It is easy to have ideas, but it takes focus and hard work to realise some of them. The co-founders of the non-profit association Vi Finns have grandiose ideas about what can be achieved within a non-profit association. When their lofty ideas have been questioned, they have acted as if the non-profit association were their own private club, where they make decisions on their own without the board's knowledge.
The non-profit association Vi Finns has, in many ways, been in decline since it was formed on 25 January 2020. An annual meeting was held in 2024 with the aim of revitalising the association. During the annual meeting, the voting members elected new members to the association's board, while also deciding on changes to the association's statutes. Two of the association's co-founders were included in the new board. A constituent board meeting was held on 8 July 2024, where the new board elected a Vice-president, Secretary and Treasurer.
Shortly thereafter, the association's President should have convened an extraordinary board meeting, which was necessary to adopt the association's new statutes, but this never happened. The year 2024 came to an end without the association's President having succeeded in convening the extraordinary annual meeting for six months. The association lacked a written action plan. The President should therefore also have convened a board meeting to discuss and decide on, among other things, the association's business plan, but this did not happen.
I was elected Vice-President of the association and am the person who has been responsible for most of the work in the association during 2024; This work consisted of drafting proposals for new statutes, chairing the two board meetings that were held, preparing all submissions in the association's legal dispute over the trademark ‘Försäkringskassanupproret’ (The Social Insurance Agency Uprising), and administering informal meetings via Zoom.
On a few occasions, the association's President has verbally expressed a grandiose idea that the association should function as an ‘umbrella organisation’ and that it should include a bank, a trade union and health centres.
During an informal Zoom meeting on 15 January 2025, I criticised the President's lofty plans for the association.
In order for the association to get out of its limbo, I organised a new informal Zoom meeting the following week, on 22 January 2025, to discuss the following points:
- The need to formulate a business concept (Target group - Products/Services - Process) in order for the association to gain momentum.
- Need to call an extraordinary annual meeting to approve the amendments to the association's statutes and decide on the membership fee for 2025.
- The association's communication channels.
- Possible difficulties logging in to the ViFinns.org website
The President announced that he was unable to attend the meeting.
The association's President then sent ‘Minutes of a borad meeting’ dated the same day by e-mail on the evening of 27 January 2025. No notices had been sent to the board members, which shows that the Presidetn seems to believe that the non-profit association is the co-founders' own private affair!
The ‘Minutes of the board meeting’ show that only the two co-founders had attended the meeting and that they also incorrectly stated that the co-founder who had been appointed Secretary of the association was now suddenly listed as the association's Vice-president.
I was de facto elected Vice-president of the association, and since the two co-founders did not take responsibility for their irregular blunder, I chose to resign from the board and leave the association entirely shortly before midnight on 28 January 2025.
My departure from the association also meant that the website I had developed, after purchasing the domain name ViFinns.org, was refocused to serve as a platform where writers and citizen journalists could be published.
On 31 January 2025, Frihetsnytt published a video on its YouTube channel promoting the non-profit association Vi Finns. In this case, too, the association's chairperson appears to have acted behind the back of the association's board.
Frihetsnytt's marketing of Vi Finns states that the association will serve as protection for its members against authorities and companies. It also states that the association will serve as an ‘umbrella organisation’ for cooperation between subordinate activities, with the aim of creating: a politically independent trade union, an independent healthcare chain, a legal entity, an entity to protect people who fight for people's rights and freedom of speech, and politically independent media.
How can anyone believe that a non-profit association could build up such an extensive operation?
An association that has been languishing for 4-5 years. Where the two co-founders have not even managed to get the association's board to function in 2024, which meant that the association had no paying members when it was marketed by Frihetsnytt.
The association is, in many ways, an empty shell lacking resources. Despite one of the co-founders stating that he has 20 years of experience in project managing websites, he has not even managed to create a simple website for the association.
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