Minutes of meeting of the Board of directors of The Autscape Organisation Meeting date: 22nd May 2018 Meeting time: 14:00 BST Meeting Chair: Martijn Present: Elaine, Heta, James, Jenny, Jeremy, Peter, Martijn, Trish Apologies: None One observer Meeting opened: 14:06 1. Approvals 1.1. Minutes of the April 2018 meeting posted to the list on 21st May 2018 (8 For) 1.2. Minutes of the Extra March meeting posted to the list on 3rd April 2018 (8 For) 2. Ratifications 2.1. The decision taken on list to accept the revisions to the Bursary policy (9 For) 2.2. The decision taken on list to change the current bursary deadlines from 15th May, 10th June and 23rd June to 26th May, 9th June and 23rd June. (8 For, 1 Against) 2.3. The decision taken on list to change the dates of the Bursary deadlines from 26th May to 19th May and 9th June to 21st July. (9 For) 2.4. The decision taken on list to accept the following 17 proposals into the main programme for Autscape 2018, and to reject the rest (9 for): - Cos Michael: Why do we disappear as we grow older? - Catherine Curtis: Working under the influence of autism - Larry Arnold: Exclusive inclusion, what divides our communities? - Dr Claire Evans-Williams and Dr Damien J. Williams: The inclusion of autistic needs in the pursuit of holistic health - Tim Rhys: "Quiet Hands": Challenging Stereotypes & Raising Awareness Through Theatre - Robert Schmus: Working through Anxiety - Timothy Ng: We are in: Collaborating Through Diversity - Joanna Lawicka: Separate development paths - way to mutual understanding and social inclusion. - Nat Titman: The elephant in the room - Ken Richman: Autism and Interpersonal Ethics: Who can we blame when things don’t go well? - John Binns: Negotiating Terms for Inclusion - Maqqi Mucoi Amolngatti Âû: Exploring the Art of Stimming - Kalen: Formal diagnosis - Olivia Pountney: Untangling the knots of neuroqueer intersectionality - Elliot Cooper: DeafWorld, autistic space and disability inclusion. - Serena Hasselblad: The acceptance/inclusion of non-autistics by autistic groups - Usable Clare: Overtone chanting for self-soothing and sensory seeking: join in with a preliminary. 2.1 through 2.4 ratified, 9 for 3. Proposals 3.1. Heta proposed that we arrange a discussion outside the main programme, with 1-2 of AUK representatives and at least 2-3 of our board attending, on the theme of potential Autscape-AUK cooperation, and offer free attendance for one day and night plus meals to one of their board members for participation in this discussion, purely in the name of promoting networking and gaining useful information that may benefit us as an Organisation. This should not be a speaker's rebate and not considered part of the programme budget. There was some discussion where it was pointed out that the reorganisation of Autscape meant that the organising committee was responsible for allocating places and the schedule. Therefore the board could agree to this in principle but the allocation of a place was not within the boards remit. It was also noted that demand for places is very high and a waiting list is also in operation so it wouldn’t be fair to ask for any favouritism in allocating a place. If this had come to the boards attention before registration opened the organising committee would have been in a better position regarding places. Therefore the proposal was reworded to: Heta proposed that the board agree in principle to offer free attendance for one day and night plus meals to one board member of Autistic UK to participate in Autscape in the interest of promoting networking and gaining useful information that may benefit us as an Organisation. Carried as amended, 9 for. [Heta left the meeting] 3.2. The Fundraising Co-ordinator proposed that Autscape promote the introduction of the Give as you Live in-store pre-loaded card, by updating the information on the "Donations" page of the Autscape website, and by a mention in the next Members Bulletin. (7 for) 3.3. The treasurer proposes that the board agrees for the Organising Committee to hire an interactive projector and/or similar equipment for use at the 2018 conference, up to the cost of £2000. The board had a short discussion about the use of funds but it was pointed out that the leisure activities are of equal importance at Autscape and this would also give participants a chance to experience something they might normally not be able to. (8 For). 4. Follow-Ups None. 5. Role Reports 5.1. Chair (Martijn) Nothing to report 5.2. Company Secretary (Elaine) Elaine said that immediately following this meeting we need to focus on the annual reports and accounts. They will have to be approved very soon so the vote will probably take place on list. She will also be following up the anti-bribery policy and doing more on the Data Protection policy and hopefully they should both be ready for approval at the next meeting. She has also found out about discretionary payments. The short answer is that directors/organisers etc can apply for a bursary and she will post the relevant info to the list as it’s quite long. She also apologised in advance of not being able to make the next meeting. 5.3. Honorary Secretary (Elaine) Elaine said there were a few outstanding items that she’d like to deal with this month. We need to respond to some people and she would like to update the members bulletin draft that hasn’t gone yet and send that out soon. 5.4. Treasurer (Jeremy) From looking at the list of transactions associated with bookings for Autscape in 2018, Jeremy said he could see that approximately 23 people have paid the higher fee, compared with 100 who have paid the standard fee. He was not sure whether or not the chair of the Bursary Subcommittee would be called upon to provide a report, so he said that no applications for bursaries have been received by the 21st of May 5.5. Event Manager Autscape 2018 (Kalen) No report submitted. 5.6. Membership Secretary (Jeremy) Jeremy said, of the people who have so far booked places at Autscape in 2018, 87 have paid part of their fee as a membership fee. He has not done any work so far updating the membership register. 5.7. Fundraising coordinator (Jeremy) Jeremy said he had requested a report in May from Give as you Live with information up until the end of April, which shows that there were 2 active users in April, and 1 in March, and Autscape continues to raise an average of £10 per month from this service 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 Kelvin has now formally stepped down from his moderator responsibility although it hasn't affected the running of the list. Having one or more extra moderator would be desirable in case the current team is simultaneously unavailable. He would also like to see a better gender balance on the team. Other than that, the community list is going well. 5.10. Venue search coordinators (Peter and Debbie) Nothing to report 6. Any Other Business 6.1. Jeremy said he had posted the accounts to the list on 27th April and asked if anybody had any comments. Peter said he wanted to comment on the high reserves. It is normal for things like excess reserves to take two years to fix. The cause is that you discover the information so late in the financial year that even immediate action gets reported in the following year's accounts. He said we will need to explain that to the members, as well as demonstrating that we have a plan to fix the issue. 6.2. Trish commented that we have not had a report from Kalen regarding the organisation and asked if there was a way we could ensure this happened. Also if it was possible to have a report within a week of the meeting if we hadn’t had one for the meeting. Martijn agreed to ask Kalen. Meeting closed at 15:58