1. Rationale
The statute of The Reef ASBL sets the amount of full membership fee at 2,000 EUR per household, due only one time. This amount is meant to provide the liquidity to fund the ASBL’s expenses, of which by far the largest one is the feasibility studies for sites we will consider purchasing. A ballpark figure for one feasibility study is 3-4,000 EUR. For completeness of information, botf associate and full members of the ASBL pay a yearly membership fee, which is currently set at 125 EUR.
However, since we approved the statutes in early 2022, the condition of the real estate and construction sector has become more uncertain, due to the global instability associated mostly to the war in Ukraine. There is a scenario in which the instability becomes so huge that we cannot continue with The Reef, and have to put the project on hold. If this happen, we might find ourselves with an extra problem: a lot of money tied up into an ASBL, which is prohibited for transfering money back to its associates.
So, we have a conflict between asking members to put money on the table as a token of commitment, and the risk of having too much money uselessly locked in an ASBL that cannot yet proceed to buy the site. If we decide to not purchase a site for now, the money already in The Reef’s bank account is more than sufficient to cover for all the other costs until, at least, spring 2023 included.
2. Proposed solution 1: provisionally reduce full membership fee
This solution has the advantages of being simple from an accounting point of view, and to be more fair with regards to the existing full members, who have already paid the full 2,000 EUR fee. It has the disadvantage that, for some people, 500 EUR per household is an insufficiently strong signal of commitment to a project that will cost multiple hundreds of thousands of euro per household.
2.1 Make an explicit decision to go on the market for a site
I would like to propose a solution based on a specific decision to be made (presumably around February 2023), on whether to go forward with the purchase of the site. This decision would presumably be made by consensus, with the usual rule that, if someone blocks, they have to propose a solution. Unfortunately this is the kind of decision that is likely to default to majority voting.
2.2 Requesting full membership before the decision to purchase a site
Reeflings are encouraged to request full membership as soon as possible.
- If they request full membership before completing the confesseur process, the GA grants them full membership pending the outcome of that process. In this case, new full members only pay the membership fee after the positive conclusion of the confesseur process.
*If they request full membership after successfully completing the confesseur process, the GA grants them full membership unconditionally. In this case, new full members pay the membership fee upon being approved by the GA.
2.3 Paying the membership fee before the decision to purchase a site
In both cases, new full members only pay an advance of 500 EUR.
2.4 Staying full members after the decision to purchase a site
If we decide to go forward with the purchase of the site, full members would then pay the rest of their fees, up to 2,000 EUR per household. This would give the ASBL the liquidity to front the cost of the feasibility studies.
2.5 Households who are already full members
Our current full members have already paid 2,000 EUR each. In their case, they would be “bailed out” by the new full members: the first 9 new full members would, then, pay their 500 EUR not to The Reef, but to the extant full members, until the latter have recouped 1,500 EUR out of the 2,000 they have transferred.
3. Proposed solution 2: transform part of the fee into a refundable loan
This solution has the advantage that it maintains the obligation for full members to pay the full 2,000 EUR into the account of The Reef ASBL (though most of the sum is refundable). A bank transfer of this size gets everyone’s attention, and makes people wonder about their commitment to this project. It has the disadvantage that it is not clear that we can give the same treatmentn to the existing full members; in the worst case scenario, we would have a disparity, where new full members recoup most or all their full membership fees, but existing full members do not.
3.1 Make an explicit decision to go on the market for a site
Same as 2.1.
3.2 Requesting full membership before the decision to purchase a site
Same as 2.2
3.3 Paying the membership fee before the decision to purchase a site
New full members pay the entire sum of 2,000 EUR to The Reef ASBL. However, The Reef issues them with a document acknowledging receipt of a loan of 1,500 EUR. We could also draft a convention regulating what happens to this money.
3.4 Consolidating the loan into a fee after the decision to purchase a site
If The Reef as a group decides the conditions are there to purchase a site, the loan gets consolidated into a non-returnable membership fee, and used to finance the feasibility studies for the future Reef, as intended.
3.5 Households who are already full members
This solution is lacking a provision for existing full members. We can probably not transform, ex post, their payments of membership fees into loans. So, that would configure a disparity of treatment against existing full members, against the benefit of a clearer incentive to new full members to only request full membership if they really want to commit to the project.
Makes sense, @reef-finance? Shall we prepare a proposal for one of the next plenaries?
