UNAE AGM
November 7th 2015
In attendance
George Grubb – Convenor
Martin Verity – Treasurer
Lydia Moore – Secretary
| Marion Ulas | Katherine Baxter | Liz Sim |
| Elizabeth Grubb | Ka Wing Wong | Gillian Gaines |
| Dabir Tehrani | Monica Spooner (Visitor) | Roger Spooner (Visitor) |
- Welcome
George Grubb welcomed the group and Lydia Moore read the preamble of the UN Charter.
- Apologies
Dr Gari Donn
- Minutes of the last meeting
Approved.
- Matters arising
Charitable status
Martin Verity spoke to the office of OCSR approving the UNAE status as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation in October 2014. The status was confirmed just before the AGM in 2014. UNAE exists in two forms – as an unincorporated organisation and as a charity. The SCIO’s accounts are formatted to OSCR standards and the new committee will need to send an annual report to OSCA for 2015. Those on the committee are also trustees so we have an obligation to run it appropriately. In addition, when there is contact with other organisations, we must quote our charity number on all communications.
44 Frederick Street
A brief background: 44FS has been leased, for the past 17 years, to an organisation who had a history of being unreliable with rental payments. After the organisation did not pay rent for eleven months, a solicitor was involved. The organisation paid to date at the time but was asked to leave the premises by June. 44FS was not vacated until August with no rent paid for the time elapsed since June. The matter has gone to Sherriff court to recover the unpaid rent and legal fees spent during recovery. The matter went to court on the 16th November 2015. The current offer is less than half of the amount owed (£1700). The choice is to continue with legal process or to accept the offer. Ka Wing is looking for a network of start-ups to take the office. The office was previously valued at £60,000, it is currently fitted with BT lines and the decoration (whilst old fashioned) is suitable.
- Reports from Convener, Secretary , Treasurer
Convener
This has been a year of consolidation: meetings on Climate, Refugees and the UN70 celebration were well attended and it was wonderful to partner with UNAS and CIFAL. Regular community meetings have been going well. We welcome Lydia onto the board of trustees as she is also the Project Manager of UN House.
Thank you for your encouragement over the year and our thanks go to the Rev J Christopher Wigglesworth for hosting the UN service at St Giles on 18th October. I came away inspired at the international outlook he wove into the service. Chris has also become a member of UNAE.
Secretary
The membership has dropped since 2014 by 28% (2014: 149 members; 115 paid – 2015: 129 members; 80 paid). 49 people lapsed in their membership as they haven’t renewed. We need to encourage more members to join, we gain the most numbers at conferences. Membership has gone down in the voluntary sector in general but it has gone up in political parties since the Independence referendum. We can invest in lobbying, relations with media, the website and social media. We had an event looking at the refugee crisis – the first event held by civil society in Scotland – and we are hosting an event on Gender Equality in November. We hope to raise our membership at events such as these.
Treasurer
I would like to thank Liz for bearing most of the stress over 44FS – we are hoping this issue will be resolved soon.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with OSCR regulations. The AGM approved the annual accounts.
The list of members is sent from London once a month in addition to the list of trustees.
- Elections of Officers: Convenor, Vice Convenor, Secretary, Honorary Treasurer
| Person | Position | Nominated By | Seconded By |
| George Grubb | Convenor | Martin Verity | Dabir Tehrani |
| Martin Verity | Treasurer | Gari Donn | Liz Sim |
| Lydia Moore | Secretary | Gari Donn | Martin Verity |
| Gari Donn | Committee | Marion Ulas | Martin Verity |
| Jingyi Li | Committee | Marion Ulas | Martin Verity |
| Elizabeth Grubb | Committee | Martin Verity | Dabir Tehrani |
| Margaret Crisp (if willing) | Committee | Martin Verity | Lydia Moore |
| Marion Ulas | Committee | Gari Donn | George Grubb |
| Ka Wing Wong | Committee | Marion Ulas | Katherine Baxter |
- Elections of Seven Committee Members to the Management Committee
This was dealt with in (6.). The DONM will be set by the new committee.
- AOCB
George Grubb spoke to the recent conferences held by the Edinburgh Peace Initiative and has testified to their success.
