Because CHR Media Collective (CHR) backs different projects such as Turning the Tide, Far Out Films, etc.,  deciding how to organize ourselves has been a tricky affair. It's true that there are plenty of people interested in specific projects we work on, but on the whole it's almost impossible to sustain broad support or interest in all projects. Many people, it turns out, are indifferent to projects outside of the ones they work on.

Not there's anything wrong with this, of course. It helps keeps us focused. But for this reason, decision making within our collective involves a two-tiered approach, which is intended to keep CHR from falling apart at its seams while still allowing each project to operate with considerable autonomy. We feel that this approach is the best way for us to act in tune with the democratic, decentralized principles we believe in.

As our collective has evolved, our organizational model has undergone revisions. Our current model consists of a core group and individual media projects. What follows is a rough sketch of how the model functions.

The Core Group

At our basic level is our core group, which is made up of the people most involved with CHR. It currently consists of three people. This group is responsible for giving CHR vision, planning for the collective's future, and related activities.

The core group must agree unanimously to do the following:

• Bring others into the core.
• Decide how funds are appropriated.
• Introduce new projects.
• Cancel projects. (For certain large scale projects, it would be necessary to consult the individuals working on them.)
• Revise our organizational model.
• Decide on official CHR policies regarding copyrights, etc.

Anyone who volunteers and contributes substantially to CHR (for instance, by aiding in the publication of a book or journal) is elligible for membership in our core group, to be determined by a unanimous vote of the collective's core members.

In addition to this, members of the core group also handle certain basic responsibilities, such as maintaining the website, handling outside inquiries, and so on. Currently there is no way to address conflicts between the core and individual media projects should they arise.

Individual Media Projects

Individual media projects (such as Turning the Tide) are voted into existence by a unanimous decision of the core group. At least one core member must be involved with each project. From there, we leave it up to project members to decide how they would like to organize and run their projects.

As far as this is concerned, one option might be recursion: a project group might simply treat their group as a sub-core group, and then reapply the CHR model at this other level.

Individual projects can be cancelled (or deemed complete) by their members.

Funds Appropriation

Most of our media projects require some money to print. There are two ways to pay for these projects:

1. The CHR general fund: The general fund is for the benefit of the entire group, controlled at the discretion of the core group. A unanimous vote determines how these funds are spread. In general, though, our core group is in the red.
2. Individual initiative: People involved with individual media projects are free to raise money for those projects, which they are not obligated to share with the general fund. For instance, the individual group that produces Turning the Tide sells advertisements in order to defray printing costs. Due to the scale of this project, there is no reason why this group should be forced to place its funds in the general group.