20161016 BOD Notes

Attendees: Jay, Joshua, Luke, Tanju, Chris K- remote

Notes:

• Makerfaire recap & lessons learned:
  • Raffle: 3-mo membership winner, Shad came by for a tour. Will be starting membership in Nov. Luke will be writing up some lessons learned on his experience and setting up the raffle.
  • Tanju also has lessons learned notes for the PPPRS race
  • Again we talking about needing to start planning earlier. Need a way to incentivize volunteers
  • We need to promote the raffle better and earlier
  • We need better banner signage that is easier for people to know what and where we are, tag line: Marietta Makerspace
  • We shared space successfully with 3DOrchard.com, (they had better banner too)
  • We need to come up with a pocket elevator pitch/script that volunteers can use to engage people that stop by the booth. This can be reviewed during the planning calls.
  • We need to standardize a kit for the booth. Also need placards describing the stuff and equipment we are showing off

• Tellus Discovery Day coming up Nov 19
  • Jay is leading organizing this event, hold a similar booth to market the space
  • Will be soliciting help from members
  • Jay planning to make a foam cutter. Tanju has some nichrome for this.
  • Likely also take the R2CNC
  • Should also tale some flyers for EngineeringForKids

• 501c3 Non-Profit Status - Achieved!!!
  • We have received the acceptance from the IRS
  • We need to frame a copy of the letter and hang up in the space
  • We need to notify everyone and post the news. The effective date of non-profit status goes back to mid-2015. Also remind people of
  • We need to develop the donation system and receipt template. Jay will put take a lead on this. We need to get a receipt to J. Kelley for the laser cutter... among other things
  • We need to start focusing on soliciting donations from larger companies that only support 501c3 organizations
  • What about grants? More work, but the right organizer could be able to fund themselves/salary, etc. A good fit for the right person. Tanju has a lot of notes on this from the Whitehouse trip. Also Decatur Makers got a grant this year for a part-time employee.
  • Need to be on the lookout for discounts for non-profit orgs... like our Slack Account. Amazon Smile, etc.
  • Ikea also has a material donation service, working with EngineeringForKids to submit a request for this
  • Christine's CPA friend will be helping with filing the proper annual filings with the IRS

• Financial Report
  • Good news is that winter is coming, so lower electric bill. Last month was over $300
  • With the premium membership, we are solvent. But we still need to grow
  • Accounting data was lost due computer crash/upgrade without backup. Chris is working on rebuilding it.
  • Back up system in progress, all Board will be given access

• Membership Report
  • We have 31 members. We gained the premium membership with EngineeringForKids.
  • As usual, every month we lose one or two and gain one or two every month
  • We need more members, need a target. We will start with a goal of 35 members. Having a target will force us to develop a strategy.
  • Need to give Josh membership list for tracking of Access Cards
  • Both Dan and Luis have started recurring meetups for Arduino/Development Boards and Robotics respectively. Meetups are key to gaining new members.
  • Jay suggesting having the space participate in a space balloon project.

• GA Dept of Manufacturing Innovation