AGM 2012 Structure Report

October 2011 - September 2012

This past year has been a period of consolidation and refinement, rather than startling new ideas. We have expanded to take on the structural responsibilities of People and Start group remits, when the new Growth Working Group replaced them.

We started this period with 68 members and ended with 76, which is encouraging. It is fair to say that participation in group discussion and decisions is usually limited to a few, although we would like to take the opportunity to thank all members for being part of the group. It is important that the opportunity to participate is continued and maintained.

The topics and tasks we covered this year included

Freegle Central Organisation:

• Reps successful registration of Freegle as a charity with HMRC
• Trademark for Freegle suggestion was dropped as concluded not required
• 10% rule for overriding Reps decisions was reviewed and kept
• Co-option and election timetables and processes were discussed and proposed
• Internal confidentiality agreement was agreed as not needed
• Guidelines for internal communication were agreed as not needed
• Previous need identified for a Document Manager was overturned as wiki provides a better alternative
• Suggestion proposed to change national polling to allow polls on Central
• An Equality and Diversity Policy was formulated
• Task list reviewed to make sure in line with agreed 2011-15 strategic goals
• Check put in place to ensure that changes in any relevant legislation are monitored
• Website editing process was drawn up
• GAT recruitment procedures were reviewed
• Unused and redundant central groups procedure recommended
• How to secure Freegle assets is still under discussion

Freegle Local Groups:

• Disaffiliation procedure proposed
• Non profit guidelines for groups added to the wiki
• Regular review of effectiveness of Affiliation processes instigated

Appeals/Mediation

• Asked Ombudsman and mediators to recommend guidelines for handling group member complaints
• Discussed methods of attracting panel pool members for appeals/mediation
• Annual review of Complaints Procedure instigated

If you would like more information about the discussions we have on the group, we publish a report each month which is available on the Freegle wiki -http://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/Category:Structure_Group_Reports

We maintain an up to date task list and welcome input and ideas for Freegle, the national organisation. Please do join in over the coming year!

Jacky, Wendy and Peter
Structure Group team

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