Dear Members
Our September wishes to you!
At our follow up AGM this year, where we reported that the shop was struggling financially, we agreed to report back to our Members at a Special Meeting to update you on the financial position of Dig-In and our progress in returning the shop to sustainable operations. We have spent the past 5 months working hard at this with much support from staff, volunteers and with much appreciated input from Community Shares Scotland and the Plunkett Foundation. Please see the invite below to the Special Members Meeting – we hope you can make it!
There are two other exciting developments we would very much appreciate your support on too and one request for Management Committee members.
Our Rules were agreed way back in 2013, and are very much in need of updating. Please have a look at the new proposed rules and the information below.
Our team and customers have done a great job in increasing our sales (thank you, supporters!) such that we can proudly report a profit in each of the past 4 months which we hope to sustain, However, the business needs more resilience and improvements including renovating the shop and a new up to date Electronic Point of Sale system to replace our outdated system. To this end we are also seeking your support to raise additional funds through our second Share Issue. Our hope is that this will not only raise much needed capital to allow us to invest in improvements and face risks going forward with the financial resilience required, but also raise our profile in the community and expand our membership.
We are also looking for volunteers to join our 5 strong Management Committee, in particular those who would be able to contribute financial and HR experience. Please see details below.
You will find the formal meeting details below, and more papers will follow. We hope to have your support and look forward to meeting you on the 21st of September.
Dig-in Management Committee
Amanda Lake (Chair), Sue Lane, Melanie Main, Will Sohler, Marie-Amelie Viatte
RSVP by letting us know via Email below:
Proposed new rules for the Society
Your approval is needed to update the Dig In governing rules!
The proposed new Rules are here attached and will be voted on at the Special Members Meeting on 21st September. We really need enough votes to be quorate and allow us to approve so please take the time to vote! We would very much hope that you can attend and vote in person but if you cannot be there in person, you can email through a proxy vote (to chair@diginbruntsfield.co.uk), by Wednesday 20th September at the latest. It’s as simple as saying: “yes, I would like to approve the proposed new Rules and I give my proxy vote to the chair of the MC at the Special Members Meeting”.
‘Why new Rules?’ you might ask. Simply because the current ones (which you can read here) haven’t been updated since 2013 and the Plunkett Foundation (which supports community businesses like Dig In) have advised us to review them. To reassure everyone, this update doesn’t affect any of what Dig In is about; the changes are administrative, sensible, and help to strengthen our overall governance. We don’t expect any of this to be controversial, but need a majority to agree to the change before the new Rules can be formally adopted and registered with the Financial Conduct Authority. The key changes are:
- – Quorum for Members’ Meeting reducing to 5% of Members (it’s currently 10% and is hard to attain and cumbersome).
- – Members’ minimum age increasing to 16 years-old (it’s currently 5 years-old and considered too low in view of the decision-making responsibilities of Members. Note that ‘gifted shares’ can still be purchased for under 16 year-olds.).
- – Allowing for Management Committee and Members’ Meetings to take place online with the same quorum as if in person.
- – Entirely new sections: complaint against a Member (3.8), voting at Members’ Meetings (4.16), annual return to FCA (6.14), transfers of engagements (7.6), settlement of disputes (9.12) – all sensible and nothing controversial.
- – Explicit reference to a Share Withdrawal Policy (here attached).
Our proposed new Rules adopt the template provided by the Plunkett Foundation and we’re grateful to the Plunkett Foundation and Community Shares Scotland for their support in this work. A representative from Community Shares Scotland will be present on 21st September to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you for your support and hope to see you on the 21st or in the shop soon!
