BOO! 
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
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:
- 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
- Philanthropy: let’s start doing the things most other nonprofits do that we don’t (donor campaigns, fundraisers, etc.)
- 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.
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