View source for Finance Working Group

The Finance Working Group primarily operates [https://www.loomio.org/socialcoop-finance-working-group/ on Loomio].

= Current members =

* Caitlin Waddick (@CaitlinWaddick@Social.Coop)
* Josh Davis  (@GuerillaOntologist)
* Leo Sammallahti (@LeoSammallahti)
* Nathan Schneider (@ntnsndr)
* Matthew Cropp (@MattCropp)

= Basic info =
A simple [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nbMWrX20tnBAVhUGVBwl1lKcx7H5Lha1QRS5dViVN1Q/edit?usp=sharing budget spreadsheet] for our project to keep track of what our regular outlays are.

[https://opencollective.com/socialcoop Our Open Collective], to see what the current "cash on hand" and income of the co-op is.

The portion of the social.coop bylaws governing the disbursement of funds:

= Submitting expenses =
Social.coop is run through a system of open contributions. There are no employees, but the cooperative strives for fair and sustainable remuneration for its contributors.

The procedure for paying contributors and expenses is as follows:

A member makes a proposal in the finance group (with the Title labeled EXPENSE), detailing either:

* work to be done, the expected timeline, and the contributor's qualifications, and the cost (in USD)
* a service to be acquired, details about the provider, its benefits over alternatives, and the cost
* a donation to be made to an external open-source developer or collective, the work they do that benefits Social.coop members, and a proposed amount

If that proposal passes, the member may proceed. They may post an invoice to OpenCollective, with a link back to the relevant Loomio thread, for up to one half of the total amount.

When the work is complete (or equivalent), the member must post a follow-up proposal (with the Title labeled INVOICE, in the same thread as the EXPENSE), including details demonstrating the work done or service obtained

The contributor should post the expense to the OpenCollective page with a link back to the relevant Loomio thread.

Once passed, the expense is approved by an OpenCollective admin, and the contributor is paid within two weeks, or as soon as the OpenCollective account has sufficient balance

While general budgeting decisions are expected to be passed in the full group, all members are invited to monitor the finance group, and to join if they wish to participate in maintaining accountability.