Which DF Committee Role is for me?

There’s seemingly 5 million different roles on and around DF Committee, and so I thought it would be useful for me to shed a bit of light on what it is you can stand for in this year’s elections.

As a reminder, elections this year will be happening at the EveryThing, and you can find out more about both the elections and the event here.

So, which roles are up for election?
Well, it’s important that we establish there are three different types of roles:

Committee Roles – These tend to be the largest roles in the movement, and as such the individuals undertaking them are expected to attend Things (our DF Business meetings), where they will typically have their travel expensed and must supply a quarterly report to the movement.

Supervisory Roles – These roles are vitally important to the DF Movement, but must remain independent of DF Committee because they must be able to be critical of Committee as well as the movement as a whole when it comes to their area of responsibility. They must also submit quarterly reports

Non-Committee Roles – According to the constitution: “there shall be several elected roles that are not on committee composed of DFs and elected by DFs to oversee areas of the movement’s objectives that do not fall within the remit of DF Committee”.

These guys get to do a lot of the cool stuff in things like our podcast and Zine. It’s also nice to have them attend Things, but technically they’re not mandated to submit a quarterly report in the same way, just an annual report at Althing each year.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way – lets find out which roles are up for election this time around!

Committee Roles:

Activism Rep (1 Year)

You will coordinate the DF movement’s political activity nationally, as well as liaising with local groups to support their activism. At the 2025 Woodcraft Folk AGM, the organisation expressed a desire to be more political. As Activism Rep, you will be instrumental in that success!

Events Rep (1 Year)

You will oversee the organisation of national DF events. It’s important to note that this does not mean you have to organise each event! You just have to be responsible for setting up the various co-ord teams and making sure they have what they need to do a good job. This year, you will also face the scary challenge of making sure Spring awakening happens, as the last two of those went missing….

This role is supported by the Shadow Events Rep (1 Year), so if you’re interested in getting involved with events but would like to train under the current events rep first, this role is for you!

Chair of DF Committee (1 Year)

You must keep DF Committee moving forwards as one team and help coordinate DF business events. It’s extremely important you know this position is not the leader of DFs because DFs doesn’t have a leader. Think of it as more of a pastoral/management kind of deal. If you have big ideas for the movement and are good with people and communicating, this role is for you.

Communications Rep (2 Years)

You will manage the online presence of the movement, including the DF Instagram and the spanthat.world website. You too could be writing blog posts just like this! DF Committee is always looking for new ways to evolve and communicate with the membership, so if you think you’ve got the key or the secret, this is the role for you. (There’s a mailing list everyone’s been signing up to for a while that could really do with some emails being sent through it!!)

Fundraising Rep (2 Years)

You will apply for grants for the DF movement, as well as assisting local DF groups in their fundraising. In the past we have had fundraising reps coordinate DFs volunteering at festivals, as well as sorting out DF merchandise. After the heavy merch game of Camp 100, we have a duty to keep it going. (I know I’d like a DF badge for my new folk shirt at least…)

Lay Member (2 Years)

On paper the Lay member doesnt have a job, but when the going gets tough for someone on committee, the lay member gets going!!! You’ll be asked to step in to support other members of committee with their tasks when they run out of capacity. This role is a real wildcard so if you’re not sure what you want to do on committee, maybe this could be your calling.

Safeguarding Rep (2 Years)

You will manage any safeguarding issues arising from the national DF movement, maintaining a point of contact between those affected, DF Committee and the Woodcraft Folk safeguarding team. This ones really good for your CV.

Secretary (2 Years)

You’ll take responsibility for organising DF meeting agendas, policies and procedure documents and the DF constitution. If you enjoy organising documents and files, this one will be great for you!

MEST UP Coordinator (1 Year)

MEST UP is what sets DFs apart from other youth movements, and as such requires a coordinator to make sure it keeps pace with the ever-changing world. You’ll be asked to liaise with the MEST UP reps and coordinate their Training and workshops.

This role is supported by Shadow MEST UP (1 Year), so if you’re interested in getting involved with MEST UP but would like to train under the current MEST UP coordinator first, this role is for you!

Shadow Treasurer (1 Year)

You will train under the current Treasurer with a view to becoming the next treasurer of the DF movement, responsible for managing our national finances. You can only be elected as the DF Treasurer if you have completed a term of this role beforehand due to legal obligations. (Technically, if you’re then on this secret list of DFs, you may be able to stay in the movement until you’re 23 which is a little bit crazy but hey, that’s finance)

Training Rep (2 Years)

You will coordinate training sessions for DFs, usually by getting external organisations to come to our events. We especially need first aid training all the time, so if you have experience in that, please apply for this!!

Supervisory Roles:

Accessibility Rep (1 Year)

You must ensure the decisions Committee makes work for the movement as a whole, and that events are as accessible as possible. It’s your job to scrutinise DF Committee, so if you fancy holding them to account, go for this role.

Sustainability Rep (1 Year)

You must ensure each of the decisions Committee makes do not harm the environment unnecessarily, and that events are being organised with sustainability and the planet in mind. If you’re passionate about the environment or renewable technology, DF committee could really use some recommendations and guidance to inform their decisions.

Non-Committee Roles:

Zine (1 Year)

You will have responsibility for creating the DF Zine, which made a wonderful comeback in 2024/25. As editor-in-chief you can work with the DF movement to run zine workshops on events, or you can try a new format. It really is up to you. If you love zines and also DFs, do this one!!

First Aid Fairy (1 Year)

There is a national DF first aid kit that gets brought to each event. Our previous first aid fairy put a lot of work into making it up to date and safe, and it’s now up to you to make sure it stays that way. If you want to manage the glorious spreadsheet of our first aid supplies, this is the place to do it.

Venturer Liaison (1 Year)

Venturer camp 2026 is next summer, and a new Venturer Committee was just elected at Camp 100. As Venturer Liaison, you’ll maintain the dialogue between the DFs who are organising the camp, and a committee of 13-15 year olds who are far more ambitious than any DF Committee could dream of being.

International Opportunities (1 Year)

There are others like us across the world. We could learn a lot from the other youth wings of IFM SEI organisations, and in this role you’ll be tasked with representing DFs on the World Stage. We would love to welcome international delegations to our events, and from conversations I had with international delegations on Camp 100, the feeling is mutual !!

General Council (Odd) (2 Years)

As odd as general council may be, the odd in this role title actually refers to the year in which you start it. In this role, you will be despatched to Woodcraft Folk’s General Council and join the board of trustees in shaping the entire organisation. It’s a big responsibility, but you’ll learn an awful lot. Plus, you’ll be expensed to go on multiple GC residentials each year with our other DF reps on the board.

Podcast Coordinator (1 Year)

You’ll be tasked with continuing Fellows Radio, or reviving another form of our podcast such as the long forgotten DFM. The podcast can be really vital for helping our sense of community between events, so if you enjoy presenting or you are really good at talking to yourself, go for this role! You can also run as a duo if that’s more your style.

Big Camps Rep (1 Year)

Following Camp 100, DFs now have two new big events to look forward to! This role will be responsible for liaising with the teams behind the DF 50th Anniversary camp in 2027, and International Camp 2030.

London, Wales and Scotland Liaison (1 year)

These are three separate roles responsible for representing the large populations of DFs in their respective area. It’s lovely when these roles organise big events for their regions, but it’s not a requirement for the position. The most important Thing you should do in this role is make sure your areas school holiday calendar doesn’t clash with our events calendar!! We need DF events to be accessible to all

”Manchester Leiasgon” (1 year)

I accept personal responsibility for this one. At Althing 2022 as a 17 year old I organised a large Manchester contingent of DFs to lobby for a Manchester Liaison to be added to the roles. This was barely relevant at the time and is even less so now. As an example for what happens when people abuse democratic proccesses, this role remains, but in a different format. To find out more about this, please see the Althing 2024 minutes HERE . Run for this one. I dare you.

I sincerely hope that in reading this list of roles up for election this year, you’ve found your calling.

I’ll drop a link to the nominations form below – good luck

Happy nominating,

Tyler Eckersall,

Former ”Manchester Leiasgon”.