Lansing Makers Network
Board of Directors
Regular Meeting Minutes
May 24, 2023, 7:00 pm at 2730 Alpha Access
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.
6. Website maintenance
- A number of areas of our website are out of date and Billy identified a number of these items to address.
- Joe proposes we establish a committee to ensure the website remains up-to-date and to offer assistance to Billy.
- We don’t need a committee per se, but we do need a process to ensure we check the website occasionally to keep it updated.
- Joe will reach out to Billy to help make the updates and communicate ideas back to the board.
7. Committee updates
- Strategic Planning Committee (Brian, Carl, Charlie)
- 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.