Resolve overlapping OSMF and Local Chapter membership scheme
Given that the OSMF and Local Chapters are both membership-based organisations, there are a few potential issues due to this overlapping membership scheme:
- People may become confused if they need to become a member of one or both organisations or whether they even want to join both or just one of them. Maybe this can be solved by having really clear and coordinated messaging or communications coming from both the OSMF and Local Chapters especially on their respective websites.
- If a person wants to become more involved than just being a mapper, there is now an implicit competition between the OSMF and the Local Chapter for this person's greater involvement especially if the person can only commit to joining just one organisation. There is also no easy way for the person to know about the existence of Local Chapters in their area (aside from the OSM community index), while the OSMF has the advantage of controlling the OSM website and thus be able to push OSMF's messaging.
- If a person wants to become a member of both organisations, the membership fee burden might become too heavy. The OSMF's Active Contributor Membership scheme could alleviate this problem somewhat but the ACM scheme only confers associate membership to the OSMF, not regular/normal membership.
- Having a joint membership structure or agreement, wherein a person who joins the Local Chapter might automatically become an OSMF member as well (or some other similar scheme) might be a solution. However, the OSMF and Local Chapters are wholly separate organisations that are legally independent of each other (LCs are not subsidiaries of the OSMF) and so a joint membership solution might not be legally appropriate especially concerning membership criteria, membership fees, and member rights and responsibilities.