ECF Reporting of Board meetings

[David Robertson]

Minutes of December 16

7(d)
Membership:
DT reported a total of 8400 current members (as compared with 9500 at the end of the last membership year). As a result, the budget prediction rose from £101.5K to £120K. AP asked all directors to think about membership targets in preparation for a ‘membership drive’.

Is this a 'like-for-like' annual comparison? Or are there mitigating factors - ie. that 8400 is not yet a 'full year'?

[Sean Hewitt]

Minutes of December 16

7(d)
Membership:
DT reported a total of 8400 current members (as compared with 9500 at the end of the last membership year).

Is this a 'like-for-like' annual comparison? Or are there mitigating factors - ie. that 8400 is not yet a 'full year'?

It's not a like for like comparison. As the minute says, it is comparing the current position (i.e. as at 16 December 2013) with the position as at the end of the last membership year (31 August 2013). The current membership total stands a little over 9000.

[Mick Norris]

Looking at the Membership lists on the ECF website, last year ended above 9,800 and this year is just above 9,000, so the current shortfall is about 800

Our experience in Manchester was that some players joined at the end of the league season (May/June) when they had played enough games (league/county) to justify the membership fee as against the game fee (or possibly their clubs enrolled them?)

I would guess, therefore, that membership numbers are quite stable

The MCF software tells me that there are players (like Jeff Horner) already in this situation, who I would thought would join in the next few months

[Roger de Coverly]

I would guess, therefore, that membership numbers are quite stable

If a "membership drive" is required, where do AP and the Directors expect new members to come from? We know there are usually around 15,000 players with at least one graded game, but surely the missing 5,000 are those are either not required to be members because they are visitors in FIDE rated tournaments or those for whom it is not economic to become members by virtue of the limited number of games they are playing.

If you demand that players become members as a condition of playing graded chess, you have to an extent a captive market, but one limited to the head count that you can persuade to play in the first place.

[Angus French]

Minutes of December 16

7(d)
Membership:
DT reported a total of 8400 current members (as compared with 9500 at the end of the last membership year).

Is this a 'like-for-like' annual comparison? Or are there mitigating factors - ie. that 8400 is not yet a 'full year'?

It's not a like for like comparison. As the minute says, it is comparing the current position (i.e. as at 16 December 2013) with the position as at the end of the last membership year (31 August 2013). The current membership total stands a little over 9000.

A year ago, on 5 Feb 2013, membership was 8,932 (after stripping out memberships with a prior Due Date).

[Angus French]

Snapshots of the Board Meetings of 19 January and 7 March are now available: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/about-2/minutes/

[Roger de Coverly]

Snapshots of the Board Meetings of 19 January and 7 March are now available:

One major piece of news

By unanimous decision, the Board authorised the Chairman of the Charity and Recognition Committee to establish a charitable trust as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). It is to be presented to the Finance Council in April. The reasons for moving away from the previous approach of converting the ECF itself into a charity and establishing a new
company for non-charitable purposes were to ensure that ECF funds could still be used to fund professional players and to retain flexibility in accepting commercial and media sponsorship. The Finance team was asked to consider options for contributing all or part of the Permanent Invested Fund to the charity.

So the idea of splitting the ECF into two has been abandoned. Rightly so, as the only split that ever made much sense would have been "adult" and exclusively junior.

CIO's are a recently established legal form which is halfway between an unincorporated organisation and a Company limited by Guarantee. I doubt there's much general knowledge that such a structure even exists, let alone what you can do with it.

The unincorporated BCF had what it called the Permanent Invested Fund. This is an investment portfolio originally financed, I would imagine, mostly by legacies with a remit to support British or possibly English chess. There was a proposal to asset strip it back in the days of Andrew Farthing, but its Trust Deed is up for renewal and it became something of an anomaly once the ECF was set up.

What will be the proposed relationship between the ECF and the CIO remains to be seen. The idea of the ECF becoming a charity was to get tax concessions, both VAT and the possibility of Gift Aid. I also presume invested funds would have a favoured tax position if held by a CIO.

With reference to another thread, from the March meeting

The Board declared its intention to instruct the FIDE Delegate to cast the ECF’s vote for Garry Kasparov in the FIDE Presidential Election. The Board will review the matter after nominations close. The Chief Executive will proceed with the invitation already extended to the incumbent FIDE President and the incumbent ECU President to campaign in England. Subsequent to the meeting, I accepted an invitation from the Irish Chess Union to participate in one of Garry Kasparov’s campaign events at the end of March. It is also an opportunity to discuss matters with other local federations in advance of a BICC meeting being organised in May

[Mick Norris]

Snapshots of the Board Meetings of 19 January and 7 March are now available: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/about-2/minutes/

The full minutes of the meeting in between these are well worth a read

[Roger de Coverly]

The full minutes of the meeting in between these are well worth a read

It might be worth saving an external copy as they make references to disputes which may be claimed in the future not to have happened.

[Peter D Williams]

It might be worth saving an external copy as they make references to disputes which may be claimed in the future not to have happened.

You are right as the ECF has a long history of attempting to forget about disputes or attempting to hide the evdence over a dispute.

Rules me out from becoming your new Presdent as i belive issues should be out in the open for every one to see

May be pasta tonight.

[Stewart Reuben]

Oh what a tangled web you weave when first you practice to make pasta.

[Peter D Williams]

Oh what a tangled web you weave when first you practice to make pasta.

Hello Stewart hope you are keeping well.Peter grand dad sends his regards to you and always remembers the trip to Gibraltar all those years ago.
When i become Presdent of the ECF i make you a lovely dish of Pasta

Tonight it is chicken Garlic.

[JustinHorton]

Snapshots of the Board Meetings of 19 January and 7 March are now available: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/about-2/minutes/

We're nearly three months on. 19 January's are headed "in draft and in confidence". 7 March is still represented by a snapshot. Is anybody in a position to say what's happening?

[Sean Hewitt]

Snapshots of the Board Meetings of 19 January and 7 March are now available: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/about-2/minutes/

We're nearly three months on. 19 January's are headed "in draft and in confidence". 7 March is still represented by a snapshot. Is anybody in a position to say what's happening?

Phil Ehr is responsible for this unacceptable delay. If it's any consolation, it's not just the membership who are treated this way. I lost count of the number of emails that I sent when on the board chasing late and / missing minutes. At one meeting, I recall that we had no minutes for the previous three meetings. When minutes did turn up, they were of poor quality and you sometimes wondered if the writer (Phil) had been to the same meeting as the rest of us. Bizarrely, he turned down multiple offers to take on this role - no doubt to ensure the minutes said what he wanted them to say. I've said before, the ECF can't proceed with any of the grandiose plans evidenced by Phil's 'white papers' until it can get the basics right.

It's possible that Angus may have more luck than I, although I notice that he has not posted on the forum since 15 May. In other words, he hasn't posted since he joined the board. I wonder if this is a coincidence?

[Leonard Barden]

It's possible that Angus may have more luck than I, although I notice that he has not posted on the forum since 15 May. In other words, he hasn't posted since he joined the board. I wonder if this is a coincidence?

A little bird informed me last week that board members have been advised/told not to post in the Forum....