Governing Board Committees
The Committees of the Governing Board are subgroups focusing on specific areas of interest to The Matrix Foundation. They are the primary working units of the Board and consist exclusively of Board members.
An important function of Committees is to host Working Groups which enable broader community participation in the Foundation. Working Groups are made of volunteer members, along with a Board Member to coordinate with the rest of the Governing Board and other Working Groups.
You can learn more about how Committees work in the Bylaws of the Governing Board.
There are currently 4 Committees:
Community
Charter
Purpose
The community represents the majority of the individuals interested in Matrix. As such the community can be a major driving force behind the adoption and development of Matrix. On the other hand the community also has strong opinions and expectations.
The Community Committee tries to bridge that gap to foster a healthy relationship with the community. It helps organize outreach and steers communication from the Foundation while encouraging participation and listening to concerns from the community.
Powers and Duties
The community committee:
- is responsible for and defines guidelines for outbound communication
- plans or supports community outreach
- provides and improves options for community participation
- enables the community to collaborate with each other
- categorizes community concerns and helps align interests in the wider ecosystem
- maintains documentation and information channels for the community
Some of these duties might be delegated to working groups, where the Community Committee acts as the supervisor.
Members
Gnuxie, Greg Sutcliffe, Kim Brose, Matthew Hodgson, Nicolas Werner, Robin Riley
Chair: Nicolas Werner
Vice Chair: vacant
Meeting Schedule
The committee aims to meet on the last Monday of the month.
Governance
Charter
Purpose
The Governance Committee exists to determine how The Matrix Foundation should be structured. It determines why the Foundation is structured the way it is, or look for alternatives when the Foundation has visible flaws.
The Governance Committee determines the values of the Foundation. This regards autonomy towards individual sponsors, the future of the Foundation, and to handle governance issues such as disagreements between the Governing Board and the Guardians.
Powers and Duties
The Governance Committee has:
- The ability to coordinate with the Managing Director and the Guardians to fill any vacant seats on the Governing Board.
- The responsibility to maintain the board's processes (such as chair/vice-chair votes & elections)
- The responsibility to offer advice on the Foundation's scope and focus, determining what values the Foundation should prioritize.
- The designation to evaluate the wider Foundation's processes and its organisational branches whenever the Governing Board as a whole is expected to do so.
Members
Brad Murray, Bram Noordstar, Gnuxie, Greg Sutcliffe, Kim Brose, Jan Kohnert, Neil Johnson, Nicolas Werner, Robin Riley, Travis Ralston
Chair: Bram Noordstar
Vice Chair: Neil Johnson
Meeting schedule
The committee aims to meet every second Tuesday of the month. Given the high frequency, Governance Committee members are expected to attend at least once every quarter.
Trust & Safety
Charter
Purpose
From a T&S perspective Matrix can be seen as the following groups:
- Homeserver operators providing hosting for groups of users
- Room & community moderators fostering communities on Matrix
- Individual participants in rooms and communities
- The Foundation responsible for the overall perception of the Matrix protocol and ecosystem
These groups have different requirements for moderation. The Trust and Safety Committee represents the interests of these different groups on the Governing Board. Matrix should be a welcoming space and to keep illegal or abusive material out of Matrix we need moderation and effective tooling.
Pledge of Confidentiality
The T&S committee will sometimes have to deal with confidential data, possibly because of legal reasons, possibly because of active abuse concerns. While the GB as a whole and the T&S committee specifically try to be transparent, there will be times where the T&S committee should keep certain information confidential and only share it with specific individuals. As the T&S committee we pledge to keep information confidential when necessary while still being transparent and open where possible.
Powers and Duties
The T&S committee is responsible for:
- forming working groups around T&S
- driving initiatives to improve T&S for one or multiple of the groups listed under "Purpose"
- enable collaboration and interactions between different individuals and groups trying to improve T&S
- collaborating with the Matrix.org T&S team
- together with the Matrix.org T&S team propose changes to policies for the operation of the Matrix.org homeserver as well as community interactions in other public channels (Code of Conduct and its application)
- document best practices related to T&S for communities and server operators
Members
Bram Noordstar, J. B. Crawford, Jan Kohnert, Matthew Hodgson, Nicolas Werner, Robin Riley, Tobias Fella, Travis Ralston
Chair: J. B. Crawford
Vice Chair: Nicolas Werner
Meeting Schedule
The committee should meet at least once every 2 months to discuss current topics, priorities initiatives, gather feedback and share knowledge.
Finance & Fundraising
Charter
Purpose
The Finance and Fundraising Committee exists to support fundraising and financial sustainability, as well as to oversee the annual budget and any unbudgeted expenses over the threshold defined in the Terms of Reference (set at $50,000 as of 2025-03-06).
The Committee may agree to take on other finance-related projects, as appropriate, in partnership with the Foundation staff, Governing Board, or Guardians on a one-off basis. Anything more than a one-off should trigger a charter update.
Powers and duties
The Finance and Fundraising Committee:
- The responsibility to review and provide feedback on financial documents, like budgets.
- The responsibility to review and provide feedback on unbudgeted expenses over the threshold defined in the Terms of Reference (set at $50,000 as of 2025-03-06).
- The power to recommend that the Governing Board approve, approve with changes, or reject with cause an annual budget or major unbudgeted expense.
- The power to operate a Fundraising Working Group to support fundraising activities.
- The ability to take on other financial matters as appropriate.
- The obligation to treat financial documents as confidential to the Governing Board unless explicitly authorized to share by the Managing Director or Guardians.
Members
Amandine Le Pape, Andy Balaam, Brad Murray, Greg Sutcliffe, J. B. Crawford, Matthew Hodgson, Nicolas Werner, Richard van der Hoff, Travis Ralston
Chair: Robin Riley
Vice Chair: vacant
Meeting schedule
The Committee should meet at least once a quarter, and should meet more frequently when preparing a budget for the Governing Board’s review. Additional meetings may be required if new time sensitive matters arise that merit synchronous discussion.