Status: Draft v2025-08-13
License: CC0
OpenStreetMap runs on people and places. "Local communities" are any groups of mappers - online or in person - who build and use OSM. "Local Chapters" are one formal expression of community, not the only one. The OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) supports the project but does not control it. Our goal is to empower all communities to thrive, equally.
- Bottom-up initiatives over top-down management
- Local communities over formal chapters (we value both, but communities are broader)
- Self-organization over institutional control
- Open networks over hierarchies
- Informal cooperation over paperwork
- Trust and reputation over contracts
- Inclusion and language access over gatekeeping
- Ground truth and local knowledge over remote assumptions
- Transparent dialogue over closed decisions
- Sustainable volunteer energy over short-term metrics
- Many ways to belong. Any group of mappers is a community. Legal status is optional.
- Chapters are not the only path. Chapters are great when needed, but must not be a gate to support or voice.
- Nothing about a place without its mappers. Local people lead on local mapping and priorities.
- Lightweight affiliation. Provide a simple, non-legal "Community Chapter" path with minimal criteria.
- Coordinators, not ambassadors. Communities nominate rotating coordinators; they represent, they do not rule.
- Direct links beat bureaucracy. Communities can connect to each other without layers in between.
- Language first. Communication and consultations should work beyond English; translation is a core support.
- Safe, respectful spaces. Moderation and codes of conduct protect contributors and welcome newcomers.
- Open support for small groups. Microgrants, training, and tools must be accessible to informal teams.
- Feedback loops. Data users, organized editors, and volunteers share signals, and the community decides.
- Create "Community Chapters". A lightweight, non-legal affiliation alongside Local Chapters: 1-page MoU, public contact, basic code of conduct, community-nominated coordinator(s).
- Publish a global Community Directory. On the community platform, list all groups (geographic and interest-based), contacts, languages, channels (Matrix, Telegram, Discourse), and a simple "how to join".
- Open input channels to the Board and Working Groups. Quarterly community calls with rotating time zones; translated call-for-comment threads on key topics; fast feedback summaries back to communities.
- Stand up a Community Advisory Circle. A small, rotating group of coordinators from diverse regions and interests that meets with the Board and Working Groups and posts public notes.
- Fund the grassroots. Rolling microgrants (small, fast decisions), travel stipends for regional SotMs, budget for translation and community tooling, and an annual "community support" line item.
- Offer legal and fiscal help without forcing incorporation. Provide template policies, basic legal guidance, and optional fiscal hosting for events and small grants where local banking is hard.
- Invest in community tooling. Shared video rooms (Jitsi), bridged chats, starter kits for meetups and mapathons, onboarding guides, conflict-resolution playbooks.
- Measure what matters. Track inclusion signals (new contributors retained, languages supported, geographic coverage of support), not just raw edits.
- Embed local knowledge in strategy. For major decisions, run a short, time-boxed community comment period with translated summaries; publish "how input changed the outcome".
- Keep chapters strong, too. Simplify chapter affiliation, offer operations and finance templates, and support new chapters where legal entities are needed, without making them the only route.
- A mapper can find a nearby or interest-based group in minutes.
- Informal groups get small funds and tools without forming a nonprofit.
- Board decisions show clear community input.
- Chapters thrive, and so do many non-chapter communities.
- More languages, more women and under-represented groups, more regions active and heard.
This is an emoji free, AI assisted draft released under CC0. Improve and reuse as you like.