GMSC Live Minutes – 26th Jan 2026 – Live Minutes

(SEE BELOW IN BOLD FOR ACTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TO GO TO VOTE)

 

In attendance:
In person: Individual (Vi, Carrina, Shamshad, afshan), Our Agency (Matt & Selva), UBI Lab (Alison), Culture Bridge (Alisheda, Chinar), De Butterfly (Folashade and Alice), Caring and Sharing (Nicky), Cee Bee Gold (Bola), SAWN (Lilian), Rekindle (Nika), Theatre in Flow (Liz), Northern Heart and Soul (Gill), Middleton Cooperating (Veronika), Inspire Woman (Diane), Elevate young minds (EdeNamiuki), Prosper Life Initiatives (Barbara)

 

Online:

Elevate young minds (Lucia), Mama Health (Eunice), Dipact (Caroline), Wonderfully Made women (Juliana, Ehinoor), Individuals (Viv), Blossom Foundation (Ruth), Ziwo (Eness), SCN (Catherine, Ynaiita) 

Joined later online: Reel CIC (Charlene), Northern Lily (Haleh & Victoria), Alice (ReMade Wigan)

 

Total: 27 members out of 38 members (up-to-date number).

Agenda with live notes:

• Welcome / check in

• Reminder of roles today

• • Acknowledgement of where we are
    • Anger at Lankelly Chase Foundation (LCF)
    • Grief – collective and individual about distribution/redistribution 
    • Conversation about the history of GMSC and how we have reached this place, including the history of Lankelly Chase and the connection between LCF and GMSC.

• ACTION: Members to organise a space to process and harvest learning.

• • Want to keep connecting with people and networking. Can we still keep this going even though the money will be redistributed? 
  • This configuration hasn’t worked, so how do we redistribute it? 
  • We are happy to let go of things, so this ending/form ending can be freeing. Its not all doom and gloom and sadness. We can take the strength and solidarity with us into the next phases of our work. 
  • If they don’t attend today, 6 members are going to be removed for non-attendance at the last 3 Members’ Meetings.
• Check in prioritisation of agenda (see below)
• Redistribution process format

• Small groups to review redistribution suggestions so far https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VswwmD1iGlkkXCxyVLiQxDp3egs1e6aJ
• Full circle to hear objections, please try to bring an alternative suggestion if there is something you don’t like

• Deep democracy process to try and get a recommendation (or multiple) from the meeting that members can vote on

Redistribution:

• We want a recommendation or multiple recommendations that people can vote on. We want to be concise and specific about what we DO want to happen. 
• If there’s something we don’t want – let’s change it into an alternative. 
• Online folks – better to split the money equally. People have found it complex over time, and we want it to be simpler. 
  • What if we did have different budget lines – the thought was that without holding roles/teams/accountability, we would go back into self-organising, needing to happen. There isn’t enough trust /time to do this. 
  • Want to keep some budget for gatherings. That can pay for the room. But everything else would be self-organising. 
  • If circles wanted to happen, they could still do that. No specific budget for circles. Mixed feelings in the group about it. But consensus in the online group was no budget for circles, as it would just end up staying in the pot 
• Group 1 in person – love the 3 strands, org v individuals. But the 10k budget for the budget should be put to the Transition Team (TT) to finish the work and conclude the work. 
  • The money that was allocated to circles should be given to organisations. And if orgs wanted to work in circles, then they could come 
  • Keep individuals to 5k each and then split between all organisations (except those that have been given over 100k). 
  • 6 individuals (30k for them divided 5k each). 20-25 orgs (not including those that have had large grants). And then up to 6 months for the TT to conclude the work – 10k. Not enough trust in the room to keep it complicated. Just take the money and go/leave 
  • Want the tt to remain for a bit and be paid. To do the work that is needed. 3-6 months of work. We believe in you/trust in you, and want you to carry on. £3300 each to do the work, however long it takes. It’s a wrapping up.
  • If people don’t want the money, they can put it back and then say what they want it to be used for/to which org/which circle or where it needs to be split. 
• Group 2 – went with the fuller proposal. 
  • Didn’t want the lucky dip. At all. 
  • Need to separate individuals and organisations. 
  • Keep it as fair as possible. Some people are able to get funding more easily than others. It’s only fair if organisations get an equal amount. – especially the smaller organisations.
• Group 3 –  proposal 7 (the more detailed proposal) – let’s remove the money for the circles. But everything else can remain. 
  • People need to be paid for what they’re doing. 
• Group 4 – keeping the energy around the relationships we’ve held. 
  • Want the tt to continue to do the work. 
  • No dedicated pot of money for circles. 
  • Needs an investment for learning/gathering facilitation for closing. 

 

RECOMMENDATIONS TO GO TO VOTE:

• Money unspent from budget lines goes back into the pot, to be redistributed as decided below
• Other than items voted on below, remaining funds are split equally, individuals get £5k, organisations get an equal split of the rest – options
  • Exclude organisations that had over 100k 
  • Exclude organisations that had over 150k
  • Exclude no-one 

• Some budget for admin / wrap up – members recommend
  • For TT – 10 days of work in total £4k
  • For TT – £10k to complete the work needed
  • £xk other option could be added based on the TT recommendation
  • No budget at all for admin – any work to wrap up is done voluntarily and self-organised (not recommended from the room)

• Some budget is put aside for circles – options to vote
  • No budget for circles, but they can still be visible on the website. People in orgs can put money together into circles if they want to.
  • £40k to be kept for circles and then divided amongst the approved circles equally. 
  • £40k to be kept for circles – members of the approved circles would need to get together and figure out how it is distributed. No team will exist to organise it so they would need to self-organise, keep themselves accountable, and do their own decision-making.
  • £40k with a deadline for circles to put in proposals. A starter £2k for each circle would be made available.  (This could be agreed by circles self-organising)

 

• Additional vote for after ratifying new circles
  • The new circles ratified this time are included in the redistribution
  • The new circles ratified this time are not included in the redistribution

• Some budget for gatherings – options to vote
  • £10k aside for gatherings (including a learning session)
  • No budget kept aside for gatherings, and people offer their own spaces organically eg pot luck. 

• Some budget for existing collectives
  • No budget for existing collectives 
  • £100k (33k each) put aside for collective/networks (food security held by northernlily, ubi network held by ubi lab, living income demonstrator held by various members). This would be in addition to whatever budget member organisations would be getting. 
  • Register those 3 networks as members and then count them as members to get admin costs.

 

• For what next we recommend
  • The formal network closes, and an informal network can emerge.
  • The WhatsApp group stays open.
  • Website needs to be paid for 5 years as a legacy but no more updates. 
  • Email remains. Gill (and afshan) can monitor this until the end of the year voluntarily.
  • SCN is shut once the money has gone. 
  • Anything else can happen organically without money. 
  • If future decisions need to be made, then we would need a process and a vote to happen.
  • Members would need to agree collectively on how the GMSC name would be used in the future, and decide the message to put out about GMSC closing. 
  • (There was an alternative view that we should have some budget for a collective to continue, but no proposal was made.)

 

Voting:

• 3 weeks for voting only this time instead of 5.
• We aim to get the vote up within 2 weeks.
• We currently have 44 members but it might be less TT will update everyone on where we are at with numbers after this meeting (Update: we’re now at 38)
• ACTION – TT to track work done and then draw down later if that recommendation is voted for.

What happens next:

• • How do we want to close down etc?
    • The vote will decide what happens to the money. 
    • People are still connecting together within and outside of GMSC 
    • The learning of this – other folks might be interested in what we’ve done and how this has gone. 
    • Is there anyone who would like to organise it or take part in the event? – some interest in the room. 
    • Don’t want the story to finish when the money is over – want to connect with people in the room post this. 
    • Do we want GMSC to continue in another shape or form? 
    • If we build a new platform/space, members want to be invited into those spaces. 
    • What binds us outside of money 
    • Anything can happen organically. – What do we need/want structure-wise? 
      • One suggestion – learning event  (folks that are up for it, thinking/organising it etc can do a call out)
    • Unsaid stuff around power – knowledge that is held, knowledge held by former temporary stewards, knowledge held by former core team/carrina, knowledge that smaller orgs has. Until we are truly self-organising, once the money has gone, we won’t know any of that?
    • What is our agreement with each other – what does this mean? I can be a part of an informal gmsc network, but not a representative of gmsc. We need an agreement on this. 
      • At the moment, anything we need to make a decision on needs to be made by all members, and some of those decisions can be executed by the Transition Team. There will not be a transition team anymore after the redistribution. Going forward, will members organise Members’ Meetings and facilitate them collectively? Do they have the time and capacity to self-organise to put things out to vote on the website, support those who need help to vote, ensure there’s a quorum, etc? 
    • It’s best we move to an informal network, close down the SCN bank account once the money is gone. The website remains as a legacy page. No-one can put in a bid as GMSC, or say they’re a representative of GMSC, without others’ agreement.

• PROPOSAL (included in vote list above)

• • • The formal network closes and an informal network can emerge.
    • The whatsapp group stays open.
    • Website paid for 5 years as legacy but no more updates. 
    • Email remains. Gill (afshan) can monitor this until the end of the year voluntarily.
    • SCN remains shut once the money has gone. 
    • The rest is organic. Informal network.
    • If future decisions need to be made, they would need to follow the current process and an online vote to happen with a quorum of 50% of members.
    • Members would need some agreements on how we use the gmsc name, and decide the message to put out to the members. 
  • What happens to the rest of the transition phase budget – 
    • Goes back into the pot (added to decisions above)
      • Everything from this morning could be voted on

Circles:

• Discuss proposed new circles – ‘GM Shapers’, ‘Feeding your resilience’, ‘Youth champions’.
  • If GMSC is no longer a formal entity. Then new circles cannot be ratified post this meeting.
  • Vote: do we want to ratify those 3 circles?
• Shapers: – 10 folks from GMSC. People in GM Shapers time is paid but there is no budget. Folks are based in different boroughs. More of an accountability circle for Live Well. It has come out of GMSC – most members in GM Shapers are part of GMSC. Anyone from GMSC can join Shapers. 
  • Little confusion about shapers – what difference does it make for it to be a circle. Some members of Shapers were not aware of the proposal to make it a circle (there may be money there may not be money)
• Feeding your resilience: – was a funded project that received over £100k  to support for women leaders. Connected to healing. no objections in the room
• Youth champions: – no objections in the room.
• In the members meeting no objections for any of the circles, but some objectives for those circles to receive money from the redistribution.
• We can put in a vote that new circles are/ are not part of the redistribution if they get ratified. 
• If circles do not get money, but exposure on the website is useful. Then maybe they can be on the website with no money attached. 
• Updates from existing circles and cross-borough place
• ACTION: Anyone who wants to organise a session to reflect and share learning (grief / what we’ve done / how to divest well)

Updates:

• Xborough update – 4 islands of sanctuary – rekindle, northern heart soul, sawn, middleton coop. – group got sep resource separate from gmsc budget. They are going to keep whatever is left on what they want to do with the rest of their money. The main aim of the work has been around community wealth building and assets. It most likely will be used in a pgm kind of way within those 4 communities/places. All 4 are not going to be taking any resources from the redistribution. 
• Direct Action Against Fascism. Met once and then fizzled out a little. But have been coming up with actions we could do in our local communities. 
• Survival and Solidarity Infrastructure. Met twice. Lots said they were interested, but then got low capacity. Current priority is that before we can co-learn and co-teach different ways of surviving, we need to move folks away from individualism and remember that we are co-dependent of each other.
• Systemic Action Research. Big group when it was formed. It has become smaller, they’re now looking at rivers of life. Group is coming together in February to do systemic analysis. Might coordinate the learning session later on. They are funding their work with previous budget allocated to it.
• Organising to protect the migrants [title amended in Jan 2026 after request]. No update was presented.

 

Live minutes will be shared.

We will then get the voting process underway.

Hopefully we will have decisions by the start of March.

 

THANK YOU EVERYONE!! Xxx