Joining Hell's Kitchen

About us - Member Groups - Join the Kitchen
FAQ

"If any man or any nation outside the Five Nations shall obey the laws of the Great Peace and make known their disposition to the Lords of the Confederacy, they may trace the Roots to the Tree and if their minds are clean and they are obedient and promise to obey the wishes of the Confederate Council, they shall be welcomed to take shelter beneath the Tree of the Long Leaves. "

-Gayanashagowa (the constitution of the Iroquois Nations)

Hell's Kitchen is waking up after a long nap. In place of a streamlined method, please feel free to read the organizing document the IRS approved for non-profit (501(c)(3) status back in 1998)

The Far From Frivolous Organizing Document for Hell's Kitchen

Declaration of Purpose:
	Though there are a number of newswire services for use by professional and college newspapers, there is a conspicuous lack of such a service for small, less conventional, or under appreciated outlets for creative expression. To that end, Hell's Kitchen is the operator of an electronic contentwire which provides a medium for non-traditional media groups, as well as traditional media groups, to transfer creative content and news and to use these data for the mutual benefit of its members and partners.

Section 1. Members and mutual commitments

Article 1. Membership
	A. Membership in Hell's Kitchen is open to all organizations which accept the obligations contained in this document, and are interested in adopting a policy of sharing and cooperation.
	B. Hell's Kitchen will never charge organizations a fee to join.

Article 2. Member Organizations
	A. Each member organization of Hell's Kitchen retains sovereignty, freedom, independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right which is not expressly delegated to Hell's Kitchen this document.
	B. Each member organization shall produce some form of original "creative content." "Creative Content" shall be defined as being, though not limited to, all opinion/editorial articles, works of fiction, factual news, poetry, illustration, cartoons, photographs, music, spoken word, video, theatre, sculpture, and any other media for artistic expression.

Article 3. Roles of Member Organizations toward Hell's Kitchen 	
	A. Member organizations agree to mutually respect and support one another for betterment of their organizations, the security of their liberties, and their collective and individual welfare.
	B. Each member organization ensures the continued well being of Hell's Kitchen by submitting their creative content in a prompt and reasonable manner, with the understanding and consent that their creative content will be sent to all member organizations for their use. The preferred method to submit creative content will change as technology changes and Hell's Kitchen will give directions to member organizations as necessary.
	C. Member organizations give their consent to Hell's Kitchen to retain the right to reproduce all of the creative content they send to Hell's Kitchen prior to the time they choose to end their relationship with Hell's Kitchen. 
	D. Material submitted to Hell's Kitchen for use by its member organizations remains the property of the original organization, artists and authors. Member organizations shall attribute authorship, as necessary, for any creative content they choose to reproduce.
	E. Member organizations are under no obligation to reproduce any material provided by Hell's Kitchen.
	F. Member organizations have the right to request Hell's Kitchen for help and advice.
	G. When applicable, member organizations should send a free subscription to Hell's Kitchen so records can be kept of what creative content, if any, has been used from other member organizations.

Article 4. Roles of Hell's Kitchen toward Member Organizations 	
	A. Hell's Kitchen is obligated to deliver creative content to all member organizations in a timely fashion.
	B. Hell's Kitchen will use its best efforts to cause the member organizations of Hell's Kitchen to attribute original authorship of creative content to the individuals and organizations the content came from.
	C. Hell's Kitchen will maintain a direct link from its website to the Member Organization's website. 	
	D. Hell's Kitchen has no authority to interfere in a member organization's internal structure and function, unless requested. Member organizations are not required to submit internal matters to Hell's Kitchen.
	E. Hell's Kitchen is obligated to answer questions and offer advice to its member organizations.

Article 5. Voting Member Organizations
	A. Member organizations that wish to help decide Hell's Kitchen policy, or member organizations which regularly derive 50% or more of their content from the creative content feed provided by Hell's Kitchen, are allowed to help set policy for Hell's Kitchen.

Article 6. Roles of Voting Member Organizations toward Hell's Kitchen 	A. Voting member organizations agree to state that they are a branch of Hell's Kitchen. Organizations can do so in any reasonable fashion.
	B. Voting member organizations have the right to request Hell's Kitchen for particular services. Examples include, though are not limited to: space on the Kitchen web server, an email address, cooperating with other organizations, etc.

Article 7. Roles of Hell's Kitchen toward Total Member Organizations 	
	A. Hell's Kitchen can, at its discretion and resources willing, provide special services to voting member organizations. These services are to be determined by Hell's Kitchen and do not need to be used by the voting member organizations.
	B. If a service requested by a voting member organization requires money, Hell's Kitchen can either pay for it itself (funds willing), or request the assembly of voting member organizations to authorize Hell's Kitchen to raise a tax on all voting member organizations. Any vote of approving such a tax must be unanimous.

Section 2. Courtesy and Cooperation

Article 8. Civil Clauses
	A. Hell's Kitchen has no right to censor or edit material from its member organizations, though the Kitchen reserves the right to modify the format of creative content to make it compatible with how the Kitchen functions.
	B. Member organizations have the right to edit material received from Hell's Kitchen for spelling and grammar errors. No member organization shall attempt to influence or substantially change the material of any other member organization without prior permission from the original source of the material.. 
	C. When a member organization receives correspondence from an outside source that is obviously intended for another member organization, the correspondence should be relayed immediately to Hell's Kitchen or to the intended member organization. If Hell's Kitchen receives messages intended for one of its member organizations it will redirect the message in a timely fashion.

Article 9. General Clauses
	A. No member organization will knowingly present creative content without demonstrable or implied permission from the original author (thou shalt not plagiarize!)
	B. By submitting creative content to Hell's Kitchen, member organizations imply that, to the best of their knowledge, their creative content has been duly researched, and is true and represents statements of fact unless a specific piece of the creative content is an opinion, conjecture, parody or some other deviation from fact (thou shalt not libel!)

Article 10. Conflicts
	A. In the event of conflicts between member organizations that can not be settled internally, the member organizations can appeal to Hell's Kitchen for help. If this is necessary, Hell's Kitchen will call a Court to help arbitrate and arrive at a decision, if necessary.

Article 11. Appeals
	A. Any member organization can appeal the decision of Hell's Kitchen in any matter. In such a case, Hell's Kitchen will call a Court and evidence will be presented.

Section 3. Term and Termination

Article 12. Term and Termination
	A. Any member organization can end its relationship with Hell's Kitchen at any time.
	B. Any member organization may have its membership in Hell's Kitchen revoked by, though not limited to, the following: 
		1.) failing to share content with the rest of Hell's Kitchen. 
		2.) reproducing Creative Content with inadequate attribution of its source. 
		3.) substantially changing creative content from other members without prior permission.
	C. The Court will make the final decision on revoking membership.
	D. Hell's Kitchen retains the ability to reproduce creative content previously submitted for use by Hell's Kitchen and its member organizations.

Section 4. Organization of Hell's Kitchen

Article 13. Organs
	A. The principal organs of Hell's Kitchen are: the Court, Susan, and the assembly of voting member organizations. Subsidiary organs may be established in accordance with the present document, as needed.

Article 14. The Court
	A. The Court consists of three individuals, temporarily appointed from the staff members of voting member organizations of Hell's Kitchen. The purpose of the Court is to interpret this organizing document and expedite policy decisions based on its content. Any member of the Court can abdicate their position if they feel there is a conflict of interests. The decision of the Court is based on majority vote. 
	B. In the event the Court is lax in its duties or there is no desire take part in governing Hell's Kitchen, Susan is authorized to act in the Court's place.

Article 15. Susan
	A. The primary purpose of Susan is to act as Secretary for the Court. In order to ensure prompt and effective action by Hell's Kitchen, the member organizations give Susan the responsibility for making sure the Court is chosen as needed, forwarding messages and creative content feeds to their destinations, promoting Hell's Kitchen, making policy recommendations to the Court, and any other activities arising which would require immediate response.
	B. The actions of Susan are subject to review by the Court. 
	C. The term of the position of Susan is indefinite. The office of Susan can be contested by anyone, at which point elections are held. Susan is an individual elected by popular vote of all voting member organizations, as needed.

Phoenix Clause: If at any point any individual believes there is ample evidence that Hell's Kitchen has become solely interested in self-perpetuation at the expense of the creative content or cooperation, the Phoenix Clause can be invoked. This demands that the Court be called. Evidence is to be presented to the Court. If Hell's Kitchen is found guilty, the existing framework is to be destroyed until such a time as the framework can be recreated. Prior to the framework's dissolution, any assets which Hell's Kitchen retains will be paid to all voting member organizations for services rendered based on their output over the preceding 52 weeks, or time they've been members of Hell's Kitchen--which ever is shorter.

IRS Clause: The following organizational details are included to comply with rules and regulations set by the Internal Revenue Service of the United States of America:
	1. The name of the organization that uses this Organizing Document is Hell's Kitchen.
	2. Hell's Kitchen is a federation of separate Organizations and is organized exclusively for one or more of the purposes as specified in Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) of 1986, and shall not carry on any activities not permitted to be carried on by an organization exempt from Federal income tax under IRC 501(c)(3) or corresponding provisions of any subsequent tax laws. 
	3. No substantial part of the activities of Hell's Kitchen shall be carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation (except as otherwise provided by IRC 501(h)) or participating in, or intervening in (including the publication or distribution of statements), any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidates for public office.
	4. No part of the net earnings of the organization shall inure to the benefit of any individual member, individual trustee, individual director, individual officer of Hell's Kitchen, or any private individual (except that reasonable compensation may be paid for services rendered to or for the organization), and no individual member, individual trustee, individual officer of Hell's Kitchen or any private individual shall be entitled to share in the distribution of any of Hell's Kitchen's assets on dissolution of the organization. 
	5. In any taxable year in which Hell's Kitchen is a private foundation as described in IRC 509(a), Hell's Kitchen shall distribute its income for said period at such time and manner as not to subject it to tax under IRC 4942, and Hell's Kitchen shall not: 
		a. engage in any act of self-dealing as defined in IRC 4941(d) 
		b. retain excess business holdings as defined in IRC 4943 (c) 
		c. make investments in such a manner as to subject Hell's Kitchen to tax under IRC 4944
		d. make any taxable expenditures as defined in IRC 4945(d) or corresponding provisions of any subsequent Federal tax laws. 	
	6. After complete dissolution of the organization of Hell's Kitchen all remaining assets and property of Hell's kitchen shall, after payment of necessary expenses, be distributed to such Organizations as shall qualify under 501(c)(3) of the IRC of 1986, or corresponding provisions of any subsequent Federal tax laws, or to the federal government of State or local government for a public purpose, subject to the approval of a Court of Competent Jurisdiction.