WikiQueer:Vendor policy

WikiQueer requires all vendors supplying goods and/or services to be reviewed under the below guidelines before any long-term relationships are established. While these guidelines are not required for trial use of a vendor, the vendor's willingness to meet these guidelines should be considered or such trial efforts may be a waste of resources.

Strict considerations

Any vendor who does not meet, or fails to meet in the future, these guidelines is ineligible for a vendor agreement with WikiQueer. These guidelines, and their enforcement, is overseen by The Aequalitas Project with input from the community via WikiQueer's Global Advisory Board.

• Must have both employment and client nondiscrimination policies and/or statements in place
  • Flexibility provided in what form the client nondiscrimination statement is in (examples: policy, blog posting, and mission statement)
• Any and all employment, client or vendor non-discrimination policies must include an equivalent of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity / gender expression"
  • Written commitment, with consent to make public, to this requirement is acceptable
• Use of union labor when doing so is an industry standard (example industries: printing, hotels, and shipping)
• Evidence of practices inline with WikiQueer's green commitment
• Absolutely no support of any kind for any known anti-queer organizations, projects or individuals
  • Use of the vendor by these entities as a paid client, with no special support or discount, does not apply (example: American Family Association using a national cell phone provider at standard costs)

Special considerations

While these are not required, they are taken into consideration. Especially when multiple vendors are in final rounds of consideration and otherwise equal in regards to the strict considerations, offerings, quality and pricing.

• Minority-owned business
• Discounts or in-kind donations to WikiQueer and/or other Aequalitas Project programs
• Financial or in-kind support of organizations, projects and/or events which benefit queer communities
• Support of open-source and/or creative commons projects (examples: Wikimedia Foundation, Drupal, and CiviCRM)
• Use of union labor when doing so is not an existing industry standard (example industries: retail, technology services, and computer equipment)

Vendor support

Any vendor who is interested in providing services and/or goods to WikiQueer, but does not meet the guidelines outlined in this policy, are invited and encouraged to contact WikiQueer. Any vendors committed to meeting these guidelines will receive access to free resources and support from The Aequalitas Project and WikiQueer's Content Partners during their effort.

Questions and requests for vendors

1. Please provide copies or evidence of any nondiscrimination policies you have in place for employment, clients and vendors.
2. What environmentally friendly practices and/or policies do you engage in?
3. Do you provide discounts for nonprofits?
4. What community outreach or nonprofit support have you engaged in?
5. Are any of your employees unionized?
6. Do you have a LGBT employee group and/or a general diversity program?
7. Do you have or support any open-source or creative commons projects?
8. Have you engaged in any support of, or opposition to, any LGBT related issues or organizations?
9. Can you speak to your ownership? Is your company private or public? Are there any primary public owners, and if so, can you provide their names?

Resources

• Check vendor's public donor records - National Institute on Money in State Politics and The Center for Responsive Politics
  • Check for contributions to known anti-queer organizations, projects or individuals
  • Also check name(s) of known owner(s) if a privately held company
  • Name(s) of controlling interest if publicly held with a majority shareholder
  • Names of executives and officers do not need to be checked unless above ownership considerations apply
• Information on corporate policies and practices - Corporate Equality Index
  • Automatically disqualified if score is below 75