Table of Contents
- What is a group treasury?
- Donating items to a group
- Controlling who can use the items in a group treasury
- How does a group put treasury items on display?
- How are groups held accountable for the ways in which they use items donated to the treasury?
What is a group treasury?
A group treasury is much like your inventory, except that the items in it are owned by a group.
All members of a group can view the group's treasury and the complete history of how the items in that treasury have been received, used, or given away, and by whom.
To view the treasury of any group that you are a member of, navigate to the group's profile, and look for the link "Treasury" in the group's toolbar, above the banner.
Donating items to a group
If you have items that you would like to give to a group, go to Your Stuff » Inventory and then click the button "Give Items"
Type the name of the group in the text box that appears, and wait for potential results to load. Choose the group from the dropdown that appears, then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process of making your donation.
Once you've donated the item, it becomes the property of the group, and the group's founder and any staff they have empowered will be able to make use of the item as they see fit.
Controlling who can use the items in a group treasury
By default, only the group founder can use or give away items in a group's treasury. However, if you are the group founder and you would like to give others the power to make use of the treasury items, you can do so.
Go to Your Stuff » Groups, then click the pencil next to the name of your group. You will be taken to the group editing overview page.
Choose "Treasury" from the sidebar (or at the bottom on mobile)
Put a checkbox next to each group role that you'd like to give treasury permissions to.
Click save.
How does a group put treasury items on display?
Some groups may decide that they wish to start a collection. Others may decide they want to run a contest, and wish to put the prizes on display where everyone can see them at a glance to remind them of what they're competing for.
For these times, members with treasury access can visit the group treasury and then click "Display" beneath any item.
A member with group edit permissions can then add the "Display Case" widget to the group's profile, on either a page or a sidebar. All treasury items that have been put on display will be shown in the Display Case widget.
How are groups held accountable for the ways in which they use items donated to the treasury?
All group members can see complete records of how treasury funds are used and by whom. If you want to see how treasury funds are being treated in a group where you are a member, visit the group's profile and then click the "Treasury" link in the top toolbar. Then click the button "View treasury history."
When a member donates an item to a group, they usually do so with the expectation that the item will be used to give the group some advantage that all of the members can enjoy the benefits of, such as Group Epic Status or extra pages so that more world-building information can be posted.
This means that if the treasury funds are used for any other reason, it can be seen as a breach of trust between the members and the group staff.
Therefore, we strongly encourage you to post your policies for treasury funds somewhere where all of your group members can see them, especially if you plan to use them in a different way than simply giving the group epic status.
For example, a founder may want to "pay" the group moderators for their assistance, as this can be an extremely demanding job. Or they may wish to reward GMs who run particularly exciting plots of the group members as an incentive to keep churning out the fun! This is a valid use of treasury funds. However, when members see records of treasury funds being sent to the founder's friends, they might become suspicious unless they understand why, how much, and how often. For this reason we strongly encourage you to clearly post your payment policies.
For the most part, group founders and staff may do as they wish with their treasury funds, especially if they have posted a policy that all of their members can see and understand detailing how they plan to make use of donations.
Particularly egregious abuses of treasury funds that are reported to the moderating team may result in an investigation and refund of those funds. For example, someone starting a group, widely advertising it and soliciting donations, and then clearing out the treasury funds and closing the group.