Down to Earth Co-operative Society
Motions for Special General Meeting to be held 5th November 2020.

This general meeting was triggered because the committees no longer have sufficient funds to meet their commitments and operating expenses, distribute monies already committed and pay for the required actions to hold the AGM and director elections.

The budget includes: monthly operating costs, forecast expenditure and monies already due or committed.

A breakdown of figures is attached, however a short summary of funds distribution is below to ensure members can be confident of making an informed decision.

The appropriation YTD (FYE 2020/2021) is $30,000.

There was nil income in Q1 (July-September). Sydney Confest ordinarily narrowly fluctuates around break-even point.

Organising Committee (OC) Budget

While this is a significant appropriation compared to the previous one, we ask that it is put in context. The September SGM was delayed so the YTD appropriation was based on a forecast of essential operating costs for Q1. This forecast would have been fine had the September SGM gone ahead however it did not.

The largest components of the budget are associated with completing the financial accounts for both the annual return and audit. There is also a significant tax liability. The annual return must be done before the AGM can be held. The CNL states that we must have a set of accounts to present to members while our rules state that these should be audited. These are to be presented to the AGM. The AGM and director elections are tied together. It is therefore necessary for the significant financial component of this budget to be approved in order to meet our financial obligations for the EOFY 2019/2020.

The remaining portion of the OC budget consists of actual operating expenses (recurring) and forecast expenses due in Q2 (includes outstanding Q1). The majority of these remaining expenses occur in the next month and will be due or overdue by the time of the SGM. A breakdown is contained on the attached spreadsheet. Line items for anticipated minimum operating costs in Q2 (October-December) are also noted.

Some of the co-operative’s ongoing costs will be overdue by the time of this SGM. They will be dependant on these appropriations before they can be approved and paid. There are also amounts provisioned which have been considered urgent/essential operating costs of the OC. If those transactions bounce, we will lose access to the services. Most of these are IT (eg. Zoom, hosting etc) and have therefore been broken down. Only those considered urgent / essential have been included. We have defined urgent / essential to be ‘where it has been considered that an interruption in service would have a significant effect or be detrimental to current operations’.

There are also a number of bills due immediately following the AGM which is the next opportunity for appropriation of funds. We have built in some contingency for the OC for items which would be unable to be delayed and for which there are significant consequences should there be any delay in the AGM due to unforeseen circumstances. We are not suggesting that the AGM might or should be delayed, we are simply including an itemised ‘safeguard’ figure for the OC which we believe should remain included.

Information was obtained by looking at recurring and intermittent regular expenses (ie actual) for essential operating costs, estimating seasonal expenses (such as fuel for anticipated slashing, mowing and fuel load reduction), supplier estimates, committee budget applications/minutes and schedules (eg. rates etc).

At the time of writing, the only other contingency amount in the budget is the NRAR budget.

Confest Committee (CC) Budget

The CC budget consists of the already presented Sydney Confest budget, as well as an allocation for a Sydney Confest Committee overrun, which may be needed if the setup costs increase due to increased attendance. This would likely be offset by an increase in income in Q3.

Board Budget

The board budget consists of work currently in progress with members, membership fees enabling access to policies used by members of the OC, and fees associated with the director elections. It also includes those AGM expenses for which the board is responsible, and a small overrun / administration budget provisioned in the rules which is likely to be used as a contingency budget.

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Kate Shapiro & Trevor Pitt

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Motion 1:

That the Confest Committee be appropriated an additional $15,000 to be available until the end of the 2020/2021 financial year.

Proposed and supported by: Trevor Pitt, David Cruise & Kate Shapiro

Motion 2:

That the Organising Committee be appropriated an additional $70,000 to be available until the end of the 2020/2021 financial year.

Proposed and supported by: Trevor Pitt, David Cruise & Kate Shapiro

Motion 3:

That the Board is appropriated an additional $8200 to be available until the end of the 2020/2021 financial year.

Proposed and supported by: Trevor Pitt, David Cruise & Kate Shapiro

CNL Co-operatives National Law EOFY End of Financial Year
FY Financial Year
FYE Financial Year Ending

1. Q1  First quarter – July to September for FY

2. Q2  Second quarter – October to December

3. Q3  Third quarter – January to March

YTD Year to Date

~ End of Motions ~