Board meeting tonight (Oct 25) at 7:00 pm

1

BOO! :ghost:

Tonight we’re holding our regular monthly board meeting at the space and if you’d like to watch or chat with us, feel free to stop by! It starts at 7:00 pm and our member-led discourse is held near the end, usually around 8:00 pm.

If you’re unable to join and would like to offer feedback or ask a question, drop a comment here and I’ll bring it up for you.

Agenda

  • Approval of agenda
  • Treasurer’s report
  • Secretary’s report
  • Executive report
  • Committee updates
  • Member-led discourse
  • Schedule the next board meeting
  • Public board meeting adjourns
  • Executive session

Location Details

Topic: LMN Board Meeting
Time: October 25, 2023 at 7:00 PM Eastern
Location: 2730 Alpha Access St. Lansing, MI 48910

2

Lansing Makers Network

Board of Directors

Regular Meeting Minutes

October 25, 2023, 7:00 pm at 2730 Alpha Access

Present: Erik Gillespie (Secretary), Jody Applegate (Treasurer), Brian Adams (President), Carl Raymond, Jerry Jodloski, Joe Zimmerman, Charlie Finkel

Absent:

Spectators:

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 2023-09 Treasurer’s Report

  • We have our first corporate membership (Spartan Co-Op)!
  • Our fiduciary support for Krampusfest (Dec. 9, 6-9 pm) is going well.
  • Insurance quotes are scheduled with Rathbun.
  • We have quotes for an interim bookkeeper in the $2k-$5k range.
  • Dot will be back in the area soon and is interested in resuming bookkeeping when she can.
  • Stale checks are being worked on and some have been reissued.

3. Secretary’s report

  • The $25,000 MI Nonprofit Relief Grant was deposited!
  • The rest of my time was focused on fundraising tasks.

4. Executive report

  • Brian will email a kick-off for renewed weekly meetings to everyone involved at LMN on Zoom.
  • How-to Holiday is coming in November, please promote it on social media!
  • Jack Olsen is willing to offer us a loan for moving his donated items to our space. Details and terms are in the works.
  • We are sponsoring the Oldtown Krampus Fest and will keep any unused funds.
  • Three focus points for the space right now:
    1. Low-effort November: events and what-not that are low-cost and low-effort like lockpicking night, painting, macaroni art that can also boost visibility and attendance at the space
    2. Philanthropy: let’s start doing the things most other nonprofits do that we don’t (donor campaigns, fundraisers, etc.)
    3. Boost membership and similar regular-income programs
  • We are going to try out various youth programs to have a bigger impact on younger people
  • The Merchatorium is still being developed
  • We need to improve our marketing and advertising — we don’t have the know-how but it’s vital to get the word out to more people and grow everything we do
  • There’s still an interest in transition to a Teal organization a la Reinventing Organizations but our capacity and priorities are on money right now
  • Putting our artist/maker storage rental spaces in motion will be a helpful revenue source that is also valuable to the people using that space
  • We can make better use of our space if we rethink our member storage area

5. Loan agreement with Charlie Finkel

  • Charlie paid the FT Hayes bill of $9,850 with the expectation that he’ll be paid back.
  • Now that we have the MI Nonprofit Relief Grant we will pay $1,000 per month to Charlie until he is repaid in full.
  • MOTION: Approval of agreement to Charlie. [Brian, Carl]
  • RESULT: Approved by unanimous consent, Charlie abstained from vote

6. Electrician agreement

  • The electricians who were renting space for the Silver Bells float would like to continue renting the space year after year, including storing the float here.
  • The electrician proposed a range of $8k-$10k per year for the space.
  • $8,000 doesn’t quite break even with our square footage cost, and doesn’t include utilities and tool access.
  • We are interested but need to come up with a price, terms, and conditions. Brian will work on this so we can offer a written proposal to them.

7. Committee updates

  • Strategic Planning Committee (Brian, Carl, Charlie)
    • Is going to meet next week to resume planning.
  • Fundraising Committee (Carl, Erik, Joe, Maria, Evelyn, Mike)
    • Link to Fundraising Committee Meeting Minutes
    • The donor campaign files have been sent to the printer and we’ll have an envelope stuffing party when we get the letters back.
    • Brian has the corporate sponsorship details in his hand and is reviewing them.

8. Member-led discourse

  • Charlie recommends (and the rest of the board agrees) that we find a way to thank Jack Olsen for his generous donations.
    • Carl pointed out that this is also a press release opportunity.
    • We could do a plaque affixed to his larger donations.
    • We need to ramp up checkouts on the new CNC quickly when it is operational.

9. Schedule the next board meeting

Next board meeting: Wednesday, November 29, 2023, at 7:00 pm

10. Public board meeting adjourns

MOTION: Adjourn the board meeting and move into the executive session. [Erik, Joe]

RESULT: Approved by unanimous consent.

2 Likes