RCN Initiatives: Interest Groups, Working Groups, and Consortiums

RCN members can propose initiatives to the Steering Committee. These initiatives have a clear focus, report findings back to the Steering Committee, and follow the guidelines below. The initiatives can be formally organized as interest groups, working groups, consortiums, or other collaborative forms.

To propose an initiative, file an application using the GitHub Issue template.

Areas of Work

RCN members may propose an initiative for a specific Rust adoption or ecosystem maintenance topic. Proposed areas include:

• Identifying shared challenges in Rust adoption, crate maintenance, supply chain reliability, and ecosystem maintenance
• Creating high-level frameworks or templates to help others adopt Rust
• Identifying basic tooling and library needs that affect production users
• Highlighting projects that are not in the Rust Innovation Lab (RIL) but need more visibility, funding, or engineering time

Operations

Each initiative defines and administers its own organizational form, membership criteria, tiers, and processes. Membership in an RCN initiative does not necessarily require RCN membership.

Membership in the RCN and membership in an RCN initiative are independent. RCN membership does not confer membership, standing, or participation rights in any initiative.

Steering Committee Scope

The RCN Steering Committee reviews initiatives to make sure their work fits the RCN mission. The SC helps initiatives establish the appropriate organizational form (interest group, working group, consortium, etc.) and draft the charters and other governance documents that define how they operate. The SC does not have authority over an initiative's internal processes, membership decisions, leadership selection, technical direction, or public communications.

To be clear, "fits the RCN mission" means that the initiative operates within the scope of Rust adoption by commercial, industrial, or organizational users. It does not authorize the SC to require changes to an initiative's scope, priorities, deliverables, publication schedule, or processes in order to remain affiliated with the RCN.

Voting Rights

Only RCN members in good standing may vote in RCN-level elections. Only initiative members may vote in initiative-level decisions, as defined by that initiative's own governance.

Existing Initiatives

Initiatives (consortiums, interest groups, or working groups) that predate the RCN or that maintain their own governance structures retain full authority over their technical outputs, publication decisions, and operational processes. The SC may not condition continued RCN affiliation on changes to an initiative's existing governance, scope, processes, or external relationships, including direct relationships with the Rust Project, standards bodies, or other organizations.

Withdrawal

An RCN-affiliated initiative may withdraw from the RCN at any time by written notice from that initiative's leadership to the RCN Steering Committee. Upon withdrawal, the initiative retains its existing governance structures, membership, repositories, branding, and intellectual property. Withdrawal does not require SC approval. Former RCN-affiliated initiatives are welcome to seek re-affiliation in the future.