Board Meeting Minutes, September 2013

A meeting of the board of directors of the Open Knowledge Foundation was held at the offices of Mozilla, 3rd Floor, 101 St Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden, London and online in a Google Hangout, 18:30 - 20:30 on Tuesday 10th September 2013.

Introductions and apologies

Attended in person: Rufus Pollock, Paula le Dieu (first part of meeting only), Karin Christiansen, Laura James (observer), Jane Silber

Attended online: James Casbon, Ben Laurie

Apologies: Martin Tisne (observer)

Discussion of draft board terms of reference

The terms of reference were discussed, and a revised version was approved.

It was agreed that a conflict of interest form should be used for board members in the future.

Update on board recruitment

Helen Turvey was nominated to the board and her appointment was approved by the members of the board in their capacity as Members of the company.

Two other candidates were discussed and their nomination to the board was approved (by the members of the board in their capacity as Members of the company) conditional on an final approval step being successfully completed. The final approval step is that at least 2 out of 3 people to interview each candidate must provide a positive recommendation; as one such recommendation is in place for each candidate, two further people will interview each candidate.

Paula le Dieu left the meeting due to a prior commitment.

Review of minutes from previous meeting

The minutes were approved.

Discussion of operating plan

The operating plan and progress update were discussed. It was agreed that Laura and Rufus should work up different materials for the board in advance of the next meeting describing progress against the strategy and other areas as per the discussion.

Review of draft/early annual accounts for 2012-13

This discussion was deferred to the next meeting.

Review of emergency fund proposal

A proposal from Laura and Rufus was presented and discussed. It was agreed that a fuller proposal would be prepared.

AOB

The dates for the Open Knowledge Festival in 2014 were shared.

Rufus resigned from the board as per the agreed plan from previous meetings and in line with best practice for non-profit governance.