[CIMC-work] Fw: [Imc-finance] proposal for improving finance list

Thu Oct 9 18:09:50 PDT 2003

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sheri Herndon" <sheri at speakeasy.org>
To: "IMC-Finance" <imc-finance at indymedia.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2003 12:57 PM
Subject: [Imc-finance] proposal for improving finance list


> hi everyone,
>
> everyone on this list who is a liaison whether official or not,
> please read and consider!
>
> PROPOSAL SUMMARY:
>
> 1.  Encourage and develop ongoing processes for greater institutional
> memory for IMC-Finance;
>
> 2.  Create a smaller IMC-Finance Working Group to take on some of the
> critical collective tasks that need to be done for this list to be an
> effective and democratic working group; and
>
> 3.  Clarify roles and responsibilities of being a liaison on this
> list and update the current list membership.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> IMC FINANCE LIST PURPOSE
>
> This list is one of most important working groups in the network for
> several reasons:
>
> 1.  Because we are an empowered working group and we are supposed to
> have liaisons from each local imc collective in the network; and
>
> 2.  Because we make decisions "on behalf of" the network with regard
> to the collective money in the bank and are therefore accountable to
> the larger network
>
> Therefore, what we do here and how we do it needs to be really
> transparent, clear, documented and easily transferable to new people
> joining the list.  We must take our process here seriously and part
> of that includes participation in order to create and uphold an
> empowering democratic process.
>
> The New-IMC working group is another place where decisions are being
> made on behalf of the network and they have a website, a process and
> alot more information readily available.  I hope that we can perhaps
> achieve something similar that will make all of this work we're doing
> much easier, accessible and encourage greater participation.
>
> Below under "Background" you will find some information about this
> list that was from the original proposal when we set up this list.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> PROPOSALS
>
> 1.  Increasing Institutional Memory
>
> This list has grown very quickly and the critical information
> necessary for people to make decisions needs to be easy to access.
> This info is not just for new people who have recently joined the
> list but also for people who have been on the list a long time and
> may have forgotten important details re process or agreements or
> decisions we have made in the past.
>
> Solutions:
>
> (1)  We need to have an updated finance wiki that has all critical
> information on it for handy reference for list members, the network
> to peruse when discussions are happening on the local level and for
> new people when they join.
> (2)  A link to the wiki can be included on the "welcome to the
> imc-finance list" for new liaisons with a request that they peruse
> these documents before jumping into the discussion.  This welcome
> message should also request that they make an introduction to the
> list (not everyone has done this who has joined the list).
> (3)  Translations need to be done for the finance wiki just like new
> imc has for their page.
>
> What should be on the wiki?
>
> *  all proposals passed with just the name of the imc or project and the
amount
> *  the most recent roll call - which imcs are here on the list
> *  the process we use for making decisions, clearly articulated
> *  the proposal for starting this list (and how it would be an
> empowered working group - some of that information is below under
> background)
> *  definition of a liaison
> *  description of how money has come into the global account
> *  any critical emails discussing process, funding issues, criteria,
> disagreements, debates, etc.
> *  other ideas?  of course we can keep adding to the wiki and
> improving it and making it better and making it sure it's clear and
> we have it translated!
>
> i just did a list summary with alot of this information:
>
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-finance/2002-December/001658.h
tml
>
>
> 2.  Creating an IMC-Finance Working Group
>
> To be an effective list we need to start doing certain things and in
> the near future we need to get everyone on this list (and in the
> network) on the same page when it comes to our history and our
> process.  I propose that a group of committed people from this list
> get together and work to make some of these things happen.  The bulk
> of the work will be in this initial stage since we have a lot of
> "catching up to do".  This working group would ideally identify the
> various tasks necessary to keep this list functioning in a good way
> internally and externally and help share the responsibilities beyond
> just a small handful of people.
>
> What can the IMC-Finance working group do?
>
> In the near future:
>
> 1.  meet and discusss how to move a few things forward in a positive
> way for this list;
> 2.  go through the imc-finance archives and pull the critical emails;
> 3.  update the wiki with that information as suggested in proposal #1;
> 4.  initiate discussion on the list using the questions from people
> on the list asking for clarification (see below)
> 5.  organize an imc-finance irc meeting
> 6.  help do the imc-finance roll call for liaisons and update the
> roll call list
>
> In the longer term:
>
> *  help keep the focus when a discussion is happening on the list
> regarding a proposal  (act as facilitators and help share the task
> with sascha who has been doing it pretty much solo)
> *  keep track of proposals and post them to the "approved proposals"
> section on the wiki once approved;
> *  prepare a "list summary" that can be then distributed to the
> global lists, local lists, put on the wiki and on imc-summaries.
> this is how we keep the rest of the network also in touch with our
> work
> *  making sure that new people joining the list provide an
> introduction and update the wiki with that information.
> *  checking with new imc to see whether new imcs have joined the
> imc-finance list.
>
>
> 3.  Clarifying the notion of being a liaison on this list:
>
> previous proposal on this topic:
>
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-finance/2002-October/001539.ht
ml
> further articulation of this list being one of liaisons:
>
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-finance/2002-April/001205.html
>
> The stated goal of this list is to have a group of empowered liaisons
> (that means your local collective recognizes you in this role) from
> each imc and working group in the network.  That way decisions we
> make will resonate with our state principles and goals for democratic
> process and inclusion.  I think we perhaps have not been very good
> about this and that a number of people on this list are not empowered
> liaisons.  We need to correct this situation:
>
> 1.  Put forth guidelines for what does it mean to be a liaison
> 2.  Do a roll call and find out which imcs are "represented" and who
> is really acting as a liaison.  And then have them go to their local
> and ask them to revisit the question and either find someone who will
> do the job or have the person(s) who is/are on the list take their
> roll very seriously.
> 3.  update the wiki with this information.
>
> Some simple guidelines for what it means to be a liaison:
>
> a.  help share some of the list responsibilities as outlined above
> (rotating responsibilities such as list summaries -- if each person
> did it every 2 weeks, that means only once every few years would you
> have to do it, now that's not bad in terms of workload);
> b.  participate in discussion and action items;
> c.  make sure your local imc is informed of all proposals and
> decisions made (make sure global information gets passed on to the
> local); and
> d.  make sure information from your local is brought back to the
> global in a timely fashion (when discussing a proposal that has a
> larger amount and thus needs the input from each local imc).
>
> The reason i think it is important to revisit this and actually have
> a proposal around it is because we currently have 133 people on this
> list, which means we ideally would have all 100 plus imcs
> "represented".  however, our record when it comes to responding to
> proposals, people/locals are responding at between 3-10%.....That is
> worse than the U.S.'s voting record and that's not great.  One could
> argue that it's because people are all in agreement so they are just
> passively voting by not blocking.  i don't buy this argument.  i
> think it is because people are not acting as liaisons and we need to
> correct the situation.
>
> CONCLUSION
>
> By revisiting what it means to be a liaison, by gathering all
> critical information and updating the finance wiki, by having a
> working group take on some critical next steps for the imc-finance
> list, we can start to really do our job and address the issues of
> funding and sustainability and priorities for the network.  i cannot
> think of any more important things for this list to do.
>
> sincerely,
>
> sheri
> from seattle imc
> and various working groups
> not speaking as a liaison
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> BACKGROUND
>
> from our original proposal:
>
> -- Make decisions according to consensus principles on a public,
transparent
> e-mail list, the archives of which will be open for viewing through the
> "http://lists.indymedia.org" page.  It will post a budget and other
relevant
> financial information to "http://finance.indymedia.org" when that web page
> becomes active.
>
> -- Be empowered to make grants in response to requests for less than $500
> internally, without notifying the rest of the network, not to exceed $5000
each
> month.  Imc-finance will make these allocations primarily for emergency
needs,
> specifically for network infrastructure.
>
> -- Be required to alert the network, through a post to both
> imc-process at indymedia.org and imc-proposals at indymedia.org, when allocating
> grants of more than $500, or after allocating $5000 within a month.  This
is
> for the sake of transparency, and will encourage members of local IMCs and
> individuals to express their opinions on the imc-finance if they disagree
with
> the decisions being made.
>
> -- Be required to write a monthly summary of the money allocated, to be
posted
> to imc-summaries at indymedia.org.
>
> -- Always have an active facilitator who will help focus discussion,
encourage
> everyone to participate and help debates turn into decisions.
Facilitators
> will rotate out of the task every two months.  Imc-finance will not
allocate
> funds unless there is an active facilitator.
>
> -- Emphasize decentralized fundraising, consistently work toward
empowering
> local IMCs to help one another, support autonomous fundraising affinity
groups
> and other projects that raise money for the network, support the idea of
giving
> "matching grants" (matching money raised by a local IMC's fundraiser to
support
> effective, creative fundraising ideas), prioritize allocations that
> will help build network infrastructure and support the formation of
> IMCs and IMC projects in the "Global South," where financial
> assistance is
> requested.
>
> -----------------outanding process questions-------------------
>
> -- clarifying the finance process
>
> -- timely summaries & translations to languages other than english
>
> -- more dialogue about our Membership, our Mandate, our Guidelines,
> our Decision-Making Process.
>
> * i have included some possible draft guidelines/criteria for
> our discussion
>
> -- standard proposal format we can ask people to fill out
>
> *  i'd suggest something simple:  summary of proposal, simple
> background and description, pros and cons, how it meets the
> crieria/guidelines, and amount requested
>
> -- post all this information on the finance wiki so it's handy
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> In sum, we are an army of dreamers, and therefore invincible.  How
> can we fail to win, with this imagination overturning everything.
>
> -- Subcomandante Marcos
>
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>