How to Create a Community Calendar Policy Agreement
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How to Create a Community Calendar Policy Agreement
Hosting a community calendar is a great service to your community, but also comes with it some added responsibility. You are responsible for the content that shows up on your calendar and the gatekeeper for the organizations that wish to share their events on your website. When creating a standard contract or agreement for new organizations signing up for your community calendar, create policies that align with your organization’s values.
Here are a few items you may want to clarify in your guidelines to potential posters.
GUIDELINES FOR JOINING
These are the minimum requirements that an organization must meet to be added to your calendar.
- No exclusive or hate groups
- No extremist political or religious groups
- No adult clubs or establishments
- Some community calendar hosts may choose to also exclude for-profit businesses. If you choose to include these groups, you may want to further clarify that they exclude happy hour specials and sales.
TYPES OF EVENTS YOU WANT POSTED AND THOSE YOU DON’T
You know what kind of events you want to see on your calendar. Make it very clear to the groups that join what events you will allow and will not allow them to post on your calendar.
- Educational
- Social
- Cultural
- Recreational
- No events that will include illegal or offensive activity
- No private events
- No advertising or selling of products or services
- No events that discriminate or exclude individuals based on race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), age, or disability
HOW OFTEN THEY SHOULD POST
Some organizations host daily or weekly events, but others may only have one or two each year. Some organizations may also be very sporadic in posting after a while. Hold them to a standard from the beginning. Getting a spot of your calendar and dropdown of community organizations may want to be reserved for those organizations that have events on a regular basis, are detailed in their event descriptions, and are responsible enough to post them. You may also wish to give them a limit of events they can post, you don’t want another organization’s events bumping everyone else’s down on your calendar.
- Daily
- Weekly
- Monthly
- Limit of events they are allowed to post
REMIND THEM THAT YOU’RE IN CHARGE
- They can be removed at any time for any reason.
LANGUAGE
Don’t let your calendar be their afterthought. Express the need for proper spelling and grammar.
- Spelling
- Grammar
- Foul language
RESPONSIBILITY
Make sure to cover the items that the posting groups will be responsible for on their end.
- Editing their events – update for time changes, location changes, and cancellations
- Answering questions – if someone has questions about their event on your calendar, be sure to clarify that someone needs to be ready to field those questions on their end.
OUTLINE OF POLICY AGREEMENT
- Purpose of your community calendar
- How they can sign up
- Specify guidelines and requirements
- Signature and date area
Create a community calendar policy that can be signed, dated, and returned to you before granting groups access to post on your calendar. While groups may be part of your community, they may not have events that serve the best interest of your calendar. Be selective with the organizations you work with and clear in what you expect from them and you can guarantee that your calendar will attract the attention of the community for all the right reasons.