minutes of the annual meeting held from may 9-11, 2008 - Amnesty ...

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Page 8 of 17DISCUSSION OF AINZ PROGRESSQuestion and Answer Session addressed to the National Leadership Team1. How much do we have in the bank now?Tam Alexander – There is around $400,000 currently in the bank and contributions to the IS are up-todatefor 2008. However, our 2007 contribution is still outstanding, which amounts to approximately$270,000 and Andy has been negotiating with the IS in recent months to convert this sum to a loan –Andy will be attending the International Finance meeting in London next week and will be attempting towrap up negotiations. PATRICK: Please provide confirmed figures, if they differ significantly from above.2. How soon can we pay off the IS, and any interest on the IS loan?Loan is currently interest free but the precise terms and conditions need to be agreed – one of theobjectives for Andy when he attends the International Finance meeting3. Who is on the Audit and Risk Committee?Pattrick Smellie, Tu Williams, Andy Greensmith. Obviously, membership will be reviewed followingPattrick’s departure from the GT.4. From memory, the $51,000 deficit did not take account of bequests - therefore if taken into account itwill not be as far into deficit?Correct. Our objective isn’t to budget for bequests received; they are a bonus. In the new format wehave bequests in a separate section from budget/results overview to allow for more transparency.5. We are again asked to approve the 2008 budget in May - 5 months into the year? Is it intended that the2009 AM we will be asked to approve the 09-10-11 budget?It was accepted that this was not ideal. The GT review and agree a budget on behalf of the membership,outside the normal AM timeframe. The AM is then asked to formally “approve” the budget. Agreed thatit was reasonable to expect that the GT give an indication of the overall financial framework two yearsahead, so at next year’s AM, we should look to present an indicative budget for 2010 and 2011.6. Are we being too optimistic for the amount of money we expect to collect for freedom week given risingfood prices?We have ongoing forecasting through the year, so if it becomes clear we might not achieve income lines,then the governance team will adjust the expenditure. So yes there is a concern in economic downturnmay affect contributions7. Re Freedom week – do you think FW income is maxed out, and it’s not just a question of some schoolsdropping out? What are we doing to increase the FW Income?Last year we were late in the process and didn’t get as many people on the streets collecting incomparison with other years. The Catholic Schools issue was with Freedom Challenge not really freedomweek. The income budget is approx $1.6m in total, with $100,000 coming from FW, so could be 20%worse or better so hopefully strong enough to absorb the ups/downs. The key is planning. New initiativeswith FW, one is collecting at traffic lights/supermarkets etc. It used to be freedom ‘day’ which wasaffected by things like weather, so now covers more things over the whole week which definitely will makea difference.8. Why have the GT expenses increased and more than doubled since last year?The cost of the external operational review ($20,000) was included as a governance team activity – thissignificantly increased the total.9. Has closing the office in Wellington decreased our operating costs?Andy Greensmith - overall, the new office in Auckland is more expensive than old office in Auckland butthe overall operating cost of consolidating operations into a single office saves approx $70,000 in the firstyear.
Page 9 of 1710. Do we benchmark ourselves against other NGOs and charities?No not in a formal sense.Pattrick Smellie: Agreed that there is an increased use of benchmarking within the NGO sector butAmnesty does not do enough of this within its own movement – it was a topic of Mexico Council meetinglast year. As this process comes to fruition we will be looking at benchmarking against other NGOs.Nicola Mutch: The “One Amnesty” initiative gives us a great opportunity to share ideas within themovement – part of that is how to organise together – international skill share meetings etc – comparativedata is provided re initiatives performance etc. Thus, this is a great opportunity. There are two issues –how to compare with NGOs outwardly, and AI internally. Happens to some extent, but could happenmore.11. Government Relations – does it help to have staff/interns in Auckland and not in Wellington?Patrick Holmes – this will be a high priority issue for the new Campaigns Director. Need a clear strategyto engage with government here in Wellington.12. How will Amnesty support the two new Directors currently being recruited?Patrick Holmes – over the last six months, we have tried to prioritise as much as possible but it wasacknowledged that all staff are under considerable pressure. In particular, efforts have been made toprioritise our campaigning activities, with the help of the GT. Within the new structure, there has beenthe creation of a new post of Communications Coordinator – this should ease pressure. Fundraising – weshould consider outsourcing some of the “peripheral’ activities rather than attempting to do everything“in-house, but we have limited financial resources available to us.13. Is there a policy on how we refer to Burma or Myanmar?Amnesty International refers to it as Myanmar, because that’s what the UN calls it (our policy is to useUN names).14. Do we have figures for what the new face-to-face programme will cost?Andy Greensmith – overall, the costs are similar but the big benefit is we only pay for what we get. So ifthe agency under-perform for whatever reason, we only pay for the number of members recruited. Froma risk management point of view, it is better. A significant amount of management time is saved. Allother NGOs in NZ (except Greenpeace) outsource their street talking programmes.15. Does it make a difference that the Street Talkers are not passionate about Human Rights?Andy Greensmith - this was always the compelling reason why we maintained an in-house teampreviously. But the reality is that there is no hard evidence to support this assertion.16. Page 19 figures are wrongIt was noted by Gary Ware that there was an error in the financial page of the Annual ReportPatrick – explained that this was a printing error which does not impact on the financial position of AIANZas the Audited figures were correct. An amended sheet will be issued for insertion in the Annual Report.PRESENTATION & FORMAL ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT, INCL ACCOUNTSFORMAL DECISION 5: That the Annual Meeting receive and approve the AINZ 2008 Annual Report, includingthe 2007 Financial Statements, (with amendments) and thank the National Leadership Team for their workduring the past year.Proposed:Seconded:Betty Mason-ParkerGary WareAdopted by consensus
Page 2 and 3: Page 2 of 17Co-ordinators & Team De
Page 4 and 5: Page 4 of 17Friday 9 th May (Evenin
Page 6 and 7: Page 6 of 17AGREE AIMS, GROUNDRULES
Page 10 and 11: Page 10 of 17FORMAL DECISION 6: Tha
Page 12 and 13: Page 12 of 17Other issues• 9.1 -
Page 15 and 16: Page 15 of 17FORMAL DECISION 12: Th
Page 17: Page 17 of 17APPENDIX ONENATIONAL L

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