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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 24, 2006 20:14:52 GMT
To be fair should point out that the AGM notice was in the most recent edition of the 'Vegan' magazine after all. On page 36. Reminds me a bit about Arthur Dent asking where he could see the plans for the demolition of his house in Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy... ;D
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Post by veganbikerboy on Jul 24, 2006 22:06:25 GMT
I agree with alot of the critiscm that has been placed on the VS, but then i have never aired my views to them, so don't feel i have too much of a right to winge to others about them.
I looked at applying for the CEO position, and it is a position that does appeal to me, and maybe one day i'll do it (well apply at least).
I think, as veggie said, somebody a little more dynamic could alter the appearance of the organisation, and i would hope that my experience in business would stand me in good stead.
The timing is difficult, i feel at the moment (or the time the position was advertised) i don't have a wide enough knowledge of veganism and people who are vegan. Might seem like a strange thing to say but although i am very strict, i have never been directly envolved in the AR movement, i am crap at nutrition etc always things to improve.
Also, stepping out of the commercial world to work on 'charity' salary is not possible for me at this point either.
The risk is by the time these things are in place I may no longer be young and dynamic ;D
May be the organisation would benefit from a CEO that had more of a business objective? or should it remain 'spiritually' attached to the way current vegans are perceived to think/be?
Does anybody know if it is possible to retain shares in a commercial company and be CEO of a charity, because that could be a real possibility for me in the future.
I think we all have a role to play in improving the organisation and i commend you for contacting them with ideas/observation and critiscm.
and maybe one day i will be CEO, and decide if I agree with you ;D
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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 24, 2006 23:14:01 GMT
As CEO my understanding is that, as an employee, there is unlikely to be a problem with owning shares.
There's a slightly greater possibility that being a council member might pose a few extra difficulties, especially if there was any perceived conflict of interest. But charity trustees are usually made up of the great and the good ie rich and share owning so unlikely to be a problem across the board.
Should have no problem getting our resolution in on time, its going through final editing at the mo!
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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 26, 2006 21:37:25 GMT
Thought I'd let you all know we've submitted our resolution (and got it seconded, thanks VBB ;D). In a nutshell it basically proposes a change to the Articles of Association to include a requirement that Council meeting, sub group meeting etc minutes are posted to the Society's website.
Hopefully everything will be in order...
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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 28, 2006 18:16:31 GMT
Spoke too soon...
Been a right old rigmarole. First they didn't receive my email with the resolution I sent Wednesday night so they only got VBB's seconding email which confused them. So I sent it again Thur evening and they got that.
Anyway, despite them sayingh it was ok to send it via email I got an email from them today saying that in fact it wasn't. Great I thought. So have to post it tonight and they've given me until Monday to get it to them. If they'd told me it had to be posted initially I would have got me backside into gear and made sure it got to them.
Hope the post is on time...
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Post by rubes on Jul 28, 2006 18:30:32 GMT
Oh Veggie, I hope it get's there alright! Why do I get the impression that the Vegan Society seems to be not being run very well at the moment??
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Post by veggiesosage on Jul 28, 2006 19:41:27 GMT
Have just posted it so hopefully it will.
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Post by veganbikerboy on Jul 28, 2006 20:07:00 GMT
mines in an envelop will go to the post office first thing ;D
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Post by veggiesosage on Aug 2, 2006 18:58:22 GMT
Well, I'm going to celebrate my 100th post by confirming that our resolution to the Vegan Soc AGM has been acknowledged and everything is ok, although there's a bit they don't like which may scuper a vote. We'll see...
Happy 1000 posts to me though ;D
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Post by Tiggerwoos on Aug 2, 2006 19:13:25 GMT
Congrats Veggie!
Great news about your resolution being acknowledged and everything being ok.
*Makes cake with 1000 candles on for Veggie and brings it to him singing*
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Post by paul on Aug 3, 2006 1:28:13 GMT
ive been vegan 15 years iv never joined, close to joining a few times when i thought i was off to gaol, (it was hard having vegan food if you wasnt)
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Post by lilachamster on Oct 20, 2006 16:07:13 GMT
I think the Vegan Society has an excellent and inspiring magazine, and a great local network of contacts and groups.
I would love to see the local network expand more so no vegans are isolated, and I wish that more vegans would get involved actively in promoting veganism and supporting vegans and aspiring vegans in their own local area.
I would support some of the motions this year, including the one put forward by Veggiesosage and will be there to vote although I don't support the motion seeking to remove one particular person, I am definitely not a fan of witch-hunts, this is really uncalled for against someone who has worked hard and tirelessly for veganism. I consider this person a friend and she actually supported me when I was getting a very rough deal from someone else within the Vegan Society a couple of years back. She stood up for me against being scapegoated and excluded when I had done nothing to deserve this treatment. There have been accusations of bullying against my friend in a mailing (which was not from the VS and in my view was an abuse of the members list) but I can state honestly that in my experience this does not sound like how she is at all, in fact just the opposite, she is a person who champions the underdog.
I hope the people orchestrating this will rethink the damage they are doing. They can only hurt the Vegan Society as well as individual people by behaving in this way. I believe they have a lot of good ideas, only to ruin it by trying to witch-hunt out one person and this could risk losing them support altogether for anything else they stand for.
I certainly agree with the idea of an education officer. I am all for more accessible information on the web about what council are doing, but I don't think we need this kind of unpleasantness to bring about positive growth. I thought we were all on the same side!!
Lesley
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Post by applecrumble on Oct 21, 2006 20:53:06 GMT
hi Lilac i'm sorry you feel your friend is the subject of a witch hunt, but the reform agenda is signed by so many people especially ex employees that something is seriously wrong at the VS. In a business high staff turnover indicates failure, so who is responsible for the 50% staff turnover? I doubt one person alone could achieve that, but if I found that many people unwilling to work with me for the good of the outfit I'd quit. Resign and let them get onwith it.
If it is true that the Company Secretary edited motions something is seriously wrong and maybe Companies House should look into it.
Expect nothing from the AGM, it's all hot air and evasion. I went to one and the commitee just stonewalled the membership, said we cannot discuss staff matters. No, but they could discuss their approach to staff matters and what they are trying to achieve.
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Post by applecrumble on Oct 21, 2006 21:00:32 GMT
For a lot of people working for the Vegan Society would be their ideal job, so if so many people get hired there and leave quickly something is wrong.
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Post by veggiesosage on Oct 22, 2006 14:01:58 GMT
As I said in one of the other threads, in my opinion its a mistake to discuss the letter that was sent out only to full Vegan Soc members in a public forum. This isn't a mod I hasten to add, its just my opinion. Its especially sensitive in that one person has been named in that document and I should say that, from a moderator's point of view people should be especially careful about discussing them, in case m'learned friends become involved.
I have worked in a number of voluntary sector organisations, at least one of which was probably bigger then the Vegan Soc, so I've seen many of the things that can go wrong. Reading between the lines with all this stuff flying around it would be easy to draw some conclusions but it would prob be best to keep them to myself for now.
I will be at the AGM for the first time so will be interesting to see how that goes.
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Post by applecrumble on Oct 23, 2006 9:15:01 GMT
Hi veggiesosage, i don't know where the other thread is where you made comments?
You're right the letter says it is only for members, but the issues in it are mostly public. The society's AGM notice sent to all members is public and publishes the resolutions including one calling for the removal of a named trustee, and that trustees response, so that name really is public. If you are a trustee or employee of the VS your name is published in every issue of the Vegan. Presumably anyone can get the AGM info via the Charity Comission.
i haven't named anyone because it wasn't relevant to what I said, but I see no legal or moral problem with doing so. If what you say is true it is not libel, and you have freedom of speech to make fair comment on public issues.
In fact I think there has been much too much silence on this, and maybe some self censorship, and that has made the problems drag on. Total transparency at the Vegan Society is needed or members will just leave, these probems cover 10 years now.
I know an activist who couldn't list events or a local group on the VS website because she wasn't a member. Did she then join? No, she told everyone how useless the VS is.
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Post by applecrumble on Oct 23, 2006 9:27:43 GMT
previous post edited to remove confusing typo.
Another thing - VS ended their email discussion group without ever telling anyone. I stopped getting messages and later when I checked with a friend I found it was dead. Couldn't they have sent an email sayiing so?
And they could have asked if anyone wanted to set up a new one. Why didn't they?
And the discussion forum on VS website also disappeared without announcement or explanation, yet the site still has a link to Forum.
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Post by applecrumble on Oct 23, 2006 12:10:17 GMT
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Post by veggiesosage on Oct 23, 2006 20:26:08 GMT
Hi AC,
I think the extra letter did include stuff about the named person that wasn't in the official Vegan Soc documents so thats why I wouldn't want to repeat it in public myself.
Other than that you're right about the official VS stuff being in the public domain I'm sure.
It all seems a bit of a mess with lots of factionalism and falling out. And I think it is universally accepted that their website is a bit past it!
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Post by applecrumble on Oct 26, 2006 7:51:19 GMT
Anyone on here actually going to the AGM?
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