Loomio

Meetings of the Finance Committee: when? why? who? where? what fun?

Caitlin Waddick, FWG/OC PublicSeen by 15

This thread is for The Stuff of real time meetings of the Finance Committee. The agenda for the meeting could get linked here. And a link to any meeting minutes. We might discuss timing and location and especially: How do we make our meeting fun and worth having? How do we craft our relationships to each other? How do we make decisions? ... No actual financial content will be discussed in this thread. This thread is just the nuts and bolts of having a meeting, and hopefully some jokes or memes to lift the dull parts. Suggestion: we might create a new thread for this stuff at the beginning of every year.

Caitlin Waddick, FWG/OC

NOTICE: the first two meetings of this committee will be Thu Aug 11, 2022 11am – 11:45am (EDT)

Wed Sep 7, 2022 11am – 11:45am (EDT). The location will be Nathan's Chat on Zoom (or alternatively Caitlin's Home Room on Meet.Coop). I'll post the exact location just in time, here and on our SC thread.

As posted to SC:

Hey Social.Coop, notice The Finance Committee for operations will meet for the first times on August 11th and September 7th. We invite new members to join the committee. We invite your encouragement, ideas, and friendly provocations. Current FinCom members include @CaitlinWaddick (that's me!), @ntnsndr, @LeoSammallahti, @GuerillaOntologist, and @mattcropp I know we should crosspost to operations and discussions on the Loomio platform: it's how we manage Social.Coop!

Nathan Schneider

Thank you for starting this, @Caitlin Waddick, @CaitlinWaddick@Social.Coop ! Some ideas of things to discuss:

  • How does the money look? Should we doing more or less with it?

  • Revisit the approvals process—automation, discussion, documentation

  • Communication and coordination with other working groups

Josh Davis

Thanks Caitlin. I'm looking forward to talking. Where do we suppose a good place to keep notes would be?

Nathan Schneider

Minutes from today's meeting:

Social.coop Finance Working Group meeting minutes (2022.08.11)

Rough agenda:

  • How does the money look? Should we doing more or less with it?

  • Revisit the approvals process—automation, discussion, documentation

  • Communication and coordination with other working groups

  • Scheduling regular meetings (quarterly?)

Present: Caitlin, Nathan, Leo, Josh

State of the budget

  • We are looking at a few thousand pounds/year extra

    • in the past year, we’re raising ~5k, spending about ~3k

  • We have more money than we need. What could we do with excess?

    • Leo: How about marketing, attracting new members? Sponsorships

    • Josh: Should we aim to hold a year’s worth of operating expenses on hand?

    • Leo: Other services we could buy for members

    • Nathan: Pay our working groups better?

Action item: Leo will initiate a co-op-wide discussion about what could be done with ~1k of excess annual funds.

Approvals process

  • Got Josh on the system for Open Collective so he can see the expenses

  • Generally good with the approvals process

Coordination with other working groups

Next meetings

At our September 7 meeting, we will discuss quarterly meetings going forward.

Select a repo

Caitlin Waddick, FWG/OC

Our next meeting is September 7th... 11 am Mountain Time or 1 pm Eastern. The location is ... um?

Nathan Schneider

Oh shoot, somehow this didn't stay on my calendar—I'm really sorry and not sure what happened. I am the worst, particularly since @Caitlin Waddick, @CaitlinWaddick@Social.Coop did so much to keep this on my calendar. Would 11:30 MT/1:30ET work? I should be able to do that.

I just created a room for us here: https://socialcoop.meet.coop/nat-flp-g76-mf4

Nathan Schneider

Hi everyone, ( @Matthew Cropp @Caitlin Waddick, @CaitlinWaddick@Social.Coop @Leo Sammallahti ), @Josh Davis and I are the only ones who made it to our planned meeting. I think we failed to announce it properly. I'm sorry about that! But we were the ones who were supposed to do things, so we just used the time to catch up on those. When shall we meet next?

Josh Davis

@Caitlin Waddick, CaitlinWaddickSocial.Coop Me too. I'm waiting for the meeting to start now.

Nathan Schneider

@Caitlin Waddick, CaitlinWaddickSocial.Coop Yes, that's right! Signing in now.

Nathan Schneider

Today's minutes:

Agenda

  • Check ins

  • Where are we now? Assess financial situation

  • Platform6 GM

  • Asnyc comms - Matrix?

  • Any proposals we should make to membership? 

  • Legal Working Group

  • Elections?

  • Finish by :50

Present: Caitlin, Josh, Leo, Nathan

  • Current balance is almost 16k GBP, budget is 17k GBP. We are not spending most of our funds. We have the ability to do much more

  • Status of past spending proposals

  • We need more accountability in the co-op as we get more serious

  • Proposals we could make

  • Propose a general manager? Leo can take that to the "growing social.coop" group

  • Hire outside support on tech or other services?

  • Pay a quarterly fee to Platform6

  • Meet.coop is going away. Do we need to replace that service, or is Jitsi sufficient?

  • Platform6 general meeting

  • Idea of organizing an event on cooperative fediverse instances. Establish more permanent support structures for them.

To dos:

  • Nathan:

  • Draft general manager proposal—or start with the problem, and explore diverse solutions

  • Leo:

  • Bring our reflections back to the "growing social.coop" governance group

  • Get the domain under Platform6 control

  • Initiate discussion on budget priority increases

Next meeting: April 30, 9 am Denver, https://meet.mayfirst.org/socialcoop-fwg

Nathan Schneider

Today's meeting (just Caitlin, Josh, Nathan attending)—to dos:

Next meeting: August 29, 9 am Mountain, https://meet.mayfirst.org/socialcoop-fwg

Item removed

Nathan Schneider

TODAY'S MEETING

Agenda

  1. consider the path forward with Platform 6 (and therefore innovation‍.coop);

  1. evaluate the need for a decision by the FWG or the membership; 

  1. provide a general update to members on P6 to Innovation.

  1. representative to steering body; 

  1. Discuss proposal for a comprehensive budget

  1. social.coop domain

Decisions

- Andres is willing to join the working group! Gotta add him to the list on the wiki once we can log in.

- Pinged Graham about a co-op-wide proposal on the innovation.coop

- Starting with Caitlin as representative to the Organizing Circle

- Andres will develop a proposal for a budget model in the FWG, which we'll then bring to the broader membership

Next meeting: November 14 at 9 am MT

Nathan Schneider

2023.11.14 FWG meeting

- Check in on balance and budgeting

- Stripe issue

- Domain

- Structure and WG membership

- P6 and Innovation.coop 

Nathan Schneider

2024.02.12 Finance Working Group meeting minutes

Minutes:

- Organizing circle update

  • - Organizing circle is not yet ready to take action or approve a budget

- Fiscal host transition  

  • -  We can involve a lawyer to clarify the contractual relationship between Social.Coop and the new host.

  • - Going to reach out to P6 and innovation.coop to move the process forward

  • - Going to make a proposal in Loomio to approve a budget for the legal costs of the transition, with a goal of making the legal docs publicly available

  • - Andres will lead moving forward on this.

- Review budget plans

  • - Revising to bring contributions to other orgs into the FWG, not TWG. 

Next time (30 min in a month):

- Review budget discussion

- Design process for external contributions

  - Story cards? Document the reasons for the contributions

- Move the P6 > innovation process forward

Nathan Schneider

March 18 (30 min.):

  • Fiscal sponsorship

  • P6 is moving to Innovation.coop slowly. No big deal. This is working for now…

  • bigger question: Will P6 under Innovation be willing to serve as a durable, long-term fiscal & legal host to social.coop? (The view is Yes, but confirmation would help.)

  • Beyond P6–FWG linkages, can we establish FWG–meet.coop linkages with the other significant project on P6.

  • Review budget discussion

  • Review "Team Roles" on Open Collective

  • Should all FWG members be "Admins" or "Accountants"? Propsal?

  • Design process for external contributions

  • Story cards? Document the reasons for the contributions

Outcomes:

  • Announce result of annual budget (Nathan)

  • Initiate annual P6 payment of 600 GBP for fiscal costs (Nathan?)

  • Design community contribution process (Caitlin and Josh)

  • Socialize annual budget in the Organizing Circle to encourage working groups to implement the budget (Caitlin and Andres)

  • Aiming to begin paying stipends to the FWG mid-year in June

  • Check in with Matt Cropp and Leo about membership (and remove them unless they want to remain)

Nathan Schneider

Good question, I don't have one in my calendar.

Nathan Schneider

April 15 FWG (30 min): 

Minutes:

  • Organizing circle update

  • Not much to report, still in meta discussions

  • Fiscal sponsorship

  • Continuing to sit tight n

  • Domain update

  • Huge applause to Andres for finally getting the domain under our control!

  • domain is now registered to Innovation Coop. Ltd.

  • Innovation is not our current fiscal host (which itself presents a risk) but this made 

  • new Gandi account (social_coop) is held by @andrewe

  • account access to be delegated to both Tech and Fiscal Working Groups

  • Review participatory budgeting process

  • We should find another $400 to move to full payment to Loomio of $500/yr.

  • Decision: FWG decision to donate $400 now to Loomio this year to account for our outdated contract of $7/mo (which equals the $100 that was already budgeted), and allocate $1500 now (instead of $1700) (April/May) and then again later this year ($1500 instead of $1700). This Community Contribution budget of $400 toward our annual contribution to Loomio will bring it in line with Loomio's own pricing (Groups with 300 members pay $499/year; we previously allocated only $100 in the first annual budget). 

  • Dot Vote floor... We will do a few substantial contributions that are meaningful. 

Nathan Schneider

August 20, 2024 FWG meeting

To do

  • Caitlin: schedule meeting with OC
  • Andrew: Meet with Sean at Innovation with Caitlin
  • Andrew and Nathan (and Caitlin): Reactivate the legal working group
  • Caitlin: Will recommit to continuing the PB process with a new post
  • Nathan: Schedule a next meeting in November
  • Andrew: Start a thread on ops stipends

Agenda

  • Check in on finances
  • Report from Organizing Circle
  • Fiscal sponsorship (vs. new Cooperative)
  • Participatory budgeting
  • Legal WG?
  • Schedule next meeting
  • Stipends (Ops process?)

Notes

  • Financial update
    • Current balance: £26,303.13 GBP
    • Estimated annual: £13,139.73 GBP
    • Approved budget: 13k
    • We are on track to continue implementing the approved budget for the organization.
    • We're happy with the improving Open Collective tools!
  • Organizing circle
  • Fiscal sponsorship (vs. Coop/Governance host)
    • We should set up an annual meeting with the fiscal sponsor. Andres met with Innovation in Sept 2023.
    • Should we get our own legal designation? US: 501(c)(3) nonprofit, CA: incorproated cooperative,
    • Perhaps this is a reason we should have a functional legal working group
    • GEO.coop is fiscally sponsored by Adina, a 501c3 that we could use. Already set up on Open Collective. But a US-based organization may be a non-starter for us. Innovation might still be the right home for us.
    • Some of us are concerned about the risks of maintaining fiscal sponsorship with P6, which is in an uncertain state. Andrew will set up a meeting with Sean at Innovation to continue moving that transition process forward.
  • Legal working group
  • Participatory budgeting
    • We have neglected to complete this and we are committing to doing that now.
  • Next meeting November 4th, 2024: 11-11:50 am Eastern (New York City time)

Caitlin Waddick, FWG/OC

@Nathan Schneider

So, reporting what I did: I scheduled you, in your calendar, -- and I don't do this stuff for my own hubby 😎 -- for the following possible meetings between the Finance Working Group and the Organizing Circle: All times are in UTC -5:00  = Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Thu Sep 19, 2024 1pm – 1:45pm (EDT)

W. Sept 25 11 am  UTC -5:00  = Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Th. Sept 26  1 pm   UTC -5:00  = Eastern Time (US & Canada)

W. Oct 2 11 am   UTC -5:00  = Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Th. Oct 3 1 pm   UTC -5:00  = Eastern Time (US & Canada)

M. Oct. 7 11 am   UTC -5:00  = Eastern Time (US & Canada)

AND: I posted the last five options to a poll that I posted for the members of the Organizing Circle in the OC section of Loomio (and I prompted them in a private message on Social.Coop). ... You get to manage your own calendar from here (though if you asked me nicely...). My bookings are under the name: Caitlin  SC-FWG-OC-Pssblty Waddick. I'll announce here the actual meeting time, and you can cancel the extra bookings on your own or accept the windfalls of time. The meeting location will be: https://socialcoop.meet.coop/kat-aiw-mpv-6vv

@Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group : You are receiving similar messages from me on Social.Coop and notices over Loomio. LMK what works best for you. Most of Nathan's availabilities were at 11 am or 1 pm Eastern.

Caitlin Waddick, FWG/OC

@Nathan Schneider : Scheduling updates, I officially called the meeting for 9/26 and canceled most of the others in your personal calendar, as follows:

Thu Sep 19, 2024 1pm, (EDT). HOLDING JUST TO BE SURE

W. Sept 25 11 am  CANCELLED

Th. Sept 26  1 pm     FWG—OC joint meeting <-- I announced it in both forums.

W. Oct 2 11 am   CANCELLED

Th. Oct 3 1 pm   CANCELLED

M. Oct. 7 11 am   CANCELLED

Nathan Schneider

@Caitlin Waddick, @CaitlinWaddick@Social.Coop Thanks for this. I'm sorry if I asked something unreasonable in terms of scheduling. I would be happy to take over scheduling this if that would be easier, I just hoped my live calendar would help simplify the process. Or if working with my schedule is too much, as I said, you could just leave me out of the meeting.

Caitlin Waddick, FWG/OC

The Finance Working Group will meet with the Organizing Circle on Thursday, Sept 26, 1 pm UTC -5:00 (=Eastern Time in US & Canada) at https://socialcoop.meet.coop/kat-aiw-mpv-6vv (which is the OC's usual meeting location). This meeting will end at 1:50 pm. Both groups need to think about an agenda. ... Nathan, Andrew, and I can attend. @Josh Davis: Would you be willing and able to join this meeting? And, all: what do we want to talk about? Where in Loomio might we asynchronously devise our agenda for this meeting?

Caitlin Waddick, FWG/OC

WHEN: Sept. 26, 2024 at 1 pm -NYC time;  UTC -5:00

WHERE: https://socialcoop.meet.coop/kat-aiw-mpv-6vv

WHAT: Organizing Circle and Finance Working Group meet

AGENDA FORMATION FOR OC members:

https://www.loomio.com/d/cxapRyN3/oc-on-finance-and-the-finance-working-group-topics-to-discuss-with-fwg-

AGENDA FORMATION FOR FWG members:

https://www.loomio.com/d/16wSnmrt/fwg-organizing-circle-

ATTENDANCE CONFIRMATIONS: Matt, Nathan, Andrew, Kathe, Eduardo M, Caitlin, [Flancian/Eduardo, Marie, Josh: are yall coming?]