AGM 2006

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Report on the Third Annual General Meeting and Steering Group Meeting, by Peter Halfpenny

The third VSSN AGM, held in the middle of the Day Conference at Glasgow Caledonian University on 29 November, was enlivened by the necessity for an election to the Steering Group (whose members are the Trustees of VSSN). This arose because eleven people nominated themselves whereas the constitution allows a Steering Group membership of eight, with up to two co-optees. After brief statements from the candidates (read out by the secretary, Angela Ellis Paine, on behalf of those candidates unable to be present), the members in attendance completed their voting slips. Two independent tellers, Duncan Scott and Ken Ashford, quickly tallied the results and we were able to announce the new Steering Group at the end of the AGM. A quick meeting at the end of the day and some subsequent emails assigned roles to the electees. See the updated About and Contacts pages.

This was the first time that an election has been necessary and it is a very welcome sign that a growing number of members are keen to contribute to the development of the Network. So as not to lose their enthusiasm, those unsuccessful in the elections have all been invited to become Steering Group co-optees or ‘associates’ to assist with specific activities, such as the website and marketing. We will use the email list to seek to recruit further associates, so drawing on the skills of our membership to add value to our growing organisation.

During the remainder of the AGM, the chair (Peter Halfpenny) described the achievements of the Network over the past year, thanking each Steering Group member for their work, and the treasurer and membership secretary (Gareth Morgan) reviewed the Network’s financial situation and the membership numbers following the introduction of income-related subscriptions for 2006-07. It is pleasing to note that numbers are quite quickly moving towards our target for the year of 90 paid up members.

The meeting closed with a warm appreciation of the work of two retiring Steering Group members, Duncan Scott and Jill Mordaunt. Both have a great depth of experience of research on the voluntary sector and they have undertaken a tremendous amount of work over many years to bring the Network to the place it now occupies. In particular, Duncan has very effectively nurtured our participation in what is now the joint NCVO/VSSN Researching the Voluntary Sector Conference and Jill established the Network’s email list. Our heartfelt thanks to them both. They will, of course, remain active in the Network at large and Jill has agreed to become an ‘associate’, continuing her role as moderator of the email list.

The 2005-06 Steering Group’s last meeting was held on the evening before the November day conference at Glasgow Caledonian University. As usual, there was a lot of business to work through over the two hours. The major item was a discussion of how to increase the amount of effort available to develop the Network, in particular to enhance membership benefits. One route is to draw more members into the work of running the Network and this will be done by setting up task forces and inviting volunteer ‘associates’ to assist with specific activities. Another is to invite tenders for a part-time executive officer. The job description for this post is currently being finalised with the aim of recruiting someone by April 2007 or as soon as possible afterwards. A third route is to extend the functionality of the website so that it becomes a more effective means for networking. Through a combination of these means, the Network should gradually become established as the organisation to which everyone interested in researching the voluntary sector finds they must join.

The minutes of the meeting are available for scrutiny here (PDF format)