BeWelcome is unique

Please note that this page is still a draft

Philosophy

Decisions are taken in a transparent way, where no information (apart from privacy sensitive information) is hidden away from other volunteers and where possible the general public.
All software running BeWelcome is free software (or open source). It is available under the GNU General Public License, meaning that there is full transparency about its working, and that everyone interested in volunteering on the software side can instantly get started. It also means that other related projects could quickly be set up using this software.

Volunteer teams work in a democratic way. Day-to-day decisions (e.g. writing this line) are usually taken in an ad-hoc fashion, but important decisions (e.g. which license to use for this wiki, choosing team coordinators) are taken by vote.
BeWelcome members' opinions, criticism, wishes are taken into account, respected and desired - especially in the forum, but also in feedback messages
BeVolunteer, the organization behind BeWelcome has clear and legal statutes.
BeVolunteer, is an officially registered NPO - Non Profit Organisation, registered in France. As of June we are setting up another official organization in Germany.
BeVolunteer elects a BoD (Board of Directors) every year
According to the statutes of BeVolunteer the BoD is not allowed to receive any payment
Neither are there any programmers/other members who receive payment
Nor is there any type of cost transfer from BV to active volunteers (e.g. travel expenses)

BeWelcome members get a message after three months with news and the request to login again. Similar Mail after 5 months with the note that membership will be set inactive if the member does not login within the next 30 days.
As of June a free (of cost) and distributed form of verification is in a beta stage.