[Community] keeping things clear

[Elizabeth Simpson]

Hi Joy and Nicole (and all), 

It's REALLY important that fundraising NOT be conflated with community connections. 

Ideally there should be four groups, membership, outreach, fundraising, and CC. Most orgs have the first three. Because we are such a wonky structure, we need the fourth. 

We don't officially have those four groups. It's chicken and egg over whether we don't have them because we don't have people, or we don't have people because we don't have them. 

OUTREACH
Nicole and I have been acting under 'outreach' to some degree, on alternate wednesdays (less during the summer).

MEMBERSHIP
Someone (Nicole? Michelle?) is doing work on membership. If may make sense to have this work happen at a regular time, as a seed for a membership group, so that the organization supports it, and has a means for continuity if that/those people should want to cease doing that work. 

FUNDRAISING
According to the online description, finance IS the fundraising group. Structurally it preferrable to include all working groups, with finance as a hub. Actually it has involved key individuals, mostly fmor finance, busting their butts for the greater whole (thank you!).

In developing a fundraising plan, because we don't have ANY of those groups clearly, it will necessarily incorporate membership, outreach and fundraising. Because of this, it may be that, for now, there is a workgroup/taskforce that builds all of this in light of the big fundraising, and then the groups split off into their respective parts afterward. This group will have to do more work than meet bi-weekly, if we actually want to raise $25,000. We should structure the meeting schedule so it isn't up to Nicole or a small few to run around like crazy in between. I suggest having a big meeting (like 3-4 hours) to go over the overall set of work and make a fundraising plan proposal, which would include getting more volunteers, setting up a meeting structure, and drafting the relation of finance to other fundraising activities. 

Though CC is related to these, it is NOT these, and should not be confused with them. It's imperative that this space stay open for its purpose- not least because it needs to support the upcoming open house and skillshare.

Community Connections
Description: Community
Connections is a workgroup that addresses the health of the internal
IMC community and its infrastructure, as well as the IMC's cultural
relevance and accessibility in Champaign County.

Best to you and the IMC, 
elizaBeth

A strong people need no leader 
- Zapata 

  

--- On Fri, 7/17/09, Nicole Pion <nicole.pion at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Nicole Pion <nicole.pion at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Imc] Finance Updates for July 2009 Steering
To: "Elizabeth Simpson" <elizacorps at yahoo.com>
Cc: "JOY" <imcbooks at gmail.com>
Date: Friday, July 17, 2009, 11:29 AM

Thank you, Beth and Joy.  
I agree that we need an overall fundraising plan.  I'd like to see this as part of the community connections bi-weekly focus on fundraising and membership.  I see these items as central to helping the IMC craft a collective vision (which must realistically be financed).   If you all agree, I am going to write to the IMC as a whole and to the individual groups who have received AmeriCorps and ask for volunteers to fundraise.  


I'd like to start as soon as possible.  Does next Wednesday's' meeting time of 6pm work?  

Beth, I understand the distinction between your work and the Do Good name.  While we have certain items in the grant application, that was written a year before the project will begin and changes are certain.  I will write the reports to reflect that you are an independent consultant or however you'd like to state it.  No matter how we call it, your work will be valuable to the new AmeriCorps :)


Nicole

On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 9:23 PM, Elizabeth Simpson <elizacorps at yahoo.com> wrote:


Hi Nicole and Joy, 
My thought is that we need an overall fundraising plan, with different subsets to address the different sections. Ideally this would link up with the vision/mission stuff, so that would be in place first to bolster it. I know that 'fall' had been tossed around for that. What is the timeline on raising the $$ to match americorps?

This kind of undertaking really needs a committed core group that meets specifically about it. Danielle mentioned that it's key to have all groups doing fundraising, and coordinating with finance as a hub. My thought is that there would be a weekly meeting time dedicated to fundraising/outreach, which would report to finance, and would be the coordination point for other groups. First step might be to I.D. a core group, with representatives from each working group. Which
 would mean the first first step is developing the approach to working groups so that they're willing to engage.. ah the cycle continues! But the point about getting help from working groups getting a americorps person is right on. 

Kick-starting the outreach listserv again might help with this, so that everyone involved can be in the loop?
Nicole, two small points: I'm not sure if it helps your budget in terms of the in-kind numbers, but FYI my non-profit rate is $80 an hour, so it's more like $640/day. Also, it's me as a consultant, not Do Good, who is donating the time. That's important because I haven't talked with Laura about do good's name being associated with the IMC. To that point- we should talk about to what extent my involvement/commitment is, so we're on the same page about expectations. 

Go team!elizaBeth
A strong people need
 no leader 
- Zapata 


  

--- On Thu, 7/2/09, Nicole Pion <nicole.pion at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Nicole Pion <nicole.pion at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Imc] Finance Updates for July 2009 Steering
To: "JOY" <imcbooks at gmail.com>

Cc: "Elizabeth Simpson" <elizacorps at yahoo.com>
Date: Thursday, July 2, 2009, 11:20 AM

Hey Beth and Joy,

Beth - I definitely want to coordinate and we have a TON of work to do!  So, I'm not trying to divide between groups, but to get togeher as much help as I can.  Basically, I was going to have Kathy do some information finding with our finances to see who our life time members
 are, who has donated over $1,000, compile a list of founding members, etc.  We need to get all this straight.  So, if Kathy can attend the bb meetings, great, if not I have some specific projects that she can do that will benefit BB as a whole.



I also want to focus on fundraising for the AmeriCorps positions -we have to match their funds with $35,000 for AmeriCorps benefits, some of which is in-kind.  For the membership drive, I think it would be great to get at least one contact from each working group - perhaps this is something that Beth, Chris R and I can mention when we go to working group meetings.



For the AmeriCorps positions, I think that each group that gets an AmeriCorps will also need to help with these efforts.  
It would be ideal if we could raise between $20-50,000 to help the IMC cover these costs as well as the cost of paying a program director).  I've attached the budget. Beth, this is just the kind of thing you said we could fundraise for,
right?  We've got a golden opportunity in so many ways and I hope this is the kind of thing that we can do with corporate sponsors and individual donations as well.  If you have
time, I'd love to have a phone conversation with you about what you
think is the best way to move ahead. I won't be back till the 15th, but
I'm working from home to some extent because this is a big project!  

Nicole

PS Beth, the Do GOod trainings were an estimate of the value of your time at Community Connections meetings - don't worry - I haven't signed you up for anything you didn't agree to!






On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 6:57 PM, JOY <imcbooks at gmail.com> wrote:


Thanks Elizabeth,
Nicole is out of town until the 15th. We have a new accounting volunteer that will help. Her name is Kathy Celis. I will check with her and see if she is available on Wednesday at 6. We can keep Nicole up to speed via email until she returns.



Yes, we have had some discussions in Finance as well, and Nicole mentioned the other initiatives, and like you said, we should probably combine our efforts.
Joy




On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 1:57 PM, Elizabeth Simpson <elizacorps at yahoo.com> wrote:





Joy, 
This seems like an overlap with discussions we've have in Beyond Business (we talked about it at one of our last meetings before I left)... but maybe finance is also discussing it? 

It makes sense to me that the membership drive, general fundraising, and this specific initiative should all coordinate with each other. 
What do you think of finding a specific time devoted to these issues, getting together the key players (me, you, Nicole, anyone else from finance who's down with it, anyone else who wants to commit to fundraising/membership drive)



My thought is to do it next wednesday at 6pm?
-Elizabeth

A strong people need no leader 
- Zapata 




  

--- On Wed, 7/1/09, JOY <imcbooks at gmail.com> wrote:






On another note, I would like to get together with you in the near future on a fundraising campaign for our new Vista positions. You had some great ideas at Steering. Would you be available to share your ideas?










      


-- 
Joy Davis
UCIMC Office Manager
202 S. Broadway Ave., Suite 100
Urbana, IL 61801
imcbooks at gmail.com


217.344.8820

www.ucimc.org





-- 
Nicole Pion
Outreach and Development Adviser
AmeriCorps CTC VISTA
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center






      


-- 
Nicole Pion
Outreach and Development Adviser
AmeriCorps CTC VISTA
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center




      
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