Minutes:12 APR 2023 Members Meeting Agenda

Meeting begins: 1908

Meeting ends:

Participants: Nate Y., Joe D., Andrew C., James K., David G., Vinson L.

Agenda

• Announcements/new business - 10m
• Operations
• Financial
• Membership
• Outreach
• Education

Minutes

• Announcements/new business:

• Operations:
  • Cricut Updates - David G.
    • One missing key away from delivery; will try again sometime in the next week or two.
  • Laser Cutter upgrade updates - Andrew C./Joe D.
    • Joe says it's working great: cuts nearly exactly the same at all four corners. The red laser is right on-top of where the cutting laser is, zoom focus working.
    • Need to make "test boards" to give folks an idea on how materials cut (wood and acrylic).
  • Classroom lighting update - James K., Andrew C.
    • James: no updates on this since it's lower priority, and no recent complaints about it.
    • Will maybe revisit at the next space improvement.
    • Andrew: do we still want to get a few more lights, move around the existing ones to get better coverage? James says that's probably a good idea but no bandwidth to take it on at the moment.
  • Classroom junk purge updates - James K., others?
    • Going well, thanks to Bill who has been slowly moving junk out to donate.
    • James: let's be more aggressive about getting rid of things we can't find a good use for.
    • James: please come to space improvement day (last Sunday of the month) and help out! Lots of things to do for all skill levels, will get done very quickly with more help.
    • Updates/plans for planer and sewing machine
      • Joe or Andrew will try to take photos of the planer blade for those who were wondering about its condition on Facebook Market.
  • Signage/SEO updates - Jeremy H.
    • Andrew would like to bring in two more LED scrolling things to give us three characters of marquee width.
    • Joe would like to work on the column in an expedient manner.
  • Future tool plans/SOPs for Roland CNC, resin 3d printer, other unused machines/tools? - Nate Y.
    • James said he will investigate getting the Roland CNC running
      • James found a manual! And Andrew shared some videos on how to set it up.
      • Will try to roll this into the curriculum for the May CNC class.

• Financial:
  • Financial health outlook/Current Profit and Loss updates, Quickbooks migration progress - Joe D., James K.
    • Joe is finishing up February during this meeting, will get reports out later this evening.
  • County/MEDC grants updates - James K., Nate Y., others?
    • Still interest in moving forward with this, but no time this month. Will keep this on the minutes so we don't forget to do it.
  • Michigan Nonprofit Relief Fund - Nate Y.
    • Supports non-profits that suffered a financial loss due to the COVID-19 public health emergency after March 3rd 2021. $35M fund that offers $5,000-$25,000 per grant application, based on need.
    • Details: https://www.mnaonline.org/services/nonprofit-relief-fund/overview
    • Must be submitted by 5/5 @ 11:59pm.
    • Eligibility:

      To be eligible for this funding, organizations must be 501(c)(3) nonprofits or projects fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)3 and able to demonstrate necessary expenditures and/or losses due to the COVID-19 public health emergency incurred after March 3, 2021 including lost public service revenue, costs for responding to a public health emergency, providing assistance to households, payroll protection, and other economic impacts negatively affecting service delivery.

  • Fundraising ideas - further discussion on any of the below items? - James
    • Add AHA "Alumni" section to newsletters. Highlight some of their accomplishments, projects, etc.. Would help us get more exposure to more social networks.
    • Renting our space to hold private workshops
    • Use AHA for exhibitions: showcase art that is made with tools in the space, or partner with artists/musicians/etc. to showcase their work.
    • Run events that encourage people to return at a later date, e.g. longer-term projects, a need to wait for things to cure, etc.. Encourages repeat visits and boosts foot traffic.

• Membership:
  • 2023 AHA Elections update - James K.

• Outreach:
  • Upcoming outreach opportunities:
    • Cahoots happy hour - ?
    • Penguicon 2023 - April 21st-23rd - Hackerspace party room?
    • AACME 2023 - Saturday May 6th, 12-3pm - Nate signed us up to do Robot Faces
    • AAPS STEAM Expo - 5/22 6-7:30pm @ Skyline HS
    • Artisan Market - Any Saturday 11am-4pm
    • Chelsea Amateur Radio Club Swap Meet - 6/4, morning-afternoonish - http://wd8iel.com/2023-chelsea-amateur-radio-club-swap-meet/

• Education: