Volunteer Recognition
Earned by real contributions — never self-claimed
We recognize sustained volunteer work with warm, progression-based badges. Each badge maps one-to-one to a GitHub access role, so your recognition and the rights you hold grow together — mirroring the Contributor Ladder.
An always-rolling count for annual reporting, sliced by month, year, and lifetime. The aggregate includes every recognized volunteer; names below are shown only with consent.
Badge tiers
Six tiers, each mapped to the GitHub access role it grants. You move up as your contribution history grows and the board certifies your work.
1. Spark
Public contributor (no special access)Your first contributions, made from public forks — no special access needed.
What this role grants
- •Fork public repositories and open pull requests
- •Comment on issues and pull requests
- •No write access to FFC repositories
How it's earned
- ✓At least one merged pull request in your commit history
- ✓Followed the code of conduct and contribution guidelines
Ladder alignment: Contributor
2. Crew
Read (organization member)Welcomed into the org as a member with read access across FFC repositories.
What this role grants
- •Read and clone organization repositories
- •Be @-mentioned and added to teams
- •Open issues and pull requests from branches
How it's earned
- ✓A few merged contributions evidenced in commit history
- ✓Board/maintainer confirmation you are an active volunteer
Ladder alignment: Contributor → Unpaid Intern
3. Trusted Crew
TriageTrusted to help manage the backlog and keep contributions moving.
What this role grants
- •Everything Read grants, plus:
- •Label, assign, and close issues and pull requests
- •Request pull-request reviews and apply milestones
How it's earned
- ✓Sustained, reviewed contributions in commit history
- ✓Demonstrated good judgement triaging others’ work
- ✓Board/maintainer certification
Ladder alignment: Unpaid Intern
4. Builder
WriteShips directly: pushes branches and merges reviewed work.
What this role grants
- •Everything Triage grants, plus:
- •Push to branches and merge approved pull requests
- •Manage releases and edit repository wikis
How it's earned
- ✓A solid body of merged work in commit history
- ✓Relevant certification (MS-900, GitHub Foundations, Canva, GA4, or Workspace)
- ✓Board/maintainer certification
Ladder alignment: Paid Intern
5. Steward
MaintainMaintains repositories and guides the next generation of contributors.
What this role grants
- •Everything Write grants, plus:
- •Manage repository settings (except destructive/admin actions)
- •Manage branch protection and repository topics
How it's earned
- ✓A long, consistent contribution history
- ✓Mentored other contributors through their growth
- ✓Board/maintainer certification
Ladder alignment: Mentor
6. Captain
AdminOwns the platform: full administrative authority across the organization.
What this role grants
- •Everything Maintain grants, plus:
- •Full repository administration and team management
- •Manage organization members, roles, and security policy
How it's earned
- ✓Demonstrated excellence as a Steward over time
- ✓Trusted with organization-wide administration
- ✓Board certification
Ladder alignment: Maintainer
How recognition is validated
Badges are awarded by maintainers — never self-claimed. Every award is validated against two independent sources of truth:
1. GitHub commit history
Your merged contributions are the public, tamper-evident record of the work you did.
2. Charity-board certification
The charity board (or FFC) directly certifies the contribution and its impact.
Recognized volunteers are recorded in a committed data file (src/data/recognition.ts), updated by maintainers. This also feeds the military volunteer pathway — MOVSM — where certified hours matter.
Recognized volunteers
Shown with each volunteer's consent. Recognition is opt-in — volunteers can be counted in the aggregate above without appearing here.