Membership agreement

A membership agreement is the contract between a person and a community. It is distinct from the community’s general agreements Agreements The written rules a community has consented to. Distinct from values: agreements say what happens, and what follows when it does not., which govern how the group runs; this one governs your particular relationship to it.

Ask to read it during the visitor period Visitor period A defined stay during which a prospective member lives roughly as a member does. Where most of the mutual assessment actually happens., not at the point of signing.

The eight things a good one covers

1. What you pay, when, and what it buys — the entry sum, the monthly charge, and which legal shell you end up in.
2. What you are expected to contribute in labour and meeting attendance, stated in hours rather than in spirit.
3. What you may decide, alone and with others, and what needs the group.
4. How the agreements change, and whether your consent is needed for changes affecting your own stake.
5. How you leave voluntarily — notice period, how your stake is valued, how long payment takes.
6. How the community may ask you to leave — grounds, who decides, what warnings come first, what you receive.
7. What happens if you cannot pay, through illness, job loss or a change of circumstance.
8. Where disputes go when the two of you disagree about any of the above.

A community that hands you a document covering all eight has done the work. Missing items are not necessarily a red flag — many communities are simply young — but each gap is a decision that will be made later, under pressure, by whoever is in the room.