Discussion: How to handle conflict of interest situations

Recently, I realized that communtity organizers do sometimes face conflict of interest situations ,but the team does not really have clear guidelines about how to avoid them, nor best practices for when there is one.

To give an example of my idea about what kind of conflict of interest situation we might have: Digory is from Narnia. They are also Community Team DeputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook., MeetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. and WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. organizer. Someone who has been working with Digory in previous WordCamp team, applies to have WordCamp Archenland (a city in Narnia). Digory notices the application and does the vetting for it.

Another example: Eustace works for Acme Inc., and is also a WordPress Meetup organizer in the city of Harfang. Now Acme Inc. would like to sponsor meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. in Harfang and pay for the delicious baked apples served to attendees.

Sometimes it is necessary that a person close to the situation (part of the local community, for example), is involved. But sometimes, that person might be just too close to the situation or to others who are involved or impacted.

I’d like us to have a discussion about few questions;

  1. What different kinds of conflict of interest situations we have now and what we might encounter in the future?
  2. How to work around those?
  3. Can we accept the conflict of interest in some situations?
  4. What would be the best approach to disclose situations where someone notices a conflict of interest?

This is a large topic, but very important considering the future of our growing Community program and how it will look. That’s why I’m asking everyone to take a good long time to think about the possible situations, consider them, and discuss in the comments.

Commenting will be open until September 9th, after which I will draft a proposal about handling conflict of interest situations, or publish a new blog post for further discussion.