[Imc-finance] Incorporation & financial structures.

[Sascha Meinrath]

Hi Dan et al.,

Here's a few quick answers to Dan's questions:

> Concerns I would have with turning our collective financial fate over
to U-C IMC include:

I wholeheartedly agree that the Global IMC should not be turn over our
financial fate the the UCIMC -- the UCIMC doesn't want that responsibility
and it would be a horrible idea both for the Global IMC and the UCIMC.
My suggestion is that we maintain the current decision-making processes
and control for the Global IMC and utilize the benefits the UCIMC could
provide -- ideally, this would be a "best-of-both-worlds" solution.

> Who are your board of directors, how are they selected, how can they be
> replaced, who are they accountable to, what are the specific mechanisms for
> accountability?

The board of directors for the UCIMC is composed of 5 members of the
organization (I am one of them).  We were elected by consensus by the
UCIMC steering committee (which is composed of representatives from each
of our working groups and all UCIMC members who wish to attend any given
meeting) and are directly accountable to the UCIMC membership.  In
addition, our first act as a board was to disempower ourselves so that we
perform an advisory role to the steering committee.  This means that we
weild as little power as legally possible and our role is simply to
provide visioning and support for the organization and its members.
Boards are a legal necessity for any corporation, however, many of us
have seen the fiasco at Pacifica and other progressive/radical
organizations and share a belief that the membership should wield ultimate
power over an organization.

> What is your U-C IMC budget and what is it spent for.  If this involves
> payment to individuals, either a staff or for projects, how is that decided
> and at what rate?

The UCIMC budget will be roughly $25,000 this year and is expected to
reach $30,000/yearly over the next two years (this does not take into
account grants).  The UCIMC is a volunteer-run organization and we do not
employ any staff.  However, we have hired individuals on an ad-hoc basis
to perform specific tasks (e.g. audio-training classes, sound engineering
for certain events, syndication of material for Free Speech Radio News).

Individuals propose hiring arrangements to the steering committee (or
relevant working group) and are hired based on the decisions (and budgets)
of each of these collectives.  Thus far, individuals have only been hired
with income-sharing agreements (e.g. money raised by people paying for
audio-training classes is split between the teacher of the class and the
UCIMC; donations at events are split between the sound engineer, the
performer(s), and the UCIMC; money raised through syndication is split
between the producers and the UCIMC), thus, hiring people has actually
been an income-generator rather than a cost-center.

> Have you looked at the Michael Albert suggestions?  What are your thoughts?

I've read Michael's suggestions and agree with his main points.  My
concern is more how to balance the desire for a democratic and
paticipatory process and the need for an efficient and legally accountable
financial structure (e.g. one that can pay necessary taxes, knows how its
money is being used, and is using legal accounting proceedures).  I am a
big fan of devolving authority and hierachy as much as possible, however,
I also believe that without accountability, commons often are abused. I
view our current conundrum as a manifestation of this tension between the
creation of an egalitarian structure of financial decision-making and
protecting the financial common though minimal, though necessary,
accountability.  We're all interested in seeing the Global IMC flourish.
The question right now is how to balance the desires of a heterogeneous
group of people and create a structure that incorporates both elements of
this tension.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions,

--Sascha Meinrath
Urbana-Champaign IMC