ARC minutes 2023-11-30

ARC meeting minutes

Wednesday 30th November, 5:00 - 7 pm (online)

Housekeeping

Welcome and apologies

Present: Adrian Beidas (AB), Lucy Crompton-Reid (LCR), Natasha Iles (NI), Sharon Mitcheson (SM), Alex Ashby (AA), Daria Cybulska (DC), Chuks Ogbonna (CO) (minuting).

Apologies:  Mark Cruickshank (MC), Julian Akoyode Manieson (JAM)

Declaration of Interests

None

Approval of previous minutes

The minutes were approved as read.

Update on actions arising at the last meeting

Financials

QFMR Q3 2023-24 and Commentary

SM presented the report and there was an Unrestricted Surplus of over £47K, cash deposits were at £593K, and creditors as of 30/11/23 are less than 30 days old and due to be paid in full.  

AB raised concerns about the amount that will still be floating even after investing with Insignis, and LCR answered that we should focus on completing the opening of the account first. AA gave an opinion that he feels keeping over £600K in one bank by next year will be risky considering the current and predicted economic environment, and that WMUK should be taking advantage of current interest rates.  SM agreed that she’d look into this and that before we make a deposit, an email would go to ARC to agree on sums to be deposited into various accounts.

It was agreed that the committee would be notified after the Insignis platform is running and the grant from WMF has been paid.

It was noted that the two of the restricted funds are showing a deficit at the end of the quarter due to outstanding payments from NLHF which have been followed up and aren’t a concern. Funds from Culham St Gabriel Trust, and funding from the Wikimedia Foundation for Wikimania and Celtic Knot have been fully spent down.

She gave a commentary on the different lines in the account, the summary

Commentary on Income:

• The grant from Meliore Foundation for the Climate Residency has now been secured and 50% has been received.
• Earned income is expected to double by the end of the financial year
• On gift aid, SM reported that we have received £28K from HMRC which are amounts due from previous years that were uncollected, additionally, there’s a bit more expected due to the year 2020 being submitted.

On Annual Re-forecast 23/24 91% of income has been confirmed for the year, the remaining 9% is related to donations which we are confident in securing. LCR reported on the proposal for current in-year savings and residual income to spend in key areas of need for the organisation.  These are:

• £6k additional investment in the CRM for Paysuite that would give time back to staff for fundraising and improve our ability to report on income streams.
• £6k investment in a Storytelling Consultant in order to engage funders and donors more effectively.
• £9k investment in a Fundraising Consultant to work with NI.
• £10k investment in a charity animation to deliver a short, engaging charity video to increase engagement with our work and secure additional donations from individuals.

ARC responded:

• AB asked for clarity on the  CRM expenditure and SM explained that it would be a one-off cost of £6K and an annual cost of £10K approximately which has already been included in the 24/25 budget in Processing fees.
• On the storytelling and fundraising consultants, AB asked what the ROI would be, NI responded that this is something that she can provide and will send this through after the meeting.b
• AA suggested a performance-related incentive where if they assist us in driving up fundraising they can get a better commission, LCR responded that this is not how fundraising consultants work in the current climate.

LCR responded to the questions, emphasising that these are not new initiatives, these are things we’ve wanted to do for many years but didn’t have the funds to support the work.  These all align with the organisation’s current strategy and would support the teams to further our work.  

AB responded with concerns over the team’s capacity to deliver the work with the current financial year.  NI stressed that she has plans in motion for meetings in January and that we’re just waiting to press GO on this, she emphasised that contributing another significant amount to unrestricted reserves could make us undesirable to Trusts & Foundations and actually deter us from receiving additional funding in the future.

Decision: Given that this is AB and AA’s first meeting in their current positions as Chair and Treasurer (and the two other ARC members were absent), the above spend was agreed upon as but they would additionally appreciate Monisha’s Shah’s agreement over email.

Proposed Budget for 2024/25 and commentary

LCR gave the report, and she mentioned that at this point normally we would not know if the WMF grant would be paid or not, but this year it has already been agreed that we will be getting a bump to £427K, this is tied to a proposed staff salary increase of 4%. The presentation showed that the biggest grant for the next year will come from the WMF. LCR concluded the presentation by asking members to discuss the potential staff uplift.

• AB asked the rationale behind the 4% increase and also suggested that he supports it, LCR answered that it was based on CPI.

Decision: ARC will support a 4% increase in staff salaries to the board and recommend the budget for board approval.

Action Point: Provide the net savings from the office move by the next ARC meeting

Fundraising and Development Report (NI)

NI presented the report and said that we are ahead on project funding and Gift Aid (due to the additional submissions from previous years).  We can see positive growth on small donations with 4% increase versus Q3 last year.

On project funding, we are above target for the year at 140%.  

NI also noted  that there has been a notification of a second legacy in which the details are being worked on. It is via Bitcoin and might be in the region of £30K.

• AB asked how many donors make up ‘major donors’ and NI answered that it varies year by year, last year it was 1, and as of now it is 3 persons. On the small donations, NI also reported that it is actually over the target for the year to date but we have kept the target until the end of the year the same.

Risks Register (LCR)

LCR gave the report and upgraded the risk of reduction in funding from the WMF due to the volatility within the North-West European region. She said she’s going to keep an eye on the WMF. All other items on the register were taken as read.

Updated Policies & Procedures

LCR clarified that the procedures are for approval of the committee while the policy is going to the full Board for approval. SM gave a summary of changes in financial procedures and emphasised that there were significant changes to the Finance Policy.

• AA asked if there was something else covering fraud checks, LCR explained that normally we would know where most of our invoices come from.
• AB asked to include where the Trustees sign off payments.  SM agreed she would add this into the procedures.

Decision: to the board

Financial Procedures approved are subject to additional changes.

Proposed meeting dates in 2024 (all 5 - 7 pm)

• Thursday 29th February
• Thursday 30th May
• Thursday 5th September
• Thursday 28th November

Decision: Approved by the committee

AOB

SM talked about Insignis and clarified the various role groups in the account and what they can do.

Decision: Roles were approved