Seeking Feedback from Our Community Members on Proposed Organisational Values: Your Perspective Matters!

At OLS, our community is at the heart of everything we do. To ensure our core principles reflect and represent the collective vision and aspirations of our members, we are delighted to share the revised draft of our Organisational Values, which is now open for community review!

The Community Review Period runs throughout April and May 2025, with the last day for comments being 30th May 2025.

Background

The current version of the OLS’s values draft was developed through discussions and internal reviews from the OLS Team and our Governance Advisory Committee in 2023 and 2024. We have taken the time to reflect on what defines OLS since our launch in 2020, and how we want to operate as a community-driven organisation over the coming years.

Now, we’re opening the draft for community review via a Google Document - draft in comment mode here.

We have also shared details on the ols-governance GitHub Repository (issue #12), where all comments will be summarised periodically before a final draft is merged.

Who is in our community

Our community members include Open Seeds and Nebula fellows, mentors, experts, and collaborators of the OLS community. Your perspective is integral to shaping the foundational values of OLS that will guide the work of everyone involved.

How to Share Your Feedback

We’ve made it easy for you to contribute to the draft directly via a Google Document. Please access the draft in comment mode here

You can suggest edits, leave new comments, or respond to other comments. If you prefer using GitHub, you can directly leave your comments on the ols-governance GitHub Repository (issue #12).

Review Timeline

Here’s a breakdown of the review process and important dates to keep in mind:

Preparation and Announcement (Before 7th April)

• OLS leadership has finalised the Draft with approval from our governance committee.
• Feedback will be collected via the Google Doc and summarised on a GitHub issue (linked to this post).

This announcement marks the start of the Community Review Period!

Community Review Period (April - May 2025 - Deadline: 30th May)

• We will actively monitor the Google Document for your initial questions and comments, and share them on the GitHub issue linked to this post. Your feedback through these channels will be really helpful.
• Mid-Review Check-in (End of April 2025): We will summarise the feedback received up to this point, address common themes, and assess if any additional support is needed.
• Final Feedback Push (Leading up to 30th May): We will send out reminders as the deadline approaches.

Deadline for Comments: Friday, 30th May 2025.

Analysis and Revision (1-2 Weeks after 30th May)

• We will carefully compile and analyse all the feedback we receive from our community.
• Key themes, suggestions, and concerns will be identified and addressed.
• The values document will be revised based on your input, considering the impact and feasibility of suggestions.
• All changes made will be documented, along with the reasoning behind them.

The final version of the values document will be approved by the OLS team and the Governance Committee.

Communication and Implementation

The finalised organisational values will be communicated back to the community, accompanied by a summary of the feedback we received and the resulting changes. We will then operationalise and implement these values across all aspects of OLS.

Join us in finalising our shared values!

We encourage and welcome your contributions to the values draft and invite engagement in this review process. Your participation will help us shape the guiding values for OLS!

If you have any immediate questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to OLS directors by emailing directors@we-are-ols.org.