Over the past year the Black Triangle Campaign has developed in both scope and influence from an informal Facebook group offering a public forum where individuals can discuss and debate issues surrounding the erosion of the rights of disabled people by welfare reforms and disability discrimination into a effective campaign group that initiates and takes part in direct action protests, lobbies both the Scottish & UK Parliament, briefs and gets quoted regularly in the national media, is coordinating with other groups a call for a Paralympics 2012 Boycott as a protest against Atos’s sponsorship deal and has organised the first ever Disability History Month Scotland that is cumulating in a conference at Edinburgh University on December 3^rd 1011.

In view of this it is now felt that the time has come to formalise a structure for Black Triangle via adopting a constitution that will enable it to move forward and develop further and allow it to “discharge” the financial and legal duties that will be required if this is to happen, with doing this allowing Black Triangle to open a bank account, raise funds, apply for grants and obtain premises.

The following are the proposed structures that are being suggested for this purpose.     

An Unincorporated Association

A Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation

A Friendly Society

The purpose of this post is to stimulate debate and discussion on this between interested parties so that one of the above, (or a suggested alternative), and formal objectives can be agreed upon and initiated or whether it is appropriate and best to stay as we are.

You can see a full copy of standard constitutions for the above 3 structures from clicking on the links above and there has been space established on our website forum for this to be discussed and debated, with links to this forum space being –

• Discuss Black Triangle becoming an Unincorporated Association
• Discuss Black Triangle becoming a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation
• Discuss Black Triangle becoming a Friendly Society
• Discuss possible alternative formal structures for Black Triangle
• Discuss proposed formal objectives for the Black Triangle Campaign
• Discuss the merits or otherwise of Black Triangle staying as it is

George, Sasha, Matt, John & Phil hope that as many people will join in this debate and discussion, with us seeing it as a pivotal point in the future of the Black Triangle Campaign as we feel that it is impractical and inappropriate to continue as we are.

The forums for discussion on this subject will be left open for 28 days, and then, in the interest of finding a democratic solution, an online vote will be held to agree the future way forward for the Black Triangle Campaign with a first national conference arranged sometime in the first quarter of 2012 to finalise the agreed constitution and management committee.