OpenSSF Ambassador Program Standards of Excellence

Why are we establishing Standards of Excellence?

OpenSSF Ambassadors embody the finest qualities of our community. Your selection recognizes not only your achievements but also your potential to facilitate learning, foster collaboration, and help others reach their goals.

These Standards of Excellence serve as a framework, offering guidelines and best practices for how Ambassadors should engage with both OpenSSF and the broader community. By providing clarity on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of cultivating the OpenSSF ethos, these Standards empower OpenSSF Ambassadors to contribute actively to a positive culture and environment.

Scope

As an OpenSSF Ambassador, these Standards of Excellence govern your conduct and statements when acting in that capacity. This includes all your actions, both online and offline, whether they occur in official community spaces or elsewhere.

In addition to these Standards, OpenSSF Ambassadors must also adhere to the:

Furthermore, all other applicable OpenSSF policies, rules, or guidelines must be followed.

Be Kind, Welcoming, and Inclusive

Be kind to others.
Promote a friendly atmosphere where people feel comfortable asking questions, participating in discussions, and making contributions.
Show gratitude and appreciation for others. Look for opportunities to say “thank you” and recognize people when they are being helpful or making contributions.
Make a conscious effort to welcome and be inclusive of newcomers and people who are different from you.
Show empathy, care, and concern for others’ feelings, perspectives, and experiences.

Be Respectful and Professional

At all times, conduct yourself in a manner that is appropriate for a professional environment.
Always treat others with courtesy and respect. Rude, insulting, offensive, disparaging, or threatening statements or behaviors are not permitted.

Handle Disagreements Respectfully

OpenSSF Ambassadors are expected to foster an environment of candid exchange and respectful disagreement. While differing opinions are encouraged, they must never be an excuse for poor conduct. Your responsibilities as an Ambassador include:

Resolving conflicts and disagreements collaboratively and respectfully, and encouraging others to do the same.

Approaching differences of opinion with respect.

Making a conscious effort to understand different perspectives and gathering all the facts before publicly commenting on highly controversial subjects.

Promote and Enhance the OpenSSF Brand

As an OpenSSF Ambassador, part of your role is to promote and enhance the OpenSSF brand and contribute to goodwill and positive relations among the foundation and other stakeholders in the open source security ecosystem. Nonetheless, you can be honest and candid with constructive criticism, holding others accountable, identifying opportunities for improvement, and discussing potential challenges. However, always express yourself in a manner that is respectful and professional, and strive to also be tactful and sensitive to how your words may impact others. See the “Guidelines for Giving Feedback” section below for suggestions on how to deliver feedback constructively and kindly.

As an OpenSSF Ambassador, your actions can reflect either positively or poorly on the OpenSSF community, foundation, and brand. Therefore, engaging in activity that is illegal, immoral, fraudulent, deceptive, or is otherwise likely to damage the reputation of the OpenSSF community, foundation, or Ambassador Program, is grounds for immediate suspension or removal from the OpenSSF Ambassador Program.

Examples of fraudulent, immoral and deceptive activity could be (but are not limited to):

Miss-use of Ambassador training and certification vouchers
Deceptive behavior with OpenSSF store coupons and shipping

Don’t use OpenSSF community spaces or your role as an Ambassador to promote political causes

Your role as an OpenSSF Ambassador is to be used for the purpose of evangelizing open source security technology and otherwise contributing to the OpenSSF community and ecosystem. Both the OpenSSF Code of Conduct and these Standards of Excellence prohibit use of OpenSSF community spaces for political campaigning or promotion of political causes that are unrelated to the advancement of open source security technology.

Outside of OpenSSF community spaces, you are free to engage in political activities and support causes you choose. However, when you discuss political causes that are unrelated to open source security, please keep those discussions separate from your engagement in OpenSSF and separate from your role as an OpenSSF Ambassador. For example, if you choose to promote a political cause unrelated to technology on X or LinkedIn in your personal time, please do so in posts and discussion threads that are separate from OpenSSF-related discussions.

Guidelines for Giving Feedback

Positive Feedback and Recognition

Foster a positive environment by giving others kudos and recognition.
Feel free to share positive feedback in both public and private forums.

Constructive Criticism and Negative Feedback

Be Understanding: Remember that everyone makes mistakes. Strive to be understanding when others err, recognizing that most people are trying to do good things.
Take Responsibility: When you make a mistake, take responsibility, and focus on learning and improving.
Maintain Professionalism: Always share feedback or criticism in a respectful, courteous, and professional manner.
Be Constructive: Present negative feedback or criticism in a constructive manner (e.g., as suggestions for improvement) rather than a destructive one (e.g., insults or degrading language).

Sharing Feedback About Individuals vs. Organizations/Public Figures

For Individuals (Non-Public Figures): Share negative feedback or criticism privately to help the individual learn and grow. Avoid public sharing, which could cause unnecessary shame or embarrassment.
For Organizations or Public Figures: You may share negative feedback or criticism publicly or privately, as long as you do so in a respectful, courteous, and professional manner.

Consequences for Violation

If an OpenSSF Ambassador is found to have violated these Standards of Excellence, the OpenSSF Code of Conduct, the Linux Foundation Events Code of Conduct, or the Linux Foundation Mentor Code of Conduct, OpenSSF reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to take any appropriate action. These actions may include, but are not limited to, requiring the Ambassador to remove offending content from community or public spaces, or suspending or permanently removing the individual from the OpenSSF Ambassador Program.

Questions and Reporting

If you have questions about these Standards of Excellence, or if you would like to report a potential violation, please send an email to ambassador-support@openssf.org and the current community manager will contact you. We will respond promptly to all questions and reports.

Updates

OpenSSF reserves the right to modify these Standards of Excellence at its sole discretion and at any time. Major changes to these guidelines will be communicated to OpenSSF Ambassadors via email and the OpenSSF Ambassador Slack channel. Note that any updates will not be applied retroactively. Should an OpenSSF Ambassador disagree with updated guidelines, their participation in the OpenSSF Ambassador Program will be suspended until such time as they agree to the changes.