[RAGG] RE: RAGG & the IMC's financial crisis:

[Anne Odom]

The address for the core members is ragg-core at ucimc.edu.  We should probably
take this discussion off the ragg at ucimc.org list, as people on that list are
really just looking for announcements of volunteer opps and
workshops/events.

RAGG has not planned to meet until September, as most of the core is out of
town.  If we can't meet and get a rep at the next meeting, we will obviously
abide by whatever decisions are made.

Just FYI, I was thinking of a "tithing" kind of plan - RAGG donates 10% of
it's income to the greater good (kind of a raised-Catholic plan...)

A.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anne Odom * Product Manager * WebEasel, Inc.
WebEasel - It's that easy!
anne at webeasel.net * www.webeasel.net * 217.344.0444


-----Original Message-----
From: faith swords [mailto:faith at ucimc.org]
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2004 2:49 PM
To: anne at ojctech.com
Cc: esme esme esme; ragg at ucimc.org
Subject: RE: RAGG & the IMC's financial crisis:


hey,

i know it was short notice but emergencies by definition don't tend to
give notice :). i think the idea of RAGG donating some amount to general
overhead costs for the IMC is pretty much exactly the plan we'd had in
mind last night.

we talked about things briefly -- sascha and i explained the situation,
with specifics. basically, our monthly expenses are running somewhere
between $1000-1500 and our losses (mostly from the loss of shows space
revenue) are running between $500-700. there are a lot of possibilities
for raising money -- getting more monthly membership donations would help,
fundraisers and benefits for the IMC would help a lot too. i guess i had
envisioned each working group using its unique strengths to find something
that works for them. RAGG had a fairly successful benefit show a couple
months back, and there was the wine tasting (which i never heard anything
back from, but sounded like a great idea to me!).

stuff like that.

the only thing that we basically decided last night (never came to
consensus about it because everyone wanted to go back to their respective
groups and discuss it there) was that each working group is going to need
to be responsible for some amount of money that would go to general
operating budget. not in any kind of authoritative "if you don't raise
$100 every month, you get demerits" kind of way, but if this doesn't
happen, no one will have that space to meet anymore.

i wonder if it would be possible to contact the core RAGG people (and the
other RAGG people too for that matter) to have a meeting in the next
couple weeks to talk about this. i think we were planning on discussing
this again at next month's steering meeting which will be Sept. 2nd, so if
RAGG could meet and talk about it before then, and send someone to that
meeting, it would be really cool.

i would also be more than happy to come to that meeting (or other
meetings) to explain things more clearly, or if you wanted to go out and
talk about it, that would be fine too. my only constraint is that when
school starts at the end of the month, i will be in class monday-thursday
night from 5-9 so i won't be able to make meetings during those times.

let me know,

--faith

On Fri, 6 Aug 2004, Anne Odom wrote:

> I just checked my email, and just got this message, so obviously was
unable
> to attend last night.
>
> RAGG has not met since the launch in May, mostly due to crazy vacation
> schedules of core members.  We plan to start meeting in August, and
> fundraising will be our primary goal.  I was not familiar with the IMC's
> financial situation, but had already thought that RAGG might donate a
> certain percentage of all funds it raises to the IMC for overhead -- it
just
> makes a certain amount of sense.  When we have our first meeting in
> September, Zoe and I can make sure it's an issue we discuss as core
> organizers.
>
> What important things were said at the meeting last night that we should
> know about?
>
> A.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Anne Odom * Product Manager * WebEasel, Inc.
> WebEasel - It's that easy!
> anne at webeasel.net * www.webeasel.net * 217.344.0444
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: faith swords [mailto:faith at ucimc.org]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 7:55 PM
> To: anne at webeasel.net; esme esme esme
> Cc: ragg at ucimc.org
> Subject: RAGG & the IMC's financial crisis:
>
>
> hey y'all,
>
> at the outreach meeting tonight, we had a long talk about the financial
> situation at the IMC. i'm not sure how much RAGG folks know about what's
> going on, but the IMC is losing _a lot_ of money through monthly expenses.
>
> basically, the way things had been working was this: when we had a
> performance space, the shows group was bringing in between $500-700 per
> month. that money went a long way towards monthly expenses (the rent,
> bills, etc). since the space has been closed (almost a year and a half
> now), we have been trying to make up for that sudden loss of income. we
> have stepped up work on memberships, and have been requesting additional
> donations from those who can donate. we're doing a biiiiig letter
> writing/phone call campaign at the end of the month to basically appeal
> for emergency funding from the community.
>
> the outreach group has come up with a tentative call to action (of sorts)
> for the working groups of the IMC. as we see it, the problem is not that
> we aren't raising money, but that each working group is doing fundraising
> for itself and only itself. there isn't anyone doing general fundraising.
> if this trend continues, we could very easily see all the working groups
> of the IMC with a bunch of money in their respective accounts but no space
> to meet in because there is no general funding to pay the rent on our
> space. i would REALLY hate to see that happen, and i'm sure everyone else
> would also hate to see it happen.
>
> but it is a possibility at this point.
>
> the finance group is currently working really hard to figure out where
> exactly we stand income/expense-wise. we should know more by the steering
> group meeting tomorrow night at 8 p.m.
>
> i strongly encourage everyone from RAGG to attend who can do so. we will
> be discussing how each working group can use their specific skills and
> focus areas to help the IMC raise money. zoe s, as RAGG spoke, you REALLY
> need to be there, but it would be great if other RAGG folks could come as
> well.
>
> if anyone also wants to discuss this issue further on-list, send emails to
> the general imc list (imc at ucimc.org) and cc the finance group
> (finance at ucimc.org).
>
> thanks in advance for your help. i hope to see everyone tomorrow!
>
> --faith
>
> p.s. -- again, steering group meets tomorrow (thursday, 8/5) at 8 p.m.
>