Minutes 23.8.2006

Dear all,

Please find minutes for the JC meeting last Wed attached and below.

Also, following discussion in the meeting, I have set up a google Group for Just Change London. In future, instead of worrying about complicated email lists, all emails should simply be sent to the following address:

justchangelondon@googlegroups.com

I am the administrator for this group, which means I can add / delete / edit people's email addresses from this list. I will always keep it up to date so that you can rest assured that your email is going to the right addresses!!

You will have received an email inviting you to join the group- please accept it as soon as possible so we can get started using it!

Love

Lucy

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Minutes of Just Change London Meeting � Wednesday 23rd August 2006

Held at: The Globe, Covent Garden

People attending: Sven, Eva G, Lucy, David B, Nina, Louise

Apologies: Dave T

Next meeting: Wednesday 6th September, The Globe pub in Covent Garden, 7.00
� 9.00pm

1. Review of Strategy Meeting 23/7/06

1) Subject matter covered

I General Discussion

We commenced by having a general discussion of various issues.

Our first discussion surrounded how often to meet. Louise suggested every month but it was agreed that was not often enough. Every two / three weeks was discussed- easier to remember if it's every two weeks. Agreed that we shouldn't feel guilty about missing meetings and that people will inevitably miss some meetings anyway, whether they are monthly or fortnightly. If we meet more often there is more urgency to take action.

Nina asked what to do about those on email lists who never come to meetings- should we do more to encourage them to come? Lucy felt strongly that we exist to sell tea- not to encourage people to come to meetings. Do people feel like they don't have a role within Just Change London? Perhaps we should make them more defined / re-state them?

Sven had brought tea along to the meeting, which we all took. Agreed that we should buy it at cost price up-front, then sell it on and give the surplus back to JC at the next meeting. This way we are more motivated to get out and sell it, as we've already paid for it! Dave B pointed out that if we each sold it to all our friends / family we could probably sell out! We should buy a pack of receipt books to issue receipts.

Somebody (Nina?) suggested packaging it up for Christmas. Could we have a Christmas marketing drive?

Sven suggested that we use Google Spreadsheets to keep track of tea bought/sold. Lucy pointed out that soon the website will be able to do so. In the meantime we will use Google.

We briefly discussed events- eg Ealing mela- according to Strategy meeting minutes, Sarah and Eva are responsible for Events. Somebody should do market research into South Indian group / Development Trusts / Churches etc. Sven suggested that we need to keep events focused to our core market. Louise noted that we must put more emphasis on networking rather than simply sales.

Lucy noted that we will soon have a lot of newcomers to JC- those who have just completed DFTI 2006. Lucy to email all to establish level of interest etc.. Hopefully newcomers will have new skills / networks.

II Detailed review of Strategy

Next Sven read through the minutes of the Strategy meeting, clarifying / explaining each point.

1. Mission Statement

We all agreed that the Mission statement is excellent and will serve us well
in the future.

2. Division of Labour

We all liked the idea of having action points at the bottom of each minutes. We can then go away and take action, and report back at the next meeting. This will go into the next minutes, so everyone should get to know- saves emailing about each thing. Division of Labour needs to be clearer- document?

3. Internal Communications

Email lists are causing much confusion and people are receiving too many emails. Eva G suggested we use yahoo lists as simple way to keep it up to date. Lucy to set this up and email everyone with details. Just Change Forum (on main website isn't working yet.) Blog is used as a record of all email communication. If someone hasn't had any emails for a while they can check
the blog to see whether they've missed anything / been knocked off the email list. Justchangelondon.blogspot. Lucy suggested we should have our photos/ roles / description of our group on the "Just Changers" section of the website. Lucy to email Manoharan.

6. Accounts / 8. Stock and Supply Chain

Sven brought up the issue of how much we owe to JCUK for tea? We should ask everyone who has taken tea to pay cost price for it now, so at least JC London isn't out of pocket. Who are our biggest debtors? Sarah T still owes, and Bina. Marsh Farm owe us a lot. How should Marsh Farm distribute surplus? Should we have quarterly discussion on how to use surplus?
Dave B suggested Marsh Farm trade directly with JCUK to take the problem off our hands. Louise suggested that we don't want to lose our biggest customer. Someone suggested they should pay us cost price plus a bit extra? Lucy noted that then we are just another middle man. We need to look again at getting MF to store the tea- Nina.

How do we distribute surplus in general? Sven to email Chris Mowles, JCUK. Sven noted that if we aren't in control of our cash, we can't plan for the future etc.

2) Action points for the future

Agreed that we should always start each meeting by running through last meetings action points- outcomes / action taken.

Sven ran through action points from last meeting. Sven's link at Cafe direct (PR)- We need a brand strategy first, before we approach them. Dave B looked into tax on import of tea baga- HMRC said no extra import duty. Louise and Eva- fundraising- haven't looked into this yet.

Nina will look into what events are around next year. Sven to set up a Google Calendar to
record events.

Louise had asked her friend Caroline about doing pro bono work for JC- charity law no longer her field but she will ask her friend. Caroline will also look into her local leukaemia group selling the tea.

Tricia has contacts at the British Council- Dave T / Sven to do a talk there. Do we want to start
selling tea to big organisations? Yes- good to get tea sold. British Council is also good networking agency. Sven suggested we explore the possibilities first before we do a big presentation- meet with them? Male / female to do presentation? Should we do practice presentations/ workshops at meetings?

Tricia had suggested Manor House might buy tea? Louise contacted- they are not.

Louise is contacting Dom form Synergy.

Nina suggested the Community Cafe near NEF.

2. Report from India (Lucy)

1) Explanation of Pricing Issue

Lucy tried to very briefly explain pricing issue as explained by Stan- people seemed to understand! As follows:

The adivasi pick around 240 tonnes per year. Of this, JC sells around 8 tonnes.

The adivasi sell all 240 tonnes to the factory. The factory used to pay a guaranteed minimum price for the tea bought. Now, the market price is so low that they no longer do that- therefore price paid by the factory can be very low.

AMS buys the refined tea back from factory. JC buys the tea from AMS. JC pays a guaranteed premium of 10 rupees per kg (which is a good price).

4 kg of picked teas is needed to produce 1 kg of refined tea. Therefore, the adivasis actually get 2.5 rupees per kg for the tea.

Also, the premium paid by JC is only on the tea that they actually sell- 8 tonnes, compared to the total 240 tonnes picked- so this premium is spread thinly between all pickers.

Therefore, the onus is on us to sell more tea so that the effect is greater!!!!

2) Other JC feedback

Lucy didn't have time to go into great detail about trip to India- at a later date will feed back about JC soap / coconut oil etc. Not matter of urgency now!!

3. Any other business

Lucy reported on money paid into JC Bank account from under her bed. It was as follows:

From Camden Green Fair: £134.50
From London event / other: £349.53
Total: £484.03

We also have a CAF cheque for £30 which needs to be redeemed: this gives us a grand total of
£514.03, plus the £80 that is already in the bank!

4. Action Points to be taken

• Sven Bring tea to every meeting
  Set up Google Spreadsheets
  Set up Google Calendar
  Email Chris Mowles re surplus
  Chase debtors- they should at least pay cost price
  for all tea taken
• All / Marketing team Think bout Christmas packaging / marketing
• Sarah /Eva / Nina Look at events for next year
• Lucy Contact DFTI 2006ers
  Set up Google Email list
  Contact Manoharan re: website
  Fully update contacts database
• Nina Contact Marsh Farm again re: storing there
• Louise / Eva Continue looking at fundraising possibilities
• All Think about British Council presentation- bring ideas to the next meeting?
• Continue chasing up on action points from strategy meeting