Event:2014/08/11 Fundraising Conversation

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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

  • 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

engage people who might contribute funds to also see it as *their* space and participate?

  • Jenny: How do we get the masses to contribute the cost of a cup of coffee every week?

Revenue Streams

  • One-page financial overview

1. Weekly / Monthly membership donations

  • What is Omni membership?

2. Online donations

  • Campaigns / Kickstarters
  • Donate button

3. Events

  • Fundraising Gala
  • Weekly Newbie Night

4. Omni-produced events that make money

  • Shows (taking a cut)
    • Thurston Moore, The Melvins, MGMT

5. Booked events

  • Weddings, etc;
  • Space Rental

6. End-of-the-year campaign

  • Very conventional, but end of tax year is very
  • Corporate matching
  • Rich families

7. Capital Campaign

  • 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?
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