Event:2020/06/07 Fundraising

7 June 2020 - 1-2pm

We will meet through https://meet.jit.si/omninom Dial in number +512.647.1431 then pin is: 583 224 366#

Agenda

• Facilitator - Mai
• Who will record the Decisions? John
• Notes: Jenny, Mai

Welcome in-introductions

• Jane - Global Womens Strike
• Rachel - GWS
• John - GWS
• Robb - LibLens/FNB
• Jenny - Sudo Room / Sudo Mesh
• Mary Ann - Chiapas
• Mai - Sudo Mesh - she/they
• Natasha Salgado- fundraising ideas
  • Background in restaurants and bartending; Manages Starline Social Club, part of organizing different events there

Announcements

• Jenny: been working on the website, dev site at https://omnicommons.org/calendar/omni-commons
• John: Draft of bridge grant proposal sent out this AM

Discussion of changes to Fundraising letter.

• Draft is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j4Qz1P5HgtqQT1Bvr4rQYhkjh6ZzEv99oq7vrZ_wVuY/edit
• Mary Ann - Didn't realize we had a "donor circle" - if we do, I'd like a list of their names. In Bay Area, a "donor circle" typically implies you get something in return. Don't care for that Donate page. 2nd para in letter was intended to be the initial appeal, with final at the end. Agree it wasn't worded well enough. Don't agree with the donor circle framing
• Jenny: https://omnicommons.org/calendar/donate/
• Mai: agree to change the language to something more communal. liked jenny's suggestion of emphasizing the 'We' framing
• Rachel: think letter is good, need to make the connection with current rebellion and actions against police brutality
• Robb: more accurate to say 'over 1500 meals per month' - distro 500, FNB does 50/day. and further down 'as a small business'
• Rachel: asked GWS community re: fundraising appeals, they use GoFundMe. also can we not use 'American'?
  • John: not an enthusiastic American, but in the context of fundraising in the US, it resonated with people making fundraising decisions, resonates with the whole history of "white settler" utopian experiments throughout the history of the US. might resonate with more mainstream folks
    • Mary Ann: some of what we're doing is coming up with language to be used in different settings. differs between how you address a foundation / organization and what you send out as personal appeal to individuals. need to consider audience. to me American implies a huge continent with two different hemispheres, and am fine with American
      • Rachel: even the word 'utopian' am not sure resonates with most people.
        • Mary Ann: "utopian" has been used against the Zapatistas as a critique, implying it's not a project that will succeed
          • Robb: conceding that this is America/US, might be better to just acknowledge indigenous names of occupied territories
• Jenny: maybe just "social experiment"
  • Mary Ann: or "innovative"
  • Robb: "shared experiment"

Robb-set up the Venmo donations link to put on the letter

• Jenny: last time I looked into this - couldn't set it up as a business acct
• Robb: Yes, Venmo not set up for nonprofits. Looking into GiveButter, optional platform for fundraising
  • Mary Ann: We get tons of donations through Venmo
    • Robb: guess you set it up as a person. will set this up

Next steps for sending out letter

• Jenny: we have a MailChimp and a mailing list with ~1200 subscribers
  • Mary Ann: Roberto said he would send it out
• Mai: For posting on social media, getting Venmo up important. But for sending via email, we don't need that since most will be going through their browser
• Jenny: if you send out via MailChimp, creates a static link
• Rachel: need a blurb as well
• Mary Ann: and an image, would use a big crowd photo

Jenny-Update on work on SF Foundation grant

• Can submit anytime, but what we wrote needs to be broken up to fit their questions. Welcome any help rearrangin our text - Updated at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u4T0yrZLrRaWhJ96EZvbiakiA64Qt95rpmtUMRxrs90/edit

John's idea about Pandemic Bridge and Strategic Planning Grant

• Jenny: Can we make this a Google Doc?

Need more discussion about idea of paying an Administrator when we have a bit of money

• John: need to decide whether we support the idea of a paid administrator
• Rachel and Mary Ann remember discussing at Delegates ~6 weeks ago
• Jenny and Robb: don't remember consensus decision on that
• Jenny: long discussion, but no consensus at March 5th meeting: https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Event:2020/03/05_Delegates_meeting#transitional_governance
• Mary Ann: was more into the role of the events manager, who also did outreach/programming
• Jenny: didn't like 'Executive Director' - antithetical to Omni's values of collective self-governance. 'Administrator' sounds better
  • Mary Ann - but also vague, need to define the role - is it what Laura was doing? job description
• John: can work out specific details of the role after basic consensus on decision to hire someone
• Robb: decide where we want to be and pay a grantwriter
• Mary Ann: I don't think we need a grantwriter. What we need at the moment is v different from what we'll need a year right now. last thing we want is to become dependent on grants - that's what happened to La Pena - once they lost their grants post-2008, had to raise their fees for events and it became less accessible. what we need is overall coordination - eg working with working groups to ensure things are done in coordination, and that they function at all. more looking for a coordinator
• John: Coordinator whose responsibilities may include __, community-building, event management
  • Mai: a liason between the working groups, being in the loop. on practical side, probably a contractor. d

End of Meeting Chat

• David Keenan has connections with NCCLF: https://community-wealth.org/content/northern-california-community-loan-fund
  • actually, recently changed their name from NCCLF to 'Community Vision Capital & Consulting': https://communityvisionca.org/
• Natascha - didn't see much activity on social media, like the virtual

Next meeting

• Discuss a possible virtual fundraising event?
• 11am next Sunday, the 14th

Action Items

• Robb set up Venmo (requires hooking up phone line)
• Draft job description - John
• Website - Jenny
• SFF Application - Jenny
• Send out draft agenda for next week's meeting - Jane
• Final revision of letter - Mai

Notes to be posted to: https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Event:2020/06/07_Fundraising