Budget 2024: Budget vs. Actual
Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group
Public
Seen by 70
Proposal & Outcome
shared with members in February 2024
approved by members in March 2024
-
subsequent updates by Finance Working Group (FWG) to avoid rounded figures:
Tech Working Group: 3,530 GBP
Reserves: 2,470 GBPWe did not directly budget for payment processor fees, but we estimated 13,000 GBP in member contributions *after fees.* Actual membership contributions were just over 12,000 GBP after fees.
Budget vs. Actual · GBP
social.coop |
Budget |
2024 |
2025 |
Actual |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
member contributions |
13,000 |
12,851.09 |
12,851.09 |
||
payment processor fees |
(862.97) |
(11.10) |
(874.07) |
1 |
|
Finance Working Group |
|||||
Community Contributions |
(3,500) |
(2,928.82) |
(500.00) |
(3,428.82) |
2 |
stipends |
(1,000) |
(1,195.00) |
(1,195.00) |
||
fiscal hosting |
(600) |
(600.00) |
(600.00) |
||
Technology Working Group |
|||||
Meet.coop membership |
(1,080) |
(1,080.00) |
(1,080.00) |
||
hosting |
(1,000) |
(646.83) |
(509.61) |
(1,156.44) |
|
domain name |
(100) |
(86.20) |
(86.20) |
||
May First membership |
(250) |
(392.12) |
(392.12) |
3 |
|
stipends |
(1,000) |
0.00 |
0.00 |
4 |
|
Community Working Group |
|||||
stipends |
(1,000) |
(352.93) |
(430.24) |
(783.17) |
|
Organizing Circle |
|||||
stipends |
(1,000) |
(745.11) |
(745.11) |
5 |
|
Reserves |
2,470 |
4,706.22 |
(2,196.06) |
2,510.16 |
Amounts in 2025 are expenses (and estimated payment fees) that were included in our 2024 budget but reimbursed or paid in 2025.
The budget for Community Contributions was updated to include an additional 100 GBP originally proposed under Tech Working Group as an expense for Loomio. Finance Working Group then allocated 400 GBP to Loomio and 500 GBP × 6 organizations/projects based on member input.
May First membership fees (250 USD) were mistakenly reimbursed twice (500 USD total).
Tech Working Group did not allocate stipends.
Organizing Circle made an intentional allocation below the budgeted amount.
Transparency and Accountability
The Finance Working Group (FWG) reviewed all expenses, ensuring they fit within the approved budget. Each expenses was approved by one (1) member of FWG. Approved expenses were then directed to our fiscal host Platform 6 Development Co-operative for final approval and payment. Members are encouraged to monitor all our finances on Open Collective to help maintain transparency and accountability:
Open Collective Transactions · GBP
Transactions |
Processor |
Budget |
2024 |
2025 |
Actual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
contributions |
Stripe |
13,000 |
12,851.09 |
12,851.09 |
|
payment processor fees |
Stripe |
(834.52) |
(834.52) |
||
expenses |
all others |
(8,850) |
(5,601.90) |
(2,184.96) |
(7,786.86) |
payment processor fees |
all others |
(28.45) |
(11.10) |
(39.55) |
|
contributions |
internal |
(1,680) |
(1,680.00) |
(1,680.00) |
|
2,470 |
4,706.22 |
(2,196.06) |
2,510.16 |
Closing Thoughts
This is just a financial update. A few questions left answered by this budget updated:
Did we grow our membership in and participation on social.coop?
Did we improve our governance (decision making) and member engagement?
What is was our mission impact last year?
Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group Wed 23 Jul 2025 5:35PM
My estimate on membership contributions (which was after fees) was off by about by about 1,000 GBP. Everything else was rather close except for TWG stipends (no allocation by TWG).
Poll Created Wed 23 Jul 2025 6:52PM
sharing budget vs. actual with members Closed Mon 28 Jul 2025 1:00PM
Given the limited feedback, I am leaving this fiscal update as is and moving the thread for greater visibility.
What are you proposing?
Sharing this update with all members on main Loomio. (Notify all on Loomio? Mastodon announcement?)
Why is this important?
Update members on the budget they passed for 2024, to maintain transparency and accountability.
What are you asking people to do?
Please review and let me know if this ready to share. Should I remove anything? Should we wait?
remove: Transparency and Accountability
remove: Closing Thoughts
wait for: core budgeting policy
wait for: core budget 2025
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Looks good | 100.0% | 2 |
|
| Abstain | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Concerned | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 0% | 15 |
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|
2 of 17 people have participated (11%)
Josh Davis
Wed 23 Jul 2025 6:52PM
I think it's an easy "yes." There's no personal information on there, and that's the only thing I could see us redacting.
Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group Mon 28 Jul 2025 4:16PM
Community Contributions
Finance Working Group (FWG) first allocated 400 GBP to Loomio within the Community Contribution budget to account for our initial oversight. (Loomio will be budgeted as a core governance expense in future budgets.)
- Loomio:\ 499.00 USD contribution to N.Z. cooperative company Loomio Cooperative Ltd.
FWG then allocated the remaining 3000 GBP to 6 organizations/projects (500 GBP each) based on member input and dot voting:
Mastodon:\
500 GBP contribution to U.S. non-profit Mastodon Inc.Independent Federated Trust & Safety:\
624.44 USD contribution to U.S. non-profit IFTAS Inc.Sociocracy for All:\
651.28 USD contribution to U.S. non-profit Peaceable Communities Inc.PeerTube:\
600.90 EUR contribution to French non-profit Association FramasoftMatrix:\
500 GBP contribution to U.K. community interest company Matrix.org FoundationCo‑op Cloud:\
500 GBP contribution to U.K. co-operative society Autonomic Co‑operative Ltd.
Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group Mon 28 Jul 2025 6:56PM
Memberships
Social.coop made the following membership contributions:
Meet.coop:\
1,080 GBP total contributionsMay First Movement Technology:\
392.12 GBP total reimbursements for our membership dues (Nov. 2024 to Nov. 2025), accidentally paid twice (250 USD × 2). The resulting credit was applied our next dues (Nov. 2025 to Nov. 2026).
Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group Mon 28 Jul 2025 8:16PM
Fiscal Host
Platform 6 Development Co-operative Ltd. is our fiscal host. We contributed 600 GBP to help cover its administrative costs in 2024:
- Platform 6:\ 600 GBP contribution
Graham Fri 22 Aug 2025 8:16AM
I'm unclear as to why this was/is even put to a vote - to me it is simply a matter of transparency and reporting back to the constituency.
Andrew Escobar (Andres) · social.coop Finance Working Group Wed 27 Aug 2025 3:33PM
This was not a vote. It was a sense check requesting feedback on length and timing within a subgroup (originally posted to Finance).
Josh Davis · Wed 23 Jul 2025 4:29PM
Looks like we estimated pretty well last year.