Committee puts into each match:

Sometimes an adult who applied to receive a spouse waited months or even years before a Match was approved and announced. All of the factors—disposition, energy level, intelligence, and interests—had to correspond and to interact perfectly … All Matches had been monitored by the Committee of Elders for three years before they could apply for children.

Here, the reader can see how hard the Committee works to ensure that the community has no conflict. By observing every citizen of the community on such an intricate level, the Elders ensure that no one is placed in a situation where tensions will arise.

Chapter six also makes reference to the Committee's use of release to maintain control over the community. The narrator explains that Gabriel had been given “an unusual and special reprieve from the Committee” because Jonas's father pleaded with them to give him extra nurturing time.

“Normally such a new child would be labeled Inadequate and released from the community,” the narrator notes. This description of how the Committee deals with babies who are not developing at a normal pace shows how part of the job of smoothly governing the community involves overseeing the health and development of all citizens. By releasing (killing) any infants who are not developing properly, the Committee aims to ensure that the community is one without suffering.

A similar point is made when Asher and Jonas are talking about stories they’ve heard regarding people who did not like their job assignments:

If you don't fit in, you can apply for Elsewhere and be released. My mother says that once, about ten years ago, someone applied and was gone the next day … Never seen again. Not even a Ceremony of Release.

This story shows how the Committee swiftly and bureaucratically deals with people who do not fit into the community. This is another example of how the Committee serves to ensure it is governing a place with no problems. Of course, as the reader soon learns during Jonas's time with the Giver, this community is not as ideal as it seems.

The Committee of Elders has the enormous responsibility of making virtually every significant decision in the community; it issues laws to ensure the citizens' safety and comfort. The Committee of Elders decides the community's birthrate, which is at fifty new children per year, and creates each family unit. The Committee of Elders also decides the citizens' occupations when the community's adolescents turn twelve years old. In addition to choosing each citizens' occupation, the Committee of Elders is also responsible for issuing laws and regulations, as well as punishing citizens who break them. After three transgressions, a citizen is "released" from the community. The Committee of Elders issues many of their regulations via the Speaker and constantly supervises the population. The Committee of Elders is also responsible for altering the environment and regulating the food supply. They also decide when certain infants and elderly citizens should be released for the community's benefit.

The elders of Jonas's community act like a city council or governing body. They enforce the rules, determine job assignments, organize family units, host celebrations, declare holidays, and determine who lives or dies. It's simple, really: They do whatever they can to maintain the effectiveness and execution of the policy of Sameness. Jonas, at age eleven, is concerned with what the elders will assign him for his life's work. He is also worried about his friend Asher because Asher is never serious about anything. When discussing these concerns with his mother, she provides an answer that validates her complete trust in the elders, as follows:

"The Elders know Asher. . . . They'll find exactly the right Assignment for him. I don't think you need to worry about him" (17).

His mother's statement shows her complete trust and loyalty to the elders. She, like the others in the community, never questions the elders' methods, what they tell the people, or if they might ever lie to them. It's just not done.

The Giver provides a little more insight into what the elders do when Jonas asks if they often come to him for advice. He replies as follows:

"Rarely. Only when they are faced with something that they have not experienced before. Then they call upon me to use the memories and advise them. But it very seldom happens. Sometimes I wish they'd ask for my wisdom more often—there are so many things I could tell them; things I wish they would change. But they don't want change. Life here is so orderly, so predictable—so painless. It's what they've chosen" (103).

From the description of the elders by the Giver, it is learned that the purpose of the elders is to maintain the status quo; that is to say, to maintain Sameness. They only want the Receiver to hold onto all of the pain for them so they can live out their lives without any extreme emotions or pain.

The job of the elders is to do pretty much everything that is needed to run the community.  In particular, we know that the Elders are the ones who decide how various people should be assigned once they become Twelves.  We know this because we are told that the Elders have been watching the kids who will soon be Twelves a bunch so they can know what jobs they'd be good for.

We also know that the Elders make rules such as the ones about how old you have to be before you can have your own bike.  They also are the ones to decide who can be assigned to care for children.

So they basically make all the decisions in the community.

When Jonas is apprehensive about the Ceremony of Twelve, he discusses his concerns with his parents. They do their best to ease his apprehension by explaining that the elders of the community have their best interests at heart when they choose assignments for the twelve-year-olds. For example, in chapter 2, Father tells Jonas that he wasn't surprised when he got assigned as Nurturer because the elders take into account each child's aptitude and interests when making assignments. This is the best way to ensure that everyone receives an assignment that will not only make them feel productive throughout life, but will also help the community.

The elders also enforce the rules by making public announcements when someone breaks a rule. They alert the community of unscheduled holidays and when people are released. They administer medicine when needed, direct the delivery of food to each dwelling, and carry the authority to make or change rules as needed. However, rules aren't changed very easily. There is a joke that when they wanted to change the bicycle age from nine to eight, the elders would discuss it. The rule never changed, either because the elders couldn't agree, or they simply don't like changing rules.

When a big decision needs to be made, however, that is when the elders consult the Receiver. For example, in chapter 14, citizens asked to have an increase in the rate of births. The elders went to the Receiver for his advice and he was reminded of all the memories about hunger and poverty due to overpopulation. His advice to the elders was not to increase births in the community so that food would not become scarce at a future date. Therefore, the elders are the managers of the community in every aspect of living, from creating jobs and establishing family units to administering medicine, punishments, and releases.

The Committee of Elders are responsible for making all of the decisions in their society. They watch children as they are growing up and decide what assignments to give. Not only do they assign jobs, but they make almost every choice in each person's life: who to marry, where to live, which child to have, even what name a person will have. Whenever the Committee of Elders have difficulty making such a decision, they consult the Giver, who holds all of the memories for all of the people and can inform them of past decisions.