IONA COMMUNITY - ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING :2016 Saturday 4 th June 2016 St. Silas Scottish Episcopal Church, 69 Park Rd, Glasgow, G4 9JE Present Ewan Aitken, Marlene Anderson, Stephan Arras, Morag Balfour, Simon Barrow, Jean Belgrove, John L Bell, Pat Bennett, Rolf Bielefeld, James Black, Stewart Blackledge, Brian Brown, Ruth Burgess, Arthur Chapman, Peter Coats, Martyn Coe, Rosie Coles, Brian Crosby, Liz Crosby, Biddy Crossfield, Joyce Davidson, Viv Davies, Sarah Dinwoodie, Sheila Doig, Colin Douglas, Mary Duncanson, Walter Dunlop, Simon Evans, Duncan Finlayson, Marlene Finlayson, Ian Fraser, Ian M Fraser, Neil Galbraith, Chris Gidden, Michael Gisbourne, Alison Given, Carrie Gooch, Yousouf Gooljary, Allan Gordon, Tom Gordon, Kes Grant, Christine Green, Colin Groom, Rosie Hague, Catherine Harkin, Margaret Hart, John Harvey, Molly Harvey, Ruth Harvey, Fiona Haworth, Mike Holroyd, David Hughes, Margaret Jacobsen, Trevor Jones, Joanna Love, Jan Maasen, Janet MacDonald, Peter MacDonald, Aileen Macdonald-Haak, Jim MacEwan, Runa Mackay, Christian MacLean, Stuart MacQuarrie, Michael Marten, Angus Mathieson, Alison May, Malcolm May, Rachel McCann, Francess McIntyre, Colin McKenzie, Chris Mercer, Joan Miller, Mike Mineter, Carol Morton, Graeme Muckart, Katy Owen, Neil Paynter, Tony Phelan, Kathryn Potts, Rosemary Power, Elaine Pyrke, Ron Reid, Sheila Riddell, Cara Riley, Jim Robertson, Carla Roth, Rosemary Rymer, Stephen Rymer, Isabel Sarle, Frank Schulte, Norman Shanks, Richard Sharples, Douglas Shaw, Ruth Sillar, Caro Smyth, Muriel Snell, Alison Solesbury, William Spangler, Neil Squires, Margaret Stewart, Irene Stok, Jill Stoner, Jan Sutch Pickard, Rosalyn Sutcliffe, Robert Swinfen, Bob Thomas, Dick Toy, Marion Toy, Marna Watson, Alan Watt, Iain Whyte, Isabel Whyte, Brian Woodcock, Raymond Young In attendance Lynn Baldwin, Hannah Blyth, Kirsty Campbell, Rachel Hockey, Alan Kimmitt, Rosie Magee, Graham Maule, Alastair McIntosh, Sim Sharp A group of young people gathered at Carlton Court and followed a programme led by Chris Long. Their names are not available. Apologies Cliff Acklam, Valerie Allen, Joanna Anderson, Colin Ball, Warren Bardsley, Sally Beaumont, Nicholas Bowry, Anna Briggs, Graeme Brown, Mitchell Bunting, Peter Cope, Gordon Cottle, Sylvia Cottle, Barry Cummings, Pat Cummings, John Dale, Susan Dale, Neil Davies, Ros Davies, John Dillon, Liz Dowler, Stuart Elliott, Elizabeth Foulkes, Liz Gibson, Elaine Gisbourne, Elaine Gisbourne, Sydney Graham, Dirk Grützmacher, Cassandra Howes, Christine Jones, Malcolm King, Teun Kruijswijk Jansen, Jenie Lismore, Peter Lloyd, Elisabeth C Miescher, Peter Millar, Betty Milne, William Milne, Yvonne Morland, Joyce Muir, Madron Osborne, Elizabeth Paterson, Christine Polhill, John Polhill, Brian Quail, Katherine Rennie, Peter Rowe, Anikó Schuetz Bradwell, Bruce Sinclair, Danus Skene, John Smith, Margaret Smith, Stewart Smith, John Spence, Dot Stewart, Don Stubbings, Alison Swinfen, Amanda Taylor Aiken, Gerald Taylor Aiken, Gerald Taylor Aiken, Louise Taylor-Kenyon, Heinz Toller, Margaret Tuffin, Karen Turner, Pat Welburn, Alan Wilkie, Irene Wilkie, Jim Wilkie, Maire-Colette Wilkie, Ian Wilson, Sheila Woodcock, Andrew Wright, Stephen Wright, Jean Young 2016 Annual General Meeting ~ Minutes Page 1 of 10 IONA COMMUNITY - ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING :2016 Saturday 4 th June 2016 St. Silas Scottish Episcopal Church, 69 Park Rd, Glasgow, G4 9JE Welcome - Morag Balfour and Peter Macdonald welcomed members, guests and staff to the meeting Office - Stephan Arras, one of the new members, led the office Council Business, including: 1. Adoption of Minutes of 2015 AGM Proposed – John Harvey Seconded –. Chris Gidden The meeting approved and Morag, as Convener of Council signed the Minute. 2. Accounting for the use of our Money In presenting the financial report for 2015-2016, Robert Swinfen thanked all the staff who had been involved: it had been a tough couple of months with the office move and other pressures. He highlighted, the following, with the assistance of a slide presentation: (i) While, the overall figures, showing a substantial surplus, look encouraging they are misleading as they include two large legacies. So the financial position is weaker than it appears. Robert pointed out that we cannot rely on legacies: most years legacies have totalled around £30,000 but last year it was around £300,000, of which Council had decided that £245,000 would be used to kick start the capital appeal fund. (ii) The Abbey and MacLeod Centre income fluctuates. The Mac tends to have a pattern of a good year followed by a bad year, and this past year was a bad year. There was a decline in the Abbey of about £10,000 but costs were stable or only slightly increased. The shop income on Iona appeared to be on a declining trend: over the last 6 years shop sales have fallen and overheads continue; so profit has been declining. It is an activity which used to generate a massive surplus and is an important part of our work but, despite best efforts, it does not seem capable of generating income at present .Last year much less maintenance expenditure was incurred partly for staffing reasons and partly because of the planned refurbishment. (iii) Although general sales had been declining 2015 had been a good year for Wild Goose Publications. Costs of sales are coming down as more and more sales are electronic. WGP are doing better than smaller publishing houses in general at the moment. (iv) ‘Investment areas’ - . Youth work, Camas, programme development. More than ever before was invested in these areas and this had seemed a sensible decision when it was made in 2013. Whereas there had been some grants towards the youth team, as well as an investment from the Community this had been significantly less than previously (v) In 2007 the Community had £900,000 in the bank and Stock Market investments. The current figure stands at nearly £1.4 million but almost all of that money is in restricted funds. Some donations, for example the Crerar Fund, came in the form of investments/stocks and shares, and are allocated to specific purposes and cannot be used in general running costs. While there were a good few years from 2007 to 2013, the figure for unrestricted funds is now static and not sufficient for working requirements. At the end of the slide presentation Robert indicated that he was continually working on how best to present financial matters. He added that while the Community has money in the bank and reserves we cannot continue running this way for many more years. Council is therefore considering a process of putting strategies in place. He expressed thanks to the four people who have agreed to be members of a Finance Sub Group that has been set up, which had helped considerably. 2016 Annual General Meeting ~ Minutes Page 2 of 10 IONA COMMUNITY - ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING :2016 Saturday 4 th June 2016 St. Silas Scottish Episcopal Church, 69 Park Rd, Glasgow, G4 9JE In response to questions Robert a) confirmed that investments remained in the stocks and shares given to the Community unless these were on our ‘black list’ and that our investments are managed by a stockbroker; b) indicated that, while not all the legacies went into the Capital Appeal, Council had decided to allocate legacy funds to that because a certain amount had to be there initially before grants could be applied for, and in doing so had taken account of the wishes of the person bequeathing the legacy, and that the Access Fund was unaffected; c) said that the fact that accounts and reports had not been produced before the meeting was a ‘one off’ occurrence brought about largely because of the office move; d) said that, following the agreement at the AGM last year members’ giving to Travel Pool had been reduced from one-sixth to one-tenth; e) confirmed that the slides would be put on the members’ section of the website with the other AGM material; f) advised that the move to the new offices had to be carried out quickly because the lease on the Sauchiehall Street premises was running out and it was necessary to avoid being tied in for another year g) confirmed that members’ giving is good: it was the donations from other areas that were not as strong; h) indicated that we were not investing in Hewlett Packard and that we had a ‘black list’: it is open to any member to make /suggestions to Council about additions of any company to go on that list. i) said that, in the light of the reduction in the amount for the Travel Pool, it would be technically possible, if so decided, to allocate. a percentage of members’ giving to help Camas, youth work and the programme development work 3. Appointment of Auditor Robert proposed that we reappoint Atkinson Donnelly LLP as our Auditors. Proposed: Isabel Sarle Seconded: Rosie Coles This proposal was accepted unanimously. Martyn Coe, as one of the Finance Sub Group, expressed, on behalf of the Community, appreciation and very grateful thanks to Robert and his colleagues in the office for all their work and the burden of stress with which they had had to cope. 4. Elections to Committee The following were elected: Convener of Council – One vacancy - Marlene Finlayson (Two year term only) Vice Convener of Council – One vacancy - Angus Mathieson Communications and Fundraising Committee – One vacancy - Karen Reeves Iona Committee – Two vacancies - Catherine Harkin John Fowler Camas Committee – Two vacancies - Margaret Hart - Carrie Gooch 2016 Annual General Meeting ~ Minutes Page 3 of 10 IONA COMMUNITY - ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING :2016 Saturday 4 th June 2016 St. Silas Scottish Episcopal Church, 69 Park Rd, Glasgow, G4 9JE Programme Committee – One vacancy - Caro Smyth Iona Community Board – Two vacancies - Jim McEwan Nominations Panel – One vacancy - Colin Douglas A.O.C.B - Motion from Iain Whyte Remit to the Council to explore ways in which financial support from the general funds of the Community could be given to one or more peace and justice projects in Britain and one or more in the South World, as expressions of tangible corporate response beyond our own work and expenditure, and to bring these suggestions to the next AGM.