Freegle Reps Report 2012-05-16

Reps Report 16th May 2012

This report covers the main Reps activities for the past month, 17th April to 16th May 2012.

Strategy

1. The Reps reviewed the Strategy spreadsheet with a view to looking at priorities.
2. Local Funding was identified as an area that needs some promotion, so a message was sent to Central asking for offers to actively manage that Working Group; there have been no offers to date.
3. Edward has kept the Reps updated on the likelihood of Yahoo closing down Groups, given their financial difficulties. There seems no immediate threat of close down, but any improvements to the facility are highly unlikely. There might be some problems with getting the official tags for groups.
4. Edward has raised the Tech part of the strategy with the Tech Group, with the aim of revising the group’s task list to put it in line with the overall stabilisation strategy.

Funding

1. We considered the possibility of using Facebook Credits to donate but discounted the idea.
2. We discussed how we might be able to help local moderators to fill in funding application forms.
3. Reclaiming Gift Aid on donations - Jane produced a form for Freegle to use and has contacted past donors to get Gift Aid information.
4. Charities Aid Foundation required us to submit a copy of our headed notepaper as part of the registration process, so a design was discussed and a template produced for this (and future use.) The Trustee verification was completed and the sent along with the required fee.
5. Freegle is now fully registered with Everyclick. Saira looked into how the system worked and reported back on the search engine, the donate system and the Give As You Live facility.
6. We discussed the implications of extending Freegle Direct for the budget of 2012/13 hosting costs and also the mechanisms for paying for it.
7. Edward has submitted an application to the Worshipful Livery Company ITC for help with IT expertise. We await the outcome.

Publicity

1. Defra Re-use Forum - Sharing Experience. Cat attended this series of meetings and reported back to the Reps. Basically it was a really effective networking day but the mindset of some of the participants and the badly formed workshop themes were not conducive to making much immediate progress.
2. Cat was included on the Independent on Sunday ‘Happy List’, which is a great credit to her and Freegle.
3. Cat continues to pursue a multitude of opportunities for her local area as well as for Freegle nationally, e.g. a sustainability event running in parallel with the Olympics, attending the AGM of the Without Incineration Network, involvement with a local digital TV production about Freegle which should be streamed nationally via Youtube etc.
4. Varied discussions were held on the production and possible funding avenues for business cards, banners, posters etc for groups.
5. Some suggested edits to the main Freegle website were suggested by Jane and Jacky. These are being currently discussed.

Other

1. One Stop Shop website - contact was made with Richard, the owner of the OSS website, who promptly changed links etc to make sure the information still being used was up to date. Most of the information that can be and is still relevant has now been transferred to the wiki.
2. Help and support – Alison raised the subject of the level and type of help and support we centrally offer to groups. It was agreed to use the volunteer survey information, identify areas of need, and approach people to help. The first approaches on this have been made in respect of possible mediation pool members.
3. We received some concerns about how a group was run, which prompted discussion on whether a record of should be kept by the Reps of complaints. Sian agreed to co-ordinate this. Additional to the original concern, we also had reports on three other groups - an absent owner, a query about a group with no logo or link or reference to Freegle and how another group was being generally run. Attempts are being made to contact the absent owner.
4. Structure recommended a procedure to deal with links and partnerships. The proposal was agreed to be put to Central for a period of discussion then, if acceptable, adoption.
5. Edward is encouraging a volunteer to help with mobile work.
6. Give What You’re Good At puts professionals in contact with charitable organisations to offer free help for specific projects. It was agreed to engage with them and commission a project, at a cost of £50 (we negotiated this down from their standard rate of £380), for a promotional Freegle video. Discussions about this are ongoing.
7. Edward is reviewing and editing the pages on the wiki concerning Freegle Direct.
8. We discussed whether Central was too clogged with frivolous messages... no consensus between us as to whether it was or not but we did agree it was Central Mods job to decide.
9. We had a query from a group owner who thought he could see moderating details when logged in as a member only. Richard is checking this out.
10. Alison has joined GAT as a second Rep observer.
11. Alison is producing an active calendar to record Award deadlines, election dates etc.
12. Saira & Cat produced a some best practice guidelines for naming groups. This has been discussed with GAT, Jean and the geeks. Discussions continue on this.
13. Jane has undertaken to help groups that choose to add Freegle Direct. A sample admin for groups to encourage their members to use the new facility was uploaded to the wiki.

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