Alright guys and gals. Here is what I've got. If you would like to edit/delete anything, speak now or forever hold your peace. :gar-La;
North Carolina Woodworker, Inc.
Board of Directors Conference Call
August 24, 2011 8:00pm
AGENDA
1. Review the old minutes and accept and/or edit them.
2. Go over old business.
2.1 Department Reports from all BoD members
3. New Business
3.1 Budget
3.2 Classified Ads Policy
3.3 Calendar Contest Policy
3.4 Corporate Member Benefits
3.5 Policy/Procedure documentation
3.6 Events
3.6.a Agri Civic Center (Albemarle)
3.6.b Mint Hill Sunday in the Park
3.6.c Klingspor Extravaganza
3.6.d Triad Shop Crawl
1. The Board unanimously reviewed and approved the old minutes.
2. Old Business
a. Cathy checked with Doug about rebuildingtogethertriangle.org and he hasn’t heard back from them. Rob thinks it would be important to pursue relationships with our lawyers and accounting people that Doug and Joe had. Barbara stated that everything as far as the accounting goes has been transferred. She hasn’t needed to have any contact with the accountants as they only do our taxes. Rob is going to send Doug a pm to get some of the contacts of the lawyers, etc. that helped with the non-profit status, etc. Dennis stressed that we need to get with the accountants and lawyers to make sure we are in full compliance with our non-profit status. Rob also has not received the certificate of liability insurance from Doug and he will include that in his pm.
2.1 Department Reports
a. 3.1 Barbara stated that the summary of our accounts are as follows:
As of 25 August 2011
Authnet: 0 Balance
PayPal: $5,315.72
Checking: $9,732.57
Savings: $5,294.12
Total: $ 20, 342.41
Our Tax prep cost $ 1,554.00
Recurring monthly expenses:
Real Web Host $234.95
QB Online $224.55
Authnet: $20.00 (varies)
Merchant Services $50.95
Total est. expense $530.45
b. 3.6.a Rob is working on a list of fund-raising things that Cathy has asked for. This has to do with the List of Continuity that Cathy has been working on. Rob also stated that he will continue to do the raffles.
c. Cathy stated that she has been working on getting the Continuity List together and everyone else will include their thoughts in it as well. Cathy, Susan, Dennis and a few other members are going to the Agri Civic Center event. They will be doing demos and Q&A. Reggie has all of the events things from Scott and will bring it to the event.
d. Dennis stated that he needs to get with Doug about some of the contacts for some of our events. Also, he is going to start getting information together for a possible, informal Fall picnic. Cathy will forward on the information about a possible site.
e. Andy stated that he is beginning to work on the Fall Donation Drive. Rob stated that the Fall Extravaganza is going to be on October 21-22, and that we have ticket sales available at the event. He suggested that we should have the Donation Drive starting shortly after Labor Day and end before the raffle. Tracy will get with Jim and Bas and see if we can get a donation page linked to authorize.net instead of paypal.
f. Tracy stated that the site upgrade should happen tonight between 2am and 5am tonight. He negotiated the upgrade after our recent downtime. Our new server will have much more hard drive space as well as many other excellent upgrades. Normally, this would be a $700 upgrade, but it will cost nothing to us. It should take 30 to 45 minutes to move the files. Also, he is going to think about a possible software change. That change would need to be made before we start getting into a lot of possible updates in the future.
g. Trent stated that he was unable to upload the old meeting minutes into the Download Library. Tracy said that it should be working fine now and Trent will try it again in the next few days.
3. New Business
3.1 Budget (mentioned in 2.1)
3.2 Tracy stated that some of the long-term members/advertisers have a problem with the postings of a certain member. This member is using the classified ad section primarily for business purposes. The issue is that we have three paid advertisers on the site who cannot post their tool sales in the classified ads. They have expressed concern over it. The current policy states that you can sell your “one time woodworking tools” in the classified ads. Everyone agrees that this is a very ambiguous statement and it needs to be changed. Rob stated that the policy needs to state that people can sell a tool that they’ve grown out of, etc., but not repetitive sales, as in a business. Barbara brought up the question that “should we allow people to sell more than one item at a time on the site?” She also says that it is important to support our members that are trying to make money doing things like this. Rob stated that we have paid advertisers that can only post a link to their sites and not individual tool sales. Rob proposed that we create smaller member side bar ads, where they can link to items for sale. Tracy stated that it would be difficult from a programming perspective. Rob also stated that maybe we should start a private forum for members who are trying to sell their items. There would be a fee to post ads in that forum. Tracy proposes that we create a for sale item forum that gives a percentage of the proceeds to the site. Rob stated that we do have a bar on the header of the Home Page that allows members to post the links to their personal websites. This is free of charge. Barbara stated that perhaps Rob, Tracy and Andy, in the interest of time, should get together a proposal for this and the rest of us would approve it. Trent gave the example that when he was out of a job, he created a website with his services and listed a link to it in his signature. There are plenty of options available for him to sell his tools. We are going to try to work this into the site, but there should be a fee associated with it. Barbara made a motion for us to plan on making something available on the site for members to sell their items. The board members responsible will be Rob, Tracy and Andy. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
3.3 Tracy is helping members with any technical issues they may have uploading pictures. Tracy will post a link to the Calendar Contest. Dennis received a pm from a member wondering if he could submit a photograph of his work for the contest that was taken by a professional photographer. This rule would be very difficult to enforce. Barbara stated that the clause could be taken out as long as the member submitting the photo owned the rights to the photograph and any liability is not on the site. Dennis will work on updating that policy and the board will approve it.
3.4 Rob stated that the only difference between corporate members and regular members is that corporate members have the right to vote. Tracy proposed that only corporate members be allowed to be Discount Qualified. Rob stated that creating “classes” of members is not a good idea. Also, there are lots of members that are concerned with their privacy and do not want to give up their addresses and personal information, so perhaps the policy should remain the same.
3.5 As she stated earlier, Cathy has started a thread for board members to post as much pertinent information that is relevant to their positions as possible. This will allow for continuity when members leave the BoD or switch positions. All board members will add to the list ASAP. Rob proposed that each member post their information by September 15’th. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
3.6 Events
3.6.a The Agri Civic Center event will run from 9am to 4pm and members will rotate throughout the day. Dennis stated that it will be a great opportunity to reach out to people who may be interested in woodworking. Rob stated that anyone who volunteers should get a coffee cup or a hat on behalf of the board. Barbara inquired about the amount that the donation would be to the Agri Civic Center, if any. Rob and Dennis stated that we would not have to make a donation since we are not selling a product.
3.6.b The Mint Hill in the Park event will provide an opportunity for members to sell their woodworking projects, as well as other types of arts and crafts.
3.6.c The Klingspor event in Hickory will take place October 21’st and 22’nd in Hickory. The Raleigh event is on September 17’th.
3.6.d Jim Campbell will be heading up the Shop Crawl in the triad area.
At 9:54pm, Rob made a motion to end the meeting. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved. The meeting ended at 9:54pm.
Submitted by:
Trent Mason
Secretary
North Carolina Woodworker, Inc.
North Carolina Woodworker, Inc.
Board of Directors Conference Call
August 24, 2011 8:00pm
AGENDA
1. Review the old minutes and accept and/or edit them.
2. Go over old business.
2.1 Department Reports from all BoD members
3. New Business
3.1 Budget
3.2 Classified Ads Policy
3.3 Calendar Contest Policy
3.4 Corporate Member Benefits
3.5 Policy/Procedure documentation
3.6 Events
3.6.a Agri Civic Center (Albemarle)
3.6.b Mint Hill Sunday in the Park
3.6.c Klingspor Extravaganza
3.6.d Triad Shop Crawl
1. The Board unanimously reviewed and approved the old minutes.
2. Old Business
a. Cathy checked with Doug about rebuildingtogethertriangle.org and he hasn’t heard back from them. Rob thinks it would be important to pursue relationships with our lawyers and accounting people that Doug and Joe had. Barbara stated that everything as far as the accounting goes has been transferred. She hasn’t needed to have any contact with the accountants as they only do our taxes. Rob is going to send Doug a pm to get some of the contacts of the lawyers, etc. that helped with the non-profit status, etc. Dennis stressed that we need to get with the accountants and lawyers to make sure we are in full compliance with our non-profit status. Rob also has not received the certificate of liability insurance from Doug and he will include that in his pm.
2.1 Department Reports
a. 3.1 Barbara stated that the summary of our accounts are as follows:
As of 25 August 2011
Authnet: 0 Balance
PayPal: $5,315.72
Checking: $9,732.57
Savings: $5,294.12
Total: $ 20, 342.41
Our Tax prep cost $ 1,554.00
Recurring monthly expenses:
Real Web Host $234.95
QB Online $224.55
Authnet: $20.00 (varies)
Merchant Services $50.95
Total est. expense $530.45
b. 3.6.a Rob is working on a list of fund-raising things that Cathy has asked for. This has to do with the List of Continuity that Cathy has been working on. Rob also stated that he will continue to do the raffles.
c. Cathy stated that she has been working on getting the Continuity List together and everyone else will include their thoughts in it as well. Cathy, Susan, Dennis and a few other members are going to the Agri Civic Center event. They will be doing demos and Q&A. Reggie has all of the events things from Scott and will bring it to the event.
d. Dennis stated that he needs to get with Doug about some of the contacts for some of our events. Also, he is going to start getting information together for a possible, informal Fall picnic. Cathy will forward on the information about a possible site.
e. Andy stated that he is beginning to work on the Fall Donation Drive. Rob stated that the Fall Extravaganza is going to be on October 21-22, and that we have ticket sales available at the event. He suggested that we should have the Donation Drive starting shortly after Labor Day and end before the raffle. Tracy will get with Jim and Bas and see if we can get a donation page linked to authorize.net instead of paypal.
f. Tracy stated that the site upgrade should happen tonight between 2am and 5am tonight. He negotiated the upgrade after our recent downtime. Our new server will have much more hard drive space as well as many other excellent upgrades. Normally, this would be a $700 upgrade, but it will cost nothing to us. It should take 30 to 45 minutes to move the files. Also, he is going to think about a possible software change. That change would need to be made before we start getting into a lot of possible updates in the future.
g. Trent stated that he was unable to upload the old meeting minutes into the Download Library. Tracy said that it should be working fine now and Trent will try it again in the next few days.
3. New Business
3.1 Budget (mentioned in 2.1)
3.2 Tracy stated that some of the long-term members/advertisers have a problem with the postings of a certain member. This member is using the classified ad section primarily for business purposes. The issue is that we have three paid advertisers on the site who cannot post their tool sales in the classified ads. They have expressed concern over it. The current policy states that you can sell your “one time woodworking tools” in the classified ads. Everyone agrees that this is a very ambiguous statement and it needs to be changed. Rob stated that the policy needs to state that people can sell a tool that they’ve grown out of, etc., but not repetitive sales, as in a business. Barbara brought up the question that “should we allow people to sell more than one item at a time on the site?” She also says that it is important to support our members that are trying to make money doing things like this. Rob stated that we have paid advertisers that can only post a link to their sites and not individual tool sales. Rob proposed that we create smaller member side bar ads, where they can link to items for sale. Tracy stated that it would be difficult from a programming perspective. Rob also stated that maybe we should start a private forum for members who are trying to sell their items. There would be a fee to post ads in that forum. Tracy proposes that we create a for sale item forum that gives a percentage of the proceeds to the site. Rob stated that we do have a bar on the header of the Home Page that allows members to post the links to their personal websites. This is free of charge. Barbara stated that perhaps Rob, Tracy and Andy, in the interest of time, should get together a proposal for this and the rest of us would approve it. Trent gave the example that when he was out of a job, he created a website with his services and listed a link to it in his signature. There are plenty of options available for him to sell his tools. We are going to try to work this into the site, but there should be a fee associated with it. Barbara made a motion for us to plan on making something available on the site for members to sell their items. The board members responsible will be Rob, Tracy and Andy. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
3.3 Tracy is helping members with any technical issues they may have uploading pictures. Tracy will post a link to the Calendar Contest. Dennis received a pm from a member wondering if he could submit a photograph of his work for the contest that was taken by a professional photographer. This rule would be very difficult to enforce. Barbara stated that the clause could be taken out as long as the member submitting the photo owned the rights to the photograph and any liability is not on the site. Dennis will work on updating that policy and the board will approve it.
3.4 Rob stated that the only difference between corporate members and regular members is that corporate members have the right to vote. Tracy proposed that only corporate members be allowed to be Discount Qualified. Rob stated that creating “classes” of members is not a good idea. Also, there are lots of members that are concerned with their privacy and do not want to give up their addresses and personal information, so perhaps the policy should remain the same.
3.5 As she stated earlier, Cathy has started a thread for board members to post as much pertinent information that is relevant to their positions as possible. This will allow for continuity when members leave the BoD or switch positions. All board members will add to the list ASAP. Rob proposed that each member post their information by September 15’th. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
3.6 Events
3.6.a The Agri Civic Center event will run from 9am to 4pm and members will rotate throughout the day. Dennis stated that it will be a great opportunity to reach out to people who may be interested in woodworking. Rob stated that anyone who volunteers should get a coffee cup or a hat on behalf of the board. Barbara inquired about the amount that the donation would be to the Agri Civic Center, if any. Rob and Dennis stated that we would not have to make a donation since we are not selling a product.
3.6.b The Mint Hill in the Park event will provide an opportunity for members to sell their woodworking projects, as well as other types of arts and crafts.
3.6.c The Klingspor event in Hickory will take place October 21’st and 22’nd in Hickory. The Raleigh event is on September 17’th.
3.6.d Jim Campbell will be heading up the Shop Crawl in the triad area.
At 9:54pm, Rob made a motion to end the meeting. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved. The meeting ended at 9:54pm.
Submitted by:
Trent Mason
Secretary
North Carolina Woodworker, Inc.
Last edited:
