circles involved need to be addressed
Examples
implementing a new communication process for the circle (people are directly involved in the execution)
Creating your strategy for the upcoming months
Collaborating with a new partner for the circle (your circle & partnership support, possibly the board)
Changing the dates of your program (the whole initiative circle & the board to align your agendas)
ALL OF OIKOS- Decisions that require the whole oikos community
Which decisions:
Decisions on..
Topics with an impact on the whole community oikos’ shape & future directions, with long-term impact on the future of the organization
Governance-related topics (need for community involvement acc. to constitution, Legislative Assembly decisions)
Who decides: The whole oikos community, based on consent, carried out by clearly appointed individuals or everyone. Sometimes, the decision requires a legislative meeting & official vote
Who’s involved: A decision facilitator (team) from oikos International & anyone who is consulted for advice. Advice is needed from all parties directly affected & persons with expertise in the field
3. Community Involvement:In a clear post outlining the critical issue & the proposal (eg. via email & oikosmos), the community is asked to give their feedback. It is important to stress the early stage of the involvement, give a deadline for the feedback and relate it to the specific context. At the same time, an invitation to be part of the decision in either a focus call or the legislative meeting is sent out. The post should be sent min. 5 days before a meeting is scheduled.
3. Taking a Decision
a) through consent in a focus call (see process in Basics for decision making) OR
b) Vote- Legislative Meeting Decisions: According to the constitution, some decisions need a vote of the legislative meeting. The legal matters circle regulates the process of these meetings. It is also helpful to adopt several steps from the consent-based process for these matters.
Impact Matrix
Tracking & Tracing our Impact in real time
What’s the Impact Matrix?
Our times call for agility and transparency as we move forward on our mission. The Impact Matrix is a real-time reliability and accountability tool for oikos International. It helps us to plan and track the milestones of our work, while giving insight into the broader impact we have - both, regarding our international activities and the work of our community.
And the great thing: it is yours to take ownership of! Everyone will be involved in bringing it to life. :)
This is a learning process. We are here to prototype and improve the system as we walk. We encourage you to reach out for advice to your oI team colleagues & the Impact Matrix facilitators/coordinators if there are any uncertainties, open questions etc.
How is the matrix structured?
On the horizontal axis, the matrix covers the fields of leading, learning, living and organizing. The vertical axis shows a distinction between the international level, collaborations with and from the community and flagship activities from our chapters. Think about: Who is hosting the initiative?
This structure allows us to track & trace the impact of...
oikos is running several international initiatives with the aim of tending the oikos community and supporting them in their missions. The Impact Matrix gives an overview of all projects and initiatives and their strategic focus. It serves as a continuous impact dashboard for our community work. Both ongoing & 1-time projects use the tools to plan and report back on milestones and achievements, linking back to the stories we wish to share as the project progresses.
Tracking & tracing the impact of our community is a challenging task, considering the organically rising number of chapters and the decentralized, self-organizing nature of the network. We encourage our chapters to get creative in their reporting, share best practices and reflect on their journey in the chapter impact dashboards, a tool that has been developed with similar intentions as the matrix. A selection of chapters' projects will be featured in the Impact Matrix. Next to presenting a bigger part of our impact map as an organization, this will enable other Chapters to directly reach out for potential collaborations and get ideas for chapter projects. Every semester, 3 community initiatives per category will be selected & showcased in the matrix, so that it entails a sense of the work we are doing on the ground, as well.
Our work at oikos goes beyond what we do in our initiatives. Our work wouldn’t be possible without the support of several operational functions that help sustain and strengthen our complex organization over time. In over 30 years, the world and the organization itself changed a lot and we keep adapting to our needs and the continuously shifting contexts. Growing more agile over time with a focus on learning in a trusting, meaningful environment increases our resilience as an organization - a trend that ripples through and inspires our chapters, as well. Even if many of these things, like organizational culture, appear intangible at first sight, we give our best to open windows and showcase our main initiatives that help us to ride on top of the wave of our times. The impact matrix, therefore, also is a tool to present what we do in fields like organizational development, fundraising, communications, IT etc.
The distinction between learning, leading, living and organizing is related to the question of 'How do we want to lead, learn & live together?' and allows us to indicate a focus area of the particular initiatives: Do initiatives mainly address topics around learning & education, leadership, activities in the realm of how we tend our community and/or topics of organizing & internal development? Multiple selection at once is possible.
What’s in the Impact Matrix, what isn’t?
It will need some advice & trial at the beginning to see which entries make sense for us or not. We encourage you to reach out to other team members to guide you in the process.
Who feeds the matrix?
YOU FILL THE MATRIX! :) In general: Every sub-team that is responsible for an initiative, and in particular the person from a sub-team who has been assigned the role of maintaining the impact matrix(see role description here), is responsible to feed the impact matrix.
Considering that the matrix is a rather new tool with a new approach, we installed a shared facilitation to support the maintenance and usefulness, providing coaching on the journey, and generating an overview over all current development.
The Impact team focuses on supporting the international initiatives listed in the learning, leading & living columns. This team also maintains an overview of the whole matrix.
The VP with the role within Organizational Development supports the team regarding initiatives that feed into the organizing column (column 4).
The Chapter/Community team makes sure that the chapter layer of the Impact Matrix is always up to date, filled with the most powerful stories and coordinates the chapter impact competition.
What is the process?
The matrix is a tool to continuously track & trace our work, and therefore needs continuous tending from everyone. Facilitators supervise & remind at the beginning, but the matrix is meant to be a useful tool that is mainly coordinated by the teams, and in self-organization. There will be touchpoints every 3 & 6 months:
Every initiative sub-team/role owner fills in the matrix autonomously via the Update form, using it as a tool for accountability, planning & reflection. This is what we call real-time strategy. (Of course, there will be reminders to refresh the matrix and if you remember yourself you'll get a candy)
Upon handing in the update, the facilitators invite the sub-team for a 45-minute, reflective check-in to support the process and point out gaps in the matrix and how to address them.
After checking-in with all sub-teams, the facilitators meet for a quarterly clean up & storage maintenance.
There will be bi-annual gatherings of the whole oikos International team to look at the matrix together, with the aim of concluding focus points for the next semesters. These sessions will be part of the team days.
How to fill and update the matrix? - A simple process:
Setting a baseline for every entry: To start an entry in the matrix, every team will receive several simple, guiding questions, provided in the baseline form. This is information that shouldn't change frequently over time. (If need be, it can be changed through the Airtable base in the backend. Ask your facilitators :))
Updating entries: Right at the beginning, and from there on every 3 months, the Update formshould be filled for every entry. This is the data on the status quo of the initiative, achieved goals, learnings & next milestones etc. While data from previous updates will be stored in the backend, submitting the form equals a real-time update on the website. There soon will be a historical function that allows users to hoover through a timeline of updates, exploring progress on the website.
Closing entries: Once an initiative is finished, a last update form is being filled. Make sure to tick the last box in the form, indicating that this will be the last update. Closed initiatives change their status from active to passive and can be re-accessed through the database function on Airtable & the website, showcasing the development of our impact over time.
Where to find help?
Contact Darija, Sophie, Mehraj or Yari via Discord :)
What is...
What isn’t...
-Our core international initiatives & projects, both ongoing & one-time
-Ongoing operational work streams & maintenance (eg. fundraising, communication,..)
-Our main initiatives to strengthen the organization, both ongoing & one time (need to cluster; feel of a project with start & end; eg. new CI, oikosmos, new fundraising process)
-Election processes & other foreseeable changes as stated and required through the constitution (eg. board election, audit, etc.)
-Selected, diverse initiatives of our chapters
Taking decisions with Loomio
Meet our decision making tool
Loomio is a remote, agile decision making tool that helps us to take wiser decisions without spending all our meeting times in discussions. It helps to increase transparency and inclusion, decrease meetings and emails, and make better decisions together. We use the tool mainly for All of us decisions (step 3), and the team is free to adapt the tool for their own individual purposes. Let’s explore & play! For more information, check out their 3min video.
Key advantages of Loomio for oikos International
Consistency & central space: We want to establish a clear, standardized decision-making process to move things forward faster. Loomio offers a space for this.
Documentation (& Transparency): Loomio is a tool for documenting decisions and topics for discussion. It will give us more structure and everyone can always come back to it to double-check certain aspects. If a group member can’t attend a meeting, s/he will still be able to look at all the necessary information for a decision.
Speed: No need to wait for the next meeting to introduce a proposal!
Accountability: Everyone has the possibility to look into relevant decisions for them. S/he is accountable to make use of this space provided to voice opinions/objections.
Terms you should know using Loomio
Thread: (Discussion) threads are where you go to discuss topics and make decisions. The thread context has special status within a thread. It’s always at the top, and it’s always visible on the page. It’s typically used to frame the discussion or decision and provide necessary context. To get some inspiration, check out Loomio’s “5 powerful ways to use threads”.
Sense Check (function of Loomio): a function we use in threads for getting advice and first opinions in the decision making process.
Proposal (function of Loomio): a function we use in threads for taking decisions in consent & checking for critical objections. You might create several proposals to reach the final proposal you will agree upon
Process in Loomio
Step 1: Put your decision up in a thread!
Create a new thread & describe the context. Make sure to add tags to specify what kind of decision this is and at what stage the decision is. You have the option to attach links or documents to further clarify the topic & describe the context. Make sure to create threads within the 'oikos International team'. Click start thread to publish! This is not yet your proposal!
Step 2: Create your sense check or proposal
Find the ‘start poll’ function & add an initial sense check or a proposal here. It is important to make clear whether you ask for advice & questions (early stage, we recommend using the sense check) or consent (later stage, actual decision making, proposal function), as this determines the answers you can expect. Check the definition of a proposal here. Learn more here: help center.
Important settings for our use of the poll function in Loomio
Choose between sense check or proposal
Options:create the options “Consent, Abstain, Objection”
Closing Date: Choose wisely so your group has enough time to react (keep in mind: most of us work voluntarily with flexible times)
Who can vote? : Choose the people who are supposed to vote. (all of us decisions = oI team)
Step 3: Take your teammates along, gather advice & revise the proposal
Once the thread is started and you have explained the subject matter, it is time for advice and hearing their perspective! Everyone who is supposed to contribute will be notified by Loomio via email. However, it is suggested to inform them separately in your next meeting and on discord.
Your group members will be able to leave comments & objections, ask questions, show agreement and more, in order to move the proposal forward.
It is your responsibility to rework the proposal on the basis of the advice you receive and also inform your group (via Loomio in the threat) what changes have been done. That means there ight be multiple proposals in one thread to find a final decision.
It might be possible that the advice process on Loomio is enough for you to gather the information you need to rework the proposal. However, you can also have focus meetings with certain advisors or group members to dive deeper into the topic. Sometimes, it can be helpful to have an additional meeting about an upcoming decision, to sharpen a proposal or to take a decision together. (see focus calls).
→ Make sure to summarise the proposal-related discussions in the respective thread in Loomio afterwards.
The proposal function of Loomio doesn’t necessarily have to be used to finish the Advice Process. It’s enough to refine the proposal and come up with the final one based on the advice without a voting process in the end.
Step 4: Share the outcome of the proposal
After the deadline is over, Loomio will ask you to share the outcome of the proposal with the team. Please do this as soon as possible after the proposal is closed & you came to consent.
Step 4: Close the Thread (not always applicable)
If your proposal is part of a thread which is not going to be relevant in the future anymore, you can close it after the final decision is taken. This should be done once the due date for your proposal is over, all objections have been resolved, and you have communicated the final decision.
Closing a thread is not the same as deleting a thread! If you close a thread, it means archiving it. If you delete it, it will be lost. Please only close threads, never delete.
ALL OF US - Decision taken by the whole oI team
Which decisions:
Joint Decisions that are relevant to the whole oI team, that have an impact on the organization as a whole
Decisions with strategic weight, where we need the wisdom of the whole
Who decides: The whole team, based on consent, carried out by clearly appointed individuals or everyone, facilitated through the use of Loomio
Who’s involved: The whole oI team (incl. facilitator) & anyone who is consulted for advice. Advice is needed from all parties directly affected & persons with expertise in the field
How to host Partnerships
Our understanding of pratnerships & how we host them
Partnerships in oikos mean relating, collaborating and acting together for our shared values and mission. They evolve over time, and we accompany them from starting, to tending & ending. In order to make this happen, we created the groundwork for partnerships consisting of the partnership basics and the differentiation of three partnership types: friends, collaborators, and donors. This wiki outlines everything you, as a partnership host, should know about partnerships in oikos.
General Understanding
WHO is responsible for partnerships?
members of the oikos international team in their roles within a certain circle are partnership hosts and responsible for the interactions with and tending to the partner. The hosting is part of your role within the teal partnerships circle which is meant to support the activities with (monthly circles), administrative support, and infrastructure updates (see more below). In general, we follow the principle of ‘Host partnerships where they are most valuable to our work’
WHAT are partnership types in oikos?
Partnerships types are three different categories that distinguish the why, what and how between each relationship to a partner. The table outlines the different types of partnerships: friends, collaborators, and donors.
HOW do we tend to partnerships?
We form relationships through mutual, conversational agreements with our partners. The relationships are hosted by individuals from the international team who are responsible for the evolution of the partnership. Through check-ins with the partners, the hosts continuously evaluate the mutual value we bring to each other and make changes in partnership types if necessary. Value checks are meant to happen at least once a year or when a specific situation demands a reevaluation of the partnership to maintain a clear overview in the individual sub-teams.
Some guiding principles
Relationships are between people, not (only) organizations
Relationships hosts are responsible for the tending of their individual partnerships and are responsible for the hand-over, continuity and sustainability of the relationship
Relationships are diverse and require different forms of tending
Relationships and their values for oikos change over time and should be reevaluated
Relationships might create leads for new relationships – we are open to new opportunities
Support Structure
The partnership infrastructure helps you as a partnership host navigate and tend to partnerships. It consists of the Airtable Database and partnership support circle.
Monthly partnership meetings
The partnership circle meets every month with at least 1 rep from every circle. Here, we exchange updates, developments and opportunities and make space to explore synergies. At least twice a year, the partnership support team will host a short introduction to the topic of partnerships & partnerhsip hosting.
Partnership Airtable
Partnership Support Team
The partnerships circle is stewarded by some supporting hands that are happy to support you as a host in starting, tending, and ending a partnership. Reach out for the following
Contact the partnership support team:
FAQ
How to add a partnership to the website?
Who decides which partnerships I am hosting?
I’m leaving the organization. What happens to the partnerships I am hosting?
Airtable is used as a database for all current, old and potential partners in oikos. It shows you who is hosting which partnership and gives you access to the contact and overview of the network. Each partnership host is in charge of updating the base at least twice a year.
VP for partnerships: Elena Müller, or Discord
Co-president for partnerships: Sophie Charrois, or Discord
If you are curious about the internal structure of the partnership circle, read the
oikos’ partners
Friends
Collaborators
Donors
Who
Individuals, networks, universities, think-tanks, private & public organizations
Why
To broaden network & indicate affiliation & shared vision
To foster deeper relationships that lead to new possibilities
To sustain the organization & empower the oikos network
What -
Shared Value
Exchange & dissemination of opportunities through agreed channels
Logo on website
Invitation & participation in events & initiatives
Shared initiatives on several levels to leverage our common impact
Ongoing, strategic conversation & invitation to strategic processes (maybe also sharing some secrets ;))
Potentially all mentioned before &
Financial and in-kind support to oikos in form of individual & institutional donations
HOW
1-2 touch points per year
Frequent check-ins and invitations to our events
Frequent check-ins and updates
Starting
Tending
Ending
Space to voice needs (discord)
Materials and templates to initiate a first check-in
Common grounding, 1st check-in: value check-in, partnership type, mutual agreements
Overview of existing partnerships
CRM Tool (airtable) and Updates
Bi-annual check-in with relationship hosts
Airtable and Website Updates
Communication of opportunities on oikosmos, discord, miro
Hand-over and continuity
Partnership Website
Internal check-in to reevaluate the value
External check-in to reevaluate the value (hosts)
Punctual decentralized clean-ups (hosts)
General centralized clean-ups on Airtable
Gentle clearing of partnerships to leave space for new soil
What Are the Five Stages of Partnership Development?
1. Scoping and Partnership Strategy Development
2. Partnership Opportunity Mapping
3. Partnership Design and Facilitation
4. Adaptive Management and Implementation
5. Scaling and Sustaining Impact
Decisions taken by the whole oI team
Type & advice
Decisions made by the whole team following the principles of consent & advice
The process should be owned/ facilitated by one or a small group of team members. These owners make sure that the decisions are implemented once they are made
Preparing the decision with a proposal & a diligent amount of advice is helpful: who else has relevant information that should be consulted before a decision should be made? These are decisions that need a high amount of preparation and input as they impact a critical amount of people.
For larger decisions, advice can come through various channels, including one-on-one conversations, meetings, or online communication and loomio.
Use of : We use Loomio for ‘All of Us’-Decisions, as it allows us to step into clarity about the current stage of the decision. The advice process can be facilitated by Loomio, as well. A summary of all advice, and the final outcome of the decision should be added on loomio for reasons of documentation and transparency.
Examples
a new meeting structure for the international team’s monthly meetings
the development of a new program that changes how our initiatives wil work together
What is this “decision-making process” all about? Why do we need it at all?
The decision-making process is about enabling us to take more informed decisions with more graceful processes. The process aims at empowering the team to take ownership of their decisions
Why should I include other people in a decision, if everyone in oikos already has their designated role which they are responsible for?
There are several reasons why you might want to include some people or the whole team in the process like:
Learning about other perspectives in order to be better informed.
Improve the proposal of a decision by including the people affected
Taking one more step that your proposal will land with the people who will be using it
How can I know if more people (and who) should be included in the process?
It is recommended to ask yourself the following questions to decide, whether to include more people in the process than just yourself:
What is the scope of the decision?
Who is affected by the decision, both directly and indirectly, internally and externally?
Will the decision have a significant impact on the work or “oikos experience” of others? If yes, who are those people?
Could it help to involve the people affected in order to increase the adoption of the changes which result from the decision?
Which perspective haven't you considered yet, but could add a lot?
If there is an objection, am I not allowed to move on with my decision?
No. you have to consider the objection and at least clarify why, given the case, you still won’t adjust your proposal/would like to move ahead with it. If the person objection still holds a lot of resistance, he or she should get involved in further shaping the proposal with you.
Any further questions? Reach out to the team development team!
Onboarding
This guide is meant to facilitate and clarify the steps that need to be taken by the recruiters and the rest of the team, once a new team member is recruited.
Why are you asked to do this? Just because the onboarding process is mainly handled by the People Development team, that does not mean that you have nothing to do with it anymore! The HR Manager does not know specific documents or tools the person may use in their new position, or when the circle (ie the TE or LEAP team) has their meetings etc.
⇒ For some of those things, you are the most knowledgeable!
⇒ You will need to onboard the new recruit to their position specificities!
Step 1
Once you have selected the final candidate, and if they have accepted to join us and work with us, immediately send them your welcome email (see template) with IT and HR in CC. It should include the Personal Data Form, and urge them to fill it in right when they receive the email.
Step 2
After two days, if the new team member hasn’t shared with you that they filled in their onboarding, please send them a reminder to fill it in, a lot hinges on this step.
Step 3
Now that the onboardee has filled in the form, their email address will be created and made accessible to them. It will also be added to the relevant Shared Drives and mailing groups.
Step 4
Their contract will also be created and sent to them for signing, after which they need to send the contract back for one of the co-presidents to sign. (And return the fully signed version).
Step 5
Together with the contract, a few time slots should be sent for the newbie to have a little call about their onboarding with the People Development team, who will share the self-organized onboarding game on miro.
The onboarding is crucial for the new recruit’s best integration in the team and in oikos, so please give them a week (or more) to do their onboarding (both the general onboarding with HR people and their specific position onboarding with you).
Working with volunteers
At oikos we depend a lot on our volunteers who dedicate their free time to the organization. Without their commitment and passion, oikos wouldn’t be the same. However, volunteer work is connected to unique challenges in comparison to the management of employees.
Volunteer engagement can fluctuate depending on the individual’s capacity
Volunteers need to have intrinsic motivation & a good understanding of oikos to start their commitment and stay engaged
oikos has limited resources to give back (non)financial benefits to volunteers
Find value for the volunteers in the work they do so they stay engaged
What does ‘volunteer’ mean in oikos?
Everyone who is not officially employed by oikos International & offers their time & commitment to the organization is considered a volunteer. The volunteer commitment should account around 1-max 10 h / week. Beyond that, We recommend exploring if the role you dedicate to a volunteer is actually worth an employment.
Based on our learnings and experience over time, we have gathered a couple of best practices for the work with volunteers.
Onboarding
Recruitment
In this guide, you’ll find helpful documents hyperlinked. First start with "Recruitment User Guide" document.
There are templates that would of course always need some tweaking to make it actually fit your specific needs, but a copy/paste is faster than having to create a new document every time! All of them can be found HERE.
Onboarding volunteers
Use our Onboarding game
Have Welcome meetings
Regular check-ins during the first time
oIcoffee/meeting/bonding time with the “leader” of the circle they are working in → it’s their closest tie with the rest of the oI team and having a close relationship with them can be very valuable.
Make them a team member! We have the best experiences with volunteers if they become real members of your (sub-)circle. That’s more effort in the beginning - and pays off rather soon!
Trainings & Development
Let's grow as a team & individuals
From our global community to the individuals in the team: oikos has a culture of lifelong learning. In the international team, we want to encourage that with the opportunity to make frequent training & development part of your work.
WHAT?
Trainings are all types of opportunities to learn and develop yourself further. Whereas we have several internal possibilities to help you grow (eg. LEAP, Camp etc), you can also look outside of the organisation & we are eager to support you with that.
We are a self-organizing organization, that also means that you, in your roles & circles, can decide which kind of training might be helpful or needed at a particular moment in time.
There might be moments when we offer training for the whole team. Whereas these trainings are open to the whole oikos International Team (incl. volunteers), external training opportunities usually remain reserved for employees. This also depends on the budget we have available in the respective year.
There's only one principle: Your training should always have a relation to your roles in oikos. How does taking the training help you in your work?
According to our employee manual, training can be counted as working time for a maximum of 5% of your regular working time, for a maximum of 100 hours per year. Exceptions to this regulation can surely be inquired in conversation with your team.
HOW?
It's easy & conversational:
Identify the need for taking a training: What do you want to learn? What opportunities are out there? What training would your really LOVE to do?
Talk to your circle: Share your thoughts to with your team & agree to the conditions around the training. This should be conversational & transparent. Our employee manual sets an outline when it comes to time and monetary contribution for trainings. You can use the training reflection template as a preparation.
Take the training: Spend some time learning & reflecting. The reflection template is a helpful place to harvest.
Take a leap: Bring your learnings back to your circle. Make sure to share about the experience & let people know what you take & how you aim to implement them
Make sure to share exciting training opportunities with the team on discord!
FAQ
How to find a matching training?
What if my training is more expensive then what can be reimbursed?
oikos will cover parts of the cost, and you cover the rest. The exact amount will be agreed upon with our people development team. Just fill in the reimbursement form with the agreed amount.
Any further questions? Reach out to the people development team!
Bi-annual check ins
Udemy 4 oikos Team
Let's embark on a learning journey together
We have access to over 8000 Udemy courses for the upcoming year (until mid-December 2023). here's how to access them :)
3. Follow through & learn a lot (maybe you want to learn together with some teammates? feel invited to find some peers)
4. Share with the team on discord (any recommendations? Any key takeaways?)
Ready? GO!
.. or reach out to carolin.lemke@oikos-international.org if you have any questions <3
Offboarding
Fundraising Process Overview
Main resources & infrastructure for fundraising
Airtable Database
Google Shared Drive
Our Airtable databse is accompanied by a Fundraising Shared Drive.
Google structure principles for fundraising
Once an organization reaches the "in research" phase, the organization has to have two things on Google: 1x folder and 1x factsheet
The organization's folder in the Fundraising Drive is the main folder for that organization. All fundraising-related documents need to be saved or linked via a shortcut in this folder. There might be exceptions if a previous non-financial partner is becoming a financial donor but generally, we want to avoid having information spread across 5 different shared drives.
OLD:
In the G-Drive you’ll find supporting information for the Leads we are currently working on. And any additional info saved from past research and leads that were not successful. Check these folders out for lots of helpful information.
Generally, we can think of our donors as three buckets.
Current donors - those that have given funding to us in the past two years and we have a current and active relationship with them
Leads & Research - here are organizations that we are in the process of determining if they would support us. Will include any ideas and contacts to be explored.
Past Donors/Closed Leads - those that do not align with the oikos mission and have been closed. Be aware of the orgs that are interested to work with us in the future but just not right now and keep developing a relationship with these
Fundraising process steps👣
Researching Leads
Getting started will involve you researching and finding out information related to the many potential organizations and foundations that we can apply for.
Check Airtable
Check Google Drive
Check Salesforce
Research on their website
Research via LinkedIn and Google
Check if there is already shared networks and partners
Reaching out for a first connection and/or more information
Preparing an official donation outreach
Resources to link: Outreach Template Pitch Presentation Annual Report Program specific marketing materials
Inspiration documents from previous grants
Lead stages defined
Special case: Archiving an organization
There are several points in time and reasons to archive an organization
Common reasons to discontinue a lead and archive them:
We realize ourselves the organization is not a fit. It may be their strategic focus, funding criteria, regional focus etc. that is not fitting to oikos International. This realization can happen at any time during the process, ideally we should notice during the "in research" phase, though it can also happen "in conversations" with them or anywhere in between.
The organization doesn't see the fit
During the "In research" phase, we realize it will not be worth it to put more time and energy in this lead. We archive the organization.
How to update a lead stage?
Fundraising User Guide
Welcome! This page is an introduction to fundraising and our work around it at oikos.
Authors: Stephen Snider, Carolin Lemke
Involved: Everyone
Linked Circle(s) & Roles: Fundraising Support Circle, Fundraising Focus Circle
Latest Update: November, 2023
FUNDRAISING AT OIKOS
(1) Our internal fundraising structure
(1.1) Fundraising Focus Circle
Fundraising at oikos in the past has been typically centralized around one or two people. To make the work easier for everyone and more central to our work a new Fundraising Focus Circle has been created. This Circle hosts representatives from each of the oikos Initiatives, plus our Volunteers and Board Members that are interested in helping us fundraise.
The Fundraising Focus circle is an attempt to bring all of us together, making things transparent, keeping everyone aware of what is going on, sharing responsibilities, and making things less centralized. We use our Fundraising Circle to coordinate and meet together twice a month to advance the many fundraising efforts we have in place to support our programs. This Circle touches each of the other organizational circles of oikos.
People belonging to this circle are usually engaged in the following fundraising activities:
Lead research
Grant writing
Corporate fundraising
Alternative fundraising
(1.2) Fundraising Support Circle
The Fundraising Support Circle belongs to the wider Admin & Support Circle. It is meant to enable successful fundraising for the whole team.
It is needed to have someone to host the team, keep an overview and keep up the energy for the team.
Responsibilities of the circle are:
Hosting the FF circle meetings and the team
Strategizing and inviting the rest of the team for it
Providing structure and processes with the help of the tools available to us (Airtable, Google etc.)
Managing fundraising volunteers
It currently contains of 1 co-president, 1 board member and 1 employee.
(2) Focus areas in fundraising
Fundraising work streams or areas of focus can include the following areas:
Foundations & Grant Writing
Large foundations
Medium-sized & smaller foundations
Best practices
Businesses, banks and other private institutions
(2.1) Foundations & Grant Writing
(2.1.1) Large foundations
(2.1.2) Medium-sized and smaller foundations
Next to the larger foundations out there, the foundation landscape is broad. Foundations can take any size, grant requirements, potential funding sums & criteria, so there is a huge diversity and no "one-size-fits-all" answer to the perfect grant proposal.
For medium-sized and smaller foundations, the application processes are oftentimes much less formal. In some cases, they might still have an online portal or documents to fill. Others require you to send a self-made project/program proposal including a budget via email that meets the descriptions of oikos projects and goals of the organization.
These processes are less formal, take less time, though also the funding sums are usually smaller.
Especially tor these grant applications, we have fliers and other materials that can be used to apply.
Best practices for grant applications with foundations
(2.2) Businesses, banks and other private institutions
Program Proposals
Best practices for corporate fundraising
(2.3) Donor Management
(2.4) Alternative Fundraising
Learn more about it here:
Workshops/Training
Ways of getting involved
There are many roles you can be involved with to help move fundraising forward. Some are below:
JOIN the FUNDRAISING CIRCLE - Every two weeks we meet to talk specifically about fundraising efforts and provide updates to each other. Here is a great chance to work on the things most important to our circles' fundraising efforts. The event is always on the oikos calendar and our meeting minutes are below so you can follow along.
RESEARCH LEADS - Lots of help is needed to check the many potential fundraising opportunities that we come across on a regular basis.
Review AirTable for background information and add research notes you find.
Check SalesForce for past connections to individuals/companies.
Browse the organization’s website and determine if its values align with ours.
Find key individuals on their website and on LinkedIn
Read about their Sustainability and Impact in any useful Reporting you find
Suggest leads that are good for outreach to and document what needs to be submitted for a successful application.
MAKE OUTREACH - Connect with potential donors and partners to request support. Utilize the resources that each initiative and circle at oikos creates to tell the stories about the work we do. You’ll see some resources below on fundraising specific to our different programs.
Connect through:
Grants and Applications
Direct Contact and Email
Proposals and Fliers
**Please coordinate with your teammates and the fundraising circle to inform others on what outreach you are making.
DONATIONS - Donations to oikos can be made directly to us using our bank details or through our donation pages. Also, we are often running crowdfunding campaigns that
TO DO - ADD LINK FOR DONATION PAGE -
IMPACT and RELATIONSHIPS - oikos has a pretty big community and part of our work should include developing these connections to be supporters of our work. There is also a network of partners
NOTE - What areas are we forgetting about that you can help us with?. –
Impact and Relationships
oikos has a pretty big community and part of our work should include developing these connections to be supporters of our work. There is also a network of partners to develop connections to and from.
What is needed for our donors
Demographics & impact Data!!!
Impact Matrix
Engagement Data ← should go on Impact Matrix
Social Media - click through rates, followers, engagement
Website - views, connections, SEO ratings
Newsletter
ADD EXAMPLES -
Alumni
Spider Humans Airtable and past LEAP Participants Airtable
ADD AIRTABLE LINKS -
REPORTIN
LEAD STAGE
Description / definition
Steps to take
Learn more about how we got here in this slide show:
oikos has worked with a few larger Swiss or European foundations to fund major oikos projects. Grants have been recently written to groups like and with a larger budget and in-depth programming, using grant-specific applications. These foundations are oftentimes either governmentally funded or consolidate smaller foundations/donors under one roof. Grant processes are usually more formal, require detailed information and thus, take more time. Though once received, the funding can secure our activities over a longer period of time. Furthermore, detailed reporting on our impact and how the money was used is usually required.
For a successful grant application, work closely with the program’s circle to design an application that meets grant characteristics.
There are a couple larger foundations out there to apply to, be targeted and well-researched, and develop relationships with the foundation personnel. See our for more info.
Applications to smaller foundations, corporations, and partners may require simpler, non-formulaic applications that meet the descriptions of oikos projects and goals of the organization. Recent proposals included funding for Basecamp, sustainable finance programming from , a budget for Camp 2023 from , and the oikos Academy. Often times you’ll need to create a flier with your proposal, a document describing program specifics, and a budget. The level of detail depends on the relationship and needs of the organization.
Check out the Partnerships Circle and User Guide for more information on how relationships should be managed at oikos. With applications, you’ll want to develop connections through email and calls to ask questions, review proposals, facilitate donations, report on programming, and hand over projects. Check out notes on AirTable, Salesforce, and in the project, documentation to track important information. Check out our map of Donor Relations on Miro for more (LINK) and our Drive for .
We’ve been trying to provide opportunities for internal workshopping, learnings, and improving the process we work with. There are lots of resources available online that might be of use , , , and others. Check out our Fundraising Google Drive for and previously used resources.
New
Any organization someone in the team got to know about
They haven’t been researched yet on whether or not they could be fitting to oikos for our fundraising purposes
We switch from “new” to “in research” if someone in the team decides to pick up this organization and dive further into it
A host/owner is added to the organization
This stage is before a decision is taken to either select them for fundraising or archive them
Google
Make sure there is a Google folder for the organization in the correct lead stage folder on Google Drive.
Use existing organization folders or create a new one if necessary.
Ensure there is a main document (factsheet/ongoing notes) for the organization. If none exists yet,use this templateto document your research and add it to the folder.
Airtable
Update the lead stage and further information for Airtable via this form
Selected for fundraising
YAYY - Our initial research showed that the organization seems to to be a fit. The host who researched the organization either decides for themselves or consults the team to select the organization for a fundraising approach (and not to archive them)
Outreach/application preparation
We are starting to prepare reaching out to this organization or preparing a grant application (in case of a foundation)
In conversations
We are in conversations with the organization, maybe have a first call with them (more applicable for businesses/potential sponsors)
Applied/funding requested
We have officially applied for a grant or requested funding and are waiting for a response
Donation confirmed
SUCCESS - Our application/request was successful and the organization confirmed a donation
From experience, people who already have some connection to oikos International or have taken part in international events, are much more likely to be interested in volunteering for oikos International!
When recruiting new volunteers:
Go through personal connections and oikees who are already active internationally (or locally)
Recruit LEAPers and oikos campparticipants ;)
Post your needs to our Discord & WhatsApp communities
Invite Advisors to share our need in their networks
Use your connections to chapter representatives: (often presidents or vice-presidents) Maybe they know of someone that is interested in joining oikos international or they see someone that has the “intrinsic motivation” mentioned above. Get creative here! It’s possible that you can even use the universities’ web sites or events through a collaboration with the chapters.
Further added value that can attract people:
Possibilities for networking in the community and through events
Developing their knowledge in some topics (e.g. if they are super into sustainable finance)
Gain experience working for an international NGO
oikos is a playground - it’s fun & ownership also given to volunteers if they want to. There’s always an open door to give things your twist.
In the past year, we have experimented with some external platforms to reach people beyond the oikos community. Volunteer Match was the one where we received the most traction.
For (most of) the following platforms, we already have an account with log-in details (reach out to HR/Admin/IT responsible person to gain access):
Have a place to take notes and document for the volunteers your meetings so they can catch up if they miss a meeting
Have specific and clear instructions and keep things bite sized until volunteers are able and confident enough to work on their own
Be a strong facilitator, engage with them personally, get to know them, learn their names/likes/interests/hobbies and share about yourself
WHERE TO START?
Fundraising can be a complicated process and it can be quite scary starting out. Give yourself some time to learn about the organization and learn to be comfortable trying new things. It is very helpful to review documents that have been previously used to fundraise and learn how to talk about oikos in general. You’ll also find plenty of resources on how to research leads, identify contacts, and propose funding opportunities. Good luck. And remember to have FUN with this.
Keeping volunteers engaged over time
This is a key aspect, not only because onboarding new volunteers takes time and energy, but because they are part of our team and we need to take care of them.
Volunteering to work in a project takes time and effort and let’s be honest, everyone enjoys feeling like themselves and their work is being valued, so please remember to show appreciation for their engagement and hard work (you will certainly see the effects)!
It is easier to feel overwhelmed when you do not know exactly what is expected of you, this is why having clear roles and responsibilities is crucial.
Look for their strengths and interests: Working on what you are passionate about and what you are good at, is a powerful motivator!
Give opportunities to learn and take responsibility.
Proactive communication is very important, especially if you sense a lack of engagement. This can be done, for instance, through regular check-ins with the volunteers you are working with. This will show them you value them and also can help you quickly identify some difficulties, so you can address them.
Discuss and take into consideration volunteers’ time schedule and availability from the very beginning. In this way, you will know when they can be involved and also important dates to take into account (e.g. exam periods) to also adapt to their needs (which is part of the process of taking care of them). Make sure you stay up to date if this shifts
Help them set boundaries and fully understand time-commitments → New volunteers might be eager to start and maybe they will not realize how much work they are taking on or how much time they would need to put in to get the job done. If you sense this is the case maybe gently ask if you can offer some advice ;)
Make sure they prioritize their health, family, school, and work so they don’t start to feel that Volunteering is a burden
Try and find value for them in the work they do so they feel motivated to keep working and see the benefits for helping us
When Things Get Hard
Interests and energy will change over time, be prepared to let people go and don’t hold it against them
Volunteer work is a lot of coordination & motivation etc. it’s worth to put the effort in but recognize things will be hard
Figure out commitments from the start & set boundaries. Important to not be alone in this. Do not rely on just one person and put too much trust in individuals rather work as a team
Build trust and open communication so they feel secure when expressing issues Talk to tension to create more space for you in the team > trust is needed
Staying professional is important & hard
Find people in the team to be able to vent to and find support
Giving back to volunteers
Volunteers offer their time, energy and invaluable ideas towards realizing the mission and vision of oikos International. Offering thousands of unpaid & free hours, their invaluable contributions remain a key part of the internal ecosystem of oikos. As a token of appreciation, gratitude and to further motivate them, oikos will be giving back to volunteers via:
Certificates/Letter of Recommendations: Let's face it, even though we live in a world where certificates are continuously stripped off of their significance, still certificates come with this feeling of the proverbial ‘eureka’ and a sense of finality, mentally opening that door of imagining what the future holds. Beyond being tokens of appreciation from oikos, certificates can also be used by volunteers in their hunt for future opportunities—say, scholarships & fellowships—to prove how far they've gone in selflessly offering hundreds of their hours freely to help create a better world for all.
Training opportunities: Via their volunteer role(s) at oikos, volunteers have already demonstrated and proven their individual capacity in carrying out collaborative tasks and their inner drive to work for the collective good of the world. It is only logical and fair to give them the first eye when it comes to oikos’ development & training programs such as LEAP YOUth. After all, ‘one good turn deserves another,’ so the saying goes.
oikos Camp participation: As an event in which students from all over the world gather in order to develop projects related to sustainability and education over a week, oikos Camp sounds one beautiful way of giving back to volunteers. It will offer them an opportunity of ‘physically’ feeling oikos and its culture in a new, probably never-visited location while getting to work in bridging the disconnect between today's education and the question of sustainability.
Team retreats & travels to conferences
Giving them space for, and helping them with, networking.
oikos Team member thank-you call (maybe email?)
Post their Bio and a picture of them on our website where we showcase our volunteers.
Consider sharing about their efforts on social media
Encourage them to add oikos Volunteers to their LinkedIn and resume and that they should feel free to ask for a job referral or recommendation
Working with Budgets
Reimbursements
How to get your monies back ;)
This user guide is addressed to all those who would be eligible for the reimbursement of a cost incurred with oikos International, such as a travel cost to and/or from one of our events. It was made in order to support them in the use of the reimbursement forms, for submitting a reimbursement request.
Am I eligible to get a reimbursement from oikos International?
oikos International being a non-profit organization, we can unfortunately only cover limited and specific expenses. Therefore, some expenses can not be covered. oikos International...
… shared travel or second class travel
Any regular, second class ticket for the train or plane or bus is covered.
So is sharing a car travel! If there are at least two people in the car, it’s reimbursable. However, there are rules to follow:
When you leave the start point of the trip, LEAVE WITH A FULL TANK! We do not reimburse you for this tank filling, however, we reimburse you for all the tank fillings you do until you are back home.
When you arrive home back from the trip, FILL UP THE TANK RIGHT AWAY! We do reimburse that one.
Make sure to discuss with your travel companions who is paying and who is getting reimbursed. Preferably have only one person pay for all the gas and make sure to tell us that it was for multiple people! (Write it in the “NOTE” part of the form, give us the name of the other person).
If you each pay certain fill ups, still tell us in the “NOTE” part of the form that you traveled with someone else (tell us their name!).
… If you pay for someone’s travel ticket, make sure to tell us in the “NOTE” part of the form.
… If you pay something for oikos, such as some groceries for event food, that is eligible of course.
… We STRONGLY encourage you to take the most sustainable option. The airplane should be a last resort
… first class travel
That includes single (one person) car travel, taxis, first class travel on an airplane or train or bus. Generally, we do not reimburse you for getting a more expensive ticket than necessary.
This means also that we cannot reimburse sleeping wagons in the train if it is more expensive than a seat. When you decide to pay extra for a sleeping wagon you can submit the invoice nevertheless, indicating the additional amount you paid for the sleeping wagon.
… accommodation. If your travel is long and you decide to take a night in a ho(s)tel somewhere halfway to the event you are attending, it’s perfectly fine with us. However, we will not reimburse it. The reimbursement of your travel tickets is not impacted, as long as it is eligible for reimbursement within the other rules.
… any travel insurance. If you want to insure your travel, that’s ok but we can not pay for it, so it would be subtracted from your ticket price.
… any amount above the communicated limit for reimbursement. We can unfortunately not always reimburse the full price of an expense, as we have limited funding. In that case, we will simply reimburse the (previously communicated) maximum amount.
Reimbursement amount
There are multiple aspects that need to be taken into consideration regarding the amount you can expect to be reimbursed.
Maximum reimbursement amount: Usually, the amount that can be reimbursed will be capped, at a different amount, depending on the program, the specific expense to reimburse and the funding that allows us to pay for such expenses. Therefore, if you go over the budget, you will only be reimbursed the maximum amount. Such amounts are usually communicated beforehand, however please note that it is ALWAYS best to strive for the lowest amount possible.
For example: If you get your travel to an event reimbursed, with a cap placed at 200CHF, and your train or plane or bus ticket is 250CHF (or equivalent, depending on your currency), you will only get reimbursed 200CHF.
Currency conversion rates: Most people in our community coming from countries other than Switzerland, and oikos being based in Switzerland, a transfer between oikos’ accounts and our participants’ usually means that a currency conversion needs to happen. We send you CHF (Swiss Francs) and you receive in your local currency. There is always a cost to conversion rates. The transfer intermediary we use, Wise (or previously called “Transferwise”) has a very low fee for those currency conversions. This fee is carried by you as the receiver of the reimbursement
The two reasons above explain you may notice that the reimbursement amount you’ll receive might be different from the expected amount.
The form will take you through a series of questions that will help you provide all the information we need to reimburse you.
Here is the step by step process through the different steps:
Provide us with your personal information and bank details (as is said in the form as well, your information will only be used for the sole purpose of the related reimbursement, nothing else).
Enter the information for each individual expense. The various requested information go as follows:
Reimbursement 1 (name the reimbursement with a unique, understandable name as suggested in the form)
Date of expense 1 (make sure it is the date of PURCHASE (the date you took out your bank card and put it in the reader for payment 😉)
Price of expense 1 (how much was it in the currency you used? Usually your country’s main currency)
Currency of expense 1 (which currency did you use?)
Price in Swiss Francs (CHF) at the date of expense 1 (use this website to know how many Swiss Francs the cost of your expense was at the time you paid it:https://www1.oanda.com/currency/converter/)
Ticket/Invoice/Receipt (Provide us with proof of the expense and of its payment)
Generally we need an invoice that indicates a date & the price as well as the currency.
For travel tickets it should also indicate the passengers name or at least the amount of travelers.
For flight tickets we need additionally a copy of the boarding pass.
If you lost your ticket/invoice/receipt please contact Gregory Vrient.
If you have more than one expense (i.e. a travel TO an event and a travel FROM an event that were paid separately), the following question is “do you have another reimbursement to submit?”, answer “yes”.
This will open a new set of the same questions for Reimbursement 2.
Repeat the operations for each separate expense you had.
3. Once you have completed all the questions for all the expenses you can get reimbursed, you can submit it after accepting the terms and conditions (one small box to tick).
4. An optional “Notes” box is also available, if there is something to tell us that cannot be communicated in the rest of the form.
5. And you’re set! Just click “Submit”
Pay attention!
Submit your request as soon as possible after you have paid for the expense that we can reimburse you.
It’s always best to keep the linked receipt/invoice/ticket (at least a digital version). That includes train tickets, airplane boarding passes… as those are sometimes requested by the funders (the people that make it possible for us to reimburse you!
In this form, we ask you to do your own conversion of the payment into CHF. Please do the conversion cautiously. For example, if I pay 10EUR on April 22nd, 2021. I enter 04/22/2021 as the date of conversion, and the currencies are EUR→CHF, for 10EUR. (Always to CHF, no matter the initial currency). As in the example, 10EUR was worth exactly 11.0257CHF on April 22, 2021.
Contact to gregory.vrient@oikos-international.org if any problem
Alternative Fundraising
oikos is exploring others means to fundraise that complement offers from the community to support the way we work. Crowdfunding on Global Giving has become a major area where projects seek individual gifts from people we get connected with. Alumni fundraising is another new area we are experimenting with. An example is Benoit Pitaser’s cross-country, matched-donation, fundraiser. Many creative ideas can be proposed here and some help with infrastructure projects like oikos registering to TGE (LINK) to start offering tax-free donations. Google Drive
Donations
We are hosted on the following donation platforms and we have different campaigns/users that use them.
TGE Platform Page - European donation platform that allows Europeans to benefit from tax incentives from their residential country. As of 11/22 countries available are France, Spain, Germany and Belgium.
Global Giving Platform - Crowdfunding platform w/ matching promotions during multiple campaigns throughout the year.
All Alternative fundraising activities are recorded on this Airtable including all donor information, research of new alternatives fundraising opportunities
Fundraising resources
List of Leads to Research
The database of our contacts is available for review on AirTable
Prior engagement history and the contact details of individuals and organizations is stored on SalesForce. This database is a legacy storage of messages since 2010.
Also, don’t forget that there might be FactSheets available if we made prior proposals to the organization. This can be extremely helpful if reapplying to an organization. See them in the Leads and Research folder on the G-Drive.
Create an event at the top left (if you are unable to do so, send an IT request in order to be assigned the correct role)
Use the announcement channel called "events-and-opportunities" to send a message about your event. If you tag @everyone, all members of the server will receive a notification (if you are unable to send a message in this channel, send an IT request in order to be assigned the correct role)
WhatsApp
You can send a message in the "oikos community" group. Join it here
Alumni Group (if applicable): If you want to reach the oikos alumni in particular you can use the Facebook and LinkedIn alumni groups
The communication team is in charge of the overall communcation channels of oikos International (newsletter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, website). In order to receive their support for promotion via social media, please take the following steps
Additionally, please use the Event Request Form if you want your event to be shown on the website
How to do a chapter check-in
Context: The Chapter Pathways Initiative accompanies oikos chapters on their journeys of making a difference in their local context throughout the university year. Chapter check-ins are one element among others of this initiative.
What are Chapter Check-Ins?
Chapter check-ins are 1:1 calls between an oikos International member (usually board member) and a representative of a chapter (could also be 2 or more representatives). Most of the time, it will be the chapter's president.
They shouldn't take longer than 60 min and happen at least twice a year. If needed, check-in calls can happen more often.
Purpose of Chapter Check-Ins
Chapter Check-Ins have four main purposes:
They help us to listen to the diverse needs of the chapters and feed them back to the oikos International team.
They are a chance to keep an active & regular connection to each chapter by personally connecting to them.
They enable board members to get to know the diversity of chapters and form connections beyond their home chapters (board members = representatives of the oikos community, so they should know what is going on)
They are an additional communication channel for oikos International to pass on important information.
Process - How does it work?
Getting in touch
Each Board Member gets assigned a handful of chapters to be the contact person for. You can find the chapter distribution on Airtable (Base: "Chapter Database" > Table "Chapter Overview" > View "Chapter distribution").
The Airtable will provide them with the most important information of each chapter. Ideally, the two columns "Current MAIN chapter contact" and "Last oI people in touch" will let you know who do contact from oI and chapter side.
Ideally, the last person in touch from oikos International will introduce the board member to the current chapter contact. If this didn't/couldn't happen, the new board member in charge will have to try the contact details of the current chapter representatives.
If there is no recent chapter representative/personal contact details, the board member will have to try reaching the chapter via official communication channels (email, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook).
You can use these templates for your communication. Feel free to also adapt them or create your own and then add it to the document.
Preparing a chapter check-in
Check out previous chapter check-in notes (old till Fall 2023, new since spring 2024 found on Airtable)
Check out the Airtable Form we have to record your check-in notes. Ideally fill in the "basic information" part just before you start the call.
Optional: Check out other information available to you e.g. via social media
Optional: Reach out to the person from oI that has been in touch with the chapter last to gain more insights
How to do/structure a chapter check-in
Basically, the check-in call is meant for connection & information exchange. It is one of the rare chances to get a busy chapter member on a 1:1 call, so use the chance to have fun and build a relationship. You don't want the call to be like an interview, neither should it be you taking up a lot of space and time bombarding them with information. With practice, you will learn what is relevant to the conversation at the time.
Use this Airtable form to take notes and record responses from the chapter representative during the call. You don't have to use it in a stiff way and there can be conversations around what is mentioned in the form. The form is simply for us to keep track of what is happening in the chapters.
Here's how a first check-in can look like:
Check-In (5-10 min): If it's the first call you have with them, try to get to know them personally! Ask them questions like: What's your background? How did you end up in oikos? What are your values? What excites you (about your studies/oikos)? Even if it is not your first call with them, take time for a check-in. What is happening in their (uni) life right now? What has changed since you last spoke?
Frame the call (1 min): Share with them about the purposes (see above) on why we are doing this. Let them know that you will take notes on some of the things they share. Emphasize that this is still a safe space, so in case they share something confidential or personal, you will not note it down.
Get to know them and their chapter (10-15 min): Ask them about their activities and record their responses in the Airtable form ( in "Chapter activities, impact & overview")
Use the Check-In Questions (15-25 min) in the form to learn about
Highlights
Lowlights
Learnings
Future Ambitions
International connectedness
Their needs & questions
Make it a conversation, not an interview!
Share about things happening on the oikos International level (5-10 min), any upcoming events & opportunities and resources that could be relevant for them!
Check-Out (2 min): Ask them how they are leaving, how they liked the call etc. or a creative check-out question if you want ;)
Don't forget to click submit at the end of the form!
What happens after the call?
Write a follow-up mail: Follow up on questions they have asked and couldn't answer during the call. Send them more information about the upcoming events and resources.
Update Airtable Database with new contact information of the chapter members or anything else relevant
Bring your learnings to the next board/community call
oikos USP (unique selling proposition)
Find here a collection of arguments to convince potential donors of the value we bring as an international sustainability NPO.
Perspective
Arguments
Stakeholder Perspective
oikos members represent the young, critical, sustainability-oriented, digital-native generation = important stakeholder for all future oriented companies
oikos is an international supra-university institution = important education-related stakeholder
Human Resource Perspective
oikos directly connects more than 1200 students = relevant pool of sustainability-oriented and project-experienced future employees
former oikos employees and oikos alumni = relevant pool of experienced sustainability employees
CSR/Sustainability Perspective
oikos enables the development of future leaders through project leaderships, international positions and leadership program = valuable partner for youth-related CSR efforts
oikos enables capacity building for sustainability = valuable partner for education-related CSR efforts
oikos enables sustainable impact on education and universities as well as economy and communities = valuable partner for sustainability partnership
Marketing Perspective
oikos members represent a young, critical, sustainability-oriented, digital-native generation = access to pioneering customer group for sustainable goods and services
oikos has a global network with local organisations in many countries = access to local network in current/future market
How to contact chapters
House Facilitators
Mail list:
Chapter & Community Team
Your personal contacts!
You can use the Contact email addresses to let them know about events. Or if you find a good local partner for an oikos chapter from our Fundraising Research.
Use - contact@CHAPTER.oikos-international.org
Or lists-chapter-contact@oikos-international.org for all of them at once
How to oiKosmos Update
Branding guides & tools
Let's communicate all of our colours!
oikos is more than a community - it also is the name and brand that gives us our identity, both as a network and as chapters. There are several opportunities for you as a local group to both leverage the international branding & tools, and move beyond by shaping your own chapter identity. The brand represents and is defined by the oikos Community as a whole, our recognizability, the impact we make and representing our Values, Mission and Vision.
We have created some guides that would help you shape your chapter’s or projects digital marketing as well as present you the useful tools you have at your disposal as a member of oikos.
oikos Brand one-pager should serve as your starting point, introducing you to the basics and briefly covering the most important aspects.
oikos Branding Guidelinesis an in-depth guide to the oikos Brand and Visual Identity, addressing and explaining it in more detail.
Ready to get creative? We got a matching tool for you!
oikos Canva Guide is a document to introduce you to the benefits of Canva and resources related to it which oikos International provides to all of our chapters.
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✒️
How to use Miro
team@oikos-international.org v,r%kB4/yz!85+FH
How to host oikos AGORA meetings
The oikos AGORA is our virtual community central square. Every week the community gathers - hosted by oI, houses, chapters and squads. Learn here about the basics of hosting agora meetings
What's the oikos AGORA?
The oikos AGORA is the central square where our community gathers. Every week, oikees from around the world come out of their chapters & houses to join in the center. We get together and do what we do best: being ourselves, sharing our stories, and learning about each other & our impact in the world. We decided to restructure our community encounters, make them shorter & more regular with a weekly rhythm. We will have longer & shorter, more accesible touch points with our community every week. There will be different time slots allocated to different hosts (eg. chapters, houses, squads)
Vision of our Agorga :)
Host an AGORA as an oI initiative!
As an initiative, you have the chance to host either
a 1h workshop every first Tuesday of the month at 2pm CE(S)T
a 15-30 min short session every fourth Tuesday of the month at 9am, 2pm or 7pm CE(S)T.
If every initiative offers something & enters into this practice, this would mean that it is your turn max once or twice every half a year.
To share the feel of our initiatives with the community, and to get to know the community as an initiative
The format of the session is up to the hosts. You can get creative. Our recommendation: Keep it simple, clear & relational
We plan the weekly slots 2 months in advance. Feel free to put yourself into the agenda (don't forget to tag Francois) or let us know if you need support & clarification. In case there's a gap in the agenda, we might also reach out to you. Squads, houses & chapters will be contacted directly.
Communication will be regulated between us, you & the comms team, ensuring that we reach as many oikees as possible :)
Need any support?
Contact Francois Bernier!
How to use G-Suite
Google got it all.
The oikos G Suite Guideis an introductory document for the basics of using the Google tools and functionalities that come with your oikos email.
Password Manager
Convenient access to oikos passwords
"oikos Vault" is a password manager that you should use to store all of your passwords for oikos-related accounts, and which you can also use to access shared passwords that you may need based on your role.
It's intended as a secure replacement to the old "tools & costs" excel sheets.
What is a password manager?
A password manager is a central place where you should write down your passwords. All of your passwords are then protected by a single password: your master password. It should be very strong, as it protects all of the others.
This also means that ideally, you don't need to remember any of your other passwords - the password manager will automatically fill them in when you are logging into these websites! It's truly convenient and means that you can use very strong passwords(random, 32 characters, etc) since you won't need to remember them personally.
Setting up the extension/app
Extension for Chrome/Firefox
To use the password manager most effectively, you should install the Chrome or Firefox extension. In Chrome, this is convenient, as it can be installed into a separate oikos profile.
As soon as it is installed, you can add it to your home bar by clicking the pin icon in the extension menu.
Logging in
On the login screen, click the little cogwheel icon.
On the following screen, enter https://vault.oikos-international.org and click save.
Click "Log In", and log in with your account.
How to use
When you are on a page that has a password saved, you can see this by the number on the icon. Click the icon and choose the account you want to sign in as. The information should be filled out automatically.
You can also use the user and password icons to copy each respectively, or search all entries at the top, in case this doesn't work.
The extension also allows you to add new logins. This has the benefit of filling out the URI automatically.
Make sure to select where to store this password: if you choose the oikos organization, you can also select which group the password should belong to.
If you don't have an account, please create a ticket with the area "Vault". We offer access to the password manager for every oikos International staff member and international team volunteers. To get access to all the passwords you need, we would need the information in which circles you are currently active.
Please follow the steps below in order to set up your account, once we create it. You will know that we did when you receive an email from "oikos Vault".
Setting up your account
Please look for the email that states "Join oikos Vault". Click "Join Organization Now".
You will need this email twice. It's the same later on.
On the page that will open, please choose "Create Account".
Enter your name and a master password. Your master password is the password that encrypts all of your passwords. It should be unique, more than 16 characters and unpredictable. Ideally, this is the only password you will remember.
TAKE CARE! If you lose this password, everything you have saved in your personal storage will be gone!
We will not be able to recover any of your passwords or notes, as they are encrypted with your master password.This protects your data from outside access, but prevents us from restoring your own access if you forget your own password!
Verifying your email
On the following screen, please select "Send Email" in the yellow box.
Then, look for the following email in your inbox and click the link inside.
Setting up 2-factor authentication
On the main screen after logging in, please click the account icon in the upper right corner and choose "Account Settings".
On the following screen, please select "Security", "Two-step login" and "Manage" on the authenticator
After entering your master password once more, install an authenticator app on your phone. I can recommend Authy or Google Authenticator.
Scan the code with the app and enter a verification code, then click "Enable". Done!
Joining the oikos organization
Next, please look for the email titled "Join oikos International". Open it and click "Join Organization Now".
Like mentioned, that's the same mail as mentioned at the beginning of this guide.
On the following screen, please choose "Log in" and log in again
Then log in again. You should see a green message popping up, noting that you will have access as soon as we approve it. As soon as we do this, you should be able to see all of the passwords you need to have access to!
Further steps
Next, please look into setting up the chrome extension for the password manager.
High level explanation
The main screen
On the main screen, you can see all of the stored data, filter and search it.
You can see that this user has access to passwords that concern the whole team, and to passwords concerning finance.
The password screen
Clicking on the refresh icon above the password will let you generate a new, stronger password for this account. You still need to change it manually, so copy the old one somewhere while you are doing this.
The "URI 1" field is important, as it indicates on which page the password manager should automatically fill in the password. In this case, when you visit the zoom sign-in page, you can automatically fill in all three Zoom passwords depending on what you need.
This has the benefit of additional security, as a fake page pretending to be Zoom will not offer as a valid auto-fill.
For passwords you add, this should be the link to the sign-in page.
In notes, you can put whatever else may be needed to know about this entry.
How to work with Alumni
Alumni are part of our community. Here some principles & ways to reach out to them.
Every oikee graduates, and thus becomes an alumni. Being a community & network, these people don’t just drop out but have the unique opportunity to stay connected & evolve together with oikos. They are a great source of inspiration & develop networks that can support us in our own work. The same counts in the other direction.
Here some principles & hints for addressing & including alumni.
PRINCIPLES for our work with Alumni:
How to reach out to Alumni?
Alumni are seen as an integrated part of our community, therefore everything that counts for our community in general is also relevant for alumni. Nevertheless, reaching out to alumni can be even harder than reaching our active oikees. Here some hints & ways for us to communicate to the alumni community:
Social Media Channels & Groups - main access point to alumni at the moment. Managed by oikos International. Managers can be added through comms team. Some Chapters have their own alumni channels on social media. We don’t have an overview here.
You can just go & post in the channels yourself, or ask the communications team to post from the official channels
Warm Database - We realized that keeping a database with contacts doesn't serve us due to high fluctuation & ongoing change, & workload to manage/facilitate. What works better for us is to work with living relationships & the ‘warm data’ that exists within cohorts & cross-chapter connections. Social media like linkedin or instagram can help to remain connected & move relationships forward. Ask the team or your friends to reach out directly to people, and let the ripple effect do its magic :) Sources of warm data are:
Our own relationships (Boards & oI team in general)
Relationships of our oikos friends
Cohorts (LEAP, Camp, Academy etc. - see great list of everything)
Houses
Onsite gatherings in general are great to foster these ties
There is a , the most engaged alumni with the widest network to our knowledge. Always worth reaching out to them!
Quarterly Updates - The communication team produces a quarterly overview that can be accessed here in the . It can be shared on all social media channels & linked in all initiatives.
Newsletter - published on a monthly basis, registration through our website. Useful to point alumni towards, as well. Contact the communications team for more
At the moment, we are not actively supporting the chapters in their alumni relationshipping. This will hopefully change soon. Stay tuned!
In case you have further questions or curiosities around alumni, it is always worth to contact the alumni themselves. The (past presidents also have a good sense of the network itself as they are actively working with them.
Contact in the team: Sophie Charrois, Niklas Ziemann
These principles have been derived out of year-long experience. We give our best to practice them in our everyday work & count on you to consider them in your work, as well.
We consider alumni as a part of the community, in appreciation of the value they bring
We are responsible that all alumni have quick & easy access to oI information & are invited to our events
We work on warm databases: Alumni relationships work through relationships, direct links & cohorts enable us to connect to the network, NOT cold/old data
We support any alumni activity, independent of who initiates it. We don’t organize alumni events ourselves, and provide platforms for alumni to mingle with the community (eg. ICC, community events)
We learn from our mistakes & don’t repeat the same thing over & over
At oikos International, we use a permanent Zoom link as our so-called Virtual Office (VO). Here is the link to join the virtual office. It is accessible anytime by our oikos International team members, and is open to the whole oikos community, too.
Everyone is encouraged to drop-in during their working hours, even if they don't have a meeting at the moment. You can hang out in the main room to chat with fellow team members, or join one of our breakout rooms.
Pro-tip: Drop a message in the #co-working-action channel on Discord to let others know whenever you are down for some virtual co-working!
What to do if breakout rooms are not open?
Sometimes, you are the first person to join the Zoom space and the breakout rooms are not open yet. If this is the case, you can always claim the host rights using the host key: 621759.
Here a little step-by-step guide on how to claim host and re-open the breakout rooms:
Click on "Participants" in the task bar at the bottom. A side bar opens on the right.
Click on "Claim host" at the bottom of the side bar and enter the host key: 621759. You are now the host and can open breakout rooms.
Click on the button "Breakout Rooms" in the task bar at the bottom. A pop-up opens.
FIRST: Click on "Options" and make sure the option "Allow participants to choose room" is selected.
THEN: Click on "Open All Rooms".
Done
Want to learn more about Zoom?
If you are new to Zoom or want to refresh your knowledge, you can check out some of the explanation guides and YouTube videos they offer. In the following you can find a selection of them:
Each topic has an own so-called base (short for database) which contains all of the relevant data of a particular working area or project. Here are our current bases:
Want to learn more about Airtable?
Every team member is encouraged to try out new ways of how to integrate Airtable in their daily work as it can really improve workflows!
Here some further links to dive deeper:
Due to budget constraints, we use the free plan and all have to log in using the office@oikos-international.org email address. Find the log-in details in the IT Tools spreadsheet. Beware of the following limitations of the free plan:
- Unlimited bases
- Up to 5 creators or editors
- Unlimited commenter & read-only users
- 1 app per base
- 1 sync integration
- 1,200 records per base
- 2GB of attachments per base
How we use Miro
Miro is an online whiteboard collaboration tool that we use a lot for project work and collaborative online meetings. Here you can find our own Miro video tutorial (20 min) created by Jonas.
Website Editing Guide
Register on the site and gain access
To get started with editing on our website, please log in with your Google account via this link:
After doing this, please send us an IT request (https://airtable.com/shrDU5TnKFuf7BqPM) related to "Wordpress". Please include which circle(s) in oikos International you're working at and we will set up your account accordingly. (There are certain user roles for different circles, so that you won't be overwhelmed by all the options you have.)
You'll get an email as soon as this is done.
Once your account has been set up, you may always use the link above to log in and start editing.
All the following is depricated due to a change on our website in October '23. We'll try to update the rest as soon as possible.
The screen should then look like this:
If this is the case, you may proceed to the next part of the document.
Upload new pictures and documents
To upload pictures and documents to display in your posts, pages and events, please head to the media tab in the control panel.
The screen will now look like this.
You may now drag and drop new images onto the page to upload them.
Now, please click the image you just uploaded.
On this page, please fill out the “Alternative Text” and “Caption” fields with a short description of your image, if it is not purely decorative.
This is paramount to make the site accessible to people with disabilities like poor vision.
Finding pages
To edit pages, head to the “Pages” section of the control panel.
Pages are all static and “representational” parts of the site, such as the ones for programmes.
In the menu following this choice, you can see a list of all pages on the site.
You can filter and pick a page to edit here.
You can also click “Visit site” in the upper left corner of the control panel to go to the actual website and choose a page to edit from there.
Then, on any page, you may click the “Edit page” button to edit the page.
You can do this for posts and events as well.
Editing page metadata/details
Changing the Header
To change the header of a page, on the page edit view, please scroll down to the bottom of the editor.
This is the header of a page.
You will see 3 Fields.
Supertitle: The smaller text above the actual page title.
Subtitle: The smaller text below the actual page title.
Header Excerpt: The longer text below the subtitle. This can be an introduction to the content of the page or a summary of it.
Header and Featured Image
Below these 3 fields, you can see the “Header Image” area. Here you can set a prominent image to be featured on the site.
To feature an image, you should set the “Add a Header Image” value to “Yes” and can then add an image via the “Select a Header Image” field.
You can use any image you previously uploaded in the “Upload new pictures” section.
The “Featured Image” is the image that is shown in the Google search results and on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn as well.
Attention!
When you set a header image, you must also set a “Featured Image”.
You can do this by expanding the “Featured Image” header on the right side of the screen and choosing the same image in the newly shown menu.
Attention!
Please take care to choose an image that is big enough to support being shown at a close size.
Changing the Permalink
Each page has an associated permalink that identifies it and is shown in the web browser and on social media.
It should be simple and recognizable.
You can change this permalink by expanding the “Permalink” section on the right hand side of the screen.
You can then change the permalink. You can see a preview of the new link below the input box.
Note! When changing the permalink, all users requesting the old permalink will automatically be redirected to the new permalink, so don’t worry about possible confusion regarding moved pages.
Optimizing Search Engine appearances
When scrolling down on a post or page editor, you will see the “Yoast SEO” toolkit.
This is a tool which lets you optimize the Google appearance of your post or page and rates this appearance and the readability of your article based on a variety of factors.
Meta Description
The Meta Description of your article should be a punchy, less than 150 character long summary of your post. Take care that this is not cut off in the search result.
Keyphrase
The Keyphrase is supposed to be the most recognizable words from the article, which describe what it is about.
It has to:
Be present either at the start or close to the start of the Meta Description.
Contain words from the title of the article.
Editing content
Superficially, editing a post or page is very similar to editing e.g. a Word or Google doc.
There are however some special functions you can use to spice up your page.
Note! If you require a special layout for your page, please contact us and we will help you set it up!
Sidebars
Sidebars let you set some more text, images or sliders aside in the content of your post or page.
You can add a sidebar by setting “Add a Right Sidebar” to “Yes” and filling the “Main Content” box with what you wish to display in the sidebar.
Dialog Boxes
To show off more information about a topic hidden behind an image, you may use the “thumbpopup” code.
There are 3 variables needed for this: the three labels, the link to the image to be shown(src), an unique identifier for the popup and the content to be shown when clicked.
The code for this popup looks as follows:
[one_fourth]
[thumbpopup popupid="Luisa" src="https://oikos-international.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Luisa.png" labelone="Luisa Marie Pütz" labeltwo="Strategy and IT" labelthree="International Vice-President"]
Always having an enthusiasm for sustainability, an environmental project in school had a profound effect on my life. From this point on, I have been involved in some kind of sustainability-oriented initiative.
Hearing from a friend from oikos, the mission of shaping the economy to a more sustainable one by equipping future employees with sustainable thinking convinced me from the beginning.
With joining oikos Bayreuth in 2017, during my bachelor's degree in Business Administration at the University of Bayreuth, my oikos journey started and continued with the participation in the LEAP Programm 2018/2019. During this program, I further developed my leadership skills. As the third president of oikos Bayreuth from 2018 until 2019, I changed the strategic orientation and simplified the communication. As an advisory board member, I act as a mentor to current presidents of oikos Bayreuth.
LinkedIn Profile
[/thumbpopup]
[/one_fourth]
You can access the link to put into the “src” field by clicking on the image to be inserted in the media library and observing the “File URL” field.
Accordions
An accordion can be used to hide certain content until it is clicked on.
To create an accordion, you have to specify the title and the content of the accordion.
Tabs
Tabs are a useful way to structure a page. When clicking a tab header, the content will switch over to this tab header.
For this, you have to specify the title of each tab and its content.
[tabgroup]
[tab title="International Board" id="International_Board"]
<CONTENT OF THE TAB>
[/tab]
[tab title="Management Team" id="Management_Team"]
<CONTENT OF THE TAB>
[/tab]
[/tabgroup]
Buttons
You can add buttons to your post or page that act as links.
[simple-button href="https://oikos-international.org/join-us/join-our-team-we-are-looking-for-oikos-international-working-group-members/" color="lighterred"]Join a working group[/simple-button]
“href” is the link the button should point to.
“color” is a color. You can choose from the following colors:
“gray”
“lightergray”
“blue”
“lighterblue”
“red”
“lighterred”
Boxes
Boxes can help you highlight certain content on your post or page.
[simple-box backgroundcolor="blue"]
This is some text you can choose!
[/simple-box]
The “backgroundcolor” property can be any color of your choice.
Creating Events
Events can be created by switching to the Events part of the control panel.
Then, click the “Add new” button.
Basic Event Details
On this screen, there are multiple steps you will have to take before publishing your event.
Add a title and description(1). This description can have any elements you would be able to add in a post or page.
Add Tags for this event. These are “keywords” that people will be able to find events with. This can be done in the “Tags” panel(2).
Add event categories in the “Event Categories” panel(3). If the category that would apply doesn’t exist (e.g. FutureLab, Legislative Meeting), you can add a new category as well. Please check if the category you need already exists beforehand.
If this is an important event that should be highlighted, you may tick the “Feature Event” option in the “Event Options” panel(4).
Set a “Featured Image” for this event in the “Featured Image” panel(5) if applicable.
Set the Time & Date for this event(6). You can schedule this event to repeat if you need to do so.
Set the Venue for this event, if it is a local event(7).
Set the Virtual Event settings for this event, if it is a virtual or hybrid event(8).
If you want to provide contact information for the organizer of the event, provide contact information in the “Organizer” section(9).
If this is an external event(e.g. An event of a chapter), you may provide a website link for this event(10).
Collecting RSVPs
If you want to collect RSVPs for this event, you can click “Add RSVP” in the “Tickets” section of the page.
You may select the name of the RSVP(e.g. “Attend this Event”) and provide a description, in which you can provide some more information about the information needed.
You can then select a time period during which it is possible to sign up for the event.
You may provide a maximum capacity for this event as well. The site will then lock sign-ups when reached.
Below, in the “Attendee Information” section of the event, you can add any survey questions that attendees will have to fill out to submit the RSVP, if needed.
This works exactly like a Google Form and can be evaluated as such after the fact.
For example, here, users will be required to choose if they prefer their mineral water with or without gas, and can optionally enter their favorite kind of pretzel.
A short intro :)
Short instruction video which will guide you through the front-end look as well as the back-end process.
Remember: One at a time - don't overload :)
3 layers of oikos Governance
oikos Decision Making Stairs
Our circle structure.
Want to learn more about Circles at oikos International? Check that out here on our Wiki page.
The first email
Choose "Create Account"
Choose a secure master password.
Click "Send Email"
Click "Verify Email Address Now"
Our beautiful breakout rooms :)
Our current bases (June 2022)
Responsibilities cluster into roles, roles form a circle
