Notes from 1/24 Finance Meeting

We had a good and lively meeting. Anyone who attended, feel free to clarify, correct or add to the following information.

Facts
Articles of Incorporation for a Non-Profit Organization and Trade Name Registration have been submitted to and recorded by the State of Colorado, under the name Americans 4 Social Justice. As agreed at 1/21 GA, Tom is the Registered Agent. Tom has been told the related identification number(s) received are what Boulder Valley Credit Union (BVCU) requires for us to open a checking account.

Tom created forms for spending requests and approvals, and a template for a GoogleDocs spreadsheet that will be used to track donations and disbursements. Spreadsheet will be available online for anyone to review. Currently, contact Tom if you need spending request form.

Planned Actions
Checking Account - Before opening a checking account, signers and accountants must be approved by a Saturday GA. At the 1/28 GA, we will present the following list of candidates: Signers: Lexi, Erin, Foster; Record Keeper: Josh; Accountant/Auditor: Renée. In addition to these candidates, working group members present and reaching consensus agreement on this were Cliff and Jess. After approval, an appointment will be set with BVCU for Friday 2/3 to open the account. Kuba has agreed to transfer the WePay funds to the checking account after it is opened.

Working Group Name - Clarify at 1/28 GA that our name and focus is no longer Finance & Legal, but Finance only.

Federal ID # and Non-Profit Status - We plan for Tom to review the work already done on this, and pursue whatever else needs to be done.

Summarizing the Past - Lexi plans to create a spreadsheet showing donations and disbursements related to the encampment.

Future Online Donations - Renée plans to research other options for receiving online donations, trying to find a service with lower fees than WePay.

Discussions
On-Site Donations - Lexi and Jess started a discussion about the need to set policy around accepting donations at encampments, rallies, street theater events, tabling activities, etc. (Now referred to as "on-site" donations.) It was generally agreed that people need to be designated for this role, and that doing it on-the-fly hasn't worked well. One idea that seemed popular was that different working groups involved in activities would designate a trusted person or persons from their group to receive donations and turn them over to Finance for deposit. (More work needed.)

Physical Donations - Lexi brought up the need to track and store physical donations, such as the walkie talkies and battery said to be now in EJ's possession. Josh mentioned that *someone* had wanted to throw some stuff away, as it was getting in their way at home. Jess said we should have a storage facility. (More work needed.)

Past Donations - Lexi expressed that she would like to know who donated funds through WePay, and how they would like them to be used. It's understood that a large donation was made by one person. Cliff mentioned, and Renée agreed, that non-profits can allow earmarked funds, but that the earmark is done at time of donation, and that funds not otherwise designated can be used for any legitimate purpose of the group. (No decision made on pursuing this or not.)

Insurance - Renée mentioned that original proposal for Finance group included getting insurance. As funds are low, we acknowledged this is not practical or seemingly necessary at this time.

Other Practical Matters - Certain details still need to be worked out around work-flow, meetings, etc. (To be continued.)

Other - We also had some playful discussion about actions, costumes, "other garments", songs, etc. Who says a Finance group can't have some fun???

Financial Status in Brief
$589 in WePay to be transferred to checking.
Working group consensed to reimburse Tom from petty cash, $40 filing fees for Articles and Registration, and $14 for related forms and copying. $16 balance remains in petty cash after these reimbursements.