Event:2014/08/11 Fundraising Conversation

7pm we will discuss a plan to do some nominal fundraising!

Experience we bring to this? Danny (CoFed, several fundraising campaigns), Margaretha (lots of grant writing/fundraising, urban commons projects: Hayes Valley Farm [20K kickstarter], Bloom Justice, web and graphic design), Cere (passing hats at events), Athena (worked in nonprofits, but not fundraising), David (Alt Exposure grant, community investors / donors / loaners etc; excited about block grants from our district, human relations, specific project fundraising), Elaine (nonprof$ for artists w/ disabilities - grant writing and program coordinating; other event space in Mass, fundraising for a small press), Jenny (sudo room and sudo mesh; Gittip, crowdfunding, positioning ourselves to be given big grants at the end of the year).

David: Getting the 1023 important for getting 501c3 and major tax deductible donations; writing off rent as a 501c3 renting to for-profits
 * 3 mayoral candidates coming here to debate in a next month
 * Use Oakland Nights Live to help with our fundraising and donations
 * Article in the Bay Guardian
 * Policy on admitting new collectives, space and rent

=Questions= engage people who might contribute funds to also see it as *their* space and participate?
 * Danny: What's the latent potential for people to want to support Omni?
 * Margaretha: General fund or specific funds?
 * How can I help? x2
 * Athena: How to bring all the collectives together to represent the Omni, at say, a fundraising event?
 * Cere: Isn't the 1023 pretty trivial? Show and tell? Why can't we start having 75 person events?
 * Cere: What about soundproofing? Would be rad to have loud events here that wouldn't bother other things happening?
 * Elaine: Timeline? How can I most effectively contribute?
 * Jenny: Newbie Night - can we make this Omni-wide? What does each collective contribute to the Commons - cultivating this message. How do we
 * Jenny: How do we get the masses to contribute the cost of a cup of coffee every week?

=Revenue Streams= 1. Weekly / Monthly membership donations 2. Online donations 3. Events 4. Omni-produced events that make money 5. Booked events 6. End-of-the-year campaign 7. Capital Campaign
 * One-page financial overview
 * What is Omni membership?
 * Campaigns / Kickstarters
 * Donate button
 * Fundraising Gala
 * Weekly Newbie Night
 * Shows (taking a cut)
 * Thurston Moore, The Melvins, MGMT
 * Weddings, etc;
 * Space Rental
 * Very conventional, but end of tax year is very
 * Corporate matching
 * Rich families
 * Find the rich believers

=Grants!=
 * Grant-writing hackathon
 * Boilerplate

=Message=

What are the best few things we can prioritize?

Community

 * Inner circle: direct and intimate connections
 * Wider audiences: eg; global hackerspace community, arts community, people writing about or giving ted talks about these topics
 * Hosting events / "stunts":
 * Launch night, leverage press, target various large communities

Pitch

 * What is the transformation we're promising?

Call to Action

 * How can people help us to the work?

=Ideas=
 * Newbie Night
 * Tiny art sale
 * Coordinate Newbie Night for First Friday
 * Study upcoming Temescal community events and coordinate with them

=Action Items=
 * David talking to Dan Kalb about block grants
 * Talk to Helen about FNB fiscal sponsorship [Jenny]
 * FOCUS ALL ACTIVITY ON AUG21st POTLUCK and then replicate successes at a larger scale

=AUG 21 POTLUCK PARTICIPATION NOTES=

Synthesized from many post-its late; s we discussed on Monday night, this potluck is a great way for all Omni member groups and working groups to take one step together towards collective unity.

There are two areas of tasks:

Omni presence (pun!):
 * suggest each Omni member group have 2+ representatives present
 * organize set-up and cleanup volunteers
 * suggest everyone "bring a friend or two"
 * create half-sheet "About Omni" handouts (building on existing copy on website, wiki, etc)
 * welcome participation far more than donation! let's build a beloved community

Omni publicity:
 * send email through Omni announce list
 * suggest each Omni member group email their list and post on social media
 * create event using Omni Facebook page (necessary to engage regular FB users)
 * create simple image for posting on social media – example attached! Improvements welcome!
 * create "potluck page" or "soon-to-open" page on the Omni website
 * consider posting to local event calendars, inviting press, etc – needs discussion
 * invite specific groups?
 * prospective member groups (RLL, Rise Above printing, and others??)
 * movement allies (EBASE, Causa Justa Just Cause, Phat Beets Produce, Ella Baker Center, Oakland Rising..... etc?)
 * city & neighborhood reps?