Final minutes for Autcape Board meeting 25th October 2025 4pm IRC
Meeting opened 16:04
Present: Elaine, Heta, Kacey, Martha, Martijn, Richard, Trish
Apologies: James
Chair: Kacey
Approval of Agenda
Motion passed: 7 votes for
1. Approvals
1.1. Approval of the minutes of the Sept 2025 board meeting as posted to the list on 23rd October 2025
Motion passed: 7 votes for
2. Ratifications
2.1. Ratification of the decision proposed by the chair to appoint Richard Chandler as the fundraising coordinator (as the liaison between the Chair of the Fundraising Subcommittee and the board). Taken on list on 23rd October 2025, 8 For
Motion passed: 7 votes for
3. Proposals
3.1. The Chair proposed that Autscape take over the cost of the Autscape phone contract.
Note: The contract was set up by the chair prior to Autscape 2025 as a necessity due to the old phone contract and number having expired at a cost of £5.00+VAT per month this year, increasing to £5.50+VAT in April 2026 and £6.00+VAT in April 2027.
Motion passed: 7 votes for
3.2. The Company Secretary proposed that Kacey be reimbursed the set up costs already paid for the Autscape phone contract as follows:
27/05/25 - £6.97
26/06/25 - £6
28/07/25 - £6
26/08/25 - £6
26/09/25 - £6
27/10/25 - £6
The total is £36.97.
Motion passed: 7 votes for
3.3. The Event Manager for Online Autscape 2026 proposed that Autscape get their own Zoom account. The cost is approximately £65 per year, plus £40 per month for the uplift for large meetings for the event itself.
Rationale: Using the EUCAP one hasn't worked well, so this makes a lot of sense. We should also be able to get a 50% charity discount on the usual costs. It looks more professional to have our own account. Plus we use Zoom for the fundraising subcommittee and event management team meetings.
(It's a maximum of £65 + 80 if we have hybrid in the summer. we don't need that every month, it's £65 because we pay the £40 uplift to EUCAP anyway)
Motion passed: 6 votes for, 1 abstention
4. Follow ups
None
5. Role reports
5.1. Chair
The Chair reported they have had a busy month and posted a long report on the board list for last month. They had nothing new to report, but were am somewhat disappointed that there were no replies
5.2. Company Secretary
The Company Secretary reported they will be working on AGM stuff next week. They have a few more policies to bring to the board as well.
5.3. Treasurer
Report will be sent to the list
5.4. Event manager online event Feb 26
The Event Manager reported they have had a busy month, but this is their top priority now.
(it was confirmed it can be announced on the website and that server issues are sorted)
The Event Manager said they will get the appendices finalised and sent to the board list ASAP, and get the CfP open
5.5. Event manager Aug 25 - final report
The Event Manager reported that on the whole it was a good event. We had a couple of minor incidents and they will bring these to the list for a discussion later. We continue to hone in how we organise and had a good lot of volunteers which worked well. Hopefully they will stay on board.
5.6. Tech Coordinator
The Tech Coordinator reported that the recent tech difficulties were the result of a hardware failure at the provider which required some time (and someone's physical presence in the data centre) to work out. They're resolved now. The provider has previously been very reliable so hopefully they'll be back to their old uptime levels now. He also has a backup solution which is high priority on his to do list and hopes to have it done by the next meeting, however they have some personal issues at the minute. To be raised on list.
5.7. Chair of Fundraising
It is my pleasure to report that the Fundraising Subcommittee has begun to make some progress on several fronts. Below is a summary of our current work for the board’s perusal.
Fundraising pack:
The majority of work done by the subcommittee in October was in preparing a draft Fundraising Pack for the board to view and provide feedback on. As of the date of this report, no feedback has been provided by board members who are not also subcommittee members.
Pin badges:
The Fundraising Subcommittee have begun work to provide a proposal to the board regarding pin badges.
Streaming:
Discussion has revealed a need to develop a set of guidelines which can be provided to online streamers / influencers. The subcommittee invites comments from the board as to what elements of Autscape might be best promoted in this manner. The subcommittee has identified that this could be a good avenue to promote Autscape to young people, but also that this group is unlikely to account for more than 10% of potential delegates. Young people primarily consume content on TikTok, Discord, and Instagram. That said, there are a number of possibilities to promote Autscape to more mature audiences via YouTube / Facebook / Bluesky in particular. Whilst Mastodon is a growing platform, it is unclear at this time if it will be a useful promotional asset. LinkedIn may be too niche for general promotion, but could be of use in promoting Autscape among professionals / potential presenters.
Three Guineas Trust:
Whilst our meeting with the Three Guineas Trust was overall quite positive, they are currently undergoing a budget review, and are thus unable to allocate funds at this time. This likely means that they will not be able to help with 2026 venue costs, but the subcommittee feels that they are likely to come back to us with a proposal once they have completed this process. Kacey will maintain a line of communication with our contact Matthew Williams.
Direct Fundraising:
The Fundraising Subcommittee have begun work on a collection pot policy.
Kacey, Ian and Oz have attended an event held by Abda, a local businesswoman who runs catering services and a restaurant in Cheshire. The event was very popular, and we have left a collection pot with both Abda (who has previously indicated a desire to help us) and also with the local brewery who were hosting the event. Abda is responsible for both pots, and the brewery will be handing their pot to Abda once their event is over. Abda is known by Kacey and Ian to be a trustworthy person, so it was felt that the risk in leaving collection pots (with seals) in their care is minimal. Once we have the collection pot policy in place, we can also give a copy to Abda.
During the event, two members of the public used the QR code on the handbook we brought to the event to make donations on the spot.
The brewery has indicated a desire to collaborate with us, and suggested that further collaboration with other organisations they are involved with could be possible. The subcommittee will prepare an email to them soon.
We will need to update the artwork on the collection pots urgently to reflect the change in Autscape’s registered address. It also became clear that we need to include the donation QR code on the collection pots.
A need to create and provide some promotional material alongside the collection pots has been identified.
The Fundraising Regulator:
Ian has applied to sign Autscape up to the Fundraising Regulator, at a cost of £60. This will necessitate Autscape updating some of its procedural documents in order to comply with the requirements of the FRR. The Fundraising Subcommittee will undertake the task of providing a list of the required changes for the board’s information.
5.8. Membership secretary
Report will be sent to the list
6. AOB
No other business
Closed part of the meeting
7. Nominations
7. 1. Nomination of Event manager for Autscape 2026
(confidential information redacted)
Following a discussion in which concerns were expressed about the nominees the decision was deferred.
Elaine left the meeting.
Meeting closed: 17:27