Offboarding a Chapter

Draft

Offboarding is the process of formally closing a chapter, whether by choice (organizers decide to stop) or as a result of prolonged inactivity or a policy violation. The goal is to close things down respectfully, protect the community's members, and cleanly recover shared assets.

When Offboarding Applies

• The organizing team chooses to stop running the chapter and no successor can be found (see Transferring a Chapter first, if possible).
• The chapter has been inactive beyond the warning grace period (see Requirements: escalation path).
• A serious or repeated Code of Conduct violation has occurred.
• The chapter is found to be used for commercial or for-profit purposes.

Offboarding Checklist

1. Notify leadership. Organizers (or leadership, in the involuntary case) formally confirm the chapter is closing via the chapter lead Discord channel or email to support@globalai.community.
2. Communicate to members. Post a farewell/closure announcement on the chapter's Meetup, socials, and Discord, thanking the community and pointing members to nearby chapters or the global community.
3. Wind-down period. Allow a short window (suggested: 30 days) for any in-flight events or commitments to be honored or cancelled gracefully.
4. Revoke access and hand back assets:
   • Chapter @globalai.community email account is deactivated.
   • Ownership of the Meetup group is transferred back to the Global AI Community Network or archived.
   • LinkedIn Showcase page is archived or unpublished.
   • Discord roles/permissions for the organizers are removed; the chapter's dedicated channels (if any) are archived.
   • Any Azure/sponsor subscriptions tied to the chapter are reclaimed (see Chapter Benefits: Azure).
5. Update the record. Leadership marks the chapter as closed in the Chapter Dashboard and removes it from public chapter listings.
6. Retrospective (optional but encouraged). A short written note from the outgoing organizers on lessons learned, to help future chapters in similar cities.

Good Standing on Exit

Chapters that close voluntarily and in good standing (no CoC violations, assets returned) remain eligible to apply again in the future, and former organizers are welcome to support the launch of a successor chapter.