Open Knowledge Foundation
Board of Directors

Board Meeting Minutes, March 2017

A meeting of the Open Knowledge International (OKI) Board was held in London on 8th March, 2017.
 

Present: Karin Christiansen (KC) - Chair, Tim Hubbard (TH), Jane Silber (JS) and Helen Turvey (HT) via Gotomeeting ; Sebastian Moleski (SM)
Observing: Pavel Richter (PR), Mark Gibbs (MG), Paul Walsh (PW), Andrew Clarke (AC) and Juliet McDermott (JM) for minutes  

 

1.  Review of minutes & actions of last meeting [Chair]

Due to the whole of Open Knowledge having been at the Spring Summit on the Isle of Wight the papers were not sent round and therefore the review and actions were not made.

2. CEO Update

PR issued an update on the following:-

  • Summit on the Isle of Wight - OKI had their Spring Summit prior to the Board Meeting, and PR discussed the various activities that had taken place including the Sounding Board. This has produced ideas that we can use going forward with the potential to take these to other funders.

  • OK Fest - we have a new Events Manager in place, Natasha Bishop. The event will be taking place in Greece with an exact date to be decided once Natasha formally joins.

  • PR mentioned that a loan to Viderum had been made in the sum of £50k to cover incurred costs.

    • PR to send “save the date”email once final date for OK Fest known

    • Board to set up table of loan for approval for Viderum

Fundraising Update

  • Arnold - we are looking at having new funding to be in place before our current funding expires – Chris Hovey to lead when in Oxford next week

    • PR to send update following meeting

  • Ford/Open Society - there have been initial pitch documents –which need to be sent( Michael at open society) (Rakesh at Ford) 

    • PR to send details of conversation to AC to get in touch with Rakesh

3. COO Update including Financial Update

MG presented an update on his findings/actions to date

  • Final on-boarding of employees has been made with the exception of Israel but this is to be finalised imminently

  • Charity status – there is a need to change Memorandum and Articles at Companies House but further discussions are required to ensure this all goes smoothly. There was positive feedback from the Charity Commission but they had concerns regarding lobbying on our part. MG has a meeting with the Charity Commission and will appeal/challenge the decision to buy more time in order for OKI to find a way forward with this.

    • MG to send update to Board once further information has been received

    • Political views to be filtered - Board to assist with filtering

  • Trade mark – now be finalised and we can now use our logo Italian company withdrew opposition to our logo and trademark.

  • London Home for OKI - The registered office for OKI London is currently Michelle Heydon’s address. We need a work space in London for meetings and co-working.

    • Omidyar office may have space - PR to talk to AC

4. Tech Department

PW presented an update on the Project and Technical Delivery for OKI.

  • PW gave an overview of how the sounding board worked and how ideas were taken forward.

  • PW stated that the website for Addesium had been started.

  • Open Spending - PW gave an overview on this project with Phase 2 complete and Phase 3 starting with GIFT

  • Open Data Day - this was the most successful to date with over 300 events.

    • Thank you email to team from Board

5. Viderum Update

SM provided an update to the Board around Viderum.

  • SM gave an overview of looking back over the past 12 months and what has been achieved and looking forward as to what he wanted to achieve.

  • SM provided an update on the new resources he had hired.

    • KC asked SM to look at ways for more diversity in the workplace. Currently only 3 women working at Viderum.