UKAPS Constitution

[UKAPS Committee]

Good afternoon,

Recently it came to light that although UKAPS is a thriving hub of aquatic activity, the running of it has become unsustainable, and it is time to transition into a new structure run by its members.

To ensure UKAPS has a long and thriving future ahead of it, we have formed a new Committee made up of volunteer members with the required skill set for the transition, and who you will all recognise as long-term contributors. The Committee has been working together behind the scenes to create a new legal structure for the Society which will move it into member ownership and formalise its operational aims and management as a not-for-profit organisation.

On 11th October 2024 the Committee ratified the new UKAPS Society Constitution which we are pleased to attach.

As part of this process, membership to the Society is changing. Membership to the UKAPS forum will always remain free of charge and be a key objective of the Society.
Currently the Society forum is maintained by the goodwill of one member completing maintenance, patches and updates to the tech infrastructure at no cost, which is unsustainable. In the near future, the Society will have to move to a fully hosted solution which generates significant increased cost (in the region of $250 a month). This cost is because UKAPS is not a small website - it has a robust user base with an average of 1000 active users at any one time, and contains almost two decades of contributions which are important to keep available to all and grow further.

The existing model of UKAPS' financing is not robust enough to support this change long term. As such, voluntary membership to the Society will carry a small annual membership fee of £12. Society Membership is entirely voluntary and no existing forum content will be lost to those not choosing to be members of the Society. The opportunity to join UKAPS as a society member will be announced in the near future as we set up the infrastructure to support this.

For those that choose to become members of the Society, you would be contributing to the continuation of UKAPS into the future and protecting this valuable resource. As a member of the Society you will gain access to a new ‘Society Members Sub Forum’, where you can influence the way the Society operates, as laid out in the constitution. We additionally hope to build this sub forum over time with exclusive content, competitions and member perks. The potential to build the Society into more than just a forum is great and the Committee welcomes Society member suggestions in the Sub Forum on what this will become.

We are really excited for the future of UKAPS under member ownership, while remaining grateful to all of the founders that had an idea and followed it through into the creation of UKAPS. We are also supremely grateful to every individual over the years that has committed their free time to maintain the forum with no reward other than knowing they are contributing to a resource which offers so much to so many.

Additionally, a huge thankyou to Paulo (@LondonDragon) for all he has done over the past decade, keeping the lights on when everyone else was sleeping, UKAPS simply wouldn’t exist if he hadn’t given so much of himself to it. As such, the Committee are very pleased to offer Paulo the first Honorary Membership to the Society in recognition of that commitment.

Most importantly thank you to each and every one of you, the forum is only what it is because of your contributions!

UKAPS Committee

 

[Wookii]

Afternoon all,

As I am a qualified accountant, I have offered myself up as Treasurer to look after the finances for the newly formed Society, so I thought I would provide a little more detail on how we intend to set up the financial management going forward.

My core aim with the new systems has been to aid future financial transparency, with inbuilt contingency (think lottery win scenarios) – both of which were lacking from the previous set-up.

Now the Society is being created as a separate and independent legal entity – and ratifying the above Constitution has been a critical first step for that - a new bank account can be formally opened (since a signed copy of the Constitution is a specific requirement of the Bank). That bank account will have at least four Committee members as account signatories, with any two required to sign off payments. All Committee members will be able to view the account transactions.

The bank account will also come with a simple accounting system that will hopefully be more than sufficient for our basic needs, and again all Committee members will have access to that system to view reports, and query anything therein. On an annual basis the financial accounts will also be published on the Society Members sub-forum for all registered members to view, and I will be available to field any questions raised by Society Members on those numbers. Once the bank account is set-up, we will arrange transfer of existing Society funds into the new bank account which will give us a healthy opening operating balance on which to build going forward.

Finally we will also set up a new not-for-profit Paypal account so that we can restart accepting donations in support of the Society and the Forum. Again this will be set up as a business style account with multiple user access for Committee members to view and operate, and will be linked directly to the new bank account.

At this juncture all our time and considerable efforts are focused solely on giving the new Society and the Forum a solid and stable foundation on which to move forward and guarantee its preservation for future generations of aquarists.