Adrien Copros

Member Association past two years:  Volt France

What new revenue streams will you develop to reduce dependency on membership fees, and what financial risks will you actively avoid?

I think in Volt Europa we need to get a regular income without relying only on big donations and chapter membership. I see 3 new revenue streams we can explore : 

* Paid missions : Explore the possibility of participating in European programs accessible to a pan-European NGO 

E.g. : CERV, Horizon Europe, Europe Creative, European Commission

* Paid internal newspaper : Set up a network of members writing columns for the creation of a monthly internal magazine

* Crowdfunding for specific projects : It would be interesting to use crowdfunding techniques to develop specific ideas/projects where backers will receive rewards depending on their contribution

As an engineer, I will follow the expenses and progress of the IT projects closely in order to avoid overspending. 

What is your approach to communicating financial constraints during a crucial campaign moment?

When I was co-president of Volt France, we faced snap European elections with only 5 days to organise and fundraise. At that time, we had no clear visibility on total costs or state rules.

Despite this uncertainty, we defined 3 funding scenarios for candidates, with different levels of support depending on their needs and fundraising capacity. To hold candidates accountable for their fundraising we asked them to choose one option and sign a simple contract.

With the board, we assessed and set a financial risk limit. We knew the national level could absorb up to 10k€ loss. This was clearly communicated to members, closely monitored, and respected throughout the campaign. Under 4 days, the members voted in favour at 81% with  40% participation.

Thanks to earlier supplier negotiations and my daily communication with the centralised printer, we were able to track spending. And as coordinator I negociated a discount of 4k€ on 34k€ spending for 22 candidates across France. 

My approach to financial constraints in such moments rests on 3 principles: 

*Prioritisation

*Transparency 

*Collective responsibility

In challenging times, we must make fast, informed trade-offs while ensuring all members understand the financial reality.

What does financial transparency towards members mean to you in concrete terms? Describe 2–3 recurring reporting products or processes you would implement.

Transparency is not a goal, it's a need to get participation.

I see 4 points we can improve easily to have a better trasparency :

* The EUR board should give more direct information to members and work with the Country Council on strategic decisions

* Create a weekly or bi-weekly newsletter dedicated to members (like implemented in Volt France) instead of only sharing the supporter newsletter to everyone

* Publish EUR Board reports faster and with more details, available on haiilo.

* Share data when a survey is done, not only the result, so any member can verify or learn from the study

In addition, I think we need to work on giving a shared overview to all members, included members who don't have time to invest and are following Volt from a distance. That includesck  : 

* Strategy of the year + Annual report (E.g. : Volt France - One-pager)

* Follow-up of the progress every quarter (E.g. : Volty France - Quarterly report)

Finally, on financial aspect, I want to increase transparency by providing quarterly financial reports, rather than reporting only annually to the GA.