Extraordinary General Meeting, Monday 5th June, 3pm - to wind up or not?

The current directors do not have capacity to keep Platform 6 Development Co-op functioning.

Extraordinary General Meeting open to all, Monday 5th June, 3pm

Meeting link: https://de.meet.coop/b/gra-cpf-owy-a9s

We have around 30 members, including member organisations, but this meeting is open to everyone in the Platform 6 community.

Decisions/Proposals for the EGM, which need input from you lot in advance:

a) To dissolve Platform 6 Development Co-op, to pass the cash assets and the funds/brands of Ways Forward and of Breadfunds/Mutual First Aid on to (??)____ and to pass the fiscal hosting of our 30-odd Open Collectives to (??)_____ [Note - Graham is checking whether innovate.coop could take this on] - or to wind up once Open Collectives have found their own alternative fiscal hosting.

or...

b) to transfer assets and fiscal hosting as above, and to turn the company dormant with new named directors [Mx Y, Ms Z and Mr X - people would need to take this on before we could vote for it].

Why?!

P6 has been struggling for years now to create a culture of participation. The people putting in the graft have themselves been stretched over many projects and have not been able to put in the work of promotion, induction, outreach and organising which is necessary for an organisation of unpaid enthusiasts. When we surveyed to find more interested people, we didn't then have capacity to follow-up on the interest that was shown.

The fiscal hosting of Open Collectives has increased the administrative workload significantly, with constant issues over payment platforms and a vast amount more bookkeeping.

We really never got to the exciting position of having many members contributing to a fund for co-operative development, which was the original nub of the project, and would have created an engine driving inspiration and participation (in relative terms, at least).

We note that Development Co-op and the Young Co-operators Network have similarly struggled to survive/thrive and wonder what the similarities, differences and contexts are, what can we learn from this?

What we want from you now

• respond below with any alternative suggestions for how we should proceed, or any questions

• If you want to join Platform 6 in order to vote at the EGM or step into a directorship role, follow the link from https://platform6.coop/.

• Suggest appropriate homes for the 'Ways Forward for the Co-op Movement' brand and seed fund for future events

• Suggest appropriate homes for the Breadfunds/Mutual First Aid remaining moneys

• Suggest appropriate homes for the Platform 6 Development Co-op fund

• if you are considering taking on the responsibility for Platform 6, do express interest here or let us know. Happy to have conversations about what we think running Platform 6 entails/how it could be different.

• RSVP

The work of re-homing Open Collectives will begin after the EGM - feel free to put questions here, but there may not be answers for a while.

We are very sad to have ended up in this position - all the challenges and opportunities that prompted the founding of Platform 6 still exist, it is no less necessary than it ever was, but we have run out of steam.

Cath, Graham & Austen