Leeds Infrastructure Consortium

Membership Criteria
(to support the LIC TOR)

Forms of Membership

LIC has two forms of membership:

1. Full Membership

Full LIC membership is open to any not-for-profit infrastructure support

organisation based in and/or working in Leeds whose primary purpose is
the provision of infrastructure support (see definition below) to frontline
voluntary and community organisations”.

2. Associate Membership

Associate LIC membership is available to any organisation that provides

some infrastructure support (see definition below) to VCS organisations
based in Leeds

Definition of Infrastructure Support:

“the physical facilities, structures, systems, relationships, people,
knowledge and skills that exist to support and develop, co-ordinate,
represent and promote frontline organisations, thus enabling them to
deliver their missions more effectively.”

All LIC members must sign to state that they agree to abide by the Terms of
Reference

General Duties of Members:

All members (both Full and Associate) have the following duties:

a) To work in partnership (both formal and informal) and not undermine LIC
or another LIC member.

Ref: licgd3 1
 b) To highlight potential conflicts of interest and step out of discussions
where appropriate.

c) To provide an appropriate representative to LIC with the mandate of

speaking on behalf of their organisation, unless otherwise clearly stated
and minuted/recorded.

d) To considerer themselves as LIC representatives and therefore should try

and support the idea and principles of LIC during their day-to-day work.

e) To have a 'duty to reply' (for more detail see LIC protocols (ref: licgd2)).

f) To abide by the requirements, expectations and processes as outlined in

the LIC TOR, LIC protocols and other associated documentation

Ref: licgd3 2
 Leeds Infrastructure Consortium
Protocols
(to support the LIC TOR)

Involvement in LIC

Each member is entitled to designate one person to serve as its representative

to LIC and an alternate to represent it in the absence of the designated
representative.

A review of membership will be carried out annually with all members being
asked if they wish to continue. Those who do not reply will be considered as no
longer wishing to be part of LIC.

Joining LIC

Organisations wishing to join LIC should ensure that they:

1. Fit the Membership Criteria outlined in the document LIC Membership

Criteria (ref: licgd3)

2. Are willing to sign to state that they will abide by the expectations outlined
in the LIC TOR, LIC Protocols and other associated documentation

3. Be willing to provide a copy of their governing documents and Equal

Opportunities Policy if requested

Any organisations wishing to join LIC should provide a brief outline describing
the organisation’s role.

The above outline will be discussed at the next membership meeting and a
decision whether to invite the organisation to join or not will be made

The decision and reasons (where applicable) will be minuted and will be made
available to the requesting organisation.

Ref: licgd3 3
Meetings of Full Members

Attendance at LIC meetings is not compulsory for Full Members, however all
Full Members of LIC will be invited to a meeting every six to eight weeks. Full
members should take turn to host these meetings. These meetings will be
known as membership meetings

Agendas for membership meetings will be prepared two weeks in advance with
all members having an opportunity to place items on the agenda

Minutes for membership meetings will be prepared and circulated once they are
approved by the Chair (normally within 2 weeks of the meeting)

Notice of membership meetings should be at least four weeks in advance

unless it is agreed by at least 8 Full LIC members that circumstances indicate
that a meeting should go ahead in a shorter timeframe

Decisions taken at membership meetings will be considered to represent the

view of LIC unless those present feel a view from absent organisations is
essential

Where it is agreed as necessary, subgroups will be used to progress specific

agenda items, bids, tenders or responses to specific issues. The need for a
subgroup and the membership of subgroups shall be agreed at membership
meetings or through a mailing to all LIC members.

NOTE: Involvement in subgroup meetings will (where appropriate) be open to

associate members or others with specific expertise.

The conditions (times, duration, attendance, etc.) under which a subgroup shall
meet will be agreed by subgroup members. Reports of subgroup progress
should be given at each membership meeting.

Where appropriate (i.e. bids/tenders etc.) the authority to make decisions shall
lie with subgroup members. On other issues final approval should be given by
the wider membership.

Meetings of Associate Members

Ref: licgd3 4
Attendance at LIC meetings is not compulsory for Associate Members, however
all Associate Member of LIC will be invited to a meeting every 13 weeks. These
meetings will be known as LIC Workshops

Agendas for LIC Workshops will be prepared four weeks in advance with all
members having an opportunity to place items on the agenda

Notes for LIC Workshops will be prepared and circulated once they are
approved by the Chair (normally within 4 weeks of the meeting)

Notice of LIC Workshops should be at least four weeks in advance unless it is

agreed by at least 8 Full LIC members that circumstances indicate that a
meeting should go ahead in a shorter timeframe

Decisions taken at LIC Workshops will be presented to the next membership

meeting for consideration by Full Members.

Where it is agreed as necessary by a majority of those present, specific agenda

items, bids, tenders or responses to specific issues will be referred to
Membership Meetings in order to ensure timely progress.

Ref: licgd3 5
Consortium Officers (Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary)

For an outline of officers responsibilities see the document – Officers

Responsibilities (ref:licgd4)

The Officers will be agreed by the Full LIC members on an annual basis.

The decision on who is to be officer will be carried out as follows:

Nominations will be requested from Full LIC members (these can be self
nominated)

A check will be made on any potential conflict of interest of nominees – where

this is identified it will be discussed with the nominee and if necessary the
wider membership in order to identify if an actual conflict exists.

There shall be a confidential email/postal vote carried out it with all Full LIC
members (regardless of the number of nominations received). The candidate
receiving the most votes by the agreed deadline will be the chair.

NOTE: If only one nomination is received, Full Members will be asked

whether they wish to have the nominee as an Officer. In order to become an
Officer the nominee should gain the 'yes' vote from the majority of Full LIC
members replying by a given deadline.

Representation

For an outline of Representatives responsibilities see document –

Representatives responsibilities

All members of LIC should considerer themselves as LIC ambassadors and

therefore should try and support the idea and principles of LIC during their day-
to-day work.

However, formal representation of LIC (i.e. if attending an event/meeting etc.

ON BEHALF of LIC), can only be mandated by the majority of Full LIC members
at a Membership Meeting or via an email note.

Ref: licgd3 6
• A LIC member wishing to represent LIC should gain the support of the
majority of Full Members attending a membership meeting or, if necessary,
via email.

• No member should claim to be representing LIC without prior agreement of

the majority of Full Members at a Membership Meeting or replying to a email
note.

• On the exception occasions when a decision is more urgent it can be made

by the LIC Chair (or Deputy in their absence) but this decision should be
ratified (or not) at the next Membership Meeting

Completion of a task

Any member volunteering to complete a specific task on behalf of LIC should

endeavour to complete that task in the agreed timescale. Once it becomes clear
to that member that the task will not be completed by the agreed time, the
member should try to gain support from other LIC members in getting it done. If
it is still not possible, the member should inform the LIC Chair ASAP who will
then, where there may be an impact on future meetings/actions, inform the
relevant members or subgroup.

Duty of Reply

When information is passed out to the LIC membership, all members should
endeavour to provide a reply (in the requested format) in the required timeframe.
If members are unable to reply in the form or time requested then a brief reply
should be provided stating this.

A view will be taken from those members who do reply, if a member does not
reply then they should accept the view of those who have as the view of LIC.

Termination of Membership

Concerns regarding the activities or conduct of a member organisation, that

could lead to termination of membership (as outlined in the LIC TOR), should be
raised by a LIC member.

Ref: licgd3 7
The decision to terminate membership will be made by a panel of five Full LIC
Members (agreed at a Membership meeting or via email) which would be
chaired by a LIC Officer.

Any member has the right to be heard by the panel before the decision is made.

Any member who has their membership terminated has the right of appeal, this
appeal would be heard by separate panel of three Full LIC Members (agreed at
a Membership meeting or via email) which would be chaired by another LIC
Officer.

Ref: licgd3 8
 Leeds Infrastructure Consortium
Terms of Reference

(LIC TOR)

Title:
The group is to be known as Leeds Infrastructure Consortium (LIC)

Aim:
To work together to try to meet the needs of frontline voluntary and community
organisations.
(The term “voluntary and community” is intended to include faith sector
organisations.)

Objectives:
• to meet, discuss and identify issues of concern
• to support and promote and improve (where necessary) existing channels
of communication that put forward the views of not-for-profit infrastructure
support organisations to the statutory and private sectors
• to work together to address gaps in provision.

Membership Criteria:
see LIC Membership Criteria (ref: licgd3)

Activities:
LIC may engage in activities relating to the following purposes:
• Supporting engagement with Capacity Builders and similar policy/funding
streams, including facilitating and engaging in partnership work up to and
including bids by LIC itself (but see Exclusions)
• Enabling Leeds infrastructure organisations to work more coherently
together and to be clear about who represents whom on what
• Lobbying
• Producing shared guidelines
• Making better use of current resources
Ref: licgd3 9
 • Addressing gaps in provision to frontline VCS organisations
• Developing information on the value of the sector and its infrastructure

It is recognised that this list is not exclusive and will need to develop and to be
responsive.

Communications:
LIC will use email as its primary communication method, and will meet bi-
monthly or more often by agreement (for more detail see LIC Protocols (ref:
licgd2))

Officers:
LIC annually appoints three Officers, a Chair, a Vice Chair and a Secretary (for
process see LIC protocols (ref: licgd2)).

Decision-Making:
Decisions at meetings will be made on a majority of those present and voting.
There is no casting vote for a meeting Chair.

Termination of Membership:
Individuals shall cease to be members of the network if they fail to satisfy the
membership criteria as stated in the document Membership Criteria (ref: licgd3)
or for any serious breach of any other formal agreements or processes of the
LIC membership (for process see LIC Protocols (ref: licgd2)).

Exclusions:
LIC is intended to be complementary and to provide support for existing
activities and a way in which gaps can be filled by mutual working and
partnership. It is not intended to take over the role of any infrastructure
organisation.

Working with other Groups:

LIC recognises the need for clarity and communication between LIC and the
Leeds Voice Voluntary, Community and Faith Strategy Group. LIC will
endeavour to work alongside and not intentionally duplicate the activity of this or
Ref: licgd3 10
other Groups and will expect these endeavours and processes to be
reciprocated. LIC members who also attend Strategy Group meetings are
encouraged to support the information-sharing process.

Ref: licgd3 11