Extraordinary General Meeting, Monday 5th June, 3pm - to wind up or not?
Cath M in Bentley (A Commune in the North/Radical Routes/Platform6)
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The current directors do not have capacity to keep Platform 6 Development Co-op functioning.
Extraordinary General Meeting open to all, Monday 5th June, 3pm
Meeting link: https://de.meet.coop/b/gra-cpf-owy-a9s
We have around 30 members, including member organisations, but this meeting is open to everyone in the Platform 6 community.
Decisions/Proposals for the EGM, which need input from you lot in advance:
a) To dissolve Platform 6 Development Co-op, to pass the cash assets and the funds/brands of Ways Forward and of Breadfunds/Mutual First Aid on to (??)____ and to pass the fiscal hosting of our 30-odd Open Collectives to (??)_____ [Note - Graham is checking whether innovate.coop could take this on] - or to wind up once Open Collectives have found their own alternative fiscal hosting.
or...
b) to transfer assets and fiscal hosting as above, and to turn the company dormant with new named directors [Mx Y, Ms Z and Mr X - people would need to take this on before we could vote for it].
Why?!
P6 has been struggling for years now to create a culture of participation. The people putting in the graft have themselves been stretched over many projects and have not been able to put in the work of promotion, induction, outreach and organising which is necessary for an organisation of unpaid enthusiasts. When we surveyed to find more interested people, we didn't then have capacity to follow-up on the interest that was shown.
The fiscal hosting of Open Collectives has increased the administrative workload significantly, with constant issues over payment platforms and a vast amount more bookkeeping.
We really never got to the exciting position of having many members contributing to a fund for co-operative development, which was the original nub of the project, and would have created an engine driving inspiration and participation (in relative terms, at least).
We note that Development Co-op and the Young Co-operators Network have similarly struggled to survive/thrive and wonder what the similarities, differences and contexts are, what can we learn from this?
What we want from you now
respond below with any alternative suggestions for how we should proceed, or any questions
If you want to join Platform 6 in order to vote at the EGM or step into a directorship role, follow the link from https://platform6.coop/.
Suggest appropriate homes for the 'Ways Forward for the Co-op Movement' brand and seed fund for future events
Suggest appropriate homes for the Breadfunds/Mutual First Aid remaining moneys
Suggest appropriate homes for the Platform 6 Development Co-op fund
if you are considering taking on the responsibility for Platform 6, do express interest here or let us know. Happy to have conversations about what we think running Platform 6 entails/how it could be different.
RSVP
The work of re-homing Open Collectives will begin after the EGM - feel free to put questions here, but there may not be answers for a while.
We are very sad to have ended up in this position - all the challenges and opportunities that prompted the founding of Platform 6 still exist, it is no less necessary than it ever was, but we have run out of steam.
Cath, Graham & Austen
Cath M in Bentley (A Commune in the North/Radical Routes/Platform6) Mon 5 Jun 2023 7:50PM
Thanks to all who came along today - it is heartening that we are all so keen to make good use of the resources that we have.
Minutes/notes attached below. TLDR: we're not quite ready to let it go, would like to salvage bits for younger co-operators to take forward, a couple of people are going to spread the word in new places, we're reconvening on 31st July, 3pm, to review.
Nathan Brown (Co-op Culture) Mon 12 Jun 2023 8:35AM
@Chris Funnell time willing would be happy to be involved in feedback panel. There is also a potential for us to use future cohorts of Barefoots (new to the trade, so arguably useful sets of eyes) to provide feedback when relevant tools are ready for testing (e.g. needs analysis tools). We currently get learners to look at and appraise the Bright Ideas diagnostic tool as an example of the sort of thing development workers may be asked by a project to use.
Chris Funnell Mon 5 Jun 2023 3:13PM
Grateful and humbled that even as it contemplates closure P6 has renewed commitment of funds to the online tools for co-operative development project. The project will soak up tens of thousands of pounds but the P6 monies will ensure CAN has the confidence to get it rolling. We have just entered our thirty fifth trading year and the tools that we use have had many hundreds of hours development work in them. If we can succeed in taking that work, further improving it and making it available for cost-free wider use on line then it will be a significant part of the substantial P6 legacy. If anyone is interested in playing a part, perhaps as member of expert feedback panel, please let me know. Thank you. In co-operation. Chris
Cath M in Bentley (A Commune in the North/Radical Routes/Platform6) Mon 5 Jun 2023 8:31AM
Morning everyone, reminder that this is today at 3, https://de.meet.coop/b/gra-cpf-owy-a9s
I'm working on how much money there is in the various funds now.
Suggestions for good homes for the various funds welcome.
Graham Fri 2 Jun 2023 11:45AM
A few thoughts on this situation. Reflecting on the thing, I'm sure we did lots of things wrong, and almost certainly didn't follow the advice that any one of us would have given to a start-up. We also did a good deal of interesting and useful things. We've enabled and supported https://social.coop and https://meet.coop along with a bunch of other nascent cooperative projects. We've kept the Cooperative Ways Forward wagon on the road in the face of the pandemic, and we've facilitated and been party to some great conversations that (still) don't seem to happening in other places. If there are people who could use the infrastructure we've built up to good effect to do stuff around cooperatives and cooperative development it seems sensible to hand all of that on rather than shut it down.
Cath M in Bentley (A Commune in the North/Radical Routes/Platform6) Fri 19 May 2023 12:11PM
The meeting will be at https://de.meet.coop/b/gra-cpf-owy-a9s and i've added that to the original post. Thanks @Chris Funnell for the prompt!
Martin Meteyard Wed 17 May 2023 1:06PM
I'm planning to attend the meeting. Sadly I think this outcome has been inevitable for a while, as the aspiration for a wider movement fund never managed to build up a sufficient head of steam (and there don't actually seem to have been many conversations with the consumer sector). I'm not sure there are too many parallels with the issues faced by Development Co-op and the Young Co-operators Network, but it would be interesting to discuss further at the meeting.
Cath M in Bentley (A Commune in the North/Radical Routes/Platform6) Fri 19 May 2023 8:54AM
@Mark Simmonds (Co-op Culture) yes it would... I'll see what i can do over the next week
Mark Simmonds (Co-op Culture) Thu 11 May 2023 6:32AM
Aiming to join the meeting. Well done for persevering this far. It would be good to have some figures for the various funds being held and what unrestricted funds there are at the moment.
adrian ashton Wed 10 May 2023 12:43PM
afraid I won't be able to join you live on the 6th, but echo all of the sentiments ably expressed above by others - I'd be included to favour option (a) to encourage some clear lines to be drawn to help with reflections, people being able to move on, etc, rather than it going into a limbo space...
Chris Funnell Tue 9 May 2023 3:29PM
Thanks and appreciation to Cath Graham and Austen. I will be with you on June 5th. Chris
bob cannell Fri 5 May 2023 2:24PM
Understandable. It isn't fair or sustainable for a few enthusiast activists to be left holding the burden with no let up in sight.I can't take this on. Was always one of the supporters. I'll think about your options and try to attend.
Bob
Mark Simmonds (Co-op Culture) Thu 11 May 2023 6:30AM
@Sion Whellens (Principle Six/Calverts) It's Monday the 5th Sion.
Sion Whellens (Principle Six) Fri 5 May 2023 11:30AM
Likewise @matt wilson - I know we've been on the whole passive supporters/participants. Platform 6 was in my mind a test of whether the Solidfund methodology could work to generate 'wider movement' development resource, and there are lessons to be learned. Solidfund itself is due a review of its purposes, although it will always be a worker co-op focused thing - simply because there is a passionate community of people who will put their hand in their pocket for the cause (actually this is its 'secret sauce', along with the 'trade union' direct debit style way of collecting subscriptions).
I'll be on holiday and mainly away out of phone signal/internet on June 6th, but will come if I can.
matt wilson Fri 5 May 2023 11:15AM
Sorry to hear this. maybe you're all just feeling relieved, but i know these things can potentially be tough, so I hope you're all feeling ok...
I don't thave much to say on a practical level, except for the Ways Forward side of things. I'd really like to see that continue, and would be up for maybe seeing if it could be brough under the worker fed project somehow... not sure exactly what it would mean to pass this on, but happy to have a chat about this, on this forum or directly...
cheers
bob cannell · Mon 5 Jun 2023 11:14PM
Thnx sorry for no show. Reeling from dentist appt. Bob