We’re going to try out returning to in-person board meetings on May 24 at 7:00 pm. I’ve shared the draft of our agenda below and you’re welcome to join for the member-led discourse if you’d like to chat.
If you’re unable to attend, feel free to reply in this thread and I’ll bring it up during the member-led discourse and respond back as well.
Agenda
Approval of agenda
Approval of previous minutes
Executive report
Treasurer’s report
Secretary’s report
Website maintenance
Committee updates
Member-led discourse
Schedule the next board meeting
Public board meeting adjourns
Executive session
Location Details
Topic: LMN Board Meeting
Time: May 24, 2023 at 7:00 PM Eastern
We’re not going to stream in person meetings at this point. Guests are welcome. We’ll do our best to accommodate given space constraints, but assuming its a number similar to our number of guests on Zoom, it should be more than doable.
The Call for Board Members webpage has been updated and we’re going to discuss reopening the call at next month’s board meeting. I’m planning to follow up with a previous board member applicant whom I was expecting to hear from and the other applicant had to back out.
Where is the call for board members posted? I have looked through the web site quite a bit and never saw it. I just looked though the web site after seeing this and I did not find it…
The call for board members had date-specific details in it so we stopped linking to it, but it’s on the website and we’re looking to reopen it in June after seeing where things sit with our remaining candidate.
Yep, I plan to post all of the minutes moving forward and my goal is to post them the same day that they’re approved by the board. You can expect the May 24 minutes to be available on June 28 unless there are objections by the board.
Following up on this, I couldn’t find the link. Can you repost?
Members were unjustifiably surprised with the price increase . Our people are ready and willing to support this great cause, but you have to throw us a bone and tell us what is going on with the finances. Why aren’t finances published? Regardless, I believe that increased transparency would help our cause.
Present: Erik Gillespie (Secretary), Brian Adams (President), Carl Raymond, Jerry Jodloski, Joe Zimmerman, Jody Applegate (Treasurer), Charlie Finkel
Absent:
Spectators: Maria Alcaraz
Minutes: Erik Gillespie
Meeting called to order: 7:07 pm
1. Approval of agenda
MOTION: Approval of Agenda as Submitted. [Jody, Erik]
RESULT: Approved by unanimous consent
2. Approval of previous minutes
Link to 2023-04-05 Meeting Minutes
MOTION: Approval of Minutes as Submitted. [Erik, Charlie]
RESULT: Approved by unanimous consent
3. Executive report
Mott money arrived: two checks totalling $15,000
Brian scheduled an all-staff meeting to be held on June 5 at 6:00 pm
The Maker’s Material Market is this Saturday!
Brian quoted $8k of bulk memberships for MSU
Jimmy will be returning in June
4. Treasurer’s report
Link to 2023-04 Treasurer’s report
Link to 2023-05 (partial) Treasurer’s report
Jody will call State Farm and Granger about the bills we didn’t receive this month
We expect to be short on instructors this summer while they are away at trade shows. If you know anyone who would like to teach a class, email info@lansingmakersnetwork.org
Charlie wonders if we can get demos from local craftpersons
5. Secretary’s report
Erik will post the most recent approved minutes to the Talk site moving forward.
Applied for MNA COVID-19 Relief Grant ($25,000)
Patronicity report is complete except for the budget - Erik and Brian will start tagging these transactions over lunch.
Erik didn’t receive a list of items in Cliff’s possession that were purchased by LMN. Do we want me to proceed with this? Alex was asked to find out if we’re missing these items. Brian will check with Alex.
Erik revised the Call for Board Members website so it can be used anytime.
Erik will followup with Cheyenne about her interest in becoming a board member.
Pulled past three years of activity to start creating a budget.
We would like to eventually start paying our staff.
We want to be thoughtful about our decision about who to pay if it’s not everyone.
We would like to shift into a mindset of generating revenue to pay for certain things that in the past we would have (or did) build ourselves.
Working on a strategic vision that can be shared with everyone behind the organization to have a collaborative strategic plan.
Fundraising Committee (Carl, Erik, Joe)
Link to Fundraising Committee Meeting Minutes
Maria has created a nice mailer design that we’re continuing to develop.
Jody has signed us up for USPS direct mail program as a nonprofit.
Evelyn got printshop quotes for small batch runs.
We have a call for volunteer models to do a photoshoot for the mailers.
We have a short run Facebook fundraiser ending this weekend.
8. Member-led discourse
From Gary B. on the Talk site: What is the status of the board member search?
The Call for Board Members webpage has been updated and we are planning to discuss reopening the call at next month’s board meeting.
Erik plans to followup with a previous board member applicant.
The other applicant had to back out.
From Dorothy?
We need women on the board.
Has been a small business bookkeeper and a lot of ideas to recommend about what we can be doing better and will connect with Brian about them.
We need to better understand which kind(s) of marketing work to bring people into the space.
We likely need a dual-marketing strategy to bring people in to take classes and to take members.
Let’s make the member/class app include a question about how they heard about us.
Heard about us on a Facebook open hours ad.
Let’s ask volunteers who reside in Lansing to attend council meetings and talk about us.
We need more ways to show people that come to our space that we’re a community with social connections, not just a place to take a class or make a project.
The sudden price increase after only recently becoming a member was very jarring.
9. Schedule the next board meeting
Next board meeting: Wednesday, June 28, 2023, at 7:00 pm
10. Public board meeting adjourns
MOTION: Adjourn board meeting and move into the executive session. [Erik, Charlie]
RESULT: Approved by unanimous consent.
