Start Group Report 2011-07

Summary July 2011
Message nos 2339-2623
http://freegle.it/start

The Group has 59 members. New members are very much welcomed.
The positions of Deputy Coordinator and Secretary are still vacant. If anyone is interested in taking up either of these positions, please email Alison (freegleburgesshill @ gmail.com) and she will be more than happy to explain the roles

Micro Freegle

This concept was agreed by a majority poll. A 7 day consultationstarted on Central on 28 July.

Area Guidelines

The ongoing discussion on area guidelines highlighted the difficulties that Start have in discussing and formulating policy based on generalised/anonymised information about a current application. It is difficult for Start to identify the issues that are problematic for the Group Affiliation Team. It was therefore agreed to amend the guidelines that they use by adding a paragraph to allow for the Group Affiliation Team to cite more details in a small number of individual cases. The outcome of discussions held on Start will then set a precedent for future new applications.. The amended guidelines were agreed by a majority poll. Discussion now continues on the specific case that prompted this change.

New Group Support

Previous discussion on groups with low message numbers had resulted in a general agreement that thought should be given on how to support groups to grow. There had been support for a buddy/mentor scheme. Suggestions were made on how this and other ideas could be implemented and at what point it is appropriate to offer help.
Issues surrounding owners who do not respond to communications from Freegle were discussed. The task of writing a procedure for declaring groups defunct was added to the task list
It was emphasised that providing support for groups is the preferred way of dealing with groups with low message numbers.

Disaffiliation Process

At the request of the Structure Working Group the task of writing a procedure for groups that do not adhere to the mandatory affiliation requirements has been added to the Task List.

Affiliation Requirements

In October 2009 volunteers voted that it should be a mandatory requirement that only one group per area should be affiliated. In January 2010 volunteers voted that operating in a geographic area agreed with Freegle should only be highly recommended (not mandatory). This means that the Group Affiliation Team can only affiliate one group per area but it is not mandatory for them to agree a geographic area with new group owners. The Group Affiliation Team have dealt with this by establishing core areas and catchment areas for new groups. There was discussion as to whether the core area covers the one group per area requirement and the catchment area meets the highly recommended requirement to operate in a geographic area agreed with Freegle. It was felt that it would be useful for the core areas of all Freegle groups to be recorded. and the details of this task are being considered.

Wiki

The information on the Wiki relating to the Start Working Group and the Group Affiliation Team procedures and policies is being revised.

Back to Freegle Start or go to next report Start Group Report 2011-08