Executive Meeting Minutes
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Exec Meeting #1 - 2014-10-05
Present: Stu, Amanda, Nadine, Kevin, Amelia Rose, Katie, Tina, Ben, Keegan
Truth and reconciliation process
Open sharing space: Group goes around to share their reflections about Tuesday night’s meeting.
Healing the group: What do we think needs to happen now in order to address the immediate aftermath of Tuesday night’s meeting. General question: do we think there is something specific we need to do here? Kevin: the online email discussion has run its course. Suggests that we send a message to the newcomers on Tuesday night’s meeting to tell them that that meeting is not representative of how we operate. Katie agrees with Kevin that a mass email is not necessary. Ben suggests that any further communication regarding ought to happen between involved individual members. Stu: will email Joe, Peter and Vince. There is general agreement about this. Kevin: Kai is going to do a structure pitch on Tuesday. Group will not be asked for a vote of approval. This will be discussed further on Tuesday. Basically, it’s going to be a suggestion to create a special committee to fulfil the demands of due process.
Organization coherence (aka, what we need to decide on Tuesday for the group to continue before we have bylaws)
Membership/who can vote. The easiest thing to do is to re-establish previous shadow constitution and U of T constitution which we will follow until bylaws are in place. The new positions would be those that Kevin drew up, and will be discussed later tonight. Right now, what we’re working out is what we need to do to exist right now, to maintain some kind of democratic process. Keegan will ask a lawyer to do some consultation. Katie: the shadow constitution enables non-U of T to vote as members. TIna: why did we vote to excise the executive. Stu: we did it because we were out of time. We didn’t want to go through a rushed process and vote that would be hammered through. We fulfilled the requirements of TGM, i.e. to make treasurer and president. The votes on the rest of the executive will be taken this Tuesday. Kevin: it makes sense to go back to original documents--the constitution for the U of T club. Katie: can we vote at a meeting to which not all members were not invited? Kevin et. al. believe that it is sanctioned to vote. Stu: believes that this is not a meeting at which we can make decisions about pressing issues. Stu: will put the motion forward to re-adopt constitution+shadow constitution on Tues.
Restructuring
Philosophical discussions on group dynamics: openness, autonomy/coherence, who makes decisions (other?) Does the executive have the power to make decisions for the group or not. This is the problem of autonomy or coherence. Kevin: discusses the issues of stakeholders. These vary. Some people’s stake is about issues, others about the governance and management of the group. Executives should be viewed as stakeholders in decision making. Stu: Stu et. al. went to a meeting in which this idea of “decisions are made by those who show up” might need to be reconsidered. Once the group grows, this dictum becomes more and more impracticable. Katie: depending on structure of committees, we can still maintain this ideal. Must make some distinctions about the kinds of decisions executive makes. Katie has another concern: the actual campaigns are kind of floating; it’s not clear how the campaigns will be structured. Kevin: sent out an email about this, specifically to the campaign managers. Cc’d to all executive. Those members who have introduced campaigns are the managers of those campaigns. Individual managers have a degree of autonomy in how the campaign is run, but this is reported to the executive. Kevin suggests campaign director as executive position: someone who keeps track of all the various campaigns. Katie: in the new structure, the executive is not making any decisions really at all. The committees are the ones who make decisions. Kevin: this is about the executive being able to delegate tasks and make decisions at the same time. The executive works to support the campaigns. Stu: executive can provide suggestions about how to structure or operate campaigns, so that campaign managers are not having to start from scratch. Ben: question about events committee. Kevin: this committee does not need to sit all the time. They only form when there are imminent events. Stu: each campaign is going to be reporting to the entire executive. Kevin: most new people are not going to want to be decision makers; they’re going to want to do meaningful work on the ground in established committees.
Openness: Stu: suggests that taking meeting in camera be requested and justified before in camera. The record will reflect the request that an item to be in camera and a decision was made. Stu believes that openness in general has been a very important source of positive inspiration, wants to cultivate a culture of openness. Kevin: part of our organizational aspect of our group has to do with gaining some political advantage. Believes that radical openness might disadvantage us in relation to other groups. Tina: it seems ironic that there is competition among environmental groups. Is this something that we want to go along with? How will other people take advantage of us if we have complete transparency? Kevin: other groups might steal people away. Tina: thinks that as the group grows and the campaigns diversify, openness is increasingly important. Kevin: wants to speak about privacy. As an example, creditors might pursue members. Might be advantageous to not always fully disclose everything publicly. Kevin believes that privacy is something that should be considered. This will be increasingly important as we grow. Nadine: does not see how it’s valid to worry too much about privacy. Suggestion is made to give people the option to omit their names from minutes at the start of meetings.
Discussion on diagram proposal
The campaign managers are making the requests about coordinating events. Ben: do we want a student movement director? How directly do we want to link U of T student body? Depends on campaign, according to Kevin. The campus outreach coordinator is a multi-campus position. Stu: the U of T group is basically one of the campaigns. Ben wonders what would remain of the group after the end of divestment.
Who meets when where? - campaigns, committees, exec. Stu: the campaigns will meet on Tuesday nights. Committees will meet when they need to. The exec will meet monthly.
New proposals process. This is missing in the present structure. We do not have a way of considering this in the new structure. E.g. events might come up, side projects, etc. Stu: monthly executive meetings where new proposals can be made? People would come to make pitches to the exec, but not be necessarily welcome to stay for the entire meeting.
Major proposals process. Stu: should there be a separate process for major proposal? This could go to group as a whole, or it could be presented at a monthly executive meeting? Kevin: major proposals should be structured in a detailed way, and this should be more or less standardized. The question to whom these proposals should be delivered is an open question. The finance committee is there to authorize incoming and out-going money; they do not have veto power, should not really be making political decisions based on how they allocate money. Stu suggests a threshold--say everything under five hundred dollars can be given, but if it’s more, then that’s categorized as a major proposal and the decision about it ought to be addressed to the executive or group in general. Katie: either campaign director or committee director writes a budget for their campaign at some time during the year. If this gets approved, then they’re given that money. If they run out before the next time, or if something comes up, then they can make a special request. There is discussion: does this give campaigns more or less agility? Stu: a baseline budget--say five hundred--and if a campaign needs more, then they can make a special request. There is still a requirement for receipts. Stu: collecting and submitting receipts is responsibility of campaign director. Kevin suggests that there is one time a month when campaign managers can come turn in their receipts.
Monthly Executive Meeting: making decisions about major proposals.
Airing grievances. This is also missing. It is legitimate to air grievances by email, Stu believes, but it might be advantageous to have a structure in place to facilitate airing grievances. Kevin: suggests three-tiered escalation resolution. The first stage should be one on one. List of active listeners--conflict mediation is available from some predetermined members of the executive. If possible, do one on one. If this is not possible, then we can have three people on executive to actively listen. Then, after that, if the conflict is still not resolved, we could find another way to resolve this (see the proposed by-laws). Tina suggests as an agenda item offering to listen to the airing of grievances.
Recap:
Monthly executive meetings for new monthly proposals. People are invited to come pitch ideas for new campaigns at these meetings. Grievances/group dynamic issues can be handled at this monthly executive meeting, if it’s already escalated.
Operations director is in charge chair of Campaigns Committee--this is a structural change. No longer any events committee. Each campaign is in charge of its events booking, etc. This does not dissolve operations director. We need a list of who can get rooms. Whether this is a general position, or just a list that each campaign committee chair can access. Amelia Rose: we should not just limit it to U of T and Ryerson. Believes that we also need to have someone at York as well. Stu: we are not able to book rooms at those places, at other universities. Katie: now that we have greater capacity, we’ll be looking to expand to those places.
Finance
Kevin: requests signing access so that he can do fundraising. Also suggests group get a line of credit, to build credit rating, among other advantages. It will give us more flexibility, opens up new possibilities. A line of credit is different than going into debt, which is covered in the bylaws. The suggestion is to give Director of development access to co-signing by being on finance committee.
A treasure--is this treasurer on the board, or is it someone who’s involved in the executive in an ongoing way. Kevin: usually CFO is the Development director. Others disagree.
Kevin: suggests we make a volunteer job posting for a treasurer: find some student in accounting or business who cares about the environment to take on this as a CV item--that would be the incentive for them.
Treasurer becomes chair of finance committee.
Guidelines (things to be developed by the Innovation Committee)
Minute taking
Katie: suggests that at the beginning of each meeting the chair asks those present if there’s anyone who does not want to be recorded in the minutes. The group generally agrees that this is a good idea.
Chairing (interim chair?). This will help us mitigate conflicts of interests.
Moving to in camera requires justification.
How to run events: a guide that can be given to campaign managers. These are things that the innovation committee can come up with.
How to structure and run campaigns.
Strategy Session Timeline recap - we’re doing well!
Suggestion for actions, social events, potlucks, etc. for all the members to come together--some event that all campaigns can all get involved in. Monthly or bi-monthly--in a single space, and afterwards everyone can come together to socialize.
Some guidelines for the 18th Brainstorming: Kevin suggested that we plan for the long-term, e.g. six months down the road, so that these campaigns have some guidelines about how to have vision for the immediate future, but also six-months or year down the road. So the campaign groups will have time to think about something they wish to accomplish/start working on immediately (within the next month), on an ongoing basis for the next 6 months, and something big that they can aim towards 6-12 months from now. This will be suggested to the break-out groups on the 18th.
e...@toronto350.org
Executive Meeting Minutes
Nov 2, 2014
Present: Kai, Amelia Rose, Graham, Ben, Tresanne, Stu (skype), Amanda
Chair: Kai
Minutes: Tresanne
1. COP21 Update
Kai says he has to respond to emails, meeting of strategic planning this week, possibly Wednesday
Wants a solid plan for the group. Research, public outreach, planning are the 3 subgroups for COP21
2. Digital Development Intern
a.Hiring Process
Ben is chair of innovation, since he is Operations.
Stu, Monica and Amelia Rose were previously on the Innovation committee. It’s now only open to exec and board.
Should go through resume, don’t do it now - do it without the people who are applying in the room
The original idea was to have the Innovation committee decide on hiring. However, it was decided to instead have the interested exec and campaign managers (minus those applying) decide.
Ben will email exec and campaign managers with a doodle to consider the applicants and reach a decision. He’ll also let the members know the deadline is this coming Sunday, Nov 9th.
Stu unavailable Thurs – Monday
2.b. Contract for this position
Approval of the spending – The initial 3 weeks spending has already been approved
To be written by innovation committee
We should hire someone we trust to do the work.
Stu can proofread thurs morning. Ben will send him something by then
What if 45 hours is not enough? Do we give more money?
The position might be extended beyond the 3 weeks if needed (but would require membership approval, as it would be a major proposal of > $500)
Make contract 45 hours, with possible extension
3. Bylaws
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cT0Uz8z-KYcX7ODHbVAwFr78dB6EbJoLozMawUrSVrA/edit#
a. Focus on dispute resolution
Conflict resolution over past few weeks
People should read over bylaws
Bylaws are probably good enough that board can look it over and finalize it, when we have board
Stu encourages people to read and comment on it
Membership doesn’t have the ability to change the bylaws, just the board
b. Membership
Who is allowed to be a member? To be decided by membership
10 or 5% of members – quorum
If 200 members, need 10 ppl at AGM, we should be okay
Tues meeting could offer some proposals. People can comment and the following Tuesday can vote. Graham is adding to Tues agenda. 4 diff proposals – post in minutes Tues night. Pick one of 4 at the next meeting.
There was a suggestion to start a thread in the planning forum, to discuss the options. However, there was concern about whether people will be active in this online discussion
4. Tabling at York U – where are banner and materials? Amelia Rose is willing to table Nov 7, 8 but needs the banner/materials
Ask Katie if she has banner
Amelia rose will table both days
5. Creating documents
We will also need to create some additional documents, which do not belong in the bylaws, but are nevertheless important. These include:
· Executive duties (these are not in the bylaws because they are determined by the membership, although the board does have the right to include parameters or requirements that must be adhered to -- see Section 34b).
We have them in constitution – need to formalize them into some doc that says these are exec duties. This one’s pretty much done
· Membership Requirements
Just discussed that
· Election procedures (these might be later moved into the bylaws if the board wishes, but can remain separate for now)
States how things are run, creating positions etc. Might want it more structured so chairs have structure. Could use current constitution. Process could be improved on. Think about how we want things to be done.
Roberts rules of order – ie agenda must be voted on first or whole meeting is void…
Maybe we just need ‘general guidelines’ for TO350
Maybe basic Roberts rules of order. Ben will look into that
· Rules to govern board meetings and special (AGM-type) meetings
There was a discussion about ‘for board/AGM the following have to be done as well…’, e.g. Ground rules for the group. People agreed that they should be based on Anti-oppression guidelines – moral and institutional.
Could discuss at Tues meeting
At conflict resolution workshop the following were discussed/suggested - Vibes watcher, bullying alert, bullying sign – stop and check process
This is more than generic principles. That is enforcement side of principles. Statement of values is different than implementation
Why don’t we already have this? Have had membership that’s lefty, anti-oppressiony, so we haven’t needed it formalized yet.
A discussion followed about who would be responsible for this. Should it be one of the exec? The volunteer coordinator? But it has to be someone who is there are every meeting, so maybe the chair?
Can’t we have both? A regular confidant (accountable). Also a diffuser. How do we get from discomfort to the person/chair. What will the signal be.
Need someone who will pick up on cues, notice a non-safe space. Direct discomfort to chair.
What if problem is this go to person or chair?
Have an automatic recess for 2 min. to diffuse. Would have to say “we need a recess”. Say “ouch” if offended and have the recess. Let’s use something other than “ouch”. “inclusion check” move back to being more inclusive. It was seen to be important that there was a guaranteed cooling off period, and that the decision was made by the person who requested it, not anyone else. Lighten the energy. If it’s getting heated. Recess. Then it gets better. Term “inclusion check”. Greenpeace uses ouch. General agreement on the term “inclusion check”
Specific person. Beginning of meeting, state: if any time during you feel uncomfortable, talk to __ or any member of exec you feel comfortable.
Meeting structure. Script at beginning of meetings to include: structure, something positive, anti oppressive. Chair says at beginning.
Names at beginning of meeting. But when people come in late don’t. It’s nice to welcome new people. Second go around an hour into meeting if required (if new people walk in)
As we take on bigger stuff, there could be bigger conflict. Big difference of opinion. But probably healthy
Ben will do text draft of anti oppression
2 page simplified Roberts rules of order.
· Guidelines for chairing regular meetings
Don’t overwhelm chair. Make them more comfortable as chair.
Structure of agenda: news, campaigns.
Stu would work with a few others for initial draft. Graham also interested. Ben for anti oppression. Let’s ask Monica. Monica for contract stuff, Ben will ask her.
Outline of principles. Longtime members should be involved. Not general members. Need at least a long term member. To say these have been core elements, where group is coming from. We need this to be created and then raised at next agm.
· Guidelines for taking minutes
9 months ago, good recommendations were made. Not sure if they were in minutes. Do we include names of specific people who are saying what? Just want general feel of what is being said. Names if people volunteered for things. Volunteering for taking minutes can also be intimidating. Read through these guidelines before taking minutes. When chair sends agenda, minute taker uses agenda, so the guidelines could be attached.
Should same people work on minutes and guidelines for meetings? yes
6. “Security” breach Someone deleted all content from some publicly-editable documents. Likely an Internet troll. Google drive saves history, so everything was saved. Security has been tightened. Our fault for being overly trusting. Take this as a learning experience.
7. Divestment Action Week (DAW)
Outreach - Need to reach out to different organizations. List, alumni, invite alumni. Text for student clubs.
Media. Internal and external. Press releases ( Amanda). Then we have to get a lot of people out for the march. Will encourage people to come and rally members of club behind banner.
Media contacts – pics/videos. 12 15 to 1 30 is march. Kai will call around. Ben will send link to Kai.
Profs who signed brief should be at march. Profs who endorsed. Find in google drive- Brief attestation.
Email the people. They support us the most and know our campaign. General email to the faculty.
Synergies. Campaign directors. Help forward goal of campaigns (with people from march). Banners created for this week may be used for future divestment campaigns. Do we have specific wording? Art build. Canada sign on to next global climate agreement. Email campaign directors. There is an art built. Kai will send email to campaign directors tonight. Need info by tues. Kai had sent email out to campaign directors, for small blurb. We should put on website. Pages for each of the campaigns.
Justin T banner. Ben will do with fossil free U of T. Young people demand a real choice this election #noenergyeast TO350. 2 banners – double success.
Future branding. We do not want to use the term “Canadians” – rising tide didn’t want to work with us – (Indigenous solidarity group) because glorification of settler state.
Governing council meeting – don’t want to be dismissed as radicals working on brief.
8. Direct Actions
Should we have press passes? Yes, they would be good to have for future events.
For events with uncertain dates, we can make facebook events for 2017, say we’ll update when we know more.
Self care – don’t spread yourself thin. People burn out – and then leave
Some of us are trained for direct actions – high stake. And the rest, should we facilitate. More of an understanding between the 2 groups. Don’t think of it as radical and non-radical. Direct action as strategy – how can this help campaigns, how can we use it.
Necessary for energy east. Not fossil free. Need to think about Risk vs reward. We don’t want to end up with us being seen either negatively as “radicals” or “a few protesters”
Concern was raised that the “direct action people” in the group were an overly-small group, and that people might feel left out and unsure about how they could get involved, either in doing the DAs, or in making decisions about them.
Membership as a whole – open discussion at a meeting – are you interested in being involved. Direct action training takes a weekend, therefore can’t keep doing it monthly. Greenpeacee does it once a year. Ruckus sometimes does some too. We could subsidize/support people going to it.
Concern was also raised that we could be painted as a radical group, if we keep doing this. Membership might see us as a radical group. Don’t know where people are going to use it. People can get involved in direct action groups, other ones in Toronto. Don’t people like to come because of our campaigns, not direct action? People may be intimidated about joining if too much of our focus is direct action. E.g. law school students can’t be arrested.
Normalizing environmentalism – one goal of this group. Mitigate climate change. Direct action is valuable once in a while. Not frequently.
We offer alternative to status quo. If well seen by members that we do other stuff. So a few direct actions are ok. Need it to be obvious that we have other stuff happening. If we are seen as too mainstream, we are less appealing to Indigenous and other groups. We want to work with them.
What is best for the climate – build a movement. Be realistic of scale of challenge.
Joining TO350, people are joining 350 internationally. We will still be known as having done some direct actions – because of mothership, so it doesn’t matter if we do or not
Direct actions with branding. If it’s branding, we could brand as “Toronto PCI” or “CRUDE” etc. Just pick some name, don’t use TO350. Use arbitrary name.
Diversity of campaigns. Don’t want to be seen as too radical. Or too mainstream
Direct action – gets media. “No such thing as bad publicity.”
Not everyone who has done direct action has had training. We could actively promote it.
In any group, range of skill sets. Need people to be able to write 180 page brief. One form of activism. The media and 2 people with a banner can spread, lots of people know about it. This is another useful form of activism
Proper risk assessment before specific action.
Recognize that we do direct action. Be responsible about it. People don’t want to feel they’re being put at risk.
Some members don’t want to see direct action as a thing. People identify Greenpeace with direct action, even though they stopped doing direct action. Our branding is TO350, different from 350
Have had a few direct actions recently, started 5 campaigns.
Figure out how many people we are getting on board
Direct action might bring it to media
Who is not joining TO350? The people that care but don’t know how to get involved.
If divestment campaign goes before committee that looks at TO350 we need to have a good representation
Separate branding is a good idea
9. How to better bridge with other groups
Rising tide
Bridge line 9/Energy east
10. Eco fair at Wychwood Barns
We could table. Nov 23, time 12-4 $15, could be on waiting list
TCAN has a table, and we could be at their table
thugsb
Exec Meeting Sunday Dec 7th
In Camera Item
Pressing Question: How do we make Tues meetings relevant?
What kinds of things should be discussed there?
Suggestion:
Have a news update about what we’re doing, then
Break into groups and make decisions
or do it in reverse
This would allow people to state their course of action once decided upon on the breakouts
Focus on decision making
Stricter structure for what is on the group part of the meeting, less so for discussions
Should we be discussing shop windows, and things that involves long time periods, with people who are new?
Possible Structure:
45min campaigns meeting breakouts
45min update go-around and major decisions
exec/committee meetings breakouts -- or go for drinks
How does that affect new members? People generally come when they’ve heard about campaigns, so will likely plug straight in to that. It gets people right in there.
Is Tuesday a bad time? DATT can’t meet on Tuesdays. COP21 meets on weekends.
Maybe campaigns shouldn’t meet on Tuesdays at all.
We’re having a problem engaging new people.
Maybe start meetings with general announcements of where volunteers are needed. Or maybe start isn’t great.
We could record volunteer opportunities on white board and ask for volunteers at the end. People liked this idea.
Make campaign updates the MAJOR updates, and the volunteer opportunities they have.
Have a whiteboard to show campaigns and tasks, that we add to throughout the meeting.
Approved Structure:
Everyone together, campaigns give major updates, and the group makes major decisions. Volunteer ops get written up. 10mins each, start with shorter campaigns
Where’s the campaign--broadly
What do they need in terms of volunteers
Do they require any decisions that need the group to make that they can’t make themselves
Mention tabling or other non-campaign vol ops 10mins
Volunteers get assigned. 10mins
Committee breakouts, and committees that don’t need to meet can join other committees or talk to new members. 30mins
Timeline is approximate.
We could have a second committee breakout at the start. That doesn’t allow for people to pick up on tasks that were described during the updates/campaign discussions.
Debriefs should be 90s summaries of debriefing that has already happened. Therefore debriefing should be done by campaigns that run the events, or by the volunteers involved in events prior to the tuesday meeting.
Maybe have dates of events on board too-- pre written. Better: send out events when the minute-taker sends out the minutes.
Guidelines Document
Do we wish to create a guidelines document, which could include guiding principles that are important to the group, as well as lesser rules that we should follow (lesser than bylaws, but still guidelines/rules that we must follow, it’s just that the exec would curate them rather than the board). See the shadow constitution for examples, e.g. discussing before taking corporate donations, stating we’re committed to transparency.
Yes, guidelines and values would be good to state.
There’s a fear that if we’re too tied to other movements, we could end up being pigeonholed. If we avoid some of the more politicized words, we can probably avoid some of that.
We can state we’re committed to being inclusive and such.
If we don’t deal with indigenous issues, we will fail to address climate change, so there are good reasons (simply from a climate perspective) why we want to be in solidarity with indigenous peoples.
Feeling that it’s OK to state our values, and inclusivity is important.
We’re not going to tolerate hate-speech, so there are limits to the kinds of things we’re willing to accept. It’s OK to decide on our limits and values.
Most of these things are unlikely to be discussed at the average meeting.
Katie will draw this up and send it around sometime in the next ten days.
Policy regarding board-exec relations and liability
It would be good to start a conversation about developing a policy regarding civil disobedience, in terms of clarifying how people function as individuals or how the corporation is operating as an entity, and how it relates to its staff. Some of the potential board members are concerned about liability. It's potentially something the board will need to determine for itself, and they may wish to look into Directors Insurance.
Some of the board had brought up desire to add a clause to the bylaws, such as the following:
"Given the obligation of board members to comply with various relevant statutes, the board shall be able to direct the executive to provide necessary information for proper oversight of the legal and financial conduct of the group. The executive and the board shall have a joint obligation to ensure compliance with all appropriate laws and regulations pertaining to the operation of non-profit corporations."
The board won’t be able to hold back DA. Maybe the guidelines should include the kinds of DA we’re happy to have as a group.
But this is a larger conversation about liability and board-exec relations.
It was pointed out that the clause above would likely put more liability on the board than they otherwise might have, in that they would be removed from having plausible deniability.
We can talk more about this in the coming weeks.
Finance Committee Interim Chair
For now, the Treasurer will chair the finance committee. There is general acceptance of this.
Shop Window
If we want to do Shop Window, then we need our inspiring leaders to be campaignless and to switch between campaigns in order to inspire people to work on those campaigns.
This is a reversal of roles to some degree. It’s asking the inspiring people in the group to inspire people on the current shop window item.
Now that the implications are being thought through, we generally feel this won’t work with the group, and won’t give the returns on the decision-investments that it would require.
It will be discussed on Tuesday, but we feel that we don’t want to support the idea and will let that be known to the members.
Banking Suggestion
Separate petty-cash account for EMTs, and transfer money into it via dual-signed cheques when required -- postponed for Finance Committee
Quartermaster
Amanda could do it to track the ”what we have” in terms of supplies. The role doesn’t need to actively track the “where” of fast-moving things like banners. It also doesn’t need to store things. I just has to track what we have, and where the less-fast-moving items are.
Summer strategy gaps
Divestment alumni and faculty engagement campaigns -- this was discussed at the last divestment meeting. It will happen in the new year.
Divestment Standardized Letter -- this was somewhat done after the march, and the letter-writing has been replaced with valentine cards
Markham Energy East campaign -- dropping this
Which means we’ve just about accomplished everything we set out to do! :)
- In Camera Item
e...@toronto350.org
Toronto350 Executive Meeting--January 4, 2015
Present: Katie, Stu, Amelia Rose, Ben, Tresanne
Chair: Katie
Minutes: Tresanne
1.a. Debrief: has the new meeting structure worked? Do we need more time to test it? It really seems to rely on 1) the chair separating things into the appropriate committees, and 2) the committee chairs coming prepared to work on those items. Is that happening?
Haven’t had enough time to try it b/c meetings were small these last few weeks. We will review at next exec meeting.
Having tasks in email body when minutes are sent out is helpful. We will continue to do this.
Ben will ask if we can store paper/markers for volunteer opp to be written down - if not chair will bring.
Have chair, minute-taker, volunteer opportunity helper (aka “VolOper”)
Stu will revise guidelines for chairs - to ask people to say what subheading agenda items should go under.
b. Approve Roberts Rules for Meetings?
people should be aware of these. who do we share them with? New members. Will do it at the New People Pub Night Meetings.
We could do one new ppl Tues night mtg. Campaign leaders could offer more vol ops once a month. Will see how the pub night goes first and then decide if we do pub night or tues night meeting for new people.
Approved: Roberts Rules
People email and ask what the next mtg they can come to will be. We could give some people the option of coming to the next one, or come to the mtg for new ppl (When Amelia Rose gets emails from new ppl).
Volunteer coordinator can greet and explain the setup to new ppl.
In future, we might want to hire someone as volunteer coordinator, if this becomes too big a role for a single person, or if the consistency would help us.
Contact someone if they show up once and then didn’t show up the following week, and find out why. We also need to be recording who the new people are, and whether they are coming back. This is a task for Tina.
2.Statement of Anti-oppression Principles--how to proceed? (Katie)
Innovation committee - often discussed during exec mtg. How should innovation committee meet/be involved?
Exec mtgs are similar to innovation committee
Group structure could be talked about at exec mtg and/or innovation committee. If you have an idea, you could come to exec mtg for a short period of time and present your ideas. Make sure members are aware of the innov committee (and exec) mtgs.
It’s more of a statement of principles. Could have it on the website. Consult when we do have problems. Some groups have both statement of principles and anti-oppression. Could re-frame it more positively.
Some (larger) institutions have an exec for anti-op. Might not be best use of time/resources.
Could be person reaching out to groups and talking about anti-op and climate change.
want to run our group so more ppl contribute at mtgs. Can formally tell Joe that’s one thing we want from her research on us. Katie will formally ask
At the beginning of the mtg chair will say the equity rhyme
We have a few documents now, we should put them on the website. Including new member process, chair and minute taker guidelines.
Stu - guidelines for chair and minute taker. and new member
Ben - mission statement
Katie - anti oppression/principles, and procedures (from shadow constitution)
3. Creating a new Shadow Constitution doc—i.e. bylaws curated by the exec. Katie will do it.
4. Policy regarding board-exec relations and liability (see the last meeting minutes)
Boards generally have liability insurance. Ours probably should too. The board will be discussing this, so we’ll leave it up to them.
Board empowerment clause - Milan has already sent this to the board. We think this is good.
5. Fundraising: what we want to fundraise for? Why and How?
Brainstorm session:
- having monthly donations, covers expenses such as nationbuilder, renting a space.
- running something as a fundraiser, we might not raise that much if price is too high. Could have more people coming if price is lower
- paying someone to do admin work. Is that necessary if they are just keeping in touch with people who are donating
- reaching more people (flyers, etc)
- organization has wanted to grow, become a mass movement. need lots of events and outreach. Need money for this (banners, space rental etc). Money is a potential barrier for this. If we had no money, PCM couldn’t have happened.
- do we want to have mass growth?
- possibility of paid staff, down the road.
- Sometimes the problem of growth is just having ways to engage people.
- fundraising does take a lot of time
- we have done well with very little money.
- possibility of having specific things on website that people can donate to (banners/flyers, stop energy east).
- would mean being more transparent, which we believe in
- campaign wish lists
- we could break down and look at how much we spend on flyers/room booking. Katie will ask Graham to do this breakdown
- could say generally: outreach, growing climate movement
6. Squads.
- Milan’s suggestion seems to be the snowflake model, which we are doing/intending to do
- online job board would be good for larger scale, but we don’t have that many volunteers. It’s better if a volunteer coordinator or someone is keeping track of whether things are getting done.
- campaigns could have a list of vol ops.
7. Bullfrog funding--Are we doing it? Is it on website?
Are we going to benefit from it? Will we get donations from them? Someone would need to contact and keep in touch of bullfrog. Director of development task - reach out to bullfrog.
Donors said land defenders is “somewhat important”. At a mtg we previously decided some money would go to them. We’ll reach out and ask whether they want a monthly donation or lump sum.
8. Election
- outreach to all political parties. Some ppl are progressive in a conservative way.
- need to think about what kind of relationship we want
- take positions on policies, similar to TEA report card thing. Which issues and where people stand on issues. Would require lots of work, political operations could do it. Start with swing ridings
- build relationship with leadnow - after person has been elected, they follow up and say, we got you elected, hold them accountable
- just saying anti-conservatives could be worse. Some advantages of Harper over Trudeau (devil we know, gets opposition more active).
- could look at climate stuff in ridings that leadnow isn’t working with
- what do we have to offer leadnow? People power
- on website, energy east and different federal candidates. for more info, here are other organizations we are working with
- want to get people to think about our issues, not tell them who to vote for
- Ben will send in as agenda item at next mtg he will attend
thugsb
e...@toronto350.org
Exec Meeting Feb 1st, 2015
Present: Amelia Rose, Cullen, Stu, Graham, Ben, Tresanne, Nadine, Amanda
Chair: Stu
Minutes: Tresanne
Stu: It would be good for us to learn who we've got on our lists, and so need to send out more frequent online actions and questions. Pledges, petitions, offer to host events, etc. We need to identify the potential leaders we have out there.
keep in mind where we’ve gotten people engaged and all of the above, do more pledges/petitions etc as needed
Stu: It would be good for us to be very task-based moving forward. How do we do this? No one should leave any meeting (planning or campaign) without a task to do. Otherwise people will feel like they wasted their time at the meeting and stop coming. But this requires a lot of work. We need to have a really active volunteer coordination team, both on Tuesdays and at each campaign meeting. Having someone to come up with meaningful volunteer tasks is maybe something we want to do, or to see the volunteer coordination team (it's more than a single position) do.
Discussion:
make sure campaign leaders have tasks
don’t want to make tasks just for the sake of it, important to come up with actually useful tasks
key people tend to do the same thing
can get new people to do some of these things, key people can delegate
key people should wait for new people to volunteer for volop
maybe we shouldn’t wait for long pause. Instead, say this is an opportunity. Let people think about it. At the end of meeting, go over them. New people will have had time to think about whether they want to
suggestion: voloper can have 5min at start of breakout
would be good because then new person can also ask them which breakout to go to (new people sometimes leave, not knowing which group to join)
maybe have volop sheet as a list that’s up on the wall, so people can see it during the whole meeting
sometimes new people ask at the end, and are confused about the tasks
sometimes new people need a good explanation of the tasks (ie NB or other things new people are not familiar with)
have it written down, visual. Then go through them. Voloper could also be a short breakout for those who don’t know which committee to join, in order to fill the unfilled tasks.
if someone has been doing something, and wants to teach someone (don’t have the time to keep doing it, but can invest some time to show someone how it’s done. Could help these people in the long run. Some people may want to learn a new skill but don’t want to take on a task that they can’t complete. “Lead” or “learn” roles for volops
Planning Meeting Structure and breakouts
Discussion:
breakouts are engaging. have been working well in fossil free group meetings
people are engaged, and get more done
disadvantage: might not have a lot of people in your group
creates opportunity for people to get involved
could have one “campaign of the week” with breakout groups each week (ie 3 for fossil free U of T). But then people would have to be involved in that campaign even if they don’t really want to be
campaign leaders can decide - offer is there if you want to have a breakout
campaign leaders can let the chair know beforehand if they want to have a breakout group
can get a lot of their campaign work done at the meeting
timing - some campaigns might need 30 min, other needs only 10. Do we just get people to move to the next one. Option is there for people to go to another group, or to leave (if they are in a breakout that ends early)
each breakout should have a minute taker. At the start of the next week debrief the breakout
what if someone wants to be in 2 groups? People will have to pick one, this helps spread people out. But if someone is heavily involved in 2 things, they can move from one to the other
At the start of the meeting campaign leads can give update of their campaign, and talk about what they’ll be talking about in breakout
Stu will email all leads to let them know this structure
have campaign breakout then committee breakout
breakouts could write volops. It may be more beneficial to find someone in the breakout, but if nobody does it, then they can write it up as a volop. Write volops even if they are filled, so people can “learn” if they want to (help out with that volop)
new structure to try out (with approximate, suggested timeline)
15min intro
5min news report
10min campaign votes
45min campaign breakouts (if the lead wants it) take minutes + lead/learn + volops
15min major proposals
15min volops
15min committee breakouts + voloper
How does the volunteer coordinator/team connect with Step Up Canada?
doing outreach through presentations helps build social movement
but how do we engage these people.
this is an outreach campaign, so we want them to bring in these people, to do more
someone could explicitly describe our campaigns and how to get involved
Step up has a website now
it’s good that it has it’s own identity as a campaign, but important to still make connection between it and To350. have description of our campaigns and how to get involved.
PCM is organizing marches, wanting to get lots of people out
long term goal is about cop21, but not sure how to link presentations to that. Need to have this discussion. Want Canada to have a significant climate change policy.
good to have numbers, social movement, but need to engage people
campaign has the goal of political action. This brings people in. Integrate these people into broad 350 group eventually
need more engagement between that campaign and 350
Google events? Do we continue to plug other group’s events somehow, other than emails?
{not discussed, as we already have a volunteer doing this}
What is our vision for the board? What do we want them to do?
board isn’t quite sure what they were tasked to do
we originally told them advisory board, meet once a year
they decided they want to meet quarterly
The term advisory board is very broad, and could be misleading. Advisory boards sometimes are set up for smaller things, to give advice, don’t always have a legal connection, but our board does
board could give us advice based on financial update and what president said about strategy/decisions in the group (which will be discussed by treasurer and president at the board meetings)
they could be the development committee. Or work with development committee, help connect them to other people, and assist development committee in other ways
direct input on major structural changes. But because they meet only quarterly that wouldn’t work well
make sure we are a legally functioning group (not for profit act )
Gender/equity ombudsperson.
Discussion:
when we wanted board, we wanted it to be gender balanced. We (the membership) asked for a gender ombudsperson
it’s something we can self-police when we vote (say we want __ % vote to be female)
But it’s important to formalize because we don’t know whether people will do this in the future. Therefore it’s beneficial to state it
should be equity, not just gender
gender is easy, but other issues would be difficult
when voting, have a quota.
could have that board person as a go to person that members can talk to if they have a problem - good because it’s someone who isn’t involved week to week
mandate should be just to be aware of these issues.
board could come up with quotas (gender is easy but what about trans, 2 spirit. That may be tokenism)
have a point person - actively look at whether group is being inclusive
is the board the right place to have that person, or should it be exec?
board is also involved in outreach, so they could bring in people - ensure inclusion of different people
inclusion person could be on the exec, not a designated exec position, but have a current exec be that person. Development Director could be this person
could decide on this person each term
want the board keeping it on their minds
exec ombudsperson, receives these concerns, or looks out for them. Could be systemic problem. This person sorts things out, leading a discussion
might be good that it’s someone not on the exec, someone autonomous. A few of our members may be good at this
Stu will bring it up on Tuesday with the members.
Anti-o/principles and code documents.
it’s on the website
an online discussion was had. Working document is in guidelines
page called our code - with things such as transparency etc. Should it be merged with anti-o? Have a principles pages?
normally have constitution and bylaws
postpone till next exec meeting (when bylaws are done)
We will ask for feedback/discussion and ratify it at TGM
Once the by-laws are ratified, there will be parts of the constitution that we can remove. We’ll need to do that, put in the missing parts from the code, and present it. As it’s a big change we should bring it up two weeks before the next TGM, and vote to ratify it at the TGM.
Should we hire someone to make our website pretty, faster? http://www.campaigngears.com/ ? The volunteer that we’ve recruited has a portfolio site at http://www.jasonlordux.com/ but can only give a few hours each week. Stu and Ben have also said they’re interested in helping out.
we have budget to hire someone.
need a high skill person
it needs a lot of fixing up
it could use a completely different design, but general agreement that the current design is okay, and we are most concerned with fixing it up
It will be worked on by Stu and the volunteer, Jason
Innovation - Structure? Chair as Pres?
{not discussed—postponed until next meeting}
Exec or Key People?
people who are heavily involved and do lots of work (campaign directors, and others). These people could have their own bios on website
would be a lot of people
have tabs, exec, campaign leads, other key people
What do we do about email accounts above ten?
{not discussed, as a volunteer is already looking into it}
Exec position creation and elections.
currently if we already have an exec position, and want to elect someone we have to wait 2 weeks. But if you make a completely new one position, you don’t have to wait at all.
will change it when constitution changes, will have 2 weeks before voting on it. Have time to discuss, for people to say they are interested. Less flexible but still important as these are important decisions
Use of NationBuilder - how do we encourage it?
Jon Yazer: more point people means more successful group.
we have lots of point people, so that’s good
we aren’t using NB very much
can combine emails, send from NB
can follow up with people, use it as an inbox in itself
issues
another email to check
all of us should spend a few hours playing around on NB, learn it
Cullen and Stu will work on an intro to NB doc
Next meeting, March 1st
e...@toronto350.org
Innovation/Exec March 1st Agenda
Present: Jade, Amanda, Ben, Sam, Tina, Sophia, Stu, Graham, Amelia Rose, Tresanne, Cullen, Katie
Innovation - Structure? Chair as Pres?
Director of operations is currently chair of innovation committee, but it was suggested that the president chairs this committee, as the president is responsible for the group overall.
general agreement that President will chair innovation committee and therefore chair the exec meetings (exec/innovation mtgs)
Volunteer team and coordination
point people - establish relationships with the people who we are point people for.
all execs/key people would have some people (similar to how committees have key people in contact with a few committee members)
would be odd to have point person who isn’t in the campaign you are in
we will choose point people based on which campaigns people are in
manage relationships - people stay involved, grow in what they are doing, therefore have one-on-ones
we can do this in person and on NB
NB isn’t being used by most of us
NB has inbox of follow ups - thank people, etc. Like a to do list for the day
one issue we have is lack of regular volops (currently have miscellaneous tasks). Could be something for campaign leads (come up with a weekly/biweekly task for them to do) canvassing, class talks etc
Tues meetings- could keep volops there. But limited people - people get bored at the meeting, some can’t make it Tues nights. Therefore we don’t want to limit volop announcements to Tues meetings
yes no maybe on a calendar (was done for frosh week). Could do this for tasks. This was done manually, but can try to find a website to do it
share password for signupgenius - might get confusing if we don’t know who is following up with who etc. We would have to put details in so we know who is doing what. Expensive to have multiple manager accounts. Having only one account would be free.
hard to tell who is on campaign for some campaigns (ie. pipelines). Divestment has regular weekday meetings, which helps campaign leaders know who is involved
planning meeting has volops -with who to contact if you’re interested - regularity of that email would be beneficial - people would expect it
how can we get people to get or stay involved? Have people call people who have previously shown interest (in person or online)
want them to do it because they want to do it - not feel coerced when we call
most people are aversive to phone calls - especially with our demographic
texting would be better in that people prefer getting text, but not as coercive
people might not answer the phone if they don’t recognize the number
what’s the goal? To get people to do tasks? The goal is to build the movement - train people to be climate leaders. We currently have the same people volunteering to do tasks.
Have a newsletter - people can see what’s been happening and where there volunteer effort will go. Most current emails are single things because we moved away from multiple items in the blast to do more calls for action
we have really good click and open rates of emails, compared to other non profits (of the people who receive our emails, the percent who open and click on links is higher than the non-profit ‘industry’ standard.)
newsletter with just volops could work
we could just push people to join campaigns. People don’t know when campaign meetings are. Add this to website (Stu will do this)
continuity of meetings would be good, even if people can’t always make it, the times they are free they will show up, knowing there will be a meeting happening
phoning seems to work better than emails (info found online)
get people assigned to point people. Some of us start with texts, others with phoning, record responses. See what works.
some people have signed up online and expressed interest in volunteering in a specific way (art, blogging). Volunteer page has about 15 different options. Some volunteers haven’t specified what they are interested in doing.
individualized emails could work too
try all 3 things?
have a /tasks page, updated weekly. Someone each week would have to update
right now the point person idea is not structured - we should have a cap
Jon from NB said when someone goes to an event, tag and assign to a PP but now some of us have too many (ie they have people who applied to NEB, about 100)
Volunteer coordinator can assign her people to others, based on their interests
how does it work when someone wants to be involved in more than one thing?
we could choose their PP based on people they already have relationships with (the first person they met in the group)
have roles/expectations/guidelines for PP (Stu will create this)
Tina will change PP based on what they want to volunteer with (campaigns they are interested in or skills they want to use/develop)
best to make PP the first person a new member meets. We will have to see how it works
keep in mind the new members we talk to
meet a new person at a meeting- if you have a conversation, try to get the email/contact info. If you don’t, then email Tina and say I would like to be this person’s PP
could have a question online, who do you know best in To350?
At Tues meeting, don’t let new people leave without one of us talking to them.
One problem is we are always going right up until 9 and then getting kicked out.
start and end earlier? Would it be worth starting at 6:30 and ending, 8:30? No because then the discussions would just go longer and meeting would go from 6:30 to 9
maybe just start meeting at 7:10, no later.
conclusion:
PP - pick our friends
have a guide for PP (ie one-on-ones)
people will be assigned PP based on natural connections, comfort
Tina - centralized place for tasks. Tina does planning meeting ones. Campaign people can add to it
/tasks page updated weekly by Tina but anyone can post new task that are dated with deadline - could get volunteer software
newsletter bi or monthly of tasks (and accomplishments) and featured volunteer (Sophia will work on this)
funnel people into campaigns
volunteer rapid friendship team - have 3 people each month. Or all of us do this. Talk to new members!
try using NB for task follow up
Invitation to Berkeley for 2.
weekend of workshops with leaders of local 350 groups
end of March
last year Stu said he would organize something when he got back - then he helped run ON350 retreat, and found it an amazing experience, quit his job to organize buses to NYC
Discussion on what each of the candidates (people interested in going) can do for the group when they get back, how involved they have been, how involved they hope to be in the next few months. 350 asked for diversity as well
Hidden vote - Katie and Ben are going to Berkeley!!
Exec size
Do we want to limit the size of the exec? Should campaign leads automatically be exec? And should they not hold a different position? Do we want different levels of the exec?
wouldn’t want to have meetings with too many people
key people will go on the website
we’ll probably run into the problem of too many in a while, not soon
as we add point people, who aren’t exec, they are key people
will key people have meetings?
expanding is good because a few people have a lot of responsibility right now
campaign leaders should be voting at exec/innovation meetings
it’s a lot of work for people who have both roles
should exec just not be campaign leads?
8 campaign leads, plus exec, so we would have a really large group if we added campaign leads
giving people titles helps them continue, but could not have them at exec mtgs
we don’t talk about campaign stuff at these meetings so it doesn’t matter if campaign leads are present
campaign leads who are also exec would help discuss how campaigns are working with the rest of organization
will campaign leads be too stretched thin? We could have them opt in so they can decide if they want to do both. Don’t want to limit someone and say you can only be in one role (either exec or campaign lead)
we also create new positions for new people, give them titles and roles.
within campaign, have people who have different roles
campaign leads have a lot to do
could form campaign execs (Klim, Ariel, Graham, Milan, Sam) - join as a campaign exec first. If you want more involvement with group structure, you can become an exec
some people just want to do work, don’t really want titles
younger people often want to grow and to have something on their resumes, so titles help them
campaigns need to be a bit independent
we get campaign updates on Tues night meetings, so exec doesn’t need campaign leads present
if campaign leads want, they can give an exec role to members of their campaigns
campaign leads can provide update if required before an exec meeting
can also think about this over the summer, when time is quiet
decision to keep things the way they are and discuss next meeting
Equity exec position
could be an exec or non-exec ombudsperson
suggestion that it be an exec
have someone build relationships with indigenous, education etc
could outreach think about outreach to diverse groups
we could all take on this responsibility
outreach discussed these items and thought about splitting the 2 roles, but decided outreach does it in one role
outreach has talked about education and plans to work on this. Have an anti-o workshop
revisit this at the next meeting
Increasing diversity
discussed above
Strategy Session in March…
the other SS was more of a campaign strategy session, not overall 350
should we do another soon, or wait a month or so?
give it some time
Bullfrog Power
[in the interest of time, this item was not discussed]
EE Apps—do it! And can someone email the members please.
107 have registered on our website
prob have about 350 (not everyone did it through our website)
Sam will email members
Relationship with PCMovement
Stu and Emmay will be meeting
NationBuilder email setup
enough hesitation (in email thread) that we will put it off until next meeting and not connect NB and gmail now
can create ourselves as broadcaster on NB (can send individual emails) if we want to
Tag Library training
Stu is cleaning up tags
Jade will help
Stu will send out the Tag Library in a few days
Member’s list is now at 140. Do we need to rethink it?
getting big and people are only removed if they ask
it’s to people who have been to a meeting only once
people could be doing other things, like activism, instead of time spent checking/deleting this one if they don’t remain involved
people can filter it out themselves
decision to keep things the way they are (add people if they have been to one meeting)
Google Admin lists manager—can someone else do this
people want to be added or removed from list - someone to add/remove them
Amelia Rose will do it
Running conflict resolution and other workshops
brainstorm of types of workshops:
snowflake and anti-o - will try to do these ones in the next month or two
conducting one on ones with volunteers
basics of To350
climate change and our overall goals etc climate science (Step up, Canada already does this)
evaluating political candidates
how to talk to people about climate change
how to convince your parents etc
how to talk to conservatives vs liberals about climate change
federal election
ecology ottawa is also starting organize workshops in Ontario
after a creative event, have a workshop
general agreement to try hosting some workshop events and see how it goes
Next meeting is at Stu’s on Sunday April 5th, 2015
e...@toronto350.org
Innovation/Exec April 19th Minutes
New Exec Orientation
Quick decisions:
Our logo: old vs new
decision that Jade will merge the parts of both logos that we like, and make the CN Tower look like the CN Tower.
Formalizing exec changeover: Should people remain as exec for 1 week after elections, to ease the transition?
more than one week would be ideal. Exec will remain until the first exec mtg, to aid the transition process for the new exec
Stu will change the constitution?
Phone allowance
In exceptional circumstances, if members of the exec are unable to pay their phone bill, TO350 will cover the cost so that exec are easily available.
Volop: Snowflakify the structure image - we will brainstorm what we want it to look like at the next exec mtg
Improving signup:
Hiding time/location of event until people sign-up (https://blog.bidsketch.com/marketing/grow-email-list-organically/ )
will it help or hurt?
it might hurt because it’s an extra click for people. If people don’t know where an event is or what day then they won’t sign up
we will try it both ways and try to compare. It will be difficult to compare because some events will be more exciting than others. We will have to try it with events that are repeated so that won’t be a factor
Choosing buddies in the exec
each exec has a ‘buddy’ to go to for support
Reviewing planning meetings and making them fun - Brainstorm
Ideas we came up with:
More brainstorming (break out groups) during the meetings
Voloping—write on separate sheets that get passed around, rather than a big sheet that we go through
write lead/learn on appropriate ones
give sheet to the person who is bottom lining the event/activity
Applaud achievements and people who volunteer
Say hi and goodbye to new members. Invite them to the pub personally
Make sure people who have ongoing stuff in the agenda give a 10-20sec explanation
Diversify name go-round
Make it more name-focused, so that people repeat their name. The go-round could be done in order to bring attention to their names, e.g. “Say your name and what your name means.”
People can tell of something they’ve done, to aid remembering
Have a glossary of terms for new people (e.g. Volops, ad hoc,)
Make meetings more work-focused—do tasks, such as art-building, digitizing, brainstorming
Have more variety in discussions: breakouts and pair-share
Don’t be afraid to postpone or silence off-topic—not that we want to silence people, but that people should stick to the subject at-hand and submit things to the agenda if they want them to be discussed
More prep to create space
Maybe have the agenda sent out further before
Have people submit that they’d like to speak to items—and create space to encourage more diverse participation
Consensus model might not work as we grow (60-person meetings!), so figure out other models of engagement
Speaker’s list
Lead by example
More focus on Lead+Learn
Shorten the meeting, with breakouts (maybe 60-90mins, with breakouts taking up the majority of the meetings)
Try to make meetings more relaxed and less formal
People presenting should be more prepared (e.g. do they want feedback, a group decision, volunteers, etc., and so shorten the time each item takes in order to be more efficient)
Build the pub into the agenda, mentioning it at the start and end
Encourage new members to take on a task
Clarify whether people are expected to put up hands or not (which can be dependent on the item and nature of conversation, declaring “we’ll do hands” if too many people are trying to speak) and stick with it, making sure to interrupt and silence the interrupters and make them wait their turn
Katie, Ariel and Tres will work on group guidelines for meetings
Providing feedback for (key) members (Tres)
We want people to grow and feedback is an important part of this
positive feedback will help members to feel appreciated and constructive criticism will help them grow and will help everyone in the group work together
talk to Tres about ideas on how to set up feedback
Equity ombuds:
This has been discussed for the past few months. Basically advancing equity within the group, as well as being there for people who have equity issues that they want addressed. Slight problem of separation, (if people have issues with the exec, and equity ombuds is an exec position, then they won’t feel comfortable going to exec to complain about exec) but since there’s a board position as well, people will have someone else to go to (outside of the exec).
Tres and Jade have volunteered to be ombuddies.
Name? Inclusion officer, equity officer, ombudspeople, ombuddies, ombuds. To be determined
committee for the whole group - ie equity and learning committee
Tres and Jade will co-chair the equity committee
receive equity complaints
trainings will be done
equity and learning committee - w/ Tres and Jade as co-chairs
Have another Strategy Session?
might be useful to have something sooner than June ON retreat.
good to have it soon - look at what's worked and what hasn’t
group seems to be in all ways stopping the tar sands. The other things are not being seen
problem with strategy session - people heavily engaged might not be able to make it. Some people come with great ideas, talk about it for a while, but don’t follow through
people who have been here for a while don’t know specifics of July - and TO350 role in it
how do we differentiate 350 and TO350, especially now that Cam is in Toronto. We need to talk about clear lines between
have Strategy Session structured. For people really interested, if you come you are expected to take on some role.
We aren’t sure about July [not because they haven’t communicated with us but] because 350 hasn’t planned it. They haven’t talked about how our feedback will be used. There will be an organizing committee.
it seems, are we independent from 350.org?
it seems like July is not Toronto350’s event, some people don’t feel part of that other group
our relation to 350 mothership must be discussed. As well as how that ties in with the July action - want to figure these 2 things out at a strategic meeting
another thing to talk about at a Strategy Session: are we going to stick with the 5 campaigns. 3 seem active as TO350. FFF - hasn’t done much but potential there with Jeff Rubin. Our link to Step Up is very weak
July will = more people in our group. We have to be ready for that. Therefore we also need training -Start to run trainings soon. Katie and Ben went to a training, Stu, Amanda, Tres have been to TSAT (Training for Social Action Trainers), and some people are going to Organize ON. There are also Tools for Change workshops.
do we want a strategy session, or just bring discussions to Tues meetings.
350 won’t benefit as much as TO350 in terms of the people power gained
campaigns can get structural stuff sorted and think about how to tie that into July action.
To350 has same goals and similar theory as 350
we need to bring campaign leads/chairs together - have a meeting
strategy meeting - decide on position we want to take with July action, tell mothership
accept that it is slightly top down
The campaigns might not have much going on in summer, so they may be able to focus on tying their campaign into July action. June = rejection letters from NEB
communicate to the membership that we want July action to happen, this is where we will focus our energy, bring campaigns. have a large chunk of planning meeting about this.
we can’t plan when we still have such top down. - We will prepare in larger picture of how we want to be involved
3 of the 5 campaigns aren’t represented in this room. So we can’t jump to that. They are active and are doing their own things - which they may not be able to drop
reach out to campaign leads - Stu will do this
problem: a lot of the work on this will be done by TO350 but messaging won’t be decided by TO350, which may put some people off. Stu will let Cam know this is an issue for some people
we have to decide as a group what messaging we want.
how can we start reaching out to other groups in toronto - we are more tied to Toronto groups than 350 is
if they’ve hired someone that will help with time dedication. It would be good to have one of our members spending lots of time on this
our group has a lot of momentum, so does the climate change movement :)
communication vs alignment. Are we aligning, if someone is hired, or is it just communication
A few other things that will be a priority for us to work out in the months ahead: (these items were touched on in the other discussion, but will also be added to the agenda for next meeting)
Strategic use of Resources (running workshops, campaigns, ...)
We’ll be focusing on the March for the next few months, putting our resources there for the most part. This will include workshops and trainings, and will generally signal a pulling back from focussing on the campaigns, except where there are timely events that are important to work on.
Point People (Katie)
Preparing volunteer infrastructure
Trainings
Things we think are important for the meeting this Tuesday (to be chaired by Suhail):
ON350 retreat
Ask for volunteers:
Set meeting time:
Volunteer Infrastructure committee
Ask for volunteers:
Set meeting time:
Invite people into the idea we came up with tonight
Distinguish ourselves from 350.org and try to draw boundaries (Stu and Suhail will discuss before the meeting to create questions and a frame for this conversation)
Position statement of what we want to do
Identify “allied groups” we’ll want to reach out to (to assign people (by) next week)
Work out what we want: (and in the future we can work out a strategy for each):
Size
Targets
What we’ll do
Stuff for after the march/followup
Stuff we didn’t get to:
Setting goals - Tres
Ladder of Engagement
Replacing Stu
What makes a good president?
Shadowing
Interim president(s)
Pay?
Limiting the exec size
Should we pre-determine which positions to split before elections?
Do we want to utilize the Officer vs Executive Officer distinction?
thugsb
May 3rd Exec/Innovation Meeting
Present: Ben, Leon, Katie, Tresanne, Amil, Amanda HS, Joanna, Suhail, Sophia, Stu, Ariel (via Skype)
Land acknowledgment.
Check-in:
Have you sent your bio and pic?
Volop to update the page: Sophia!
Are you comfortable with what you’re role is? Have you met with your previous exec and/or read the role descriptions I put together?
- talk to stu if you have any questionsConstitution
Stu will work on it but would like someone to help compare and proofread (volop): Amanda!
Putting “fun” into the code - yes, but into the mission statement
Should the exec descriptions be on the constitution?
The following should be: President, treasurer, operations, outreach, media, comm, volunteer coordinator, and the others can just be additional and therefore more flexible.
Seed Grant: ~$3000 We’ll only be able to hire one person part time, due to limitations of cost grant size. Hiring committee: Stu, Suhail, Joanna, Sophia, Ben
Buddy Time: Setting goals!
Try to think of specific goals you want to achieve in the next 6 months.
E.g. run an event, Implement a better structure for the role, Listen more, Train someone, Public speaking, Empower people, Become more aware of yourself
Ariel via Skype
Ariel and Klim have been talking about how to the Block Parties forward—to continue to push for a climate review of pipelines, and to focus on the elections.
They suggested we try to create pressure in 25 ridings in Toronto. Others felt that this was likely to be too ambitious. There seemed to be tie-in to the Winning the Future group plants we’re already intending on doing, as well as LeadNow’s Vote Together campaign. Stu and Ben are interested in continuing this discussion with Ariel and Klim.
Point People and Streams of Engagement
Streams:
Interested
Onboarder
Campaigner
Organizer
Trainer
Point People:
Person
Organization
Event
It’d help to create an improved area of the website for new people
It’d also be good to have a vocab page on the wall at meetings
All exec are now new volunteer point people
Katie will be assigning 15-20 “charges” to each exec, for them to go through and identify:
people in the group who are already active volunteers acting as point people
who amongst their “charges” are active volunteers that they should be PP for
who aren’t active, but could become so with encouragement
All exec should send anyone they want to be/are point person for, within the next 24 hours, to Katie.
Katie will send out instructions regarding how to be good PP and what to do with the assignees. There’s also a training at 6pm on Tues that Ben is running, that exec should try to attend.
July March Budget
Stu suggests we budget $1000 on outreach, $2000 on art and $2000 on events, with a goal of fundraising $2000 from grants and sponsorship. We should also aim to get $300/month extra from monthly donations.
Do we want to subsidising trainings? Yes (although the ON350 retreat is already approved)
Evergreen grant for we are cities? Stu will ask Cullen and Melina to apply.
Do we want a budget for the hire to be full-time or a second person? Maybe—it’s worth approving, so we can be flexible and hire quickly is we need to.
The following two Major Proposals will be presented to the group on Tuesday:
Have a budget of $4500, split up with $1500 for art and $1500 for events each, $500 for volunteer training, and $1000 for outreach
Set aside $1500 more to potentially hire someone
Canada youth summer job grant
if we apply, then the government can give you a youth summer job grant to hire students who are full-time at minimum wage
let’s do this next year!!! :D
Also, let’s set up a fundraising calendar system, so the the Fundraising Coordinator gets an alert before these kinds of deadlines and can make sure we get the chance to apply. Stu will contact Cullen and Melina.
Leadnow’s Vote Together campaign
Endorsement? yes, endorsed. It has the potential to upset some NDPers, although the importance of getting Harper out of office was seen to trump that consideration.
Involvement? yes, we’ll tie it into the groups who will be created through Winning the Future.
Replacing Stu
Stu will be (temporarily) stepping down as President at the next exec elections in Oct. The exec discussed and thought that a good way to move forward would be for us to hold a by-election on June 9th that would elect one or two Vice Presidents who would shadow him and train to become the President(s) to be voted in at the elections in Oct.
Stu's intention is to return to Toronto in the spring and will likely run for president again, so we're likely looking for an interim president (although the membership may decide whatever it wants when it comes to be time for elections next spring).
Stu will ask the Board for their advice, to see if they thought this was appropriate.
If a current exec wanted to become a VP, they would likely vacate their role, meaning that their role would then be voted on.
We'll have a part of the meeting on June 26th dedicated to giving the group a chance to think about the qualities they wish to see in the president(s).
Pay? Potentially a stipend to allow them to put in all the time required.
Snowflakify the structure image
Individual drawing, present, choose one to form basis
Is Jade doing this already? Stu will check...
Logo:
Stu will make a Doodle to vote on logo in the next week
On350 retreat
June 5-7 near Buckhorn, ON
People who wish to attend: Stu, Katie, Ben, Suhail, Amanda, Leon, Tres, Keara, Cam, Ariel/ Klim?
Space is limited, so it will be invite-only. Katie will continue to work on this.
Winning the Future (Postponed)
Parking Lot
POP
Purpose - Chair summarizes purpose of the meeting - E.g. Our purpose is to make decisions about our We > Tar Sands mobilization in July, get volunteers for an event next week, and plan our ontario convergence
Outcome - Chair summarizes the outcomes do we want from this meeting - e.g. We want to have volunteers for the convergence and several upcoming events.
Process - By which Process will we come to decisions (e.g. working consensus) - We will make decisions by having discussions and striving towards a working consensus.
Limited the exec size
e...@toronto350.org
Sunday June 14th
Present: Ben, Ariel, Tresanne, Sylvia, Melina, Leon, Katie, Joanna, Milan, Sophia, Stu, Suhail (partial attendance, skype)
Chair: Stu
Minutes: Tresanne
Land acknowledgment
Buddy Check-in: How is your buddy doing on meeting their goals? How are you doing?
Security. To increase our security, Toronto350 will pay the $12/year for exec to get Lastpass if they don’t want to pay for it themselves.
350 call debrief (Tres, 5)
about 60 people were on the call, mostly 350 groups from the States
march - July 5
“keep it in the ground” is one of the main messages for the upcoming march
There will be Canada wide actions
getting away from the jobs vs environment idea and moving toward both jobs and environment are important
COP
this will be an important moment for the climate movement b/c the eyes of the world will be on it
350 is more interested in what’s happening on the streets than what’s happening inside
COP is not the end goal. Get us from today, through Paris and into the future
this should be seen as a turning point in the movement
Katie and Tres will be on the call in future
Accounting Person (Joanna)
Joanna found someone to do book-keeping, file corp tax return, etc (he will do it as a volunteer)
quickbooks $14/month
no objections, we will go ahead with him
Ombuddy (Joanna)
people had concerns about the way absentee voting and discussions before election happened:
conflict of interest - Stu and Tresanne are dating and with Stu in the room people couldn’t discuss openly - Stu’s position as president also means that his comments hold more weight (he is very influential)
absentee voting - with Stu being the one who people had to phone to vote
General discussion
there was no CRO to voice concerns
absentee voting - phoning - process was letting Joanna and Stu know - but Stu was the one recording
board didn’t know about the conflict of interest
someone couldn’t get in touch with Stu, so attempted to, but couldn’t absentee vote. Stu clarifies that that wouldn’t have changed the vote.
important that the conflict of interest is considered
Stu shouldn’t have been the one to receive/record the calls
Stu didn’t consider that he could have left the room. He did address, during the discussion, that he may be bias. But still ‘endorsed’ Tresanne.
It was good that he admitted the bias so people knew. The vote was a closed vote - they didn’t have to vote that way. Could have taken the bias into account.
What was said about Tresanne may have been affected by Stu’s presence
suggestion to hold a vote on re-running the election
general agreement to develop a more formalized policy for future elections to avoid the issues that came up
the people who brought it up with Joanna requested that the exec decide how to move forward
discussion on whether to bring it up with members. Let them know that this is what some people thought
Limitation to holding a re-vote: in future people may ask for a re-vote for other reasons
have we always had discussions before the vote? We should discuss whether to do that in future
At times it felt like personal attacks on people (behind their back)
raising limitations of candidates is okay but it was done in a personal attack way
it felt like campaigning for people. Didn’t seem malicious, but we were putting words in there mouth
it is beneficial to have candidates out of the room while the discussion is happening
What worked well: what qualities we want in a president was discussed before, without specific names
absentee votes were different before and after - but general agreement that this is statistically insignificant
suggestion: a week before the vote, have a discussion about candidates. Problem with this is that people can decide on the day of the vote if they want to run. General agreement that if someone decides day of, they just won’t be discussed, not a big problem. Beneficial to discuss limitations a week before. Candidates have time to reply to comments.
should we ask members?
We can bring to the group ideas we have come up with for future elections
chatam house (comments but not names of who said what) rules vs in camera
put policy in the constitution along the lines of: have discussion a week before with no candidates in the room. Then more discussion with nobody with conflict of interest in the room (and also still none of the candidates)
develop a conflict of interest policy
CRO - limitation: one person wouldn’t vote. Benefit: this would ensure any issues could be brought up comfortably, and that procedures are fair
we should decide when we want to have the pre-discussion - is it for any election of exec or board?
any member should be able to request having a Chatham House rules based discussion
in future we should make sure all comments are respectful criticism. Otherwise, it makes people feel uncomfortable running in the future (if they heard disrespectful comments)
we are all friends, so there are varying levels of conflict of interest
exec could vote then members could vote on whether to re-vote.
Only exec will vote (minus exec with conflict of interest)
Question on whether we followed constitution - Response that we did different than constitution because membership voted on how to vote as a major proposal - so the process we followed (points vs run-off) is valid
board didn’t know about conflict of interest
takesies backsies - membership can decide to overturn the exec vote (on whether to vote)
exec present (minus exec with conflict of interest (exec with conflict of interest being those who ran in the election and Stu)) vote in a secret vote on whether to re-run the election
Results from the vote: Membership will not re-vote
Joanna will bring this up on Tuesday, let the members know about the conflict of interest and people’s concerns about it, as well as how the exec decided to move forward (policy changes and the decision to not re-vote).
Divest Ryerson (Ben)
Ryerson wants to be recognized as a To350 campaign. It will help them with:
website/NB
trainings
Ryerson should appoint a person to come to our meetings. Ben will be that person.
How would that work logistically - would people in the Ryerson campaign be on our list. Add tag on NB?
what additional support will there be other than what we do now (already support them)
$500 would be given if they are seen as a campaign
Ben would be campaign lead
it would be good if divest campaigns are 350, we can help them grow.
but there are problems attached with helping their group grow
What about GTA 350 groups—What will our relationship be to them? This will have to be worked out over the coming months.
they have a Ryerson constitution already
Process: new campaigns are decided by members. Will be a major proposal - Ben will let members know.
we can suggest it to the members with an endorsement from the exec
Joanna recommends that their finances be separate from us. Separate finances means separate group. If finances are connected, they have to comply with all our policies. No longer just a student group. Their treasurer should be at our meetings as well.
We would like a list of names of people involved
currently any revenues of campaigns go to group (To350). Would they be giving us money they receive?
eligible for different funding as a student group
could call it something different - collaboration
we currently lack clarity in how campaigns and regional groups are involved with us
adding them as a campaign now seems like too much
could re-classify U of T divest as collaboration, not campaign
We will discuss this later on, and our structure overall. Ben will not raise it as a major proposal
we don’t have to rush this discussion - we will work on structure over the next few months
new legal/financial risks - we should tell board if we make big changes (ie add campaigns)
By-election (5)
Debrief voting system - run off vs points (not discussed)
Schedule next one
Volunteer, Admin and Dev (or Social Media?)
do we want to do this before the march? Busy in terms of mtg sched
after, we might have new ppl, so why should they vote on things
it was stated verbally, but not electronically, so we can still change date for it
30th - if exec want to switch they will have new role, while busy. Continue with your role until after march
Stu will announce
one week before or on the day. If you can say it on the day, that person just won’t be discussed - drawback for that person
should exec meet with potential candidates to discuss potential people to take over their role, have one on one. We should be more thoughtful around letting in people we don’t know very well
Liability and insurance (5)
board meeting - we will purchase coverage that will cover $2million
an in camera item was discussed
Intern from Ryerson (10)
Claire, heavily involved in Ryerson divestment, offered an intern. Not a course requirement, more for resume and people who are internally motivated. 200 hours/ semester
Have someone be there as a general support, who can do a variety of tasks - similar to what Jody does for us now.
coordinator between us and regional groups. Might be difficult to train someone in that. It would be better to have someone currently in our group be regional coordinator
Big project - big event in a few months that they bottom line
how to bring art into our movement in a more meaningful way
we would get one or two interns
do we want intern?
end of semester we would have to write a report
the work should relate to their course - give them new skills, use current skills, add to their studies
if you do it right, working with them may be just as much work - they really have to be working closely with that person.
We told them 2 hours a week of guidance - the people likely to do the internship are driven
exec could design program for an intern/mentor. With objectives/time frame. It won’t be a burden if we put the work into it before. That work will be difficult.
What’s in the job posting should be clear
Work closely with someone - as long as it still benefits
The volunteer coordinator job is extensive/labour intensive - could get intern to do that. Assist volunteer coordinator (different tasks within that include educational packages, event planning, reaching out to new volunteers). Some regional coordinating may fall into that.
next few weeks - send a position description to them by end of this week. Can provide 2 or 3 descriptions
point person should not be an exec. (point person should have time to guide the person)
Katie will write up the vol coordinator position description
Sophia will write up the “Jody position” i.e. general help with a variety of tasks, events. Someone with a broad range of skills
Melina will write up the art position description
e...@toronto350.org
July 19th, 2015
Snowflake one-on-ones and structure
have pres in the middle, doing one-on-ones with 4 people (or 2co-pres with 3 each).
have a membership coordinator. Role would include: add check box on NationBuilder, to say this is a member. Encourage new member to fill out survey. On the survey, ask what the date of first meeting is. Reach out to more than just voting members. Find out who really is a supporter, target etc. This could be an AC role. Also sounds like volunteer coordinator role
fossil free doesn’t need support
there is overlap between u of t and exec, so it gets “favoured” and we don’t know what Step Up and other campaigns are doing. Good to have overlap, but should spread tasks, so other members are empowered
we can’t stop people from one campaign from being on exec if they want to. We can include others, ie shadow
Each exec can notice which campaigns need more support and spread their energy accordingly
lines of communication should be everywhere. But this brainstorm is about one on one support
have communication and one-on-ones with divestment campaigns and other campaigns. But since we have exec overlap with some campaigns, is one-on-one needed?
Treasurer should have communication with divestment because she manages funds
one on ones are good because if someone misses meetings, they won’t feel completely lost
treasurer and fundraising coordinator - fundraising coordinator would know more about the way our funds are set up etc, from talking to treasurer
development coordinator (fundraising role, donor relations, social media/website) This role is a blurry mix of things
we have a lot of work that each of the exec does, we are volunteers
we have 400 people - deceptive because varying levels of involvement
it would help if we define roles better and tasks. If each exec writes their responsibilities/time they spend doing role-related activities for the group (Stu will send a link to a doc)
membership coordinator - role also includes: figure out how to get people involved. Call people and follow up with them
Activity: each exec write 5 people they think it would be beneficial to do one-on-ones with
Stu and Katie will go through these to decide on who should do one-on-ones with who
Meeting improvements:
Start earlier. 7:05 or even 7pm. Let’s try to change the culture. Do we want to try ending at 8:30pm, with the option of going over time?
if people arrive earlier, then it’ll start early and end early
we haven’t been strict about it. Would be better to show we are serious about the time
people get mad if you are cutting them off. chair should stick to time limit, tell people how much time for each issue
some chairs have been good about telling people to stop. Others struggle to cut people off
might limit who says they’ll chair, people who aren’t good at being strict might have hesitation signing up
we are going to be sharp with 7:05 and everyone on exec will support the chair in making this happen
minute taker/chair will be asked to come 15 min early to get laptop set up etc
Should we finish at 8:30?
start a “we’ll talk about it later” culture - parking lot
it works well the way it is
it would be hard for ppl who work all day to stay late as 9
agenda more scheduled
could finish prompt at 9
important things before 8 30, and then other stuff comes after with parking lot space. But then we might not get to these issues
if someone wants something on agenda - should tell chair how long they want. Chair decides what’s time sensitive, other items can be moved to the next week. Some items shouldn’t be for planning meetings (might be campaign specific or for the breakout section). Chair will decide.
campaigns meet separately, it would be good to encourage new people to join campaigns - new people can have a comfortable space to speak up
don’t want to silence people if it’s a packed agenda
if parking lot is 8:30 but someone has to leave then it doesn’t work for them
have open time during the meeting
volops - takes up a lot of time
volops engage people, especially new people
8:30 would be ideal, but it doesn’t seem like we can shorten it
we can work on making it more efficient
chair will try to be more strict/clear about timelines (problem is that people won’t want to chair, might help if chair can say that we will get back to it in parking lot, not cut person off). Exec will support chair and their authority
parking lot/unstructured bit before 9
does someone talk to chair if it’s there first time chairing? They usually read meeting guidelines, and Stu has always made himself available to people who are new to chairing
people get used to chairing, and more comfortable doing it
if exec see chair needs help, they will speak up
Welcome committee
have this as a breakout
who can do this if they are also involved in other breakouts
could have print out for new people (given out weekly) and once a month have it as a breakout.
was really great and we should every Tues
Should bring back campaign updates - for new people to know what’s going on. In go arounds (people who have a position say their position - this will identify people who the new people can talk to). A little more context in agenda items would help too
monthly bring a new friend - new people know other knew people will be there
welcome committee - membership coordinator can run this
sheet to hand out, have someone be new person welcomer the next week - volop week before or someone from a committee
potluck is bring a friend night (with breakout for new people)
glossary - Ben will talk to Tali. Tali started one
potlucks will always be at steelworkers (other than this last one already planned to be at Amanda’s)
Intro pub night
works well
would be hard to add that to Tues meeting
have once a month social event (purpose is to get to know each other)
Other members can show up after pub intro night
Also, designating one meeting a month as a “bring a friend” meeting.
Another idea is to have once a month be a 1 hour meeting followed by the pub (or another setting)
Include something short in the name go-rounds. Maybe have people say “Hi xxx, my name’s yyy” where xxx is the person next to them who previously said their name.
From Nate: Perhaps start every meeting with a discussion on a theme, or event "i.e. upcoming election" and everyone has a chance to say something about it (like the circle-system we had at the Hart House Farm Retreat). That way people feel engaged and that they have a voice! I know I started to feel much more positive and engaged when I got to talk about something I knew about (i.e. the divestment campaign). It may also bring more ideas onto the table for future campaigns, and help with the overall education of everyone in the group.
say the person who just said their name (the name gets said twice)
make name go around short, so it doesn’t eat up meeting time
Parking Lot (discussed above)
Volops are getting confusing, being sent both directions and having so many. Some aren’t making it around the room. Perhaps people who say the volop can write out their sheet, so that volops start from many places, and then people will know whether they got back all the volops they wrote out.
can send it yourself, is better. no voloper. same direction passing it
voloper will bring pens and paper. should just be one person
do volops during, and have them pre-written throughout
have a voloper to prep them - but that would not be the person who’s got the sheet, getting it back.
no more voloper - all good things come to an end
Maybe it’s a volop to ask people to join a committee to discuss making meetings better, as it’d be good to have input from non-exec (especially new people). And exec agendas are getting big! Maybe call it the “Fun Meetings Committee”.
we’ve been more experienced. Yet some exec feel that other members have been around and know more than them
we’ll invite people to innovation meetings (as a volop)
How about setting the agenda deadline as midnight Monday (or earlier), so the agenda can go out beforehand? If there are late-breaking additions, they can be added to that week's agenda if 1. deemed urgent; 2. there is time.
Intro from Nate:
Maybe at the beginning of the meetings you could read something like this:
1) Please speak so that everyone can hear you
2) If you cannot hear someone speak you can say "Louder please" (or ding, or jargon claw) Have a script, explaining these and process. Exec will talk about this. Katie will send norms. Do we read them out? or should ppl be part of this even though they didn’t make them. Basic things on this. Should be ok, b/c it’s continuous comunity norms. Announce that PPl can add.
3) if they feel uncomfortable speaking louder they can ask someone else to repeat what they said in a louder voice
4) If someone uses a term that one doesn't understand, i.e. "Vol-op", someone can say a word like "Ding!" and raise their hand and then that person can explain what they mean. Establishing some sort of protocol like this to make the group feel more inclusive to newcomers would be a good idea in my opinion.
Chairing: We could make it so chairs have to go through an "awareness" training on how to be more inclusive. There have been issues with raising hands vs just saying things out loud (which means the person waiting with their hand up is trying to follow one process and feels bad that others aren't). It would help if it was mandatory. Anti-oppression and inclusion training (watch out for silent voices - for example, “I’d like to create a space for those who haven’t spoken up”. One hour before workshops, one every 2 months - de-escalation/chairing/inclusion training
general agreement that this would benefit
Henry and Melina will plan with Amanda and Joanna
have go to people - describe to those people how to deal with issues that people bring to them. Have names on intro sheet: Melina, Amanda, Leon, Ben, and 2 ombudspeople
Do we want to set up community norms? The POP could explain this—e.g. hands vs open discussion.
(not discussed) How to engage with feedback from the group?
should we record meetings - no, would shut people from talking freely and has legal barriers
we should start doing escalation one-on-ones - give positive feedback to members
Take Backsies:
Do we wish to expand take-backsies to include veto power over exec-made decisions? The decision for exec to meet was made for taking structural decisions out of Tues. Only one exec meeting has been attended by non-exec. Should we change exec made decisions to include takesies backsies?
¾ vote instead?
once a decision made, it should stand, not keep taking back.
People could just put a motion forward to change stuff. If they don’t like what was decided. “takesies backsies” will only apply to innovation decisions
If exec move into exec meeting, not innovation then it’s an exec decision
what about regional groups?
should we say what might be an exec decision, what types of decision, or just have exec decide each time?
people can go to board if they have a problem - Problem: People probably won’t go to the board, they don’t know them
People can say they are unhappy and then exec can make a decision
go to an ombuddy, if they want you to fix it. Ombudteam, in case the issue is with the ombuddy
stuff in these meetings is innovation, unless otherwise specified as an exec decision. affects takesies backsies. Leon will add that to document for new people
6. Should the members list become announcement-only?
we could make it so that only the exec can send to it. Some people are leaving because members occasionally send stuff out that isn’t announcements. Event/action things that some people send out that they think are relevant.
there are 2 lists currently - sign up on NB is for our event announcements. Members list is for minutes etc
when people see emails for events sent through the members list, some people feel it’s somewhat endorsed by Toronto350, and read it, but it’s not necessarily
make some people owners of the list, not members. So a set group of people can send to members@ toronto350.org
follow up with people - they still send to the communications person, and that person replies and says why we don’t send it on this list
if you’d like to send this to members list, send to these people
we can add them to list of owners part of it.
minutes/ask for agenda will still go through owners
7. Hiring Committee minimum wage: $14 or $18.52 or none?
living wage 18.52 (living wage is for 2 people working, owning, and having kids)
don’t want to write off people in that living wage category by paying less
we pay living wage if they have kids - can’t do that, it’s illegal
boosting it in a group with low finances?
we had at some point agreed on $15
balance being able to provide our membership with employment and fair wage
depends on the job
this is just the minimum wage, bare minimum we will pay
aim for living wage
if we get grant/funding, $15 is reasonable
as advocated by someone else - 15and fairness?
big campaign around $15 - evaluate when needed, as campaigns change
8. Donate to Unist’ot’en?
pipeline blockade in BC
can’t knock down a building for a pipeline, so they build a building
helicopters cited in their land, rcmp has been coming
RCMP said they are going to make sure the work crews are protected (threatening the people living there)
things are heating up. They are asking allies to support
Support of sending people, donations/fundraisers
We are also fundraising for Aamjiwnaang
treasurer says we have money to give
if there’s space for it in the email schedule, we can ask members to donate
it would be better in terms of building relations to send from our group
election and paris cop - we should think about upcoming expenses. Half of grant.
grant proposal (of hiring 2 co-pres. $18.52 was used, because we weren’t sure if that would be used or if we were going with $15). Tar sands solution network
paying for march or solidarity action in Toronto
would have to tell grant people that it’s going to be $15, not $18.52. Grant is for specifically hiring people. They want reports back. We are going to match what they give us, so we can’t just do less, it won’t be fair to them. Budget proposal: how much you’re willing to give was written
for Unist’ot’en - $500 - some think too high, some too low
we have to consider whether the rest of membership will think it’s good use of funds?
$500 does not go that far
they will also have money coming in from others, $500 will be a part of that, so it will go far
we asked monthly donors how important it is for us to support frontline communities- 7/10 said somewhat or very important so we decided to give 10% of our income (40/month)
That would be about 200/month for 5 months, we haven’t been giving 12% to frontlines
we are a small organization with not a lot of money
it’s not in Toronto
we are supporting the frontline community of Aamjiwnaang
personally we want to help them
lots of people are frontline communities
how do we want to see ourselves?
put out to members list that they are asking for donations/people to go. Send link to donate. Say how much our group is donating
and Toronto350 will match up to $500 (will see how important it is to people - although some people think it’s important for the group to but don’t have the money)
logistics of matching - ask for donations on our website and then we know who did it. People have issues with our donation page. People don’t like paypal (that’s for monthly though)
ask them to send it directly and ask them to send confirmation to us. Link to our page as well (let us know you sent it)
does this open to other groups asking for donations? last year anti-fracking. This is primary climate related resistance. Aamjiwnaang isn’t direct police violence
how much did we spend on hirings etc and how much have we sent to frontlines where people are risking their futures.
frontline communities are important and doing important work that we aren’t doing
money has come in from people donating to us, because they like the work we are doing
in future: other fundraising proposals
paying our volunteers helps because they have more time to contribute
We will send to members list. Education tool for the rest of our group - larger email list about Unist’ot’en, and the attacks on them
explain decision clearly, so people know what it is
9. Have Anti-Oppression workshop for exec
David, a 350 organizer/coordinator in the States said someone could do a training, or weekend workshops
have more than one training if it’s mandatory for exec
10. The 350 organizer David is there to support us, if we have any problems or want advice about To350.
thugsb
Innovation Meeting 2015-09-27
Chair: Tresanne and Stu
Minutes: Stu
Present: Tresanne, Stu, Amanda HS, Anna, Suhail, Milan, Alex, Emmay, Tali, Lila, Sam (and maybe some others I forgot?)
Goals
Describe reasons for having an exec
Describe what it has meant and what it could mean to be on the exec
Describe a committee structure that will show how the exec interact internally
Write position descriptions for potential exec positions
Icebreaker
Reasons for having an exec (brainstorm)
Support campaigns, resources, trainings
Discuss strategy
Manage the organization
Know who to contact
To make sure org’s purpose is aligned with what we do
Be the face of the org
Be accountable to org
Start new things, such as campaigns and group projects
Inform and support the Board
Coordinate messaging between campaigns
Build/maintain relationships with other orgs
Act as mentors for new people
Do the required less glamorous and back-end tasks
Delegate tasks into defined roles to improve reliability
Day to day decisions on operation of org
Be accountable for actions of org
Communicate with members
Assist with conflict resolution among members
Financial management and reporting
Making sure a safer space exists at meetings
Fundraising
It looks good on our resumé!
What it has meant to be exec (read from flipchart)
All exec are responsible for the following:
To frequently participate in Planning Meetings or read the minutes.
To participate in Exec Meetings.
To check exec email accounts twice a week or more.
Potentially create a core group of volunteers to work in your committee.
Develop your own skills.
Work on avoiding burnout.
Develop other people in the group.
Ask for support when needed, and support others when they ask for it.
Pro-actively look for gaps in the group to fill, and ways to improve the group.
Encourage someone to shadow you, and train them in the position.
Complete a transition document before you leave the role, to smooth the transition for the next person who enters the role.
Complete the tasks particular to your role.
What it Could mean to be Exec (small group brainstorm and report)
Managing volunteers more actively
More communication with the Board
Create a more formal 1 on 1 strategy
Welcome new volunteers
Create campaign-unified messaging
Build the organization for the long term
Speak clearly about the organization’s vision, purpose, mission, structure and processes
Fun mix-up activity
What do you want to do? (pair share and individual writing)
In pairs, people discussed what activities, tasks and responsibilities they are interested in taking on. Then people individually wrote out a position description for themselves. People were encouraged to:
If you’re already in a role, be willing to think outside of your current role description.
If you’re not on the exec, be willing to describe anything you want: things you see missing from the group, as well as things that existing roles have responsibility for.
Even if you don’t want to be exec, still write a description of what you want to be doing. None of these necessarily directly translate into exec roles.
The tasks/responsibilities that people came up with for themselves were:
Research coordination (to help us better coordinate volunteers, and improve health and wellness of the group)
Activist education (organizing and climate justice)
Allyship with other groups
Center solidarity
Encourage consumer-side changes
Work on group effectiveness
Research logistics
Do logistics!
Engage the government
1 on 1s
Direct Actions
Organizing socials and community building
Motivate people outside the group
Volunteer appreciation
Outreach
Strategy
Making emails more consistently formatted
More latin!
Policy writing
Maintain info and resources
Have fun
Mentorship
Quartermaster
Back-end admin stuff
Group dynamics
Conflict resolution
Feedback
Check out the Blood Moon (there were clouds :-( )
What are the Themes? (popcorn)
Strategy
Collaborating with external groups/allyship
Group functioning/community/making people feel good/having fun
1 on 1s and trainings
Political and government interaction
Communication
Research and Education
Volunteer coordination
People split into small groups to discuss Strategy, Allyship and Community.
The intention was then to re-write descriptions, split into other groups, and drill down into writing position descriptions that matched what people wanted to do and would still cover all the necessary and important group tasks.
However, at this point in the meeting, several people in the group mentioned that they had been working on a proposal regarding group structure that they wanted to present.
The proposal was as follows:
We’re currently using management meetings as our primary way to engage new volunteers, and that isn’t working very well. So we should stop meeting on Tuesdays and just have twice-monthly Innovation meetings.
Turn the focus onto the campaigns, making the campaign meetings be the place where we bring in new volunteers.
Add the campaign leads to the Exec.
Potentially put the Regional Leads on the exec too
These will effectively become campaign leads, as the local groups will be campaign groups.
The president will effectively do the volunteer coordination of the exec
The campaign leads will ensure volunteer coordination, outreach and equity is in each campaign.
We’ll need to clean up NationBuilder and train people in all campaigns as to how to use it properly.
Central exec will then provide the campaigns with funds, training, art, allyship, and connection to the board.
President to do the fundraising, as fundraising isn’t very much fun, so it should be done by someone who is paid.
Dissolves Poli Ops, merging their responsibilities into the campaigns.
Create temporary task forces for political actions
Coordinate the messaging centrally
Dissolve Operations, move their responsibilities to AC and Pres
There was then some discussion:
What about people who don’t know which campaign to join?
There didn’t seem to be a plan/space in this proposal for people who didn’t want to be in campaigns, yet there were several people who expressed a desire to remain outside of campaigns.
How do people move up the ladder of engagement and ‘jump’ from campaigns to exec?
There wasn’t a clear answer for this.
How do campaigns report back to the group?
Leads on the exec and so report and are accountable to the exec
Leads would have 1on1s with president
How do we define membership, if we’re not having planning meetings?
Campaign meetings would count, and volunteering at events.
It’d be good to create engagement tasks and layers, move away from meetings
Meetings are boring!
Move responsibility for task-giving to campaigns
Have more on-ramps on the website, for each of the campaigns
What is the role for member decisions, e.g. who decides campaign budgets and how?
Maybe we could have membership meetings every 2-3 months for the big decisions.
There was concern that this wasn’t flexible or agile enough.
Proposed exec roles we’d disband:
Operations
Outreach
Poli Ops
Fundraising
Volunteer
After discussion, the exec roles and hubs we’d end up with:
President
Treasurer
Admin Coord
Comms
Media
Creative
Social Media
Volunteer
Trainings
NB Admin
Volunteer welcomer
Health and Motivation/Community Coord
5 x Campaign Leads
Volunteer
Outreach
Equity
3 x Regional Leads
Perhaps better to not have the Regional Leads yet, and encourage those groups to “prove themselves” before they’re given a place on the exec.
And do we want to have Vice’s, e.g. Vice President etc (aka Shadows)? That’s something that needs more discussion.
It was decided to bring this proposal to the group on Tuesday, with the amendments that had been suggested. We’d ask the members to further amend it, and hopefully start implementing this proposal (if the members like it) at/after the TGM.
Milan
Toronto350 Innovation Meeting--December 2, 2015
Present: Tresanne, Amelia-Rose, Katie, Tali, Ellery, Anna, Snowcubb
Chair: Tresanne
Minutes: Katie
a. Update on Legal Document (ie: executive understanding of their legal requirements under non-profit)--Tali: not yet worked on, but finishes work this Friday and will devote a week to it and have a draft ready by December 11.
b) Update on Conflict Resolution--Anna: coordinating with St. Stephen--costs $500. Do we want to go forward with it? How many people are interested? 5-6 have said they are. The St. Stephen people have already put in some time--they think that we are doing it. Also, if we cancel, people who have said they want it might feel like they don’t have any input. Louis also offered to do one on ones with people for free. Resolution: give people choice. Anna will be in touch with those involved.
Conflict was an important part of our group and affected people who weren’t involved.
c) Treasurer Update (Ellery)
● Board Director Insurance has been purchased--covers board members only. $500/year.
● Payroll: Ellery is dealing with government payroll people--getting help with accountants. Under control.
● Posting transactions to quickbooks--the accountant doesn’t do this, Ellery needs to. Can we get a volunteer to help? Would need to learn how and download Quickbooks. Snowcubb might be interested in learning quickbooks and helping out.
● Do we need to change policy of only having to get approval for requests for $500 or more? Ellery gets asked for smaller amounts often ($100, $50) and doesn’t know if she should just always pay them. Should get approval from an exec or campaign lead? Should be coming from a campaign’s budget. Ellery doesn’t currently track it that way--need to track campaign budgets better. When people ask for money, it should be approved by a campaign lead. If not part of a campaign, needs to be approved by exec. Would be good to have a google sheet that campaign leads can also look at.
● Conflict of Interest Question--with UofT350--Milan question. Ellery checked with accountant about this, and he didn’t think it was a problem. But would like to consult with a lawyer. There are some free non-profit law services. We should plan a visit. Katie will send info and try to book a time.
d) Board Vote-Tresanne:
● Should we require a minimum number of females on board? Would like at least 30%. On a board of 7 that works out to 2. There are 6 men running and 3 females running right now. Could just do a ranked ballot, and take the top two females first. We could just do it as a recommendation--tell people that we hope that there is gender parity (aim for 30% why not 50%?). It may be too late to do this, this far in the process. Can’t tell people the day of the vote that we hope to have gender parity--will influence people too much. Should have been brought up at the beginning of the process. Should we drop it for this election? Are we prepared to potentially have only one or no women on board?
● What about the issue of having board members also be executive? Should Tali remain communications exec if she gets elected to board. Let’s let the board decide this. Task them with presenting to us a plan for equity.
● Board Vote--December 15--should we put it off until January. We can’t because we need to have an AGM. We may not have quorum--which is 10--because of the time of year, people might not be there. Decided to send and email and allow people to vote beforehand through email.
● New Member survey--people have to fill it out to vote. Quorum will be based on this so have to send it soon. Katie, Anna and Tres will work on this.
e) Visioning Session-Anna and Tresanne
Tresanne and Anna propose a series of workshops to come up with a vision and mandate in January.
Input--people are confused about who we are and what we do and how we are structured. Vision and mandate need to come first before structure.
Should we hire a professional facilitator? Our original mandate was to build the climate movement and take on the fossil fuel industry. This is not what we have now? Suggestion--beforehand ask people to write in what they think our vision/mandate should be. Possible: visioning a new campaign. Visioning how we are different from other groups/non-profits. How do we interact with other groups, with the capaigns. What about climate justice, allyship, does that fit into the original mandate? How do we relate to TPP? De-Colonialism? Building solidarity, morale across groups? Resisting capitalist mindset, building involvement through disrupting people’s convenient lifestyles/worldviews? Instill a sense of knowledge/power instead of risk/sacrifice? Building a movement based on disrupting complacency. What about creating materials/media. Toronto350 has not been not been good at creating materials.
f) Volunteer Update:
● Campaigns have not been great at submitting volunteer needs/tasks. We have new volunteers, but not much for them to do to get involved meaningfully. Maybe we can identify people who might want to take on roles--a lot of exec roles are either unfilled or exec are mostly absent. We should try to engage new people in some of these roles, as well as empower them to brainstorm, create new campaigns. Perhaps at visioning session. This was supposed to happen at last strategy meeting but never did. A lot of people seem interested in climate justice, maybe that should be a campaign.
● Still need to revamp volunteer website--get Leon to help
● Social event in December?
d...@toronto350.org
2016-09-23 Toronto350.org Executive Meeting Minutes
Chair: Tresanne
Present: Amelia Rose, Dan, Milan
Minutes: Milan
Update from Tresanne
There is good energy in the group: people working on Chippewa fundraiser, municipal campaign, film festival
People working on those have been emailing her
Fundraising has been going less well - she will talk to Ellery, including about how much we need to keep paying people
Considering whether roles other than president should also be paid
Tresanne will circulate some Volunteer Toronto requests for volunteers, and working on building a communications team
Could use a Creative Coordinator and support for Katie as Volunteer Coordinator
1. Intros and how things are going in your role
Dan (Administrative Coordinator)
YIMBY meeting, TCAN stuff
Busier than is sustainable this month, so will be pulling back a bit
Will still do his role, but won’t be volunteering for extra stuff
Is there anything he can hand off to someone who wants to shadow the role?
It’s not his exec role that has been too time consuming, but working on other tasks
Milan (Research Coordinator)
Not planning to run in October elections
We should set a date for when these will happen
Tresanne will be sending an email about elections
Amelia Rose (OTPP Divestment Campaign)
Exciting things in the last month and a half
People have joined the campaign, and people who have been around longer are passionate about what’s happening
Energy is up, and helping with the Chippewas is something a lot of people want to do
2. in camera item
3. Deciding on types of meetings
Discussed by email by Tresanne, Dan, and Amelia Rose
discussion. Include discussion of one mtg for new members each month. We’ve also talked about having education/learning nights, working meetings(breakouts and/or flyering etc), socials/potlucks, decision making meetings. Aug we had overview mtg, breakouts, pcp, blanket exercise, overview for sept. Who is going to make sure diff meetings happen? (plan intro nights and education)
Amelia Rose: I like having the same type of meetings each month. Instead of saying, the next one is breakout or learning meeting, set them all the same each month. Then put them on the website for everyone to see with details of what happens at them. At the first meeting of each month (the overview meeting), this is where the cancelling of meetings can happen or not.
Tres: that would all be ideal but the problem has been scheduling. sometimes it's hard to have a learning mtg on a specific tues esp if we ask an outside person/org to come in. there are also different needs so sometimes if an event is coming up then breakout groups are important space to have. it's the same with canceling meetings, it's usually been for an event/town hall so we don't know that right at teh beginning of the month. i'm willing to discuss more in person but those are my thoughts on it for now
Dan: I think what we've been doing the last two months with the planning session meeting is working out great in my opinion. Let's keep doing this. I feel it's allows us to be flexible and yet disciplined to plan our month during the first week. Also I think it gets buy in from people as we plan it together and it's more democratic.
About a year ago, Katie and Alex wanted to have meetings of different types: working, decision-making, teaching, etc
Briefly discussed at an excec meeting
Tried for two months, but then Katie and Alex didn’t have time to keep organizing it
Reverted to a lot of unfocused decision-making meetings, where discussions went on tangents
We have been re-implementing it: Blanket Exercise, intro night
It has been working well to decide at the beginning of the month which meetings to have in the month
Dan has been sending emails to the members about it, advising what will happen in the next week or two
We rarely know what breakouts will happen before the day
People have also showed up late and missed scheduled breakout times
How can we move forward effectively on this?
What’s working well now, or not working well?
In one opinion, the current system is working well
People who miss particular timeslots doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem with the process
People sometimes make spontaneous changes in their plans on the day of meetings
How many more meetings before the October elections?
Between two and four
Tresanne, Amelia Rose, and Dan plan to run again
We can provide meaningful guidance to the next executive, irrespective of who ends up being on it
Any objections to the plan Tresanne proposed?
Would it be better to always have the same monthly schedule for meeting types?
People agree with what Tresanne wants to do going forward
What we have been doing recently seems fine, but we should be more active at setting break outs several days before meetings happen
Tresanne will call people 3-4 days before meetings to discuss possible break-outs with people
Should we have more working meetings that consist of postering, art builds, and similar activities
This seems likely to appeal to people
It needs to be working toward a specific objective - not just as a time-consuming exercise
Sometimes breakouts end up being just discussions, not work being done
In a recent COTT breakout, it all consisted of updates, which didn’t seem like a lot of direction being shown
This approach is often used by anti-Line9 groups, where people give updates in meetings and work on tasks during the rest of the week
There may not be much actual work that can be done within the scope of a breakout
It would still have been preferable to focus more on specific discussion of pending tasks, so people feel their time is used usefully
4. Cancelling meetings
It shouldn’t be taboo not to have Tuesday meetings, if we have nothing specifically useful to do at one
We don’t need to meet if there’s nothing to talk about
By stressing that we don’t need to meet, we can remind people that it’s something we choose to do
Who would provide notice?
The Administrative Coordinator has been doing this, and is willing to continue to do so
What process would be used to decide to cancel a meeting?
A few times this summer, we cancelled meetings because a major relevant event was happening at the same time
Sometimes, we discussed it the week before and the people in the room decided
Sometimes, it has been decided by a few people in the days before via an email thread
The process has been a little bit random so far
We should be trying to make sure to know about forthcoming events soon enough to plan whether a meeting should be cancelled
This has been less of a problem since we began planning which meetings to have each month
If we make changes to the schedule after the first Tuesday of the month, perhaps they could be approved by a majority of the executive
Alternative: let people at each meeting decide if the next will happen (by a majority vote if needed). If something comes up, the president could announce that the meeting is back on
Tresanne would be OK with this approach - though perhaps it should be the majority of the exec
A vote might be unnecessarily complicated - perhaps Tresanne can just ask the exec and take note of any objections
5. Conflict Resolution Process
If we have a disagreement, the exec votes by majority rules
In the event of a tie, does it go to the board?
That’s not what the constitution and by-laws state
Standard formula: re-vote, then give chair an extra (in the constitution and by-laws)
Our standard voting process isn’t a conflict resolution process
It’s confusing to call our voting process “conflict resolution”
How are disagreements resolved within the exec?
When we disagree, we should have a formal way to resolve things when we disagree
There isn’t really that much the exec can do by itself
Anything major is a major proposal that needs to go to a planning meeting
Could we have a way to force decision or a close of discussion on small items that have been lingering on the agenda?
This question also applies to side conversations like emails, aside from formal executive meetings
Any other agenda items to add?
6. U of T divestment campaign
The UofT group has disbanded
FOI request is being dropped
Dropping appeal to have CUPE3902 fung the request
We need to update our websites and materials saying UofT350.org or Toronto350.org are running a divestment campaign at U of T
Tresanne has discussed getting back supplies from Amanda HS
Perhaps 30-40% of the core organizers are forming a new group focused on intersectionality: the Environmental Justice Collective
They will definitely not be working on divestment
Questions?
Tresanne will raise this at the monthly overview meeting, and will tell the board about it
Adjourned 7:22pm
ac
Toronto 350 Exec Meeting Nov 15 2016
1. Land Recognition
2. Intros:
· Kalina: needs to know what she’s in charge of with art build
· Caleb: needs more clarity about what events to post on events on website. Often takes event leads a long time to respond with event details
· Phil: working on writing a piece about KM sit in
· Amelia Rose: doesn’t need volunteers at the moment
· Ellery: Working on year-end financial statement which must be approved by board then members at AGM before going to government
· Tresanne: all the stuff she needs to do before she leaves on vacation spent a lot of time on KM sit in. Might want to bring back a co-president
· Roger: all is going well
· Katie: hard to put volunteers to work because there are not many easily accessible vol-ops. Wants to follow up with possible one on ones with new volunteers. Wants exec to help with introducing new volunteers into group with one on ones
3. Email information
· We should all be signing in with position@ addresses
· name@ is an alias
· you should all archive your emails instead of deleting them because it could be useful to people in our position I the future
· should we all automatic forward to an unused Gmail account where we keep everything as a back up
·
4. KM vigil
· Post it everywhere and anywhere
· Come to art build at Katie’s house 4pm 187 Margueretta. (RSVP to Ka...@toronto350.org if interested)
· Get Bristol board from the dollar store
· Get signs from KM sit in
· People still don’t know what KM is, we must link social media posts about vigil to educational material
· Do we need a sound system?
· Plan chants at the art build
· One of us should speak at the rally about TO 350, and COTTFN
· Make a little paragraph about KM, include it in every post
5. KM sit in
· There were a lot of likes on the videos of the sit in
· Didn’t see a lot on our social media and didn’t think posts were very clear and they didn’t show a clear, coherent motive
· Facebook live was very good
· We should have posted a clear motive statement at the beginning of the action
· We should have more people sharing about this, not only the TO 350 page
· Should have sent message to members during the event
· We need more clear messaging and education on the sit in
· Should send out “how to plan and execute a sit in” info package from 350 Canada on 350 TO google docs
· Done better follow-up after the action, emailing members
· We should use supporters more than we do for helping with the action and spreading the word
· Should have used the opportunity to teach more people about how to do, organize, and play a major role in a sit in
· Meeting with Caroline Bennett went pretty well, she skirted around the issue
· Wanting her to hold her word about saying she would talk to Tslei Waututh FN
· Send out a really pointed, focused email to 3000 about KM summarizing the sit in
6. Organization
· Make more good resources and clean up TO350 google drive
· Make new folders for each role and share with whole exec
· Have a calendar we can all access with info on email blasts and meeting dates (google calender)
· Maybe go back to having co-presidents
· Limit number of people sending emails to members@
· Clean up members list by telling people to unsubscribe from members list if they want to
· All exec can help run intro nights for new volunteers. Would be helpful if Katie ran one first that we all could learn from. And would help to have a one pager with info for each intro night. Info of the diff campaigns. *Need campaign leads to actually provide info for their campaign that's catchy and has info of volunteer tasks.
7. COTTFN rally
· Wed Nov 30 is the day of the COTTFN court case
· 6:30 AM is a sunrise ceremony on an island in Ottawa River
· We will march to supreme court, activities will be all day and Myegan will be coming out all day with updates
· Event details: https://www.facebook.com/ArmOurLight/posts/10154029228777944
· We don’t have accommodation. Form for accommodation: https://docs.google.com/a/toronto350.org/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScm0aFAMWfl-inqgNETwcgRFmJm-AKuiiPrzNywZ7iqvH6w7Q/viewform. That is the form for accommodation for people from Toronto. Those from Kitchener/Waterloo already have accommodation.
· Post about event on TO350 social media stream. Kalina is on that.