TRMN:BlackSphinxCup:CivilAffairs

Civil Affairs Challenge (Community Service Challenge)

Overview and Purpose

The Civil Affairs Challenge is a competition in which the chapters of a fleet strive to volunteer and donate the most hours of their time to local non-profits or other community service organizations of their choice, by the end of the three-month challenge period. These rules are based on similar challenges conducted by TRMN fleets in the past, in an effort to standardize them for unified competition under the Black Sphinx Cup.

The chapter that volunteers the most hours and correctly submits this information during the challenge period wins the Civil Affairs Challenge in their fleet.

Civil Affairs Challenge Rules

In order to be compliant with the Black Sphinx Cup, the fleet cup’s Civil Affairs Challenge must adhere to the following rules:

• Volunteering must be done in a hands-on and in-person capacity. For example: serving food at a soup kitchen, assisting the Red Cross in disaster recovery, picking up trash at a beach cleanup, volunteering to take donations for Toys-For-Tots, etc.
• Volunteer work must be done through a non-profit, not-for-profit, or Federal, State, or Local Government agency.
• All volunteer work must be unpaid.
• Non-profits must be of a non-political or non-controversial nature. If a fleet commander is concerned about the nature of a non-profit, they should consult with the Office of the First Space Lord immediately. The Office of the First Space Lord holds the authority to intervene and disqualify the volunteer work for this challenge.
• No member may volunteer in any capacity, at any organization, in a way that might disparage TRMN in the course of this challenge. If a fleet commander is concerned about the nature of a non-profit, they should consult with the Office of the First Space Lord immediately. The Office of the First Space Lord holds the authority to intervene and disqualify the volunteer work for this challenge.
• Chapters may participate in as many volunteer opportunities and with as many organizations as they wish.
• Members of a chapter may choose to volunteer in a group capacity or individually.
• The Civil Affairs Challenge will be scored based on total hours volunteered per chapter based on the reporting method outlined in RECORDING & REPORTING THE CIVIL AFFAIRS CHALLENGE.

»» Any volunteer efforts made prior to or after the challenge period WILL NOT BE COUNTED.

Winning the Civil Affairs Challenge

At the conclusion of the challenge period, the chapter that has submitted a report that indicates they have accumulated the highest number of hours spent volunteering for organizations and in capacities as outlined in the rules above, wins the challenge.

In the event of a tie, the tie will be broken by comparing the photo/media documentation of the chapter’s volunteer activities, as judged by the fleet commander. In the event that the fleet commander is a member of a chapter involved in a tie-breaker, or is otherwise featured in their submitted photos, videos, or other media, they are disqualified from judging and must recuse themselves from the process. Authority to judge the winner then goes to the fleet challenge director. In the event that the fleet challenge director is also a member of a chapter involved in a tie-breaker, or is otherwise featured in their submitted photos, videos, or other media, they must also recuse themselves from the judging process. Authority to judge the winner then goes to the staff Intelligence officer for the First Space Lord. If this individual is also disqualified and must recuse themselves for the same reasons as above, authority to judge the fleet’s winner is given to the First Space Lord. This process continues until a Space Lord can be found who does not meet the criteria for disqualification.

Recording and Reporting the Civil Affairs Challenge

Chapter liaisons are required to create a spreadsheet to record their chapter’s activities in the challenge. This spreadsheet must include:

• A header with:
  • Chapter name
  • CO name and contact information
  • Chapter’s challenge liaison name and contact information
  • The most recent date updated
• Numbered rows.
• Each row represents one crew member’s volunteer efforts at one organization.
• If a member volunteers at more than one organization during the challenge, an additional row should be created for each organization.
• Only participating crew members need be listed. The included crew members must be officially listed on the chapter’s Medusa DB crew roster at the time of the challenge’s conclusion.
• The crew member volunteer rows must include columns that list:
  • Member name
  • Member TRMN ID number
  • Organization name
  • Organization website
  • Organization volunteer supervisor name and phone number
  • Hours volunteered at this organization during the challenge period
  • Brief description of crew member’s volunteer activities
• A footer with the total number of hours volunteered by the chapter.

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