Finance Team Meeting Minutes – 16 June 2020

Finance Team Meeting Minutes – 16 June 2020

 

Attending – Peter Burke, Jane Hope, Adam Hart, Jez Taylor.  

Minutes – Jez Taylor

 

Agenda

Scenario planning

May Finance Reports

CDI proposals – Finance Aspects we might consider

Lease, payment of rent, opening up

AOB

 

Minutes

 

Scenario planning and CDI proposals combined

The finance team feel that there are currently so many unknowns regarding the future of the centre that it is too complex to come up with detailed financial forecasts regarding the future of the centre with respect to the 4 or more possible outcomes given by the CDI team..

What we do know is that several options remain open to us whatever direction the centre takes.  Signing a new lease with the Oddfellows, leaving the current property in Clapham and looking for a new property, or dissolving the physical centre and maintaining an online presence.

Some of the unknowns include: The Covid-19 virus and how long that will continue and what effect that would have on the physical centre.  The will of the membership and what direction they wish the centre to take.  The BLM protests and the ongoing fight for diversity and equality.  

What we can say is that from a financial perspective, the centre has enough reserves to operate for at least 12-18 months out of a worst case scenario of having to pay full rent and other expenditure with zero income.  Obviously, we can go longer under various circumstances.

We can also comment that having to undertake the design and implementation of a new website can also be accommodated from a financial perspective.  Both in terms of just redesigning the user interface or a complete redesign and implementation of an entirely new system.

If we sign a new lease, part of any ongoing financial strategy will involve how we look to diversifying and sharing the centre in different ways.

Going online will play a major part of any situation going forward.  We need to keep up with the technology and presentation of our online offerings.  How do we do this?

 

May Finance Reports

  • We made some money for May.  
  • ACTION POINT Finance team to share with trustees that they are to decide whether the centre should send money to SE for May due to the good fortune of having made some money through programmes in May, it would be made clear that this is not a return to business as usual, but arises through ongoing review of our own financial situation.  
  • ACTION POINT – Can the trustees also send a message to SE to give us some space, that the community is going through a difficult and delicate time.

 

Lease, payment of rent, opening up

  • The lease is coming up in August, but Jez does not think the Oddfellows will force us to sign it if we ask for some time

 

AOB – Jim emails for council.  ACTION POINT – Jez to contact Jim and explain email system