[Imc-finance] proposal for improving finance list

Thu Oct 9 14:51:29 PDT 2003

Hi all,

I've done a bit of tweaking to our list management.  Each e-mail from this
list should now contain a link to our summary page at the bottom.  I very
much agree with Sheri's ideas to improve how we do things.  Currently,
everything often falls on Sheri and my shoulders to do.  We try our best
to keep up with everything, but organizing everything is definitely a
larger job than just two volunteers can do.

I think that the most immediate (and easy) solution would be to get an
active working group together and update and organize our finance wiki.
It would help us all stay informed about what is going on and should be a
place for documenting the most important information for our group.

--Sascha

On Thu, 9 Oct 2003, Sheri Herndon wrote:
>
> 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.html
>
>
> 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.html
> 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