Conflict Resolution Coordinator Handoff

Hi fellow CSPC Members! This is Skitty, your HR Director and Conflict Resolution Coordinator. I have been volunteering in these roles (as well as additional roles) for years. This has been a lot of heavy lifting, for a very long time. So, I will be stepping back from the position of Conflict Resolution Coordinator at the 8/13/25 Board Meeting. That may seem like a long time off, but from a handoff sense, there isn’t a moment to lose. 

You may be thinking, “I didn’t know we had a Conflict Resolution Coordinator. What even is that?” Here’s an overview. The Conflict Resolution Coordinator:

• leads the Incident Handling Team

• designs and improves incident handling tools and processes

• collaborates with volunteers in other areas of the CSPC to resolve incidents and reduce the likelihood of future occurrences

• actively designs CSPC policies to promote a culture of consent

Over the past few years, there has been a lot of growth in how we handle consent incidents at the CSPC. I am continuing to lay the groundwork for a team approach to conflict resolution and incident handling that wasn’t viable in the past. My plan is to have a solid, well-functioning structure in place prior to the August handoff. 

Hopefully you are thinking, “What can I do to help?” I’m glad you asked. Here’s what we need:

• Keep practicing consent!

• Keep speaking up when something looks or feels nonconsensual or just “wrong.”

• preferably in the moment, communicate your concerns to those involved and to those who can help problem solve (including Monitors, ECs, and Discord Mods)

• if you are not able to reach resolution, file an incident report or Discord ticket

• Educate yourself! The opportunities are endless.

• Volunteer - your ideas, your time, your expertise.

• If you are already volunteering, train for a position of greater responsibility.

• If you wish to volunteer with the Conflict Resolution Team, email hrdirector@thecspc.org

• Heads-up:

• volunteering with this team requires you to initiate each step

• you need to self-direct and follow through

• an ongoing commitment is required

• willingness to maintain impartiality and confidentiality are mandatory

• If you are already part of the team and are interested in being the next Conflict Resolution Coordinator, email hrdirector@thecspc.org.

I will continue to share more information between now and August. Stay tuned!

Additional Changes for New Member Orientation offerings

We have made some new adjustments to when we offer New Member Orientation based on community feedback, volunteer availability, and event host suggestions. 

Back in April, both Power Play Mixed-Tape and The Grind events ceased to include a New Member Orientation (NMO). These parties now begin one hour earlier and end one hour earlier. 

NEW! We have added Myself! to the list of no-NMO parties. Check the Event Listing for more info!

We are hosting our first in-person New Member Orientation and social hour at the Gallery on June 4th, 2025. If you’re interested in becoming a member and the idea of attending a full party feels like a lot, we encourage you to check out this new NMO format as a gentler introduction to the CSPC and our community.

If you are interested in becoming a NMO leader, please email volunteerliaison@thecspc.org to get more information!

Search for a Certified Public Accountant!

The CSPC Treasurer is seeking a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) to assist with filing our 2024 taxes.

Details:

This is a one-time engagement request to prepare and file the 990 form for non-profits. There is potential for an ongoing relationship to support our future annual tax filings. This would be paid based on a negotiated hourly rate and invoiced as an independent contractor. We have an extension until November of this year and will be conducting a search over the next few months.

Candidate Requirements:

• Licensed CPA 

• Familiar with IRS compliance for non-profits specifically social clubs 501(c)(7) organizations

• Detail-oriented and responsive

• Able to provide references or examples of similar work

• Comfortable with government name being attached to the CSPC

If interested, please email treasurer@thecspc.org with the subject: "CPA Needed" 

In the body include a brief description of your experience, if you are self employed or work for a company, and how long you have been certified. No need to attach a full résumé.

Applications Open for Discord Moderators

• Do you enjoy hanging out in the CSPC Discord server and want to make it a better place to be? 

• Do you have experience moderating online groups or servers? 

• Do you have a solid foundation of knowledge around consent practices and how to enact them in digital spaces? 

You may be a good candidate to help moderate our Discord server! Check out the job description here, and submit an application using the link in the document. We are so excited to build up our moderation team, and look forward to what our membership has to bring. 

Questions? Email Ari at communicationsdirector@thecspc.org. 

We Want to Hear From You

Thanks so much to all the folks who turned out for our March board meeting this past Wednesday evening! We always appreciate getting to hear from the community, especially when there’s something that you’re passionate about.

If you have ideas, thoughts, or concerns, please bring them to a Board member you trust at any time; you don’t have to wait for a Board meeting! You can find email addresses on the Board directory, or fill out a feedback form and use the last question to request someone contact you (you have to provide contact info though, if that’s something you want). If you know a Board member who is on Discord, feel free to ask to DM them, and respect their boundaries around when and where they choose to discuss CSPC business. Please keep in mind that everyone is volunteering their time and can’t always be on call to handle CSPC business immediately, and everyone is doing their best to respond to things in a timely manner.

Lastly, if you have reached out and feel you’re not being heard, please email the Board President directly at Jadzia@thecspc.org. Thank you to everyone for your contributions and ideas for making our community a better place! 

Call for Community Resource Articles

Hi all, Ari here (your Communications Director). I’ve been hearing a call for more community resources to be made available online around various topics including how to vet play partners, ways to practice consent, and sexual health. I want to take this opportunity to tap into the vast knowledge of this community and start building that up! To that end, I want to start collecting articles written by the CSPC membership, for the CSPC membership (and also people who happen to come across our website). 

If you have a topic that you’re knowledgeable on, an experience you had (good or bad) and how you dealt with it, or any information that you think could serve the community, please write it up and send it to communicationsdirector@thecspc.org. If you’ve written up any extensive responses to questions on Discord and just want to copy and paste that into an article, do that!  

Logistics:

A name of your choosing will be attached to the piece, and it will live on our website and appear in the next newsletter following the submission’s approval. Please don’t name anyone other than yourself in these pieces (Person A and Person B are great ways to anonymize stories!). As consent is revocable, if an article of yours is posted and you want us to remove it, just email and we’ll take it down within three days. 

Questions? Comments? Email!

Changes for New Member Orientation offerings

We have made some adjustments to when we offer New Member Orientation based on community feedback, volunteer availability, and event host suggestions. 

Beginning in April, both Power Play Mixed-Tape and The Grind events will not include a New Member Orientation (NMO). As a result, these parties will begin one hour earlier and end one hour earlier. The Board is also looking at possibilities for holding in-person NMOs that may run in conjunction with our non-play weeknight events, however this has not been finalized yet and will largely depend on volunteer ability to support a weeknight NMO. 

If you are interested in becoming a NMO leader, please email volunteerliaison@thecspc.org to get more information!

Frolic 2025 Hiatus

The Frolic, a week-long camping event traditionally held in August, is going to be on hiatus for 2025. This event is a massive undertaking, requiring very dedicated Directors and a large volunteer team to work on putting it together for months prior to the event and a lot of hard work during the event to ensure it goes smoothly. In 2025 we don’t have any past Frolic Directors able to run this team, and frankly it’s too large of a project at this point to leave to unseasoned volunteers. 

There will be work done on The Frolic this year, however—we will be reviewing documentation from last year and taking some time to work on ways we can make the event more sustainable and able to be recreated. The Board is in full support of The Frolic team taking this year to regroup and make The Frolic even better going forward.

We’re sad to not be holding this incredible event in 2025, but we also recognize the need to take a step back and put some further structure in place before holding The Frolic again. Any questions or concerns about this can be directed to the CSPC feedback form, where comments are reviewed by volunteers on a regular basis.

Phase One of the Volunteer Appreciation Program: Event Coordinator Perks

Without Volunteers, there would be no Center for Sex Positive Culture. We are a nonprofit run by Members, for Members.

For quite some time the Board has been working behind the scenes to develop a Volunteer Appreciation Program that takes into account the needs of individual Volunteers as well as the needs of the organization as a whole. Part of the program involves offering Volunteer perks!

Establishing, offering, and implementing perks is a difficult task, especially when factoring in the tax and legal implications to which we are all bound. A comprehensive plan involving perks takes many things into account and requires a multi-prong strategy and cannot be a matter of simply handing out free tickets. 

The Board of Directors passed a motion at the 1/8/25 Board Meeting to implement the first round of perks! This begins a gradual yet immediate rollout. A gradual rollout allows for an expedited initial implementation, provides opportunities to assess its efficacy, and allows for easier adjustments over time. Due to persistent difficulty in staffing Event Coordinator shifts, especially Closing EC shifts, ECs will be the first to receive perks. These perks will be implemented no later than March 1st but retroactive to shifts dating back through to the start of 2025:

Opening EC

• Free admission to events at which they volunteer

• Invitations to Volunteer appreciation events

• Swag distributed at those events

• Additional swag options

• 20% off tickets 

• Free, last-minute entry to one event that has not sold out, for every two events they’ve opened

Closing EC

• Free admission to events at which they volunteer

• Invitations to Volunteer appreciation events

• Swag distributed at those events

• Additional swag options

• 20% off tickets

• Free, last-minute entry to events that have not sold out, equal to one for every event they close

• Free event coupon code for every shift worked (up to tax limit 3-4 per year)

This is the first in a series of Volunteer benefits the Board intends to implement. Other Volunteer roles will eventually receive perks. These will not be distributed based on a simple, accumulated volunteer hour basis. Instead, some roles and shifts will be weighted to provide greater perks in recognition of Volunteer contribution and to assist in encouraging Volunteers to fill needed shifts. Look for more to come on that throughout 2025. Questions can be directed to Skitty at HRdirector@thecspc.org

Thank you Volunteers!