2014-04-03 Thu 18:45 - LFGSS CC Inaugural Meeting - Goldsmith, Southwark Bridge Road

So this is tomorrow and adroit will be chairing.

Scary last minute change: I may not be there for the whole of the meeting, a potentially very important meeting for Microcosm has sprung up and I will have to dash off.

The key thing is to get the volunteers elected to the committee, key roles are described in the link that adroit distributed earlier: http://www.cffc.co.uk/assets/membersfiles/1317827590~Governance%20-%20Committee.pdf

It's worth my stating everything that has happened to date:

1) LFGSS CC set up as a Ltd company - this was a mistake, I propose to either change it to a CIC or dissolve it and set up a CIC as a new entity.
2) Club affiliated with British Cycling
3) Velodrome booking made, payment from my personal credit card
4) Jersey design created by 6pt
5) Jersey design approved by British Cycling
6) Jersey production agreed with Milltag
7) Identified an accountant who will process GiftAid and do end of year accounts for a low fixed-fee
8) Identified all of the online tools to ensure transparency and to not require constant committee meetings (Xero for accounts, Shopify for jersey and ticket sales, Google Docs for files and document storage)
9) Did the maths and determined that with extraordinarily low costs, we can offer the club without membership fees and be viable without sponsorship, through jersey sales

The company structure was a mistake. I went for a structure I knew rather than what is now obviously the right structure (a CIC).

I worked under the (now false) assumption that I could create a non-profit via the club constitution / company articles and then run it that way without encumbering it with traditional hierarchical structures, instead allowing the forum to act as a virtual committee, election system and a means of communication.

I was and am very wrong about that. Not using a traditional structure has prevented me from getting the bank account or filing for the club to be a CASC... which has blocked us from then getting the jerseys done or selling tickets for the Velodrome day.

So the key thing is to get a committee elected, if nothing else is achieved this is a lot.

In the coming weeks we'll then delegate and share the tasks of getting the CIC and CASC stuff done, so we can get the kit made and Velodrome tickets sold.

It's worth my mentioning that I have a very clear idea of how I want the club committee to function... it shouldn't dictate to club members, it doesn't Lord over the club members. Instead it provides support and help to club members, facilitating whatever they want to do.

Structurally it's fine in the traditional way, but what I want to avoid is what I've seen in other cycle clubs where the club members don't really feel the club is theirs and don't feel able to do anything. I'd rather turn that on it's head and empower the members to shape the club direction and activities.

I want to have it so that if a club member says "I want to race BMX", the committee is able to say "What do you need from us?". And we support whatever the club members do.

It's reactive, rather than proactive. Not to say committee members can't come up with ideas and support them themselves, but that mostly we should be doing what needs to be done when it needs doing, rather than looking for work to do.

Anyhow, looking forward to it, I'll be there early tomorrow, but will need to dash early too for my other meeting.

Any questions in advance? Ask them now.