Announcing the NixOS Foundation Board Rotation – Call for Nominations!
Hey Everyone!
TL;DR: We are initiating the rotation process for the NixOS Foundation board! Ron (me) will be formally moving to the role of President/Chariman (name in the bylaws) for the upcoming rotation. This is your opportunity to nominate yourself or others for key leadership roles. Below, you’ll find detailed information about each role, the nomination process, and how you can get involved.
- All roles in the foundation are unpaid/voluntary per the bylaws.
Role of the Foundation in Nix
The NixOS Foundation plays a crucial role in supporting and sustaining the Nix ecosystem. According to our Nix Governance Constitution, the Foundation is responsible for legal, financial, and partnership decisions, working in tandem with the Steering Committee (SC) to ensure the community’s wants and needs are met.
Foundation Roles, Responsibilities, and Descriptions
Below is a high level view. It’s important to note that the board members will be working together across all areas. The reason we have a more explicit definition of roles is to ensure that there is sufficient coverage of the areas the board is responsible/accountable for and in general continuity as we move into terms/rotations. Therefore even if you don’t meet the “preferred experiences” section, I highly encourage folks to submit nominations. The president/chairman, treasurer, and secretary roles are required by the bylaws. General preference across all roles is familiarity with our community 
While I’ve been informally running the foundation for most of the past year, I will take the role of chair for the current rotation, opening up my prior role of Treasurer officially. I will be focusing more of my time in nurturing and passing over knowledge to others around the foundation for future transitions. Role description for that can also be found below.
Open Roles for Rotation
1. Treasurer
Role Description: The Treasurer manages the financial health of the NixOS Foundation, overseeing all financial operations, managing budget, and ensuring compliance with financial regulations and tax obligations. The Treasurer will also define and execute central fundraising efforts. In order to gain access to our current bank accounts we need the Treasurer to be an EU citizen. We can look into transitioning this to another bank in the future where such restrictions don’t exist.
Preferred Experiences:
- Background in finance, accounting, or a related experience in other roles.
- Familiarity or interest to learn financial regulations and tax laws relevant to nonprofits.
- Experience managing fundraising efforts
2. Secretary
Role Description: The Secretary is responsible for managing all documentation and communications within and outside of the NixOS Foundation, ensuring transparency, accurate record-keeping, and effective information dissemination.
Preferred Experiences:
- Experience communicating projects or progress to large ecosystems or multiple stakeholders.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- High level of accuracy in record-keeping and documentation.
3. Director of Legal Affairs
Role Description: The Director of Legal Affairs ensures that the NixOS Foundation operates within the legal framework, manages legal risks, and provides guidance on legal matters to support the foundation’s activities and growth.
Preferred Experiences:
- Understanding of or willingness to learn about handling legal matters in non-profits/open source projects/other settings.
- Understanding of or willingness to learn about nonprofit law, intellectual property, and governance.
4. Director of Community Support
Role Description: The Director of Community Support is responsible for supporting and executing community efforts where they are needed, being a strong partner for technical needs in collaborations with the board, and supporting new initiatives.
Preferred Experiences:
- Experience or willingness to learn in project management, non-profits, or a related field, preferably within the tech or open-source sectors.
- Experience with Nix contributions or experience across the Nix/NixOS stack.
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build and maintain strategic partnerships.
General Preferences
- One dutch speaker on the board
- One person who has prior knowledge around dutch entities/taxes - can be outsourced as well
Other Roles
Chairman/President (Ron will transition to this role from Treasurer)
Role Description: The chairman leads partnership efforts, is responsible for nurturing relationships, and ensures the NixOS Foundation continues operating smoothly. This person is also responsible for explicit continuity for the board.
Preferred Experiences:
- Experience in a leadership role within an open-source or nonprofit organization.
- A few years managing multiple projects (program management)
- Partnership, relationship, ecosystem building and nurturing experience
- Ability to develop and implement strategic initiatives internally and externally.
Rotation Process
- Nomination Period:
- Duration: 6 weeks (due to holidays), targeting Jan 22
- How to Nominate: Submit nominations in the board nominations GitHub issue. You can nominate yourself or others for specific roles.
- Review and Selection:
- The current board and Steering Committee (SC) will review all nominations based on the roles’ requirements.
- A joint approval process will be conducted to select the most suitable candidates.
- Onboarding:
- Accepted nominations will undergo the onboarding process, including a legal registration with the Dutch foundation.
- Board members will serve two-year terms, with the possibility of renewal as outlined in our constitution.
Next Steps and How to Get Involved
- Review Roles: Familiarize yourself with the roles and responsibilities outlined above.
- Submit Nominations: Visit our GitHub issues page to nominate yourself or others.
- Participate: Engage with the community and support the nomination process by providing feedback and endorsements.
- Stay Informed: Follow updates on the Steering Committee’s and Foundations Discourse posts and join our Matrix channel for ongoing discussions.
Looking forward to continuing our mission to build a Sustainable Nix.
Best,
Ron, the Board, the SC