Minutes of meeting of the Board of directors of The Autscape Organisation Meeting date: Sunday 3rd June 2012 Meeting time: 2.00pm BST Meeting Chair: Martijn Present: Debbie, Elaine, Kalen, Martijn, Peter, Stephen, Trish and Yo 1. Ratifications 1.1. The board ratified its decision to move both dates in the cancellation policy two weeks earlier, ie. from 16th and 30th June to 2nd and 16th June. (decision made on list on 11/05/12) (Unanimous) 1.2. The board ratified its decision to request information about additional special needs (such as special diets, wheelchair access etc.) by 16th June. (decision made on list on 11/05/12) (7 for, 0 against) 2. Proposals 2.1. Recruitment and retention. The board asked the company secretary to prepare as a matter of urgency a report on recruitment options including a plan for the future recruitment of new directors with needed skills and to have the report available for consideration at the July board meeting. (See notes in Appendix A) 2.2. New email list. After some discussion about the proposal for a new email list which considered whether there was really a need for it and what resources would be required, the board decided 2.2.1. to set up a new email list (provisionally called 'Autscape-experience') for the discussion of matters directly relevant to attendance at the Autscape conference only. The announcement will make clear that the new list is to be low volume and that those who can't follow this will be initially sent reminders and then moderated. If it proves necessary, technical measures will be taken to cap the volume of posts by individuals. The chat list will remain and individuals who wish to discuss broader issues at length will be able to continue to do so there. (See rationale in Appendix B.) (5 for, 1 against) 2.2.2. to appoint Yo and Trish as moderators. (nem con) 2.3. Organiser hats. Some directors expressed concerns that the proposed quantity was too high and raised issues of cost and storage. Following some discussion the board decided to authorise the purchasing coordinator to spend a maximum of £101 on organiser hats and delegate him to make a decision on how many to order. The board advised him to consult further on the list before deciding the appropriate number to order. (7 for, 0 against) 3. Follow ups 3.1. Purchase/transfer of autscape domains (Peter). Peter reported that he had so far been unable to action this due to lack of time and will not be able to do so until after this year's Autscape conference. 3.2. Echo feasibility report (Kalen). Kalen reported that this is not yet complete but that she hopes to have it ready by July. 3.3. Draft chat list guidance (Martijn). Martijn reported that he has made no progress with this task and it is also likely to be after the Autscape conference. 3.4. Childcare booking (Elaine). Elaine reported that the childcare is provisionally booked but that times remain to be confirmed and that she needs to know the venue's position on the possibility of a bouncy castle. The treasurer requested evidence of the contract and its terms for the accounts. 3.5. Insurance (Peter/Yo). Peter reported that he has yet to arrange the insurance and requested information on activities (such as bouncy castles). He stated that he is assuming that we are having swimming, and that there won't be a lifeguard. A deadline of Monday 18th June was set for directors to provide information on activities to Peter for insurance purposes. 4. Subcommittee progress reports (suggested topics in brackets) 4.1. Formal programme subcommittee (confirmation from invitees, finalisation and publication of schedule) Chair: Kalen. Kalen reported that all invitees have confirmed. She confirmed that the schedule is basically done, but she still needs to run it past the afternoon presenters first and that the alternative programme can't be done until she has more information about what is included. She reported that she is now working on sorting activities into rooms. 4.2. Alternative programme subcommittee (leisure activities, alternative programme intentions, liaison regarding scheduling) Chair: Trish. Trish reported that offers and suggestions have been slow but she intends to try and get a reminder to the chat list over next few days. She thanked Debbie who has helped her to keep it running where necessary. She reported that she is likely to be unavailable for a few days from the Friday following the meeting onwards. 4.3. Fundraising subcommittee (fundraising strategy) Chair: Elaine. Elaine reported that she has put together the strategy but she needs to run things past the company secretary which she hasn't yet had time to do. Peter reported that Virgin Money Giving have sent on the form for varying the Gift Aid authority to HMRC. We are now waiting for HMRC to acknowledge the change request and then we'll be able to start using Virgin's service. 4.4. Research subcommittee (transport research progress, venue research progress) Chair: Debbie. Debbie reported that the travel pages have been completed. Peter is in the midst of contacting venues, some need to be phoned a second time, some are engaging with us and some are full. For Peter it continues to be a work in progress. In response to a question, Debbie reported that July would be the earliest that we can hope to make a decision on a 2013 venue. 4.5. Publications and publicity subcommittee (website wording, poster production and distribution and publicity generally, generic description) Chair: Martijn. Martijn reported no progress on website wording. On poster production and publicity generally he reported that he is in the middle of printing posters for the Autism Show which is held on 15 and 16 June. LARM has volunteered to distribute them and some individuals have also volunteered to take flyers and posters so he will be mailing them to the volunteers. He reported no progress on the generic description. The highest priority now is the information pack, on which I will get started this week.). Peter queried responsibility for website updating. The company secretary responded that the issue has previously been decided by the board and undertook to look up the answer and post on the board list asap. 4.6. Working group reports (if any) (Echo - Kalen, Newsletter - Stephen, Purchasing - Stephen, Tech - Stephen) 4.6.1. Echo - see 3.2. 4.6.2. Tech - Stephen had nothing to report. 4.6.3. Purchasing - Stephen reported that merchandise purchasing progresses steadily; pens have been ordered. He has looked for quotes for printing, but need to actually have the files before I can finish sorting printing out, so not much progress can be made on that for a while. He still needs to e-mail Peter about lanyards. Debbie provided some additional information about the lanyards currently in stock. Hats see 2.3. Trish reported that the alternative programme subcommittee is still deciding about glow sticks and how many we provide / people buying their own 4.6.4. Newsletter - Stephen reported that a brief call for items went out in the member bulletin, with the address of newsletter@autscape.org (Thanks to Yo for sorting that out). Nothing has come through from that as of yet. Kalen suggested that it may be necessary to invite people specifically to write something for it. There was a brief exchange about updating the email addresses which receive mail from the newsletter@ address. 5. Key position progress reports (matters not covered earlier) 5.1. Webmaster (updating website, registration system, questionnaires) Peter reported that he has brought most of the minutes up to date. He commented that there is one he is not sure about and hasn't published. The meeting chair asked the company secretary to find time to look at that. She responded that she will do so when Peter communicates with her about whatever he isn't sure about. 5.2. Registrar (registrations so far and issues arising) Debbie reported that we've about 70 residential booked. There are the usual things for this time of registration occurring such as late payment reminders, the odd cancellation, payment plans not going smoothly and some people wanting to come for one day waiting for the schedule. She commented on some issues around presenters registering and Kalen asked Debbie to email her a list. 5.3. Venue coordinator 2012 (planned venue visits, venue information for info pack, coordination with programme coordinator on use of rooms). Stephen reported that he has been liaising with the venue and intends to start talking to them about the general menu on Wednesday. He reported coordinating with the venue coordinator over use of rooms. He acknowledged the need to get the venue information for info pack sorted asap and hopes to do so in the next couple of days. 5.4. Treasurer (registration as a charity for tax purposes, actions taken under delegated authority, insurance, virginmoneygiving, bank account, HMRC, accounting advice). Peter reported that he has tried to follow up with PayPal about the charity rate. They claim to be still doing their due diligence. Hopefully making the enquiry will have pushed them along, but since he didn't get to speak to a person, it's hard to be sure. The effect is that we are still on the 3.4% standard rate. Peter queried whether the vice treasurer has received internet banking login details and asked him to check. In response to a query, Peter reported that Autscape has received notification from HMRC that our application to be treated as a charity for tax purposes was accepted 5.5. Company Secretary (actions taken under delegated authority, PVSL, info@ guidance, policies and job descriptions, files, postholding, recruitment and retention issues, AGM and nominations) Yo reported that he has still had no response from the PVSL people so she needs to follow that up. Peter contributed that the PVSL licence has been sent to the venue who are forwarding it to Autscape. Yo also reported that she needs to think about a temporary event notice for this year. She stated that she is seriously concerned about recruitment and retention issues (hence her proposal in 2.1). She is now focussing mainly on preparing for the AGM (in addition to the onsite team preparations) but at least the AGM shouldn't be unduly complicated this year. 5.6. Chair (actions taken under delegated authority, general progress, board communication, any other matters) Kalen had nothing to report due to her recent return from maternity leave. 6. There was no other business Meeting closed 15:52. APPENDIX A To this point Autscape has recruited directors informally (and largely by means of volunteers) from amongst the Autscape beneficiary community. For some time Autscape has been overly dependent on the skills of a small number of individuals and now faces a likely skill shortage as a consequence of retirements of long serving members of the board. To address this, the proposal envisages an active and more formal recruitment process, probably including seeking potential trustees with relevant skills from beyond the Autscape beneficiary community. The proposed report will include consideration of: a.. the implications of such recruitment for the majority autistic make-up of the Autscape board and how this can be protected; b.. the sustainability or otherwise of current overlap between governance and management with Autscape's organisational structure and potential alternatives.