E-nablio is e-NABLE's Loomio Forum.

We use it to discuss, review, propose and fund proposals!

To participate, please Join this group and Login

Then look for Current Decisions and Past Decisions in the column to the right.

Have a project you'd like to undertake for the e-NABLE volunteer community? Create a new thread to discuss it, and when you think it's it's ripe, write a proposal in that thread to allow the community to vote on whether or not the project should move forward. Project proposals may include a request for funding, but this is optional (some projects may not require funding).

To ensure everyone has the information needed to make an informed decision, each project proposal should include the following information at a minimum:

1. Clear description of work to be performed

2. Expected results/impact

3. Estimate of work effort involved (# of hours)

4. Estimated timeline for completion of the effort

5. Names of individuals responsible for completing work

6. Amount of funding being requested (if any) - please specify an exact amount, not a range. If the project is approved, we need to know how much funding to allocate

7. A brief overview of your background with e-NABLE (work you've done in the past) - so people know who is proposing the project

Feel free to include a link to a Google Doc with a more detailed project outline.

Ownership of work products

In the spirit of the e-NABLE community, any work products resulting from a funded project will be considered open source and available for anyone to use. Please be prepared to share your work so others may benefit from your results.

To Submit a Project Proposal

To submit a project proposal, go to the main E-nablio page on Loomio and click the New Thread button. Copy and paste the template content below and provide the details for your proposal. Allow an open discussion of your proposal for at least one week before voting begins.

The Discussion and Voting Process

Discussion prior to voting

On September 20, 2020, the community voted to approve a new policy stating that new proposals would require a discussion period of 1 week before voting starts.

Although the policy was approved, it has not always been observed. Some proposals initiated a vote without a prior discussion. To address this issue, we have adjusted Loomio permissions so that anyone can create a new discussion thread, but only admins are allowed to start the voting process for a new proposal. Email support@e-nable.org if you need assistance with starting a new vote.

Voting duration and extensions of voting deadlines

Each proposal should have a voting period of 10 calendar days, with no extensions (unless admins determine that it's appropriate)

There should be no changes to proposals within 48 hours of the closing deadline. That way, If changes are made that people have time to vote, or change their votes if they choose.

Voting on your own proposals

The lead proposal author/submitter should not vote on their own proposals.

Requirements to participate in voting

The Loomio voting process is designed to ensure that active participants in the e-NABLE community have a say in policy and funding decisions. One should not try to recruit non-active friends and/or family members to help get a proposal passed. Eligible voters must have:

(1) Joined the e-NABLE Hub, and

(2) Introduced self in the e-NABLE Hub

Each of the above activities results in a digital badge being awarded. e-NABLE admins will check to see that these two badges have been obtained at least 10 days before the new membership requests to Loomio are approved.

Calculations for a passing vote

To be approved, each project proposal must receive at least 20 total votes, with at least 80% of the total votes in support of the project. 10% or more Disagree votes would require discussion in a Town Hall meeting.

If a proposal has at least 90% support (agree votes) but lacks the required total number of votes (20 or more), the voting period may be extended to allow additional people to vote.

Block votes:

In addition to “Agree,” “Abstain,” and “Disagree,” Loomio also provides a “Block” option when voting

If anyone votes to block, this puts any final decisions on hold until the next Town Hall Meeting (currently held each Friday). Voting can proceed, but the voting will not be closed until this discussion takes place.

The blocking voter is expected to attend the next weekly Town Hall meeting to discuss the reasons for the block vote. At the end of this discussion, the attendees of the Town Hall will vote to decide whether to lift the block and allow voting to proceed or to cancel the vote in its current form.

If the blocking voter does not show up to the Town Hall meeting, that person’s block vote can be sustained or canceled by a vote of those in attendance.

Project Sponsorship

While not required, it is recommended that mini-grant proposals be sponsored by an e-NABLE Chapter. A proposal that includes a chapter sponsorship will have a higher likelihood of being approved.

Here are some suggestions for having a proposal sponsored:

• The project owner can be part of an e-NABLE Chapter and the chapter can act as project sponsor.

• If the project owner is not part of a chapter, the project owner may connect with an existing chapter and ask them to sponsor the project.

• The project owner will report the project status to the chapter, and the chapter will report back to the community via weekly SPC (Strategic Planning Committee) meetings.

• The funds will be given to the chapter, and the chapter will allocate funds to the project owner/team based on project deliverables.

• The project owner will be accountable for the project deliverables and the Chapter will act as the project sponsor, ensuring that project deliverables are completed and commitments fulfilled.

. . .

Project Proposal Template (copy and paste the below content to create your own proposal)

Proposals can also include images, links, etc., using Markdown.

A convenient markdown editor can be found here:

Description of Proposed Project:

[Replace with your content]

Expected results/impact:

[Replace with your content]

Estimate of work effort involved:

[Replace with your content]

Estimated timeline for completion:

[Replace with your content]

Names of individuals responsible for deliverables:

[Replace with your content]

Amount of funding being requested:

[Replace with your content]

A brief overview of my background with e-NABLE:

[Replace with your content]

NOTE: The formatting will not transfer when you copy and paste to a new proposal. Preface a line with # (followed by a space) to format it as a heading.