Minutes of meeting of the Board of directors of The Autscape Organisation Meeting date: 24th April 2018 Meeting time: 14:00 GMT Meeting Chair: Martijn Present: Elaine, Heta, James, Jeremy, Peter, Martijn, Trish Apologies: Jenny Two observers Meeting opened: 14:02 1. Approvals 1.1. Minutes of the March 2018 meeting posted to the list on 2nd April 2018 (8 For) 1.2. Minutes of the Extra March meeting posted to the list on 3rd April 2018 (8 For) 2. Ratifications No ratifications. 3. Proposals 3.1. The Company Secretary proposed that the board approve the Anti bribery policy posted to the list on 22nd April 2018. Deferred to list pending further discussion. 3.2. The Company Secretary proposed that the board allocate £1500 from the reserves to start the bursary fund. There was a brief discussion during which the board considered the current state of the reserves. With these being towards our upper limit it was thought that more of the reserves should go towards the bursary scheme. This would also mean our money would be being used for charitable purposes. However, it was also suggested that the reserves could go towards securing a more accessible venue next year. On balance, there was a general agreement that some increase in the Bursary starting figure was still worthwhile. Therefore the chair made a new proposal. New proposal: The Chair proposes that the board allocate £3000 from the reserves to start the bursary fund. (8 For). James proposed that we discuss future fees/venues in light of our accounts on list. The chair asked him to bring this up. 3.3. The Company Secretary proposed that the additional income from people choosing the higher fee over the standard fee is put into a bursary fund. There followed a brief discussion regarding the merits of restricting the money in this way. It was noted that any unspent funds would be carried forward to the next year and the board could adjust any money they designate from the reserves to add to the fund accordingly. (8 For). 3.4. The Company Secretary proposed that we establish a Bursary Fund committee consisting of three board members, one of which shall be chair and responsible for keeping applicants and the Registrar informed. (8 For) 3.5. The Company Secretary proposed that the board approve the Bursary Fund policy posted to the list on 22nd April 2018. Following a discussion some sections were amended and a new proposal put forward by the chair. New Proposal: The Chair proposes that the board approve the Bursary Fund policy posted to the list on 22nd April 2018, subject to the following three amendments: 1. At "As funds are limited a bursary will not usually be given to somebody who has received a bursary in the past three years", change "in the past three years" to "in the past two years." 2. Replace paragraphs 3 and 4 of section 3 ("How much will be awarded") by the following sentence: "Regardless of the individual reasons a participant has applied for a bursary, the amount awarded to each person for each event will typically be between 20% to 50% of the Autscape fee, with the participant's post-bursary fee being a minimum of £50." 3. In section 5, paragraph 5, remove the first two sentences (which are: "The Bursary committee will be advised by the board of the nominal bursary amount which should be awarded to each person for each event. The Bursary committee is delegated the authority to decrease or increase this amount for individuals in exceptional circumstances.") (8 For) Larry also asked whether there would be any restrictions on directors or committee members applying for a bursary. Elaine said she would look at discretionary payments and inform the board. [Heta temporarily left the meeting] 3.6. The Company secretary proposes we set the following deadlines for bursary fund applications: 15th May, 10th June, 23rd June. (6 For, 1 Against). [Heta returned to the meeting] 3.7. The Company Secretary proposes we allocate £1000 to the bursary fund for each submission period with any amount left over being forwarded to the next period or returned to the main fund at the end. (8 For) 4. Follow-Ups None. 5. Role Reports 5.1. Chair (Martijn) Nothing to report 5.2. Company Secretary (Elaine) Elaine said she was still waiting for further info to finish the Annual report. She would like this to be approved at the next meeting so asked board members to look at it ASAP. She was also moving onto getting other policies done and will hopefully start the data protection one this month. She then mentioned the AGM and pointed out that until now it’s always been at Autscape. However, now we have the organising committee we have delegated organising the event to them and this doesn’t automatically include the AGM. We could have it elsewhere or ask the organising committee to include it in the programme. She also asked board members to let her know as soon as possible if they were planning on standing down early or not planning to stand again so she could prepare paperwork. 5.3. Honorary Secretary (Elaine) Nothing to report 5.4. Treasurer (Jeremy) Jeremy said he had produced what he considered to be an appropriate first draft of the charitable accounts for 2016/17 but there is at least one problem to be resolved before he can present it to the board. He had not managed to match the amount of the net assets to the total amount distributed amongst the funds. He has forwarded a first draft to the treasurer email address for review, but has not been able to do any further checking of his own since before the weekend. He also said that The during this month, £3800 has come in to the Autscape bank account as fees from recent registrations. Peter asked if he was able to arrange the independent examination of the accounts once they are ready? Jeremy said he would like some assistance and Peter volunteered to help. 5.5. Event Manager Autscape 2018 (Kalen) The event manager submitted the following written report: The organisation of this year’s event is proceeding more-or-less on schedule. The online form for early registration was delayed, but is now live and will close on 7 May. Approximately 50% of places have been booked so far. The call for proposals has now closed and 46 proposals have been received. The programme sub-committee will be invited to rate the proposals to provide some preliminary guidance for shortlisting. The organisers will meet in person on 2 May to discuss the proposals and decide which to include in the programme and then forward that to the board for approval. Our timetable says that we should inform proposers by 16 May, so you may need to call a meeting between meetings just to approve the programme. Childcare, menus, etc. are in hand. 5.6. Membership Secretary (Jeremy) Nothing to report 5.7. Fundraising coordinator (Jeremy) Jeremy said he had posted to the board list regarding a new initiative from Give as you Live, a store card which can be used for in-store, off-line purchases. £10 has been forwarded from GayL this month and further money is pending 5.8. Tech coordinator (Martijn) Nothing to report 5.9. Lists coordinator (James) James said that one of the moderators had expressed an interest in stepping down, but He was yet to reply as it may be an impulsive decision. Also, the reason presented for stepping down doesn't fully make sense, so He wanted to seek clarity first. Other than that, the list is progressing relatively smoothly. 5.10. Venue search coordinators (Peter and Debbie) Peter said that Debbie had been looking at Radley Hall. This is one we would like to visit. 6. Any Other Business 6.1. James asked if the donation button was available as he couldn’t see it when he made his booking. Peter said it wasn’t there yet but you can still donate here: http://www.autscape.org/donations [no booking required] 6.2. Peter reminded the board regarding absences from meetings. The rule is that you're out if you're absent three times in a row *without reasonable excuse.* That rider is important. Being ill, for example, is a reasonable excuse. Being otherwise busy may be an excuse depending on how much effort was made to accommodate your schedule. 6.3. Larry suggested that lockable rooms and security should be on list of desirables for future venues. He also thought We should consider our vulnerability to random terrorist attack. The chair asked him to bring it up on list.
Closed part of meeting.
7.1. Board members selected for liaison with Autistic UK Volunteers: Heta, Larry, Elaine Elected 7 For Heta, 7 For Larry, 8 For Elaine 7.2. Board members for Bursary committee - including chair Volunteers: James, Jeremy, Elaine All elected 8 For. James volunteered to be chair [Larry left the meeting] Elected 7 For Meeting closed at 16:46