Roles in the foodsharing community help to clarify responsibilities and make the daily process of saving and sharing food smoother and easier.

Most people start as Foodsharers and get to know the community. If they have time to save food and are deemed trustworthy by the community, they will become Foodsavers. Eventually, Foodsavers will take on the responsibility for store cooperations, making them Store Coordinators. If they decide to actively spread the message of foodsharing, take media interview requests and increase the happiness in their community, they become Ambassadors.

This differentiation is based on the experience from the German-speaking countries and a slightly simplified version of the hierarchy used by the foodsharing.de-community.

Foodsharer

Foodsharers are all members of a foodsharing community. They are able to

• offer and pickup food in Food Baskets

• exchange food in Fair-Share Points
  

• participate in events

• have a nice time
  

How to become a Foodsharer

You become a foodsharer by joining a foodsharing community, be it on a foodsharing platform or in a facebook group.

What to consider as a Foodsharer

As a community, we really value friendly interaction with others! That is why we wrote a Guideline for positive cooperation. Most of what is mentioned there probably already is clear to most people, but we wanted to put it out there for everybody to see.

Next steps

Want to get more involved in saving leftover food? Go ahead and become a Foodsaver who actively picks up surplus food from cooperating stores!

Foodsaver

A Foodsaver is a trustworthy person who voluntarily picks up surplus but still edible food from cooperating stores which would otherwise be thrown away. As a Foodsaver, you represent foodsharing in a professional way to stores.

Foodsavers are Foodsharers who also can

• carry out pick-ups at cooperating stores

How to become a Foodsaver

Foodsavers are accepted by the foodsharing community based on the following criteria:

• agrees to the waiver of liability, which removes the food liability from the store
• is able to be on time and keep to agreements
• handles food pick-ups swiftly and professionally
• is able to communicate well with fellow Foodsavers
• stays in contact with fellow Foodsavers

What to consider as a Foodsaver

As a community, we really value friendly interaction with the others! That is why we wrote a guideline for a nice cooperation. Most of what is mentioned there probably already is clear to most people, but we wanted to put it out there for everybody to see. There is also the checklist Professionalism for foodsavers, which is based on behavioral patterns that proved to be helpful in Germany when working together with stores.

Tasks:

• maintain a friendly and polite contact with the employees of Stores

• be on time and reliable, carry out Pick-ups you signed up for

• take care of replacement for short-term cancellations (e.g. through illness)

• decide which food is edible and which is not

• use the saved food yourself or fair-share it

• be completely responsible for possible health problems after the consumption of saved foods

• report any breach of rules (from yourself or others)

How to get even more active as a Foodsaver

A Foodsaver who wants to be even more involved in foodsharing can become Store Coordinator or Ambassador. He or she can participate in working groups or care for the Fair-Share Points.

Store Coordinator

The Store Coordinator maintains good contact to a cooperating store and its pick-up team. Furthermore, they make sure that possibly every participant is 100% happy, but most importantly cater to the store’s needs.

Store Coordinators are Foodsavers that are able to

• initiate contact with new stores

• manage communication with a specific store

• manage the Pick-up team of a specific store

How to become a Store Coordinator

As Store Coordinators are more responsible to represent our project professionally to stores, they need additional experience. You can get this experience by offering help to a store coordinator.

Tasks of a Store Coordinator

• maintain the cooperation and communication with the Store

• keep the overview over the Pick-up team and the general Pick-up-situation

• care for a pleasant atmosphere between the Foodsavers and the Store

• take care that all violations are reported

• keep the cooperation productive

• train new volunteers to enable them to also become store coordinators

How to get even more active as a Store Coordinator

A Store Coordinator who wants to be even more involved in foodsharing can become Key Account Manager, Ambassador or member of the Orgateam. He or she can participate in local working groups or care for the Fair-Share Points.

What to consider as a Store Coordinator

As a community, we really value friendly interaction with the others! That is why we wrote a guideline for a nice cooperation. Most of what is mentioned there probably already is clear to most people, but we wanted to put it out there for everybody to see. There is also the checklist Professionalism for foodsavers, which is based on behavioural patterns that proved to be helpful in Germany when working together with stores. Furthermore, the Mini Manual How to build and maintain a cooperation lists the specifics of what a Store Coordinator should consider in this regard. Store Coordinators for Fair-Share Points should refer to that dedicated page.

Ambassador

An Ambassador coordinates the Store Coordinators and provides the foodsharing ID card for new members. Furthermore the Ambassador helps with the acquisition of new Stores, organizes regular meetings and works as a representative of foodsharing in his or her area or city.

An Ambassador is able to

• do everything a Store Coordinator is able to

• verify new Foodsavers and equip them with their foodsharing ID card

• represent his or her region on national meetings

• issue a cautions in case of violations

How to become an Ambassador

As Ambassadors are highly responsible to represent our project professionally to Stores and the press, German foodsharing.de came up with a standardized way for motivated Foodsavers who want to become Ambassadors.

• be registered as a Foodsaver for more than 6 months

• have carried out more than 15 Pick-ups at Stores in the last 6 months

• be respected and trusted by the community

• be resident to the current location for at least 6 months to come

• have no relevant violations

• be prepared to spend 5-10 hours per week on Ambassador activities

If there is no foodsharing activity in your region so far, consider yourself the very first Ambassador. Congratulations!

Tasks of an Ambassador

• having the overview on all the foodsharing activities of his or her region

• print, laminate and hand out the foodsharing ID card to new Foodsavers

• coordinate the Store Coordinators and help with the acquisition of new Stores

• take care of a smooth communication between all the participants

• be reachable and maintain communication with all the relevant parties of your foodsharing initiative

• check frequently if all the Pick-ups and Store communications are done properly and are registered

How to get even more active as an Ambassador

An Ambassador who wants to be even more involved in foodsharing can become Key Account Manager ,create a national Orgateam or participate in an existing one. He or she can participate in local working groups or care for Fair-Share Points. But as being Ambassador requires a lot of time and overview, it might not be reasonable to occupy even more key positions. This depends on the individual case of course.

What to consider as an Ambassador

As a community, we really value friendly interaction with the others! That is why we wrote a guideline for a nice cooperation, Most of what is mentioned there probably already is clear to most people, but we wanted to put it out there for everybody to see. There is also the checklist Professionalism for foodsavers, which is based on behavioral patterns that proved to be helpful in Germany when working together with stores. Furthermore, the Mini Manual on How to build and maintain a coorperation lists the specifics of what a Store Coordinator should consider in this regard. Store Coordinators for Fair-Share Points should refer to that dedicated page.

Key Account Manager

A Key Account Manager negotiates with business chains and represents our project to these Stores. He or she also communicates information between the business chain, the Store Coordinators of its branches and the Foodsavers.

A Key Account Manager is able to

• do everything a Store Coordinator is able to

• negotiate with smaller chains of organized Stores on a manager level (maximum 30 stores in a province. In Germany everything with more stores is concern of the Orgateam)

How to become a Key Account Manager

Since Key Account Managers need to be very organized and professional the German community has quite strict criteria for people who want to get this job. The person needs to

• have been briefed by the working group 'business chains'

• be 25 years old at least

• have been an Ambassador for at least 6 month

• have carried out at least 30 Pick-ups at Stores

• have no relevant violations

• be prepared to drive some hundreds of kilometres to the general office of the Store chains

• have been awarded at least 10 Trustbananas (means being deemed trustworthy by at least 10 people)

• have participated at at least 5 acquisitions of successfully cooperating Stores

"The most important point is the briefing. The working group for business chains provides the new helpers relevant information and decides accordingly if they are suitable for the job or not. We are aware of the relative highhandedness of this process, so we try to be as transparent and comprehensible as possible." says foodsharing.de. 

In regions with emerging foodsharing structures people just need to decide for themselves who is suited best for a job like this and then build their own structures accordingly.

Tasks of a Key Account Manager

• represent foodsharing to business chains

• be in charge of maintaining the communication with a business chain

• transport relevant information between the management of the business chain and the Pick-up teams of the individual Stores

Orgateam

The Orgateam manages foodsharing activities on a national level. If you are just startingthe first foodsharing project in your country you can consider yourself the Orgateam. Congratulations! Of course you can also decide not to have an Orgateam at all and use a much flatter structure, that is not centrally administered, but for the sake of controlled growth and uniform appearance it can be useful to have people taking care of excactly that.

The Orgateam is able to

• make decisions about the general direction the initiative goes to

• generate structures, rules and processes and put them into effect

• represent foodsharing internationally and for the press

• approach national operating business chains

• organize national meetings and hold them

How to become a member of the Orgateam

As the members of the Orgateam support the whole community, German foodsharing.de came up with some requirements for people who want to join:

• be an Ambassador for at least 3 months

• carried out at least 30 Pick-ups at Stores

• be awarded at least 10 Trustbananas (meaning being deemed trustworthy by at least 10 people)

• have no relevant violations

• have at least 10 hours per week time for the Orgateam work

• be able to log in every second day

• be determined to take part in foodsharing for at least a year continuously

• be able to actually fulfill the tasks of an Orgateam member

Tasks of the Orgateam

• have an overview over all the foodsharing activities and coordinate them

• advance the development of the project

• be in contact with the volunteers on every level

• represent foodsharing internationally and for the press

• organize national meetings and hold them

• take action when problems occur and take care they do not occur anymore