Structure Group Report 2014-11-30

STRUCTURE GROUP REPORT November 2014

http://freegle.it/Structure

This is a summary of discussions since our last report of 31st March 2014,covering messages 12866 to 13132

The topics we have discussed or are live/pending are below:

Task 107 - large area specialist groups

Specialist groups required the need to consult each local group that shared a geographic area. So far the groups that have been set up have had fairly limited areas, but if a group was to cover a much larger area, or the whole of the UK, that would be impractical. After discussion, relaxation of the requirement to consult every group because the specialism was considered so limited that it is likely to have no effect on the operation or interest of 'standard' groups was agreed. GAT procedures were therefore changed to “Freegle groups within a 20 mile radius of an application for a brand new Freegle group are consulted. Consultation with local groups for specialist item groups that cover a large area will be by a notice on Central with an invitation for people to contact GAT if any group volunteer has a comment or similar. The time frame and procedure for comments and approval of group owners will be in line with these procedures.“

Task 108 - National Charities

We had a discussion about the possibility of National Charities having their own specialist Freegle group and also explored what stance local groups take when national charities apply for membership. Nothing was concluded about this, so the topic was closed and can be opened again if there are applications to GAT or local groups indicate they would like a national guideline.

Task 109 - Review of Abandoned Groups Procedure

We discussed the time limits that were in place for dealing with groups perceived as abandoned and polled on a change of wording to make it more practicable. The Board agreed the suggested change and the wiki has been updated with the revised procedure - Abandoned Groups Procedure.

A suggestion of template letters for caretakers/mentors to send to owners to establish the status of potential abandonment was declined as each situation is different. The Mentors team was agreed as the coordinating team for anyone in a caretaking position.

We also discussed Best Practice guidelines regarding having more than one owner on a group. The guidelines were amended to include emphasis on the need for emergency arrangements to be in place - Best Practice

Compulsory Membership of Central

Our current requirement for affiliation is that at least one member of every group is a member on Central. This doesn’t always happen, so we had a discussion of how membership of the new IPS will work and if we can effectively ensure the current requirement is monitored and enforced. No changes to any procedures or documentation were agreed.

Task List

Our task list http://freegle.it/StructureTasks still has items related or integral to the change to an IPS, so we have no live topics to discuss at the moment. Once Freegle Ltd has taken over the assets of Freegle UK and is up and running, these tasks will be addressed.

Group ‘Personnel’

The owners of this group are Jacky (Great Yarmouth) and Wendy (Woodley). Jacky is coordinator and stand-in secretary at present. Group membership stands at 82. New members are very welcome to join at any time.

Back to Structure Group Report 2014-03-31 or Structure Group Report 2015-02-28