March 2020 - Board Meeting

3/9/2020 - Area 515 Board Meeting

Attending:

• President: Dave

• Vice President: Jake

• Treasurer: Meg

• Secretary: Brad

• Director: Tom

• Director: Jason

• Director of Education: Bailey

Also present:

• Rocky (dog)

Review of Previous Minutes Review

• Tool chests have been reallocated

• Tool sets in the 3D printing room, classroom, and laser room have been color coded with tape.

• Frank submitted a proposal to add hot water to the sink outside the bathrooms. Price came to $104.83

   Vote to spend around $100 to add how water to sink outside bathrooms.
   In Favor: 7
   Opposed: 0
   Result: PASSED.

• Dave will still get the die grinder

• Simpson college tour went well, there may be a chance to do something with them in the future.

• 3D Printing Meetup at the space went well, but seating was a little tight in the classroom.

  • The board decided to get rid of the white couch currently sitting in the classroom.

  • Putting the display cubes up on the walls using french cleats was mentioned.

  • At some point, the clasroom lights should be put on different circuits so it's easier to see the projector.

  • Jason will call Storey-Kenworthy and ask if they have reclaimed furniture the space could get for free or reduced price.

• FTC meeting went well too.

• The board voted to pay an additional $50 to Darron R for delivering his large tool cabinet.

   Vote to amend payment to Darron R to be $550 instead of $500.
   In Favor: 7
   Opposed: 0
   Result: PASSED.

Finance

• We pulled some cash from the pitcher of the fridge to put in the lockbox.

• It was mentioned that once we hit $50k in revenue we'll have to fill out a different tax form.

Budget for 2020

• The Treasurer presented a projected budget for 2020.

  • The budget puts us in the black.

  • Options for how to increase revenue were discussed, things like doing another arduino class and BeagleBone Black class.

  • The presented budget did not include our planned large tool purchase.

    • Jake bought the items he'd asked for in the previous meeting (like the printer enclosure and things for the Piranha upgrade).

   Vote to accept the 2020 budget with an additional $4k tool purchase and minus $550 for the toolchest.
   In Favor: 7
   Opposed: 0
   Result: PASSED.

• Making a follow-up meeting with Tool Stewards about the large tool buy was discussed.

Grants Update

• For some grants, we should eventually keep a record of the number of people trained on stuff, and how many volunteer hours people are giving. Right now we'll guesstimate based on our class offerings.

• Bailey requested help filling out the Iowa Arts Capacity Grant, it's not due for awhile, but it's really long

• The Meredith grant is mostly done, will be in the mail by Friday.

Current Membership Count: 61

SHR Discussion

• An SHR rate for 2 months for a member was discussed, and voted on.

   Vote to offer SHR to member.
   In Favor: 5
   Abstained: 2
   Opposed: 0
   Result: PASSED.

Facebook Page

• Right now a person has to be an Admin to post on our Facebook page. Out admins are Jason, Dave, Tom, and Barry.

• In order for our members to post, we need to create a public group. After some investigation we found an Area 515 Community group.

• In the end, people on the board didn't feel like the understood Facebook enough to know how to proceed. Some members said they'd keep playing with it.

Misc

• It was suggested we give Area 515 flyers to local chambers of commerce to put in their new resident welcome packets.

Motion to Change Board Meeting Days

• It was decided to keep meetings on the first Wednesday of every month.

"In for $10s"

• Enough money for the vinyl cutter was raised. Bailey will talk with Meg to purchase.

• $30 have been raised for the Light CNC mill that Ryan donated to the space.

Space Updates

• After getting the 4H contract reviewed by a lawyer, Tom will send a new draft to Bailey for her to send 4H.

• Tom plans to finish the design phase by the end of the week.

• Xenon computer in classroom got upgraded RAM from Jake and a new graphics card.

• Jake also got two 2K 27" monitors donated for other computers in the classroom.

• It was noted that when the welder was recently running at full power it tripped the circuit breaker. Jason said he would look at converting it to 220 volt.

Classes & Events

• Jason's Sharpening Class - He decided to spend up to $75 advertising the class on Instagram, after only $25 were spent he got 10 people signed up. Jason also notified the board that the class will use the belt sander and metal shop.

• We have about $250 in Facebook advertising money. It was decided we should budget some advertising money for our big classes.

• Dave said he would put together a Beaglebone Black class

• There will also be a Build a Batbox class when it gets warmer out

• We should post about our Open House on Instagram

Instagram Statistics

• Instagram status last 30 days

• 7 posts

• average viewship 207

• Most popular post: barrel of sawdust 251

• Least popular: laser cut gingerbreadmen 170

• 1 promotion running: sharpening class ($25 spent)

• 8 saves, 4 comments, 30 likes

• 38 page visits (97% from promotion)

• 69 profile visits (92% from promotion)

• 3 get directions from promotion

• 3,381 people reached (94% weren’t following us)

• 32 follows

• Interacting audience 77% men (we need more pictures, videos of women in the makerspace to drive female participation) Especially this month. Age range 25-44 77%

• Target audience focused on Des Moines 48% women and 55% men.

End of Meeting

• Paraphrased quote of the meeting: "Lawyers are like nuclear weapons, you need them because the other guy has 'em, but if you actually use them they just $@#% up everything."

• Said in reference to poor welding skills... "Grinder and paint make the welder I ain't"