Common Good – Financial Policy

Our approach to money

We may need to adapt our policies as the movement grows and/or more money comes in but a few principles will remain:

We only raise funds to enable our events

We only collect financial support in order to cover genuine costs and enable the events we run. We may build up a surplus for a particular event if interest is high and costs are low but it is not our intention to allow funds to accumulate. We will look to spend it where needed as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

We broaden debate by being inclusive

Events should ideally be free to attend, fun and inclusive. We want to maximise engagement, removing barriers to attendance and contribution wherever possible.

“To change everything, we need everyone”.

We encourage support but do not offer membership

Common Good is not looking to raise significant funds or form a membership body.

We welcome one off or ongoing financial contributions (large or small) from both individuals and organisations but this brings no influence or favour. Contributions are all recognised in the same way - we do not offer opportunities for corporate sponsorship.

Transparent money management based on trust

We work on the basis of mutual respect and the understanding that all of us are volunteering our time to support the Common Good ethos. This feeds through to a high degree of trust around the financial management of events.

If everything we do is transparent, the movement will be able to self-regulate with many eyes helping to keep us accountable. To assist with this all transactions in and out are publicly recorded on (insert link here when available).

We will decentralize where possible

It is easier to manage smaller amounts of money and to take decisions locally, closer to where the money is needed. That’s why we suggest local Common Good groups should form for particular regions or interest areas, create their own collective to start managing their own fundraising and expenses.

The initial team are here to offer support to help them get their own Working Group up and running. In the meantime, they are free to use the national collective (insert link here when available)

Expenses

Expenses incurred in the running of an event can be reclaimed. These could include the following:

· Venue hire

· Speaker travel (if requested)

· Speaker fees (although we generally encourage volunteers)

· AV or broadcast licence charges

Others will occur of course and should be discussed with a financial monitor (currently set up as Vicky, Paul, David and Jaimie but we can keep this under review) before committing to the expenditure.

For expense claims you can submit a request via (insert link here when available) and these will be paid via bank transfer or PayPal. Any expense claim will need to be signed off by one of the financial monitors. An expense submitted by a monitor will need to be signed off by another monitor.

Finance Monitors

Their role is to approve expenses and keep an overview on levels of funds to ensure we are making good use of any finance raised.

The current monitors are:

Vicky (Manchester, insert link here when available)
David (Trafford, (insert link here when available)
Paul (Trafford, insert link here when available)
Jaimie (Stockport, insert link here when available)

This team is to be reviewed regularly at our catch up meetings to see if changes or additional monitors are needed.

Feel free to reach out to them if you have questions about an expense that you'd like to make.

FAQs

Can we rent a room?

As always, try first to get a room for free but if needed, you can rent a place to meet for your Common Good event.

For general meeting space and catch ups we rely on the support of engaged individuals and their employers. Failing that a café will always work.

Can we get compensation as a volunteer?

In short, no. If you need to spend a full day for Common Good (e.g. as a trainer, facilitator or organizer), this will need to be done at no cost to the group. If you can not arrange with your employer it will need to be in your own time.

Can we charge for tickets?

Ideally not and please work to avoid this. For some events, venues or speakers this may be unavoidable but the amount should be held as low as possible.

We can use EventBrite to manage tickets through the centralised Common Good account.

Contribution to Common Good

Financial contribution to Common Good

Collective balance