Board Meeting Minutes, April 2020

A meeting of the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) Board was held virtually via video call on Wednesday 29th April 2020 from 18:30 - 19:55

Board members who dialled in: Vanessa Barnett (VEB) (Chair), Helen Turvey (HT) (Vice Chair), Rufus Pollock (RP), Jarmo Eskelinen (JE), Johnny West (JW), Ira Bolychevsky (IB), Tim Hubbard (TH)
Observers: Catherine Stihler (CEO) (CS), Cassandra Woolford (FM) (CW), Jo Barratt (DM) (JB)
Apologies: Vicky Brock (VAB)

Welcome & review of minutes & actions [Chair]

January Board Meeting minutes outstanding, Vanessa agreed to check and resolve.
The Financial Scenario planning is postponed until July 2020.
2019 YE A/cs, a few updates are required in reference to terminology.
The Draft accounts will be recirculated at a later date.

CEO Update [CS]

Update from CS on Q1 activities.
The COVID pandemic so far has had minimal impact on our Service work however on the Business Development side the AI Face to Face Trainings have been postponed.
An AI webinar is scheduled for the end of April 2020.
Staff health and wellbeing is priority at this time.
The July away day is cancelled, instead the July board meeting will be extended to incorporate a Strategy update.
A review of the Staff Handbook has begun, a few updates are required to reflect changes in legislation since the last version.
CS has been making contact with the Advisory Board and looking for new members to be added.

CS delivered a paper on the Membership model, with recommendations to proceed with the launch of a campaign and prepare to recruit for a campaign / membership lead.
An in depth discussion took place, around the campaign and questions were asked in terms of the focus of the campaign. CS was tasked with producing a more granular plan.
CS informed the Board that the Campaign is the starting point to understand the demand and the campaign will direct the next steps. This will pave the way for goals, outcomes and impact.

Finance Update [CW]

CW talked through the Q1 Financials and the new reporting structure and reports. The new reports in addition to the improved PAAG layout provide a comprehensive overview of the Company holistically, as well as focusing on individual projects. The Board welcomed the new layout and thanked CW for leading on this.

CW gave a high level overview of the Draft Accounts. No significant changes to the accounts from January 2020.

A request for lost bids to be added to the PAAG.

Risk Register [CW]

CW provided an update on the risk register. There were no material changes to the risk register, other than to add COVID as a new risk.
As usual, actions are being carried out to help manage the risks and reduce the impact.

Datopian [VAB]

In the absence of VAB, RP gave a high level overview of the 2019 success of Datopian, confirming that 2019 resulted in a positive outcome.
The Board welcomed the new quarterly financial reporting and looked forward to the July annual Datopian check-in.

AOB

A short discussion took place regarding GDPR now that the legislation has been in force for some time. There is no increasing GDPR risk to OKF and it can be managed as normal. It was noted that during 2020 it should be re-assessed to ensure that OKF’s compliance practices are in line with current thinking/practice.