Structure Group Report 2010-04-11

The Freegle Structure working group can be found at http://freegle.it/Structure.

This is a summary of those discussions since our last report of 28th March 2010, covering messages 2439 to 2582. Our Task List is http://freegle.it/StructureTasks - so everyone can see what we are doing/planning to do. We have 59 members and we would warmly welcome more if you are interested!

Live Topics

Governing Document

The draft Governing Document is awaiting comparison and synchronising with the Reps Working Practices document that the Reps are drafting. We await a formal response from them.

The draft document has been posted on Central previously for comment - message no. 8132 on 21 February. If anyone has any comments to make on the draft it is not too late - just reply to that thread!

Group Assessment Team

A draft remit for the GAT (Group Assessment Team) has been returned from GAT on 9th April with some comments. We are currently discussing the acronyms that seem to have crept into Freegle despite our best intentions of not letting them! Discussions on the remit are current on this group and soon with Start. If anyone has any views on this or want to see what is being suggested, please join Start or this group.

Working Groups

Discussion continued on this request by Reps to come up with some ideas on how working groups can be most effective. A draft remit for three roles - Coordinator, Spokesperson and Task List Compiler - has been drawn up for consideration, but the sticking point is who has authority to appoint key roles in each group.

Ownership of Working and other Central groups has been under discussion on Structure and Central. The consensus seems to be that - there is little work to do as owner, none of the groups are moderated so it is just a matter of approving new members - two or three owners are sufficient to provide safeguards for Freegle membership in general - different people should be owners on the groups, there is no need for multiple group ownership

In the light of this, Wendy (Woodley) has now joined Jacky as owner of the Structure Working Group. Neither are owners of any other central Freegle group, although Jacky is one of the password holders of the mailbox.

A new topic within this has also been opened - where do Working Groups fit in within the organisational structure of Freegle. Discussions have just commenced so please join us if you wish to participate!

Charitable Status

Jane Loveday (Rep) has obtained a written answer from the Charity Commissioners confirming that the new, simpler form of charity status (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) is likely to be available in early 2011. They also gave an ambiguous answer about needing £5k minimum income to be registered so Jane has asked for clarification.

We have also briefly discussed the likely costs if we were to go down a charity and/or company route.

Disseminating Information to Members

A discussion has started about methods of communicating information to all Members and where information needs to be stored long term. If you are interested in this, please come along and join in.

Maintaining a Healthy Workforce

This topic has switched from proposing we find out what skills Freegle centrally could make use of from Members, to what Members might want of Freegle and what motivates volunteers to become involved.

Pointer Group Guideline

A proposal that there should be some guidelines for setting up 'pointer' groups has just started. A pointer group is a group set up to point members to another group. Again, please come along and join in if you wish!

Pending Topics

Our task list shows the other items that been identified by and for us to consider. http://freegle.it/StructureTasks

Please have a look at the list and let us know if you feel we have prioritised items incorrectly, have missed anything, or if you would like to volunteer for any of the tasks.

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The spokespeople for this group are Jacky (Great Yarmouth) and Edward (Rep, Edinburgh and madman pedestrian). The owner is Jacky.