What Does This Mean for Me or Us?

We've tried to keep our website straightforward, or as straightforward as we can for such a wild endevor. Take a look around, spend some time, or even talk about it with friends, and....tell us what you think.

Does this whole thing sound crazy? Ridiculous? Inspiring? Impossible? Something you've been looking for? Something you never thought of? Is there something missing? Are we trying to do too much? How did you hear about us?

We're genuinely interested in what you have to say about this, and whatever else you want to tell us. Write to us, and we promise the most stratospherically senior leadership will not only read and reply to every message, but aggregate it into our vision directly or indirectly. Your reactions, questions, criticisms, and suggestions matter to us.

We're also on most of the horrible social media platforms. We'd rather not be but at least for now, that's where people are and we want people to be able to find us. Then we hope to continue the conversation elsewhere. Follow us, comment, and engage with us there too. It really helps us if you comment and watch and forward, and all the things that warms their algorithms' hearts.

You don't have to join Rorshok to use what we're building. In fact, that's part of the point. We want people to take these ideas and tools and use them in their own lives and communities.

Make an Ourzine. Write something, design it, print it, and give it to somebody. See what happens. If you are thinking of doing that, tell us in the form above and we'll reach out and talk it over with you, answer questions, and help out.

Want to organize a Rorshokito? We'd love to talk with you about how to do it, what we've learned, and how you can bring people together around a common interest in a particular place. They are extremely fun.

Think Chat Task could be useful for a group you're involved with? Give it a try. We'd be happy to help you get started.

All of this is free.

You don't need our permission to experiment with these things, and you don't need to "join" or even tell us you are doing it if you don't want to.

And if you have some other way you could help or could use our help, but aren't quite sure how, write us.

We'd love to hear what you're interested in or thinking about.

OK, here's how "joining" works.

Rorshok operates differently from most organizations. Everyone starts as a volunteer, but volunteering here doesn't mean quite what it means in other places.

Usually, an organization has paid staff who make the decisions and carry out the main responsibilities. If there are volunteers, they help out help out when they can or on a temporary or "campaign" basis. Volunteer or interns may do useful things, but they're usually considered somewhat replaceable and therefore not a ton is invested in them by the institution.

It's different with us.

At Rorshok, volunteers have real responsibilities, and we expect real commitment.

Think of it as roughly an hour a day. That doesn't mean clocking in for a specific hour every weekday. Some days you'll do more, some days less, depending on your responsibilities.

But if the idea of contributing around an hour a day sounds impossible or too much, then joining us is probably not for you.

What matters most is that you're responsive every weekday, that you do what you say you'll do, that you take responsibility for your work, and that you become a genuine part of the Rorshok community.

In exchange, you'll learn a shit ton. You'll work with a cool crew from around the world, take on responsibilities that are a big deal for us, and help create things that matter. We'll support you, help you, and be on your side. We want the relationships within this community to mean something.

Could volunteering or an internship lead to paid work?

Probably not, but possibly. That said, it's important to understand how we approach this.

Rorshok is a post-profit organization. Nobody receives distributions of profits from what we do, nor can they in the future. We try to keep everything we create as free and accessible as possible.

We are big believers in volunteering and internships. We also believe that unpaid internships are unethical when they are with for-profit companies. The first rule of volunteering is not to volunteer to make somebody else rich. With Rorshok, there is no profit or shareholder distributions now or in the future.

We don't currently have regular salaried staff. If we can afford to, we'd like to bring some volunteers into paid part-time positions, and eventually perhaps a very small number into full-time positions.

But we don't hire those who haven't volunteered with us first. We want to work with people who believe in what we're doing, who have shown their reliability and commitment, who we've gotten to know, who have gotten to know us and it all feels good all the way around.

We'll be open about the possibilities for paid work, what we can afford, and whether a position might become available on a case by case basis with volunteers.

But only a small proportion of volunteers are likely to become paid employees. If your main reason for volunteering is the expectation that you could or may get a job, this probably isn't a sensible path for you.

How Do Salaries Work?

Our salary structure is unusual.

Rather than negotiating individual salaries in the conventional way, we use a formula based on a living wage in different cities and countries around the world.

If you're interested, we'll explain the formula and tell you what the salary would be in the place you live. You can then mull over what that means for you if a paid position ever became possible.

We want people to understand all of this from the beginning, rather than creating expectations we may not be able to meet.

Possibly interested?

Write to us. Tell us who you are, what interests you, and why Rorshok appeals to you.

You don't need to have everything figured out. We sure don't. As you can see, we're experimenting with how an organization can work, just as we're experimenting with the projects we're building.

We're looking for people who may want to be part of something like that.