Meeting for Sufferings: Trustees reports
‘These are challenging times’, it said, ‘and change is inevitable.'
Introducing her report, clerk to BYM trustees Caroline Nursey said that they had replaced their July weekend away with six online sessions. Trustees had felt upheld despite these constraints she said, thanking Friends. Becoming a Society that resisted racism had been one of the main matters, she went on, which had led to a statement. But trustees had not spent a lot of time discussing specifics like the naming of the William Penn room at Friends House: ‘A room name is not what matters’. She was interested to see what would come out of the discernment on the subject at Yearly Meeting Gathering.
Linda Batten, treasurer, spoke to the ‘big effect’ that the pandemic had had on BYM finances. Expenditure was exceeding income before the pandemic and trustees’ original intention was to correct this by the end of 2024. But action needed to be taken sooner now, so that Quaker work in the world had the income to support it.
Contributions from Meetings had increased significantly, but income from the Quiet Company was obviously very low. Without a large legacy the BYM accounts would have shown a deficit, she said. Friends should understand that, of the reserves, a significant amount was tied up in property or was otherwise restricted.
Caroline went on to talk about trustees’ discernment, which had to be long term even as trustees themselves changed. This discernment had led to the Our Faith in the Future vision document in 2015. Central Committees had themselves begun to determine what this would mean for their work. All this prayerful consideration was around how to reinvigorate Quakerism, she said.
The year continued to be challenging, added Linda, who was forecasting a deficit of £2 million. The Society needed to find ways not to spend more, which would mean difficult discernment ahead.
This would mean making choices, said Caroline, but we were not in a position where pieces of work would have to be completely laid down, which some Friends were concerned was happening to criminal justice work.
This was a misunderstanding among some AMs, she said. (A well-attended threshing Meeting for MfS reps had taken place earlier in the week, following several AM minutes expressing concerns about cuts and process; conversation there acknowledged that there had been some communications failures but ended with what felt like a shared understanding.) Where they had expressed concerns about a lack of support for chaplains, this was unaffected, she said. The long-term shape of Quaker Peace & Social Witness would have to change, but decisions on cuts there were being paused while staff took great care. Delaying change further would be risky, she said, and would cause deeper cuts later on.
A Friend from one of the AMs that had sent minutes said she was still concerned about the bedding in of new Quaker Life support. It was too early to know how it was going to work, she said. She wondered whether it might be a good idea to slow down the appointment of new local development workers. She wanted assurances that cuts were proportionate across the Society.
Another representative thought that reports relating to longer time periods would be useful. ‘These problems with communications come up again and again and again’ he said.
Responding, Caroline said that she was happy to offer drop-in sessions to improve communications. It was difficult to do exact calculations on proportionality, but costs in Quaker Life had come down in the restructuring. On local development workers, she believed that they were a discerned priority for the Society.
One Friend noted that most of those present would be involved with organisations struggling with finances. It was always helpful to have a clear agreement on what any organisation should look like, he said. Could we reframe our strategy into something more tangible?
Another wondered whether it was possible to calculate total funds held by AMs, and whether a percentage could be levied against that to restrict any cuts.
AMs were separate charities, said Caroline, so BYM couldn’t tell them what to do, but she did hope that personal contact from reps and others would encourage giving. If Friends increased their giving by fifty percent, she said, it would clear the deficit. To avoid cuts they’d have to triple what they give.
Paul Parker, recording clerk, said that it was hard to gauge the total wealth held by Friends across AMs. But treasurers were regularly in touch and BYM fundraisers were happy to talk to them.
There were conversations happening with AMs around the funding of youthworkers, for example, and the rollout of LDWs was also an opportunity for conversation.
One representative wondered whether it would be possible to get a figure for average giving per Friend. At her AM it was made clear in their fundraising that donations would be split equally between the AM and BYM, which seemed to work, but it would be additionally useful to let each Friend know how much their giving might need to increase.
That would be difficult to work out, said Paul. It was worth thinking about though.
The minute on the report recognised the need for good communications between MfS and trustees. ‘These are challenging times’, it said, ‘and change is inevitable’.
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