Approved by the Website Committee May 2025 and the Board of Directors, June 2025
Approved by the members December 16, 2025
1. Website Committee Role
The Website Committee has one principal function – to develop and maintain an official website for Woodsworth Housing Co-operative.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and membership, the committee ensures that the co-operative has a workable and up-to-date website to inform members and the general public about Woodsworth.
The website:
– Gives an online presence for our housing co-operative
– Maintains a database of important information such as bylaws and policies, contact information, forms, providing one place to look by centralizing content.
– Helps Woodsworth fulfill the co-op principles of democratic control and education, training and information by offering content that helps members understand bylaws, policies and procedures
– Provides 24/7 accessibility and convenience
– Enhances member engagement
2. Our website: content management system, domain names, hosting, software / plugins, logins, domain name email addresses, privacy
The website has been developed and maintained by volunteers.
The website should be easy-to-update and maintain and be cost efficient.
The platform should use standard website protocols for maximum interoperability. Woodsworth uses WordPress, the open source publishing platform for millions of websites worldwide. Members have sufficient expertise to maintain it ourselves, keeping costs low. Directors, Management, committees and others are able to contribute content to the website and update when necessary.
The Website Committee should be aware of changing technology so that they can keep the site operating safely and efficiently.
The webmaster or chair or designated person should ensure that the website is backed up automatically and routinely.
Woodsworth owns both domain names – woodsworthcoop.ca and woodsworthcoop.com. It is important that the committee chair or webmaster ensures that these be paid for in a timely manner to avoid their loss.
The Woodsworth website should normally be hosted on a Canadian server.
The Web Committee must plan for continuity and succession through record keeping.
Admin login to WordPress:
The Chair and webmaster will have administrative logins to the website. Website Committee members may request admin logins. Contributors (bloggers) especially for committees, Board and Management can have admin rights to post, edit and publish within a specific topic.
The webmaster or chair will normally create committee email accounts as requested, based on availability and keep track of logins and passwords. If in doubt, the committee will consult with the Board.
The website should maintain a privacy policy and must provide appropriate protocols to protect sensitive information such as co-op finances and members’ contact information from indexing by search engines.
3. Committee Membership
The Committee will follow the Organizational Bylaw’s rules about committees.
The general membership can request to join the committee. The Board can assign a member or members to join the Website Committee if they wish. This may be due to specialized knowledge or any other reason.
The committee selects a chair, secretary and lead webmaster. The committee may set and delegate other roles as required. The committee must report the makeup of the committee to the Board of Directors.
The chairperson will be responsible for overall coordination of the committee. The Chair or webmaster should share reports with the committee before submitting them to the Board or the membership.
The Committee should post a committee email address, such as woodsworthcoop.ca or free email address such as Gmail so that members can contact them.
4. Budget
The committee will submit a budget request for the operating budget subject to bylaws and the approval of the Board of Directors.
5. Confidentiality, privacy and conflict of interest
This committee is not normally privy to confidential information. However, the committee members are bound by the articles of the Organizational Bylaw for confidentiality and conflict of interest.
6. Reporting to the Board
The Website Committee must report to the Board of Directors at least annually or as requested.