Event:2014/04/03 Omni Delegates Meeting

FACILITATOR : David Brazil
NOTETAKER : Niki
TIMEKEEPER : Joel
DELEGATES PRESENT : Jeremy (ONL), David K. (BAPS), Ahnan (CCL), yar (SUDO), Joel (TIL), Kazoo (Screenprint Collective), Abby (Livespace), Andrew (Hacker Spa)
OTHER ATTENDEES: Ardeen and+ ? (FNB), Why Coyote runs Linux.com?, Danny S., Niki (BAPS / La Commune), Betsy (Co-Housing Collective), Zach
QUORUM? : YES.

Financials

updates

• Met with a potential donor/loaner recently, meeting again next week for a potential 30k loan
• SALTA has a potential donor as well
• Currently 5k in the bank

Niki has a bank acct linked up with the donation site, but direct money transfers preferred

• write checks to her for now

Feedback from Financial Discussion earlier in the week:

• Two stages of fundraising, "one-two punch"
• Step 1: Raise capital to get into the building ($30~50k)
• Step 2: Capital financing for buying/ownership (crowd-sourcing campaign)
• Danny submitted papers for Omni Incorporation on 04/02.

Terms

• 13k/mo (less 3k/mo if owner remains in the building)
• 1k/mo of deposit returned to Omni Collective over the course of 13 months
• Offer to put down money to hold building no longer being considered

We need to pay Jesse!

• He's on the board of both the EB and SF Land Trust
• We should pay him this week

discussion of in-the-door fundraising

• Emji: We should include costs for unexpected expenses / build-out
• Joel: We are projecting to raise 45k up front
• Jeremy: Suggests groups give double monthly rent as part of move-in costs
• DK: Confirms the move in costs currently on paper are 39k
• Joel: Prefer to have move in costs covered by donors so that groups can use their own money to commit to their own projects
  • "if we can get other people to give money, we should!"
• land trusts? no, that's stage 2
• "throw some parties"
• kickstarter with t-shirts and notebooks

Outreach

• "Outreach is about individual connections to members of our community."
• race politics of our project - whiteness?
• "outreach to collectives that represent communities of color"
• "proactive support to enable nonwhite collectives"
• http://oaklandwiki.org/Cowrie_Village
• Event tomorrow night @ First Cong.
• "Outreach is a saviour narrative. We should be supporting groups that are already working in our communities."
• "without denying the racism or white supremacy anybody experiences in white dominated groups, also don't erase the many poc already in our groups"
• Personally reach out to our communities to offer resources to people who might need them

Website / Print Promotional Materials

• threw this up in a few minutes https://oomni.github.io/
• Site was put together quickly, isn't finished, we need to address issues w/how we present ourselves
• yar flaked on serving up better sudoroom pictures. it's her fault stern-looking matt senate became the sudo mascot. sorry, matt.
• Joel: who can help with the promo materials: Danny and Niki volunteer

Messaging

• "we have not been good at it. put frankly, the air is VERY thick with corporate and gentrified bullshit and every breath must be spent on differentiating our project from that." <-- yar was hotheaded when she wrote this
• "Don't get mired in guilt, we're coming from a good place. We're not profiting (financially) from this project. We need to make what this project is really clear." <3 <3 <3
• these days people always want to know who's profiting. that's the assumption we have to fight.
• people aren't used to a group taking such a big step
• capture more video footage of groups in action

Legal

• As stated above, we're incorporated yay
• Lawyer w/extensive Non-Profit experience has offered to consult on Federal 501c3 application
• Clai: would be great to offer basic legal services to the community
• SELC
• As a non-profit, you're technically not supposed to endorse political candidates for public office
  • we're just the landlords. also, EFF is 501c3
  • restrictions are narrow: no endorsing specific candidates, etc

Ratifying Our Foundational Document

The Omni Oakland Collective

as put forth by David Brazil (Bay Area Public School) on 11/29/2013

Revised proposal for Omni Oakland Collective 4/2/2013

The Omni Oakland Collective is a group established to acquire and administer a collective property. We are presently pursuing a property known as The Omni, at 4799 Shattuck Avenue. We are committed to a radical commoning of space and resources.

The groups presently recognized as our collaborators are the Bay Area Public School, Sudo Room, Timeless Infinite Light, Livespace, Hacker Spa, Oakland Nights Live, an unnamed film-processing collective, La Commune Cafe & Bookstore, and Counter­Culture Labs.

Each of these groups, will be asked to select a delegate, according to the decision­making processes of each group. These delegates will form the Omni Oakland Collective's Delegate Council, which will be entrusted with making binding decisions on behalf of the groups they represent. Any delegate may bring a proposal to the Delegate Council in order to vote on it. Decisionmaking by this Delegate Council will be by consensus among present delegates.

These delegates will be fully accountable to the groups they represent, and subject to recall by that group, according to the decision­making processes of that group.

The Delegate Council will function like a spokescouncil: delegates will attend the meetings of their groups and report back to those groups from the Delegate Council meetings, while retaining the ability to make executive decisions on behalf of their respective group.

The Delegate Council will meet weekly on Thursdays at 7pm at 2141 Broadway (except for the third Thursday), according to a schedule and location upon which it decides.

Each meeting will be preceded by a half-hour informational session, open to everyone, scheduled weekly at 6:30pm Thursdays (except for the third Thursday) at 2141 Broadway, and facilitated by selected delegates from the Omni Oakland Collective.

All collective meetings will be facilitated and will stick to an announced schedule. Each meeting will be chaired by a rotating facilitator, and should require a timekeeper and notetaker selected from among the delegates. Each meeting will begin with a formal recognition of the delegates present. Quorum for these meetings will be 2/3 rounded down. All decisions of this group will be by consensus.

Meetings will begin by laying out an agenda to which any delegate may add. Proposals may be presented at any time in the course of the meeting.

These meetings are open to the members of the groups listed above, who are invited to join the meeting in a non-voting capacity. Delegates may invite anyone, whether a group member or not, to sit in on a meeting. If it is deemed necessary, any delegate may move to close the meeting to delegates only. The meeting will then be closed based on a majority vote of present delegates.

If other organizations propose to become part of the Omni Oakland Collective, a consensus vote of the Delegate Council is required. This vote will be taken on the spot in a closed meeting of OOC delegates only, without the presence of the applicant. If such a vote passes successfully, the new group will be requested to select a delegate for the Delegate Council.

If it is deemed necessary to expel a group, the group will be given the opportunity to present their case at a Delegate Council meeting after which the Delegate Council may decide upon expulsion by a full consensus vote in a closed meeting of OOC delegates that does not include the group in question.

The Delegate Council is empowered to amend the terms of its own existence, as outlined in this proposal, by consensus vote. We further state a continuous process of critical self-reflection is essential to the health of this project, and ask all members and groups to actively engage in this ongoing task.

ACTION ITEMS

decide on core values, seriously this time

more monday night fundraising meetings