Directors 2015 Election Details

THIS IS A DRAFT... :)

Introduction

The last year has been a big one for Freegle. In addition to welcoming our two-millionth member and seeing hundreds of local volunteers from hundreds of local groups facilitate our members in keeping many tonnes from going to the tip, Freegle was also transformed nationally into Freegle Ltd, an Industrial and Provident Society for Community Benefit.

More details of that change can be found on the following page.

http://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/Freegle_Structural_Change

In February 2015 we elected nine individuals to serve as Directors of this newly forming IPS. We thank those individuals, the Freegle Reps and all other Freegle Volunteers who worked so hard to set up Freegle Ltd.

In June Freegle Ltd will host its first AGM.

In December 2013, Freegle decided in a national vote to approve the conversion of Freegle to an Industrial and Provident Society for Community Benefit (IPS). The steps to do this are outlined in our report, section (10).

Freegle TSW Team Final Report [1]

One of our next steps is to select a group of 9 people to become its Directors, so we are holding an election.

For ease in this document, it states that we are electing the IPS Directors, but strictly speaking we are in fact selecting them so they can be appointed to the Board of Directors by the current members of the holding company, Freegle Limited.

Role

Paul: The role has now been decided and published at http://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/Director_Role_Description (Jacky)

On 2 January 2014 the Freegle TSW Team published the Freegle IPS Director Role Description on Freegle UK Central. Questions regarding this role description were requested. This role description and the questions that followed can be found at the following addresses.

Freegle IPS Director Role Description [2]

Freegle IPS Director Role Questions [3]

Any additional questions that arise about the Director Role will be be added to the questions document. Please ask any such questions that you have on Freegle Central or send them to the Returning Officer email address.

Term of Office

Note that the Freegle IPS Director period of office is starting afresh (so there is no continuation if someone is currently serving as a Freegle Rep). In subsequent years, 1/3 of the IPS Directors will stand down as per the Freegle IPS Rules.

Freegle IPS Rules [4]

Paul, now on wiki - http://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/Rules Jacky

Election Timetable

The Freegle IPS Directors 2015 Election timetable will be as follows:

11 May  2015  (Mon)  Start of Day  -  Nominations Begin
24 May  2015  (Sun)  End   of Day  -  Nominations Close (14 days)
28 May  2015  (Thu)  End   of Day  -  Candidate Statements Due (4 days)
29 May  2015  (Fri)  Start of Day  -  Candidate Q&A Week Begins
04 June 2015  (Thu)  End   of Day  -  Candidate Q&A Week Closes (7 days)
05 June 2015  (Fri)                -  RO Final Poll Preparation (1 day)
06 June 2015  (Sat)  Start of Day  -  Voting Begins
12 June 2015  (Fri)  End   of Day  -  Voting Closes (7 days)
13 June 2015  (Sat)  Start of Day  -  Voting Validation Begins
15 June 2015  (Mon)  End   of Day  -  Voting Validation Closes (3 days)

Note the following regarding this election timetable.

Start of Day refers to 12:00 AM on that day, (i.e. 00:00 on that day).
End of Day refers to 12:00 AM on the next day (i.e. 24:00 on that day).
Voting validation will likely take less than 3 days. Results will be posted as soon as possible.
This election timetable can also be viewed on the Freegle Central Events calendar.

Candidate Nominations

Paul - candidates have to be members of Freegle Ltd - Rules 53 and 54. Jacky)

Nominations for Freegle IPS Directors will begin immediately. However, the counting of the week required will begin on Tuesday, 14 January so that we have a full two weeks for nominations.

Nominations should be made as follows:

Nominations may be made via Freegle Central or directly to the Returning Officer email address. Nominations may either be made by the candidate (self nominated) or another Freegle Volunteer.
Nominations should include the individual's full name and email address. In the event of the nominee being a volunteer with a Freegle group, their primary group should be provided. In the event of another individual being nominated, any relevant group membership should be noted (i.e. a member of the National Cooperative's Council).
Nominations should be seconded. This can occur on either Freegle Central or directly to the Returning Officer email address.
All nominations will be confirmed by the Returning Officer to the candidate, seconder and to Freegle Central (regardless of where the nomination was sent).