Structure Group Report 2010-03-14

The Freegle Structure working group can be found at http://freegle.it/Structure.

Members of Central - Why not join our 55 members to see what is going on in the topics below and contribute if you have views?

This is a summary of discussions since our last report of 1st March 2010, covering messages 2192 to 2308. We warmly welcome input and comments on Central about any of the issues we are presently discussing or yet to be discussed (live and pending topics detailed below). We have also put together a Task List - http://freegle.it/StructureTasks - so everyone can see what we are doing/planning to do.

Live Topics

Governing Document

The draft Governing Document is still under discussion. Reps and Central have been invited to comment and it is at present being compared and edited by the Reps to tie in with the proposed Working Practices document the Reps have drafted. The first agreed draft was posted (message 8132, 21.2.10) on Central for discussion with you all. We are still very interested in any comments that Members have on that document before it is sent to Legal and then proposed to Members for adoption.

If anyone has any experience in dealing with HM Revenue and Customs regarding registering an organisation as charitable for tax reasons, we would be really grateful for some advice and help. You don't have to be an expert, just someone who might have done this or similar before.

Finance

The Reps have been provided with a summary of what six different banks can offer by way of accounts for unincorporated associations. We have flagged up the need for early thinking about financial procedures for Freegle so that we are organised in regard to central and possible local funding issues.

Group Assessment Team

The Reps have asked for a remit for the GAT. This is a remit for the how the team is appointed, accountability etc, not the details of the work it does. Structure would welcome members of that team and others to contribute ideas about what the remit should be.

Working Groups

Discussion about the operation of the current working groups has concluded that a co-ordinator role is probably needed to keep the Groups on task. Whether this is in addition to a spokesperson role or as an alternative is still being discussed, along with the necessity for each Group to have a Task List. The Reps have asked for a Working Group Working Practices document to be drafted. Spreadsheet Task Lists have been set up by the Reps for each Working Group, each following a common format.

We also need to consider ownership of the various Central groups - should one person be allowed to be owner of more than one group, should there be a minimum number of owners, who should they be etc. Views anyone?

Definition of Volunteers

There is a suggestion pending about having volunteers on a special group as a way of communicating with them, but we would really like some thoughts about this from Central. Who do we mean by a volunteer in terms of their eligibility to vote and membership of Central?

Pending Topics

Our task list shows the other items that been identified by and for us to consider - http://freegle.it/StructureTasks. There is a priority attached to each topic but we are more than happy to reconsider the urgency of different issues if other working groups or Members feel we should be addressing things in a different order.

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The spokespeople for this group are Jacky (Great Yarmouth) and Edward (Rep and Edinburgh). The owner is Jacky.

Back to Freegle Structure or Structure Group Report 2010-01-13 or forwards to Structure Group Report 2010-03-28