Cupburger Code of Conduct

Cupburger is a mutual aid organisation and adheres to the principles of mutual aid: that people give what they can and receive what they need, though solidarity not charity.
It is a core principle of Cupburger that all decisions we make hold in mind the people we could potentially help. That’s our primary goal – to help folk in need. All decisions are made with these people in mind, not to further our own personal goals, aims or objectives.

We expect all members and volunteers to have respect for one another and to behave in a professional manner when carrying out responsibilities and/or engaging with Cupburger.

Cupburger is an informal, voluntary organisation that operates within a tight-knit community. This means that often those seeking support from Cupburger are also our friends. We therefore do not have the same expectations of our members that businesses or charities with paid employees may have. However, professional boundaries are required to ensure we are operating in a safe, consistent, and transparent manner.

They are outlined below:

Professional Behaviour

Any information provided by or about service users through volunteering with Cupburger is considered privileged information.

Cupburger expects all individuals to take holding peoples personal information seriously, we must ensure that wherever possible the sharing of information is limited to absolute need-to-know, to facilitate actions or decision making.

It must not be shared under any circumstances with people outside of Cupburger (unless there is a legitimate safeguarding concern). Where safeguarding concerns arise, the safeguarding procedure must be followed.

You will be expected to maintain a professional distance in relation to the operation of Cupburger.

For example:

Using Cupburger social media or email rather than personal social media accounts to communicate with service users in a professional capacity relating to Cupburger.

All Cupburger social media should only be used in a professional capacity.

Not posting about service users on social media outside agreed and anonymised requests for help.

Passing on a service user and their query to another appropriate volunteer if you are feeling uncomfortable with providing a continued service, for any reason.

Promptly notifying the appropriate team (admin and/or wider group) if you have a conflict of interest with a service user (please see below for examples).

You will be expected to carry out the responsibilities of being a team member or volunteer that you sign up for and have committed to.

You will be expected to adhere to and uphold all other Cupburger policies.

You will be expected not to push yourself beyond your ability, be kind to yourself, and set realistic limits for yourself on the work that you are capable of doing at any given time.

If at any point you feel you need to step away or take a break from Cupburger, we encourage you to openly share this as soon as you’re able. We don’t hold any longstanding expectations on individuals and your self care must come first, but also we need to maintain a team of volunteers to effectively run Cupburger.

Conflicts of Interest

You will not be involved in making any decisions about or delivering any services to a service user where there is a conflict of interest between you and the service user. This includes when:

You are the service user

You and the service user are partnered

You and the service user live together

There is a known interpersonal conflict between yourself and the service user

You are the subject of a complaint submitted by the service user

Complaints or Concerns

We encourage everyone, where possible, to resolve minor conflicts or address minor concerns with each other.

As a group of likeminded people whose primary concern is the support of each other and our service users, it is important that we all strive to support each other if any concerns and complaints do arise. We aim to foster a healthy environment in which concerns can be dealt with in a fair, sensitive, and considerate manner.

We adhere to the principles of restorative and transformative justice over a punitive justice model and aim to restore trust and community cohesion wherever possible. While we do not take punitive measures for the sake of punishment, we may take actions to protect volunteers, service users, or Cupburger as an organisation.

Meetings

While we understand that all Cupburger members are volunteers, it is important keep yourself updated about the running of Cupburger via the discord. All minutes from meetings are readily available and you are encouraged to read these if you are unable to attend any meetings. Occasionally meetings will be recorded.

For all decision making meetings, members should be given a minimum of 2 days notice – if you are unable to attend that meeting but have comments you wish to add please ensure you do this in the discord.

Some decisions will be required to be made in a timely manner, this is all done so that we are supporting people efficiently and to the fullness of our capability. Sometimes this will mean that a decision will need to be made during the meeting – we warmly invite people who aren’t able to attend to share their thoughts in the discord prior to any meeting held to ensure we are capturing everyone’s thoughts.

In the case of emergency meetings, notice may be shorter, but will always be clearly stated in discord and @everyone pings will be utilised.
Minutes will be taken during every meeting, which will be available to all members and after the meeting.

Changes to the Code of Conduct

Cupburger may edit or update the Code of Conduct at any point, however:

Cupburger encourages cooperation and consensus decision-making, so where possible, other members and volunteers should be consulted about changes to the Code of Conduct. Any major changes should be discussed and agreed upon in a general meeting and an audit trail of this will be available in discord.

Regardless of any pending or prior support/contact it is important to remind us all that we are part of a community. We are here to support one another. We highly encourage intra-community support.

Don’t be a dickhead x