Here’s the agenda for our next board meeting, which is on Wednesday, August 30 at 7 pm.
You are welcome to join us and if you have questions or ideas you’d like to share with the board, the member-led discourse portion of the meeting is a fantastic time to do so! If you’re unable to attend and want me to bring something up for you, please comment below. 
Agenda
- Approval of agenda
- Treasurer’s report
- Secretary’s report
- Executive report
- Membership status
- Committee updates
- Member-led discourse
- Schedule the next board meeting
- Public board meeting adjourns
- Executive session
Location Details
Topic: LMN Board Meeting
Time: August 30, 2023 at 7:00 PM Eastern
Location: 2730 Alpha Access St. Lansing, MI 48910
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Hi everyone, apologies for the late notice but a number of our board members are not available this evening so we are rescheduling the board meeting to next week, Wednesday, August 30, at 7:00 pm in person. I hope to see some of you next week!
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Reminder that this is tonight at 7:00! If you wanna stop by, feel free and if you can’t make it, leave comments below and I’ll bring them up for you! 
Lansing Makers Network
Board of Directors
Regular Meeting Minutes
August 30, 2023, 7:00 pm at 2730 Alpha Access
Present: Erik Gillespie (Secretary), Brian Adams (President), Carl Raymond, Jerry Jodloski, Joe Zimmerman, Charlie Finkel
Absent: Jody Applegate (Treasurer)
Spectators: Heather Williams, Laura Rogers, Evelyn Down, Maria Alcaraz, Christopher Greene-Szmadzinski
Minutes: Erik Gillespie
Meeting called to order: 7:05 pm
1. Approval of agenda
MOTION: Approval of Agenda as Submitted. [Charlie, Erik]
RESULT: Approved by unanimous consent
2. Treasurer’s report
Link to 2023-07 Treasurer’s Report
Link to 2023-08 (Partial) Treasurer’s Report
- The Square numbers are low and resulting in a larger net drop than usual.
- Memberships are down and Brian will look into whether there is a renewal issue happening that we’re unaware of.
- Charlie proposes renting a portion of our space to improve revenue.
- We need a reliable approach to grow paid membership.
- No progress on following up on stale checks.
- Jerry recommends we also check Michigan Unclaimed Property.
3. Secretary’s report
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Erik will start posting new Talk site topics when meetings need to be rescheduled.
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No status update about the MI Relief Grant.
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Patronicity report is complete except for the budget - Erik and Brian will start tagging these transactions over lunch.
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I think we should reopen the Call for Board Members.
4. Executive report
- Proposal to allow IBEW to rent space for $4,500 for the Silver Bells float and this will go towards our FD Hays electric bill.
MOTION: Approval of Proposal as Submitted. [Brian, Charlie]
RESULT: Approved by unanimous consent
- Proposal to become the fiscal sponsor for the Krampus Festival (December 9). Income and expenses would go through us and they would invoice us for expenses. We would provide a record of expenses and any excess funds would be ours to keep, which would be approximately $500-$1,000.
MOTION: Approval of Proposal as Submitted. [Brian, Erik]
RESULT: Approved by unanimous consent
- Maker Mayhem is the name of our brain games event. Should this event be rolled into the Fundraising Committee responsibilities?
5. Membership status
- Charlie requested an overview of our current membership status as well as trends and a comparison of paid vs. unpaid memberships.
- There 52 current members, 29 of them are paying members.
6. Committee updates
- Strategic Planning Committee (Brian, Carl, Charlie)
- Fundraising Committee (Carl, Erik, Joe, Maria, Evelyn, Mike)
- Link to Fundraising Committee Meeting Minutes
- We need a number of updates to our website before we are eligible for the Google Ad Grant.
- Erik and Carl are looking for fresh photos to include on the website and direct mail campaign
- Mid-Michigan Art Guild will be hosting their next meeting on September 21 at 6:30 pm.
- Evelyn is working on an Amazon wish list and Tony is making a lockbox to receive packages.
- Erik updated the Donate link on our website to point at our Giving Fund donation page.
- Erik will apply for the Desk Drawer Fund and plans to schedule it with others interested in applying for grants as a learning opportunity.
- March 14, 2024 is our target date for our anniversary fundraiser event.
- Getting monthly one-time liquor licenses would allow us to host Astronomy on Tap and other mixer kinds of events.
- Brian proposes the committee focus on traditional methods of fundraising such as a a donation drive to existing members.
7. Member-led discourse
- Laura asked when the Talk site post about applying for grants will go out. Erik can do it this week.
- Jerry shared that How-to Halloweeen is on October 7, 11-6 pm and we have a spot.
- Charlie and Evelyn propose that we have a checklist of places to promote events including around the space, Mail Chimp and Eventbrite emails, social media, etc.
- Laura would like us to find someone who can populate and send a newsletter.
- Maria recommends that we import our Eventbrite emails into Mail Chimp.
- Jerry offered that we do a free membership raffle for email addresses collected at How-to Halloween.
- Evelyn shared that the Kalamazoo Makerspace gets a tax refund at the end of the year for their utility expenses. Brian shared that we do this too.
8. Schedule the next board meeting
Next board meeting: Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at 7:00 pm
9. Public board meeting adjourns
MOTION: Adjourn board meeting and move into the executive session. [Erik, Carl]
RESULT: Approved by unanimous consent.