Minutes:10 NOV 2021 Members Meeting Agenda

Meeting begins: 1905

Meeting ends:

Participants: Nate Y., Victoria W., David G., Joe D., Andrew C., James K., John T.

Agenda

• Announcements/new business - 10m
• Operations - 10m
• Membership - 5m - Joe
• Financial - 5m - Joe
• Old business - 30m

Notes

• Announcements/new business:

• Operations:
  • Sink is ready, in the classroom. Needs a nice fixture, ideally with spray handle -- possibly usable for eye-wash.
  • Have a separate list from the wish-list for bigger-ticket items?

• Membership:
  • We lost one standard member, gained one volunteer member

• Financial:
  • Financial health outlook: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MTjgdvGJI9-FI7OFxkDdw-hJbirdUaxwBpERWVGVSQs/edit#gid=0
  • Joe is tracking funds raised for space improvement (i.e. a utility sink) separately from the general funds.
  • Some back-pay received that buoyed our finances a bit this month.
  • SBA grant money, loan money?:
    • Grant of around $15k
    • Loan is low-interest (<3%), more like a mortgage -- 30 year payback
    • The money from the loan by itself would sustain us over 30 months, given current financial trends.
    • Is it worth it to take the loan unless we have a long-term plan on how to use it?
    • Could it be used as a reserve to dig into, i.e. invest it (assuming that's possible), then use it as-needed? If it turns out we don't need the money, then we can return it.
    • Would it make sense to take the loan money in any case, since the deadline is approaching (12/31/2021) to secure the money beforehand, then decide on a deadline to figure out some plan to use it.
    • Not clear yet on whether the requested amount on the application will guarantee us getting that amount, or if it's merely an approval to later receive that amount.
    • Board votes 5 to 0 in favor of adopting the form "ODA Form P-022 (08-2021)" with James Kruth and Nathan Yost as executives of the SBA loan.

Old business updates

• Membership:
  • Meet to discuss membership retention: some progress, but still more to do - Joe and James

• Financial:
  • Consider adjustments to membership rates -- we have How do we do this? Grandfathered rates? - proposed $60 standard, $30 reduced. Should work on the math here to make sure this makes sense. Ideally we should not change these rates very often -- review this rate every 2/3/4/5 years?
    • Nate: does this still make sense in the context of receiving grant/loan money?
    • Can we use the rate increases as a drive for members prior to the increase -- i.e. lock in the old rate.
    • Look at the scheduled lease increases, inflation, potential increases in operational costs between now and the next potential rate increase, in order to come up with a reasonable amount to raise rates at this time. - James
  • Set up Stripe for alternate payment methods - James and Joe
  • Reimbursement Google form for purchases (DONE) - Nate

• Fundraising/outreach:
  • TechGlow - Nate & David
    • Coming along to the "assembly phase" -- need to build a frame to hold the quilt, and it needs to break down to fit reasonably in a sedan.
  • Tech Trek debrief - Nate
    • Met a lot of interested folks, gave out lots of flyers; got some contacts for volunteers/interested groups
    • James suggests creating a "go-kit" for events -- flyers, donation jar, other merch?
  • Go Fund Me update - Joe
    • Met goal! Hooray! Send out thank-yous to everyone. - Joe
  • End of Year fundraiser scheduling - Joe
    • Set up a meeting for next week
  • Casual recurring payment platforms? Patreon -- cool badge in Matrix chat as reward?

• Operations:
  • Board Elections: nominations open, Nov. 11 voting closes - Nate
  • Google poll of members to see when they might be able to hold open hours? - Nate
  • Membermatters successfully installed on our server, but has a decent amount of setup still required - Andrew
    • Nate will give access to Andrew
  • Plotter: ink-jet plotter, *almost* ready to use. What should we do with this? - Andrew & James
    • Craigslist it -- seems to be the general feeling?
  • Pick and Place machine -- No takers. Use for parts? Use for fancy plotter?
    • Nate will take the gantry off, keep the controller board, and then break down the cabinet.
  • Organizing parts and things from donated equipment, sorting items, for November - James
  • Open hours -- could use some more help -- could use more help on Thursday?
  • Emergency Exit signs on the alternate door -- vinyl cutouts? Arrow pointing at the deadbolt knob? - James and Joe
  • Networking equipment:
    • Security gateway still needs to be hooked in - James
    • Bug Comcast about modem issues? - Nate
  • Organize sink installation - Joe

• Education
  • Restart training events - document how to use the main machines, start running classes on how to use them again.
  • Require folks to run the machines as part of the training
  • Regular (quarterly?) check-ins on how the education mission is going
    • Set up an initial meeting before next Members' Meeting.
  • Do classes more on a schedule, vs. on-demand, since it is more sustainable

• Outreach/fundraising
  • Go around to local techie businesses and see if any of them would be willing to kick in some sponsorship money? - James

• Finances
  • Add James and Joe to bank account - Joe and James will send Nate some dates/times to do this

• Operations
  • Tool library - Joe (DONE, but available tools must be added to Lend Engine. Joe/Andrew will add info on the Wiki)