We had a catch-up call with Jascha today. Some quick notes for you.
On reporting to Rockefeller Foundation - Jascha has kept them in the loop on progress on the roadmap document that is overdue. They've seen the final draftÂand are happy with it. It is pending final approval with a ballot currently underway. They've asked for an updated deliverable schedule so they can realign their expectations. He will do that next week, as it is a blocker on the payment scheduled for June 30.
Jascha reports his Board and (most) members are engaged and working on their goals. The cities seem very engaged.
Jascha reports Rockafeller and Knight are happy with his progress and happy to reset the deliverables schedule in theirÂgrants to align with whatever progressÂhe can deliver. (I know this seems astounding, but I've heard it myself from them)
His member market is obviously changing. Some scooter companies are struggling, other players in mobility and micro mobilityÂare doing well, given the circumstances.ÂÂ
We discussed staffing and budget. He will be hiring a Member Engagement person with full understanding there is only funding for that position for about a year - an incentive to engage members! Jascha is very happy with the financial reporting he gets from Cathie and the process they've workedÂout to collaborate on developing forecasts.
Jascha expressed some interest in clarifying the responsibility assignments between OMF and OODFÂ- who does precisely what with accounting and asset/resource management. I.E. who manages the mail domain.
There was an interesting discussion about the timing of the Admin fee and how it's calculated. He'd like to discuss and document further detailsÂof exactly how it works. The one hot topic was what happens to the admin fee for a booked sale that turns into bad debt. (obviously not a frequent problem but a timely one given the situation with Bird). We charge the admin fee whenÂthe revenue is booked, but we do not refund the admin fee if/when the write-off to Bad DebtÂoccurs. My view is booking bad debt is fundamentally his problem - he sold it. We act on his report of revenue and when the revenue fails to actually materialize we end doing a different pile of work to record the write-off properly. This effectively doubles our work for the transaction. We do not double the fee, we do not refund the fee. I used the discussion as an objectÂlesson on the risks associatedÂwith recording questionable sales and who should bear the associated expenses.;-)
All in all, things are OK in OMF.Â
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