Cambridgejudge Business School, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1AG

CCF COUNCIL13th June 2013

CCFAGM & GENERAL COUNCIL MEETINGMINUTES

13th June 2013, 1600-1800

CambridgeJudge Business School, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1AG

CCF AGM - 1600-1645
Chair: Pamela Abbott
Minutes: Riam Knapp
1. Welcome, introductions and apologies / The meeting was opened by the Chair, Pamela Abbott, with a welcome, self-introductions were made by the 25 people present representing 22 organisations and 15 apologies representing a further 6 organisations were read out by the Secretary (see Attendance Record at Annex 1)
2. Review of the Year / The outgoing Chair gave the CCF Chair’s Report (see Report at Annex 2) containing a review of year, noting highlights. The report document has been circulated and uploaded to website. In addition:-
The Chair called upon and encouraged organisations to:

Sign up for the Summer Symposium
Get involved with CCF events and ideas (e.g., the Annual Symposium)
Get involved with uploading to the CCF website, instructions to be sent upon request

The Carbon Task Force had been published on the CCF website and will be launched at the Summer Symposium
Notification to member organisations that CCF's engagement with CCI means member organisations can apply for the CCI collaborative fund.Congratulations to TNC who applied through CCF and got funded in the latest funding round.
Gratitude was formally expressed to CCI for hosting CCF – including today’s meeting, and the symposium.
Formal thanks were also expressed to the following: -
Jason Cleeton for leading the Carbon Task Force
Lisa Harris for her year as CCF’s Communications and major events coordinator
The outgoing Committee including:

Rebecca Lodge for her work on the newsletter
Rachel Austin

Peter Herkenrath for organising the debriefings. (A volunteer is now being sought to replace the Peter in organising debriefings)
Anthony Albertyn for the website and newsletter development
Toby Gardner for leading CCF Committee input to the development report, the website and newsletter re-development and its launch at the representatives evening
Emily Chenery for designing the CCF events posters
General thanks to all from the outgoing Chair

3. Treasurer’s report. / Toby Gardner gave the Treasurer’s Report (at Annex 3) highlighting key figures.
The year’s expenditure was £12,000 with £1,000 in the bank. Formal thanks were expressed to Pamela Abbott and Pete Brotherton for donating proceeds from their teaching to CCF.The report was unanimously approved.
4. CCF Council Elections / The elections were held, overseen by the Chair.
Candidates present (Roger Mitchell and Lauren Evans) spoke briefly about themselves before exiting the room.
Apologies were noted for candidates who could not be present: Will Simonson (stuck in France by the air traffic controllers strike) and Gayle Burgess.
Following due process, the following persons were unanimously elected to CCF Committee positions by those present and 5 ‘in absentia’ votes received (see Attendance Record attached):

Roger Mitchell as Chair
Will Simonson as Deputy Chair
Lauren Evans as Treasurer
Gayle Burgess as Newsletter Editor

CCF General Council Meeting - 1645-1830
Chair: Roger Mitchell
Minutes: Riam Knapp / The new Chair formally recognised the very valuable contribution of outgoing Chair and Treasurer to CCF and presented each with a small, bottle shaped, gift.
Emily Chenery also expressed appreciation to Pamela and Toby on behalf of all the representatives and presented flowers to both.
5. Minutes of previous Council Meeting (24th January 2013) / These were approved and are up on the CCF website under ‘Reports’.
There were no matters arising not caught up in the minutes.
6. Applications for Organisational Membership / Applications had been received from The Biodiversity Consultancy, P J Elements, Arc-Ecological Services Ltd and Cambridge Conservation Volunteers.Vince Lea (for Cambridge Conservation Volunteers) and Roger Mitchell (For ARC Ecological Services) each gave a brief description of their organisations; The Biodiversity Consultancy and PJ Elements had made statements at a previous Council Meeting.
The Chair stated that the Committee has done due diligence, and was putting these four organisations to the Council for approval.
ACTION CCF Committee: It was agreed that in future there should be a clearer mechanism for reviewing membership applications, and that it would be good to hear from the applicant members why they would like to be members.
Following due process with chairing by ex-Chair as new Chair was representing one of the organisations, all four were unanimously approved, and it was declared that CCF now consists of 56 member organisations.
ACTIONNew member Organisations: To let the Membership Secretary know who their two reps will be, and send their contacts, logo and brief organisational description to be put on the CCF website.
7. Organisational Membership and Representative strategy. / Toby Gardner asked for help from Council to identify long-absent members: Environment Trust Africa and Resource Africa. The recommendation was made that if these members were not located and had responded by the next Council meeting, their membership would be deemed to be annulled. This was agreed by Council.
Toby reported that 31 organisations still have to propose a second representative which was a new requirement agreed at the representatives meeting on 15 May.
Action Member organisations: Should inform Toby Gardner and Samir Whitaker who their second representative is asap., and also ask individuals in their organisations to sign up individually for newsletters.
A call for contributions to the newsletter was made.
8. New Constitutional Bylaws / New Bylaws on CCF Committee procedure and membership were tabled for approval (see Annex 4), and after discussion, were approved by Council.
The discussion included the following salient points for action:

It was proposed that clear bylaws be drafted on voting and decision-making, including raising the quorum to 30% of Organisational Members at Council, excluding from the calculation those Organisational Members who apologise in advance for non-attendance. It was recognised that this required a vote on amending the constitution. The Council voted in favour of this.

It was agreed that a new draft set of rules will be drawn up for approval at the next Council Meeting..

9. CCF Strategy / Pamela Abbott sought Council’s approval for the CCF Strategy document; it was approved.
Pamela asked that those who would like to contribute to it in future (it is a living document) via the Strategy Committeeto contact the Chair and ex-Chair.
10. Website and Newsletter / Toby Gardner gave an update on the website and newsletter and also on social media use in CCF (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter). The newsletter currently has 1,201 subscribers.
Action Toby: To give CCF Reps figures on how many people from their respective organisations had subscribed to the newsletters.
It was suggested that CCF should have a Twitter account.
Toby asked for help with the Newsletter in the compilation and distribution role, when Lisa was not able to do it.
11. Application for Charitable Status / The Chair presented an update on CCF’s application for Charitable Status, indicating that submission would be in the coming months. The question of Trusteeship arose, with the Council asking the Committee who had been approached and identifying the need to articulate how Trustees would be appointed.
It was agreed that the Committee will proceed with the initial nomination of the four identified Trustees: Andrew Balmford, Rosie Trevelyan, Pamela Abbott (Ex-Chair)and Roger Mitchell (current Chair) and then come back to Council with the procedure after CIO approval has been granted in order to not further delay submission.
It was further agreed that once Charitable status had been obtained, then all CCF Committee members would become ex officio Trustees. The Trustees would function in the Governance in a similar way to the present Committee.
12. Fundraising Strategy / The Chair presented an update on the Fundraising strategy and explained the proposed contract with Pete Johnstone for the Council’s information and approval. The contract award was duly approved by Council.
The Chair was keen that others with a track-record in fund-raising joined the CCF fund-raising group.
13. CCF’s relationship with CCI / Pamela Abbott and Roger Mitchell explained the various CCI Committees and Groups on which they represented CCF. Pamela’ role as CCF rep on CCI Steering Committee will now pass to Roger Mitchell as CCF Chair.
A new CCI/CCF Group is to be established to look at the complementarity between the strategies of the two organisations and Council will be informedof progress and the results of deliberations in due course.
CCI, through Mike Rands, had very kindly agreed to provide a c/o address for CCF at The Judge Business School, an address being one of the prerequisites for charitable status. CCF were extremely grateful for CCI and The Judge Business School for this and for allowing CCF free use of the Judge facilities for meetings and symposia. CCF was also very grateful to CCI for allowing the buying of some of the time of Lisa Harris in helping with coordination of CCF meeting, events and other work. Unfortunately, until CCF’s bank balance improved, this arrangement would have to lapse.
14. Reports on recent CCF events and activities. / Most of these had been covered in the ex-Chair’s report in the AGM. The successful Representatives Eventwill become an annual event.
15. Forthcoming CCF events / Pamela Abbott would continue to play a role in the social events deputising for the CCF Social Secretary when Lucy is away. She asked for potential recruits to ‘The Conservationists’ jazz-rock band (which may play at the CCF Christmas Party) to contact her, and also asked for ideas for future social events.
16. Date and venue of next meeting / Probably in October when the Universities are back.
In order to select the best time for Council meetings, CCF Representatives will be balloted.
17. AOB / Pamela Abbott proposed a Women in Conservation Leadership network event, which was approved. Toby Gardner suggested that this group not be exclusive of men.
Philine zu Ermgassen offered to revive the Marine Conservation Sub-Group, which was approved with thanks.

Annex 1

ATTENDANCE RECORD

NAME / ORGANISATION / EMAIL
1 / Pete Johnstone / P.J. Elements /
2 / Richard Phillips / British Antarctic Survey (BAS) /
3 / Daniel Hayhow / RSPB /
4 / Robin Loveridge / Fauna & Flora International (FFI) /
5 / Dominic Lewis / Cambridge University Press (CUP) /
6 / Elizabeth Allen / Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI) /
7 / Peter Pilbeam / Cambridgeshire Mammal Group /
8 / Cassie Bradley / FFI /
9 / John Pilgrim / The Biodiversity Consultancy (TBC) /
10 / Sarah Brooks / UNEP-WCMC /
11 / Ali Johnston / British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) /
12 / Anthony Lamb / University of Cambridge, Zoology Dept /
13 / Toby Gardner / University of Cambridge, Zoology Dept /
14 / Lauren Evans / University of Cambridge, Geography Dept /
15 / Vince Lea / Countryside Restoration Trust, Cambridgeshire Bird Club, Cambridge Conservation Volunteers /
16 / Amy Milam / UNEP-WCMC /
17 / Craig Hilton-Taylor / IUCN Species Survival Commission /
18 / Keith Virgo / Tropical Agriculture Association (TAA) /
19 / Pamela Abbott / Natural England /
20 / Rose Trevelyan / Tropical Biology Association (TBA) /
21 / Philine zu Ermgassen / The Nature Conservancy, University of Cambridge, Zoology Dept /
22 / Emily Chenery / University of Cambridge, Geography Dept. /
23 / Riam Knapp / University of Cambridge Geography Dept. /
24 / Roger Mitchell / Amphibian & Reptile Conservation, ARC Ecological Services Ltd /
25 / Francine Hughes / Anglia Ruskin University. /

Apologies:

1. Samir Whittaker, BirdLife

2. Consu Sartori, BirdLife

3. Gayle Burgess, TRAFFIC

4. Lucy Goodman, UNEP-WCMC

5. Lisa Harris CCF Coordinator

6. Teresa Mulliken, TRAFFIC

7. Tony Ghent, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation

8. Nigel Cooper, Diocese of Ely

9. Oliver Burke, Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire

10. Annette Lanjouw, Arcus Foundation

11. Simon Brockington, International Whaling Commission (IWC)

12. Kate Wilson, IWC

13. Helen Doran, Natural England Cambridge

14. Will Simonson – University of Cambridge, Plant Sciences

15. Mark Spalding, TNC

CCF votes in absentia received electronically

Submitted by / Dated / Organisation / Content
1 / Dr. David Coomes / 12 June 2013 / University of Cambridge, Plant Sciences, Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, / In favour
2 / Nigel Cooper / 12 June 2013 / Diocese of Ely / In favour
3 / Tony Ghent / 10 May 2013 / Amphibian & Reptile Conservation / In favour
4 / Teresa Mulliken / 8 May 2013 / TRAFFIC / In favour
5 / Mark Spalding / 12 June 2013 / TNC / In favour

Annex 2

Chair’s report

Link to report on CCF website:

Annex 3

Cambridge Conservation Forum 2013 AGM Treasurer's Report

13th June, 2013

Toby Gardner

Report for 2012-2013

Balance as of 13th June: £920.16

Total income in last year: £9277.91

Total expenditure in last year: £12060.07

Net change in CCF assets: -£2782.16

NB: Totals do not include partial income to date for 2013 Summer Symposium, and include up to full accounting of Annual Symposium and Ceilidh for 2012.

Major expenditures in last year:

Website and newsletter redevelopment = £3600
Contribution to Lisa Harris' salary as CCF Coordinator = £4000

Annual running costs in last year: £322.58 [website hosting, Representatives evening, working party, carbon offsets)

Major events in last year:

Summer symposium 2012: Surplus of £1345.25
Christmas party 2012: Surplus of £10
Annual symposium 2013: Surplus of £1871.3
Ceilidh 2013: Surplus of 287.5

Table 1 shows that, under the current pricing model, both the Annual and Summer symposia provide a reliable surplus, of £1319 and £485 respectively. On average all the social events make a small loss, with Ceilidh, Christmas Party making an average loss of £12, £108 p.a. respectively, and Summer Social making a small surplus (£42.3 p.a.), with some variability between years. The surpluses made from Symposia have been vital to cover the costs of major expenditures of the contribution to Lisa Harris' salary and the website redevelopment work.

Table 1. Summary of all major CCF events since 2010

Event / Sum of Expenditure / Sum of Income / Balance
Annual Symposium 2010 / 3305.4 / 4465 / 1159.6
Annual Symposium 2011 / 2022.62 / 2925 / 902.38
Annual Symposium 2012 / 2374.75 / 3720 / 1345.25
Annual Symposium 2013 / 2518.7 / 4390 / 1871.3
Ceilidh 2010 / 1668.62 / 1833 / 164.38
Ceilidh 2011 / 1038.72 / 952 / -86.72
Ceilidh 2012 / 804 / 390 / -414
Ceilidh 2013 / 657.5 / 945 / 287.5
Christmas party 2011 / 527.35 / 368.25 / -159.1
Christmas party 2012 / 540 / 550 / 10
Summer Social 2011 / 842.5 / 915 / 72.5
Summer Social 2012 / 355.47 / 367.61 / 12.14
Summer Symposium 2010 / 2989.57 / 3096.47 / 106.9
Summer Symposium 2011 / 1483.15 / 1870 / 386.85
Summer Symposium 2012 / 1576.56 / 2540 / 963.44

Budget for year 2013-2014

Outstanding income: £600 from MPhil teaching during 2012-2013

Major costs:£1000 to Peter Johnstone for fundraising contract

Expected running costs:£300 (estimate)

Net surplus from 2013 summer symposium and 2014 annual symposium (conservative): £1500

Expected balance by 2014 AGM: c. £1700

Toby Gardner

Annex 4

CCF AGM & GENERAL COUNCIL MEETING - 13th June 2013

New Constitutional Bylaws (rules) on CCF Committee procedure and membership

Under Paragraph 10 of the CCF Constitution, the Council is empowered to enact and change bylaws as necessary. These bylaws or procedural rules are common to most organisational constitutions and are used to fine-tune items in the Constitution.

ACTION: The CCF Committee requests that the CCF Council approves the following bylaws agreed by the CCF Committee at its meeting on 15th May 2013:-

Decision making hierarchy (NB The Council and Committee are, constitutionally, the two governing bodies of CCF – Constitution Para 3).
The Council is the prime decision making body and, inter alia, must approve changes in the constitution and bylaws, changes in or new organisational strategies, the annual accounts and budget, organisational membership and large financial transactions.
The Committee is the secondary decision making body and, inter alia, agrees dates and agendas for Committee and Council meetings, dates and programmes for all other events including social events, and prepares papers and undertakes due diligence on issues and makes recommendations to Council on decisions required. The Committee may conduct business between meetings by email or telephone as necessary.
The Executive Committee, presently comprised of Chair, Deputy Chair and Treasurer, has the role of discussing issues and proposing ideas and options to the Committee. It will make decisions as appropriate to relieve the communication burden on full Committee and also decide which matters should be referred to Council for approval. The Chair, Deputy Chair and Secretary also receive the majority of external CCF communications and are responsible for processing this for consideration by Committee.
The Chair, as constitutional head of CCF (Constitution Para 15.1), may exercise their discretion and represent CCF and make decisions on all matters where speed is of the essence and time does not permit effective wider consultation.
Notice period for decisions.
Agendas and papers should be prepared one week ahead of Council and Committee meetings for circulation and information.
For Committee decisions between meetings, five working days should be allowed for Committee members to respond.
Meeting schedules
Council should meet not less than 3 times a year (Constitution Para 11.1).
Committee should meet 6 times a year or approximately every two months.
Executive Committee should meet as necessary between Council and Committee meetings.
Covering Committee positions
It is the responsibility of each Committee member to ensure that their position is adequately covered by a second CCF member when away and out of contact through work commitments or holiday.
Some Committee positions may warrant a job-share arrangement. Such arrangements should be approved by the Committee and those job-sharing would both be members of the Committee.

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