We’d really like to have this particular project mothered in some sense by EdgeRyders…
"Hello people here is the project description for the Viral Academy project. The project has been funded in the UK by the Nominet Trust (£50k), and has a couple of other funders who have indicated their willingness to fund further stages if the first 6 month trial works out.
We have an organisation for this project and bank account which we can use as a temporary holding space for the project - it's a voluntary association that I've set up together with a number of EdgeRyders (K, Adil, Lauren, Harry and others). The aim is to have a slate of projects with the IP owned by individuals or sub-groups, but that can use the voluntary association as a shell company - this is similar to the aims of EdgeRyders with the difference that everyone has legal voting rights, and we have a web site which enables people to vote electronically and legally."
Here are few immediate points of connection with Edgeryders and the reasons for this proposal (more details to be added)
The project is replicable and potentially fundable in other regions
The aim of the project links back to the first year of Edgeryders
Sustainable business model is goes hand in hand with Edgeryders current development
Tech skills are the profile of many on Edgeryders: both the Viral Academy methodology and the infrastructure fits Edgeryders community … so more point of connection and details on further relationships to come.
Meanwhile, you can ping me @k11 with questions&suggestions. Tweet @viral_academy
[K] and [fortyfoxes], congratulations for this idea and your successful funding application. To begin with, and regardless of future collaboration patterns, we should put the word out: do you want to write a post on the Edgeryders blog, which we then can push out onto social media? [Noemi] can give you support in this, I guess.
My main question is: what can Edgeryders (the org, as opposed to edgeryders the people in the community) do for you? If I understand it correctly, you already set up your own corporate shell; you already have a team; and have a project which is credible enough to attract sime funding. It seems you are all set! What can we do for you guys?
Ok. Seems all good. So, I guess we’d need to have a memo of understanding that embeds the Viral Academy as an Edgeryders project. The exact content of that depends on what you have in mind – I guess for this project Egderyders LBG involvement is minimal, just provide a corporate front and help you guys connect with the community through social media etc. [AD_admin] would be the person to take this on.
Do you need social media engagement and online communitybuilding
or other work involved in actually building and executing the project? If so then it comes down to agreeing on a process and budget for doing this. Maybe you had something completely different in mind?
Yes,@arthurd, @fortyfoxes and me had a hangout about this on Saturday. Pinging both to write all what’s needed to make VA mothering by Edgeryders official asap.
Mothering requires at least, I guess, a memorandum of understanding signed by one of the directors of Edgeryders LBG (like [AD_admin]) and someone to take responsibility as project managers. Examples of such documents have been signed in the past (for example with Comitato Matera 2019) and are available. If that’s not there it is difficult for us to accept legal responsibility for the project…
For Viral Academy the main differences are that it does, indeed constitute commercial exchange: money does change hands, as the Nominet grant gets routed through ER and ER in turns pays you. The main trick here is to find some activities that VA needs, but if, once done and paid for, generate some positive value for ER (both the community and the company). For example, if VA needs social media activity, it could put some money into ER that would bundle it with other streams of money to build a more-or-less full time social media job, which would then support all community projects including VA (perhaps with some provisions that VA gets an allocated amount of attention since it is paying part of the person’s salary). So, you want to attach to the language a table with the financial flows. Anyway, essentially a MoU is a list of mutual commitments.
Memorandum of understanding
Between
Comitato Matera 2019 snc, Matera, Italy – 75100 c/o Comune di Matera, via Aldo Moro, c.f. 01226460770, represented by Mr. Paolo Verri, director
Edgeryders LBG, CV1 2FL Coventry, UK – The Meridian, 4 Copthall House, , represented by Ms. Nadia El-Imam, CEO
As
the values that inspire Matera’s bid for European City of Culture 2019 and those of the Edgeryders community are found to be convergent;
Comitato Matera has shown openness and a welcoming environment for social innovators all across Europe;
the purpose of Edgeryders is to advance the ability of changemakers and social innovators to rewire the economy for a fair and sustainable society;
the parties agree what follows.
Edgeryders will support the visibility of Matera’s bid on its social media channels, with a view to enhancing the European dimension of the Matera project;
Edgeryders will support the Matera 2019 project denominated “unMonastery” with targeted communication and application processing;
Comitato Matera 2019 will support the activities of Edgeryders in town;
all of the above activities are carried out freely and do not constitute commercial exchange;
the agreement takes effect upon signature and lasts until the end of 2013 or upon the termination of the unMonastery project, whichever is later.
