Message from Kiez Burn e.V. Board regarding Finances and Legalities
Dear Decompression Team,
I'd like to shine light on a decision that the Kiez Burn e.V. board made regarding the financial situation of the decompression. This is not set in stone but in order to change this we need more information.
We decided to not gurantee any financial contribution to the event and to not gurantee to act as the official "Veranstalter" (legal host) at this point. These are the reasons that lead to this decision:
(1) We haven't been asked to do either of these. At least not in a request addressed to the board (with numbers and hard facts).
(2) We don't have enough information on the conditions in order to agree to sign any contract.
It's very unfortunate that none of us have been to any of the decomp meetings, we should have managed to do that somehow – sorry! The fact that we don't know what's in the contract (i.e. the venue's conditions) and the high cost of the event makes us a bit anxious.
To be clear: We want the decomp to happen and we want to support the decomp team! At the same time, the seven board members are personally liable for everything the Verein does and we have too many open questions in order to feel comfortable to (legally) take responsibility for this event (at this point).
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My suggestion (we really want to find a solution that everybody feels good about):
(1) Let us know what exactly the decomp team wants from the Kiez Burn e.V.
(2) Let's have a meeting to clear up any potential misunderstandings and talk about possible solutions. (Update: apparently Daisy and Alex are already planning a meetup)
(3) The board agreed to invest some of the financial leftover into another batch of dreams. We don't have a budget or timeline yet, but it will happen this year. The decompression could be handed in as a dream and receive funds through the community.
I'm sorry if we created some irritations by our decision. We have no intention to work against anyone, especially not our hard working decomp team and we certainly don't want to create a "shadow council" feeling! Thank you so much for making the decomp happen <3
with love
Henrik
Jan-Christian Kaspareit Mon 16 Sep 2019 12:11PM
I have a feeling that this is mostly a communication issue.
German bureaucracy demands that one ore more persons are legally responsible for what the "Verein" does. As these people are liable for what goes wrong at Kiez Burn or other events of the Verein it's only fair that they should be involved in the decision making process.
I think we can just learn from this miscommunication. The Vorstand did not attend the meetings, but also the decomp team didn't directly adress them.
Is hello@kiezburn.org the correct adress to request help from the Vorstand directly? Talk is great for documenting communication, but really difficult to keep track of permanently. I think a lot of us just stumble into talk occasionally and then you have to follow the correct groups to see, that something happened.
Just my 2 Cents. I was sadly not in town on all 4 meetings, but am quietly planning a small saloon thingy :-) Really looking forward to the decomp.
CJ Yetman Mon 16 Sep 2019 6:24AM
The board members are listed on the legal page of the website: https://kiezburn.org/home/about/impressum/
and more info about the verein is here: https://kiezburn.org/kiez-burn-e-v-association/
They were democratically elected at a meeting last fall/winter when the verein was created, which was open to anyone who was interested.
Erin Jeavons-Fellows · Mon 16 Sep 2019 12:43AM
I love Kiez Burn and i really invest so much time and energy into this.
At the moment i feel super let down and a ‘shadow council’ is exactly how this came across for me although I know its not the intention.
1. Who are the official 7 board members? I always go to Alex and while i love the support he provides and the friendship we have, knowing who the other members are would probably alleviate me asking him all the time.
2. When do these meetings happen and if we are a decentralised community, why are other members of the community not invited to these meetings (even to listen in) esp if they have the power to veto initiatives that the community create without having any of the other representitives there? This really feels like a closed group right now and could to be solved with some communications
3. Our official channel of communication is Talk. The decompression has been totally transparent on this channel and invited everyone invested in Kiezburn to attend and participate in all meetings. No board members chose to attend any meetings. A simple ‘Sorry’ does not suffice here. Why is this transparency not reciprocated with the board meetings? Im aware that some roles are more than others such as finance, legal etc. i feel its also part of the roles of those people to provide transparency and educate others so we are all aware of things that are happening in the departments and hopefully miscommunications like what has happened here wont happen going forward.
3. In regards to this decision, its fair. I dont disagree with the reaction. We understand that its community money and the community should decide how the money gets spent. However, the information that led to the decision was incorrect and the decom team were not asking for any money from the community funds. We recognise this was a larger event and knew it meant it would fund itself. Support from KB was denied before we requested it, had a contract or knew what we wanted. I hope this upcoming meeting clears those things up.
I cant make this upcoming meeting but i would love to be a part of a process/project to work on this. If its come down to a time issue for the 7 board members, reaching outside to the extended community IS an option. I will always make time for Kiez Burn and happy to create projects that make us feel united and held.