[Imc] brainstorming

[Zachary C.Miller]

I wanted to get a bunch of ideas for revenue generation that came up
yesterday all in one place, I'm sorry if this has all already been
discussed and summarized before. 

Selling blank media at slightly over bulk cost (but cheaper than Best
Buy) rates from the storefront.

Selling progressive and independent magazines and newsletters from the
storefront. This would be like the magazine rack that horizon
bookstore used to have but more extensive. I'm _extremely_ interested
in this and I'd be interested in helping to organize this if others
would join me.

Hosting benefit concerts at the space on a regular basis. I think once
we knock out that front wall we'd be totally set up to have a small
performance space with chairs and such, perfect for folk shows and
such, maybe (news)poetry slams or open mics too. I'd be interested in
helping to organize this if others would join me.

Selling locally produced IMC products. 

Selling locally produced merchandising. UCIMC shirts, buttons,
stickers, etc. All easily produced with bulk materials and an ink jet
printer. 

One awesome thing they do in Chicago is they have a flyer mailing
collective. Many local progressive groups share their mailing lists
with each other into a single giant mailing list and once a month they
get together and bring flyers and do a single mailing to the whole
list combining all their flyers and newsletters. And they share the
cost. We should organize something like this and offer the IMC space
as the central gathering point for doing the mailing each month. We
should publish a newsletter with a plea for donation every month. By
combining with other local groups we can really get the word out to a
huge number of people. This benefits everyone in so many ways, it
saves on postage, it allows groups which aren't organized legal
corporate entities to take advantage of an organized group's
non-profit postal status, it reduces the amount of separate mailings
that people receive, it expands the reach of every group's mailings to
a bigger combined mailing list.

All of these things need committees to form around them if we are
going to do them. There is a lot of ground work for each one. What do
people think?

-- 
Zachary C. Miller - @= - http://wolfgang.groogroo.com/
IMSA 1995 - UIUC 2000 - Just Another Leftist Muppet
 Social Justice, Community, Nonviolence, Decentralization, Feminism,
 Sustainability, Responsibility, Diversity, Democracy, Ecology
Ya Basta! - http://www.greens.org