Membership Organisations Ontology

An organisation whose participants are admitted as members and which exists for those members as a body: they share its purpose, premises or activities, and usually govern it themselves. Some clubs are instead owned by a proprietor or an institution (see mbr:ownershipModel). The kind of organisation is given with org:classification (see mbrc:OrganizationTypes). Its legal form is given with rov:orgType (see mbrc:LegalForms).

Covers organisations with closed membership, such as private clubs and order societies, and open ones, such as hobby and supporters' clubs, associations, political parties and trade unions (see mbr:admissionMode). Not covered: customer loyalty schemes and commercial subscriptions such as most gym memberships, where membership means no more than buying the service. Nor is compulsory membership, as in professional chambers and the professional bodies that French calls an ordre (ordre des médecins), or membership that gives an economic benefit, as in mutual insurers and cooperatives whose members are their customers.

A local or regional section of a membership organisation, linked to it with org:unitOf.

A clubhouse, lodge building or other premises used by a membership organisation. org:hasSite links an organisation to its current premises; mbr:Occupancy records which premises it used when. Give the location with schema:address (a schema:PostalAddress), schema:geo (a schema:GeoCoordinates) and schema:containedInPlace (the city, as a Wikidata IRI). If the building's address changed while the building stayed the same (a street renamed or renumbered), give each address with its own mbr:startDate and mbr:endDate; the current address is the one without an end date.

The period during which an organisation (mbr:occupant) used a set of premises (mbr:occupiedPremises), with mbr:startDate and mbr:endDate. Records a club's moves between clubhouses.

• occupant ^op
• occupied premises ^op

The number of members an organisation had at a given date (mbr:count, mbr:asOf). Linked from the organisation with mbr:hasMemberCount; several counts over time are allowed.

The document or act by which a body grants another the right to exist and act as part of it: a lodge's warrant, a club's charter from Rotary International, a student corporation's charter from its federation. It is given by one organisation (mbr:issuedBy) to another (mbr:issuedTo), with the date it was granted (mbr:startDate), the date it ended, if it did (mbr:endDate), and its state (mbr:charterStatus).

fraternal:warrantedBy is the shortcut for the current state: the body that issued the lodge's warrant. Use a charter when its date, its state or its history matters. A charter that is surrendered and later given again is two charters, the second one with its own dates. The number a lodge has in its grand lodge's roll is not on the charter: give it as an adms:Identifier with skos:notation and adms:schemaAgency, linked with adms:identifier.

• issued by ^op
• issued to ^op
• charter status ^op

A period during which a membership organisation had a given gender policy, admission mode, ownership model, status, organisation type or legal form. The values are given on the period with mbr:genderPolicy, mbr:admissionMode, mbr:ownershipModel, mbr:organizationStatus, mbr:organizationType and mbr:legalForm, and the period carries the dates: mbr:startDate and mbr:endDate for when they applied and mbr:decisionDate for when they were decided. Linked from the organisation with mbr:hasPeriod.

Give only the properties a period concerns: a club that begins to admit women gets a new period with mbr:genderPolicy and leaves its ownership model alone. Periods for different properties may overlap in time. The start is when the value began to apply, which may be earlier or later than the decision (a vote taken in one year, in force from the next, or a decision with retroactive effect). A period without an end date has no stated end; that does not say it still applies. The registered current picture stays on the organisation itself; it is not derived from the periods, and the two are not compared except in a profile whose history is complete. A change of policy does not change org:classification: a club classified as mbrc:gentlemensClub stays so, and so stays an mbr:GentlemensClub, until its classification is changed. When it is, the registered current classification changes on the organisation and the earlier one is kept as a period with mbr:organizationType. The convenience classes follow the current org:classification on the organisation, never the periods.

An agreement under which members of each party may use the other party's premises or attend its gatherings. The qualified form of mbr:reciprocalWith.

A membership organisation classified as a gentlemen's club.

A membership organisation classified as a ladies' club.

A membership organisation classified as a student nation.

The qualified relationship between an agent (org:member) and a membership organisation (org:organization), carrying status, category, membership number, sponsors and dates. A person's path from prospect to full member is recorded as status changes on one Membership, not as changes of the person's type.

Data about who belongs to a political party, a trade union, or an organisation with a religious or philosophical aim (which can include fraternal orders) is special-category personal data under Article 9 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The organisation itself may keep a register of its members and former members (Art. 9(2)(d)), but may not disclose it outside the organisation without their consent. Anyone else needs another exception in Art. 9(2) to process such data, for example explicit consent, or that the person has made the membership public, as elected representatives do. GDPR does not apply to deceased persons.

A request to be admitted to a membership organisation, with its decision. It exists before there is a membership and may never lead to one. The applicant is given with mbr:applicant, the organisation with mbr:appliedTo, where it stands with mbr:applicationStatus, and an accepted application points to the membership it led to with mbr:resultingMembership. Proposers and seconders are given with mbr:proposer and mbr:seconder, the date of the application with mbr:startDate and the date of the decision with mbr:decisionDate.

Not an org:Membership: org:member has that class as its domain, so an application has mbr:applicant and never org:member. A membership with the status mbrc:proposed or mbrc:candidate, and its events (mbrc:MembershipEventTypes), is the lighter way to record a candidacy. Use an application when the request itself, its decision or its ballot is to be recorded.

• applicant ^op
• applied to ^op
• application status ^op
• resulting membership ^op

A vote by the members on an application (mbr:ballotOn), with the number of votes for and against (mbr:votesFor, mbr:votesAgainst) and its date (mbr:startDate). An application can have more than one ballot, for example when it is put to the vote again.

The rule that decides the vote, for example that a single black ball rejects or that two thirds must vote for, is the organisation's own and is not recorded here. The outcome is given by mbr:applicationStatus on the application.

• ballot on ^op
• votes for ^dp
• votes against ^dp

An event in the life of a membership, such as proposal, ballot, admission, resignation or expulsion. The kind of event is given with mbr:membershipEventType.

• concerns membership ^op
• resulting status ^op
• resulting category ^op

A fee an organisation charges for membership: the kind of fee (mbr:feeType), the amount (schema:price) in a currency (schema:priceCurrency, an ISO 4217 code such as SEK), the membership categories it applies to (mbr:appliesToCategory; left out when it applies to all members) and when it was in force (mbr:startDate, mbr:endDate). Linked from the organisation or branch with mbr:membershipFee. When a fee changes, add a new fee and give the old one an end date.

• fee type ^op
• applies to category ^op

A kind of office in a membership organisation, such as treasurer or master of ceremonies. Offices are org:Role and therefore SKOS concepts: they live in codelists (mbrc:OfficeTypes is the generic hub).

A period during which an agent (org:member) holds an office (org:role) in an organisation (org:organization).

An occasion on which members (and possibly guests) come together: a meeting, dinner, ball, excursion and so on. The kind of gathering is given with mbr:gatheringType.

A recurring gathering, such as an annual feast. Each occurrence is a mbr:Gathering linked to the series with schema:superEvent.

The qualified relationship between an agent and a gathering, carrying the role in which the agent took part (member, guest, partner, speaker …) and who introduced a guest.

• participant ^op
• participation in ^op
• participation role ^op
• introduced by ^op

A kind of honour an organisation can confer: a medal, badge, honorary title, honorary membership and so on. Distinctions are SKOS concepts kept in the organisation's codelist; the individual award is a mbr:DistinctionConferral.

The act of conferring something (a distinction, a degree) on a recipient. The recipient may be any agent, member or not.

• recipient ^op
• conferred ^op
• conferred at ^op
• conferred by ^op

The conferral of a distinction. The same agent may receive the same distinction more than once.

The organisation that used the premises during an occupancy.

The premises an organisation used during an occupancy.

Links an organisation to a member count (mbr:MemberCount) recorded at a given date. An organisation may have several, one for each date.

Whether the organisation is active, dormant, merged or closed (see mbrc:OrganizationStatuses).

On an organisation this is the registered current picture. Earlier and later values, with the dates they applied, are given with mbr:OrganizationPeriod; the current value is not derived from the periods.

Who owns and runs the organisation: its members, a proprietor, or a parent institution (see mbrc:OwnershipModels).

On an organisation this is the registered current picture. Earlier and later values, with the dates they applied, are given with mbr:OrganizationPeriod; the current value is not derived from the periods.

The organisation that granted a charter.

The organisation that holds a charter.

Whether a charter is in force, suspended, given back or withdrawn (see mbrc:CharterStatuses).

The kind of change an org:ChangeEvent records, such as a merger, a split or a change of name (see mbrc:ChangeEventTypes).

Links an organisation to a period (mbr:OrganizationPeriod) in which it had a gender policy, admission mode, ownership model, status, organisation type or legal form. An organisation may have many.

The kind of organisation it was during a period (see mbrc:OrganizationTypes). Used on an mbr:OrganizationPeriod; the same values as org:classification gives on the organisation.

A separate property because org:classification has the domain org:Organization: used on a period, it would make the period an organisation. An organisation may have several types at once, so periods with different types may overlap. The registered current classification stays on the organisation with org:classification.

The legal form the organisation had during a period (see mbrc:LegalForms). Used on an mbr:OrganizationPeriod; the same values as rov:orgType gives on the organisation.

A separate property because rov:orgType, a sub-property of org:classification, has the domain org:Organization: used on a period, it would make the period an organisation. The registered current legal form stays on the organisation with rov:orgType. A change of legal form is a change in the organisation's form, not a new organisation; if the organisation is replaced by another, record it as an org:ChangeEvent.

A public-benefit status that the organisation has, or had during a period (see mbrc:PublicBenefitStatuses): a recognition by a public authority that it serves the public good, usually with duties and privileges such as tax relief. Used on an organisation and on an mbr:OrganizationPeriod; an organisation may have several.

schema:nonprofitStatus has a similar purpose, but its range is the national types of five countries (Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States), which mix legal form and charitable status, so it cannot hold the statuses of other countries. The statuses here are SKOS concepts; where a schema.org type corresponds to one, the mapping set links them.

The current status of a membership (see mbrc:MembershipStatuses).

A category of a membership, such as ordinary, life or honorary (see mbrc:MembershipCategories). A membership may have several, for example life and founding.

The categories are properties that can be combined, not an exhaustive division: they are grouped by what they say (rights, duration, honour, age, residence, affiliation, founding), and a membership with no category is not thereby ordinary. No combination is ruled out unless a category's definition says so. Changes to the set are recorded with mbr:resultingCategory on membership events.

An agent who sponsored the admission of the member.

• proposer ^op
• seconder ^op

The member who formally proposed the candidate.

A member who seconded the proposal.

An agent who personally guides and looks after the holder of the membership in the organisation, usually a more senior member: the Leibbursch of a Studentenverbindung, the big sister of a sorority, the fadder of a student nation. The relation goes on after the admission.

Not mbr:sponsor, who vouches for the candidate at the admission. The Relationship vocabulary has rel:mentorOf, which links two persons without any organisation or time; this property is on the membership, so the relation belongs to one organisation and one period.

The person or other agent that applies for membership.

The membership organisation that an application is addressed to.

Where an application stands (see mbrc:ApplicationStatuses).

The membership that an accepted application led to.

The application that a ballot is held on.

The membership a membership event belongs to.

The kind of membership event (see mbrc:MembershipEventTypes).

The membership status that applies after the event.

A membership category that applies after the event (see mbrc:MembershipCategories). Give one value for each category in the complete set after the event.

The values are the whole set of categories after the event, not an addition to the earlier set. An event that makes a life member also a founding member gives both, mbrc:life and mbrc:founding; giving only mbrc:founding says the membership then has only that category. An event that leaves the categories unchanged leaves mbr:resultingCategory out.

A fee the organisation or branch charges for membership, now or in the past.

When and how often the fee is paid: on joining, every year, every month or once for life (see mbrc:FeeTypes).

A membership category the fee applies to, such as junior or overseas members (see mbrc:MembershipCategories). Left out when the fee applies to all members.

The kind of gathering (see mbrc:GatheringTypes).

The organisation or agent that arranges a gathering.

The dress code prescribed for a gathering, or — used on an organisation or its premises — the house dress code that applies day to day (see mbrc:DressCodes).

The agent who took part in a gathering, as recorded in a participation.

The gathering or other event that a participation concerns.

The role in which the agent took part (see mbrc:ParticipationRoles).

The member who introduced a guest to the gathering.

Shortcut from an agent to a gathering it attended, when the role does not need to be recorded. Inverse of schema:attendee.

The generic kind of a distinction (see mbrc:DistinctionTypes).

The material a medal, badge or insignia is made of (see mbrc:Materials).

The colour of the ribbon on which a medal or badge is worn, given as a concept. No codelist of colours is supplied.

The agent on whom something is conferred, member or not.

What was conferred: a distinction, a degree or another concept.

The gathering at which the conferral took place.

The organisation (or officer) that made the conferral.

Who may be admitted, by gender (see mbrc:GenderPolicies).

On an organisation this is the registered current picture. Earlier and later values, with the dates they applied, are given with mbr:OrganizationPeriod; the current value is not derived from the periods. A club that changed from men only to mixed has the earlier policy and the later one as two periods.

How new members are admitted (see mbrc:AdmissionModes).

On an organisation this is the registered current picture. Earlier and later values, with the dates they applied, are given with mbr:OrganizationPeriod; the current value is not derived from the periods.

The two organisations grant each other's members reciprocal access. Use mbr:ReciprocityAgreement for dates and terms.

An organisation that is a party to a reciprocity agreement. An agreement has two or more parties.

The number of members recorded in a member count, as a non-negative integer.

The date a figure refers to. Value is xsd:date, xsd:gYearMonth or xsd:gYear.

When the organisation was founded. Value is xsd:date, xsd:gYearMonth or xsd:gYear.

When the organisation closed or ceased to exist as itself (including by merger). Value is xsd:date, xsd:gYearMonth or xsd:gYear. Record a merger itself as an org:ChangeEvent.

The number under which a membership is recorded in the organisation's register, written as an xsd:string because registers use numbers such as L-0042 and 0042. A number identifies one membership in one organisation at a time; a later membership may reuse it when the periods certainly do not overlap (checked in SHACL).

The number of votes for the application in a ballot, as a non-negative integer.

The number of votes against the application in a ballot, such as black balls, as a non-negative integer.

When something began or took place. Value is xsd:date, xsd:gYearMonth or xsd:gYear.

When something ended. Value is xsd:date, xsd:gYearMonth or xsd:gYear.

SHACL reports an end before a start only when it is certain: the latest day the end could mean is before the earliest day the start could mean, so 2000 and 2000-03 may overlap and are not an error. Supported are years 0001-9999 written with four digits; a timezone is ignored and the calendar date as written is compared. Other dates are not ordered and give a warning. The same rule applies to mbr:foundingDate and mbr:dissolutionDate.

When a decision was taken, such as the date of a members' vote. Value is xsd:date, xsd:gYearMonth or xsd:gYear. The date the decision began to apply is mbr:startDate.

A decision may come before or after it takes effect, so SHACL does not compare it with mbr:startDate.

The number of members recorded in a member count, as a non-negative integer.

The number of votes for the application in a ballot, as a non-negative integer.

The number of votes against the application in a ballot, such as black balls, as a non-negative integer.