We recently had our first AGM as part of Localgov Drupal Week.
Aside from the official business, it gave the members of Open Digital Cooperative (the organisation set up to run, develop, and ensure the financial sustainability of Localgov Drupal) the chance to get together and discuss how the project is going and to announce the results of our first board elections.
Annual report
The session started with our current directors, Will, Maria and Finn, reporting on how the cooperative has developed over the past 12 months.
The report covered:
- Membership and subscriptions
- Income, spending, financial projects
- Mission, Vision and Goals
- Governance and Structure
- Procurement
- The elections process
Here are some of the highlights.
We have 23 members.
These are:
Bath & North East Somerset, Bracknell Forest, Croydon, Colchester, Cumberland, Hart, Newcastle, North Devon, Waltham Forest, Westmorland & Furness, Wirral
Agile Collective, Annertech, Big Blue Door, Data Content Reach, Friendly Digital, Invuse, Open Code, Orion Web, Plan Alpha Systems, Rohallion, TPX Impact, We Are Chicken, Webcurl, Zoocha
We have 41 subscribers.
All of the above plus:
Blackburn with Darwen, Brighton & Hove, Elmbridge, Essex, Haringey, Knowsley, Hammersmith & Fulham, North Kesteven, South Hams, Tipperary, West Devon, West Lindsey
Digital Word Communications, Telltale Research, Jigsaw Content
Thank you to all the councils and suppliers listed above for their contributions to the project.
You can find all our subscribing suppliers in our suppliers directory.
Potential Collaborators
Another 67 councils are deciding whether to move to the platform and subscribe. We hope they decide to join us.
Income and financials
The project had an income of £237,000 for the year. This income is split between financial contributions from councils, suppliers, and our supporting partner, Netcall.
Most of this income (around 68%) was spent on technical and development time.
The full report is available as a Google Slide deck.
Our new board
We’re delighted by the election of our new Open Digital Cooperative board.
Members nominated and then voted for candidates in September and October.
The new board is as follows:
From councils:
- Michael Brown, Newcastle City Council
- Kate Hurr, Cumberland County Council
- Jamie Dixon, Wirral Council
From suppliers
- Maria Young, Agile Collective
- Mark Conroy, Annertech
- Will Callaghan, Friendly Digital
- Finn Lewis, Open Code
Congratulations to all those elected. We wish our new board members the best of luck in their roles and thank them in advance for all their hard work.
Thanks also to all those who nominated and voted.
Commiserations to those who weren’t elected this time.
We’ll be running fresh elections next year.
Thanks for your comments.
We also had some amazing comments from members at the end of the meeting.
Craig from Cumberland Council said of the project:
“I love the model and the direction, I use it as a benchmark of good practice and how things can be done better for councils.”
Angie from Croydon Council echoed Craig’s comments:
“I love the community spirit and love the direction of ODC and it’s made a big difference in Croydon. I love me some open source! I shout about LGD all the time, at every opportunity and use it as a soapbox to say get involved.”
Finn, Our technical lead, added:
“I’m a bit overwhelmed by the positivity. Everything sounds like we are on to a good thing… I’m Feeling excited about next year and a bit emotional as this is cool.”