Event:2017/03/20 Finance & Fundraising

Omni Finance Working Group 20 Mar 2017

attendees

• remote-marcus, jenny, laura, mary ann, julio, Brian via phone

updates

• daniel, marc & jenny fixed the printer! there were two plastic pieces that hold down the cartridge missing - looks like they were broken when max installed the new cartridge. currently held down with some duct tape. need to bill pb for new tray.
• Mary Ann: gladys valley foundation requiring a certified financial review OR an audit if the org has filed a 990 return as a 501c3. financial review would be $5K, audit more like $15K
  • Marcus: oh snap. is that worth it?
  • We discussed and it isn't worth it unless a lot of foundations require.
• Fundraising WG is going to start meeting separately at 1pm on Mondays.
  • Marcus: why? why so early I mean? Because Mary Ann can't meet during dinner time
    • Marcus: ok.
• We checked in about how invoicing and reconciling processes around events are going. Seems good so far. Jenny showed Julio how to generate a report of how much events are bringing in.
  • Marcus: cool, can u show me jenny?
    • In Quickbooks, go to Accounting on side menu -> scroll down to 5100 Event Rental -> Run Report. You can change the timeframe at the top of the page.
• Jenny signed GCS 3 day eviction notice and placed in the classroom space. Didn't email. Laura will email to Almaz.
• Jenny sent in buisness tax exemption request and reimbursement request. Will be about $2200 back, hopefully
• Jenny sent in 2017 OC Statement of Information

insurance

• Laura: Danielle said she would send the general liability that they found to Traci at Brignole & Ghiri. Traci called and left a message saying she didn't understand the policy.Referred Traci to Danielle to answer her questions.
• still waiting on COI from Phat Beets, then we can get new GL policy
• insurance is really annoying to deal with. <3 laura
• Jenny signed Chubb policy cancellation form for Danielle

property tax exemption

• still need some exemption letters & articles/bylaws for a few entities, then we can send
  • phat beets -> c-prep letter & articles/bylaws
  • fnb & ccl articles or bylaws

proposals

• Marcus: I mentioned it a hot sec before during delegates meeting, but just wondering how you finance peeps feel about the idea of door-to-door selling of monthly support memberships through patreon along the lines of those people that stand in front of berkeley bowl for greenpeace or some other organization. given we have non-profit status this is something we could do for fundraising right, which provides donors with tax-deductibility toward their contribution?
  • Jenny: great idea! was just talking with jesse last night about old school outreach tactics involving f2f interactions, door to door pitches etc
    • tho, canvassing probably requires a permit
      • Brian: disagreement btw supreme court & local municipalities - if you're not selling anything you don't technically need a permit (protected free speech) but most municipalities require permits
        • Laura: should go door to door in the neighborhood primarily to meet the neighbors, and then incidentally mention the patreon if it comes up. THere are other ways to get people to donate thru patreon.
          • Marcus: I hear that, we could incidntally mention patreon in the neighborhood, but directly canvass further out
            • Brian: WHo would do that? would want to ensure they are good reps of omni and knowledgeable enough to answer questions. Something more fruitful would be to invite people to an event at the omni specifically focused toward raising awareness & contributing to the patreon.
  • Laura "We're from the omni, want to be good neighbors. Here are some events coming up *hand them a brochure / newsletter* with patreon info and description of Omni, you can call this number if you have any questions or concerns." I guess I'm not really comfortable with direct canvassing as a fundraising method because people hate canvassers and it's a lot of work for probably limited financial results.
    • Marcus: I spoke with ABDC about being a better Omni member and participating more in OMNI, I think it presents an easily accessible way to engage neighborhood peeps/kids to bring a shirt and print. The purpose here is that it can help Omni more immediately engage the direct community and make it easier to sell the patreon. This will take a couple months to execute though.
    • Laura: that would be great.
  • jenny: new members of comms wg is going to recreate the nice foldout brochure libbie and niki made last year
    • marcus: cool, that would be great to hand out
      • Marcus: in terms of people/who would do that, we should literally follow the model already set fourth by greenpeace and all those other orgs, where the canvassers get a cut of what they bring in. I think it'd be great to do as Laura suggested canvassing the neighborhood indirectly selling but mostly educating in order to develop a rap and then use that experience toward the direct selling.
      • Brian: part of the reason that works is bc groups like greenpeace have name recognition.Canvassing is definitely a legit idea and could work, but it's definitely a major undertaking / proceeding, should talk to groups like planting justice to learn about how they do it (if we agree to do it)
      • Laura: We should talk about this more in person

action items

• jenny bill pb for replacing printer tray
• Mary Ann will check with Jose on how often foundations require review/audit
• Laura & Jenny to print and sign form to cancel current GL policy - DONE
• jenny make a screencast of Quickbooks processes for reconciling, generating reports, etc
• Marcus: talk to Planting Justice about their canvassing program and write up an Omni plan/proposal
• Laura return Chubb cancellation form to Danielle, and fianlize GL policy issues with Traci
• Laura email GCS 3 day notice to Almaz
• Jenny finish 2016 OC/Sudo financial reports & send to finance
• Jenny send out OOC 2014 & 2015 taxes for review
• Need board resolutions to finalize transfer of Fiscally sponsored projects, per Jesse's instructions. Jenny will draft and send to him for review.