[Liquidpoets] Regarding LP's donation to Catalyst

[Alex Grote]

For those that have not visited the club website recently, we made a $250
donation to Catalyst a few weeks ago.  I have posted this explanation on the
website as well, but also wanted to send it out in email form.

 

During the meeting this week I will be available to talk to anyone with
suggestions for changes to the club By Laws.

 

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

 

Thanks,

Alex

 

Posted Message:

 

I want to try to answer a few questions here before we meet at Catalyst on
Thursday.

1. How did this happen? A few weeks ago, Catalyst was having a silent
auction fund raiser as a final attempt to keep their doors open. The
majority of the board (7 out of 9) was there having a few beers along with a
few other club members. The idea came up about the club donating some money
to help them stay open.

2. How was the decision reached? We first discussed the clubs finances. We
are in better shape now than we ever have been in the past. If the money
donated was going to make it harder to fund the things that we do each year
(Competitions, BBQ, winter party, etc), we would not have done it. The
amount that we donated, $250, was determined based on the need to keep
plenty of operating cash in our account. The money was purely carry over
from the 2008 year. No 2009 dues were used at all.

3. What key factors contributed to making the decision? As a few people have
pointed out, we are often on the receiving end of much generosity, and this
was a way to be on the giving side and help a local company that promotes
good beer.

4. Was this legal? It was entirely legal. We can do with our money as we
want. Just as any person could choose to write a check to anyone else
(person or business) in a philanthropic gesture. What would not be legal
would be for us to claim it as a Charitable Donation on any sort of taxes.
However, since we are not an official Non Profit organization, we don't file
or pay taxes of any sort.

5. Where does this lead us? I feel that at this point, this is the most
important question. We are still a young club and this is a growing pain.
The board made a decision that some members disagree with, so how do we
mitigate that in the future? I feel like the discussion now needs to look at
changes to the By Laws that will provide some guidelines for the board with
regard to expenditures and that will also provide some expectations for the
club at large with regard to when the board includes the club in those
discussions. At present there is not a single sentence in the By Laws
related to how money is spent. Not one. So, at present, if the Board agrees
that something should be done and the follow through, they are acting as
they best see fit to guide the club. All discussions will never be brought
to the club at large, and they shouldn't be. Doing so would cripple the
ability for the board to make decisions and accomplish any goals. Other
discussions should be brought to the club at large and what we need to do is
define that process and its parameters a bit better.

Any discussions that we have at Catalyst during the meeting I would like
centered on this last question. The other questions relate to something that
has already happened that can not be un-done and it would not be fair to
Catalyst to spend a lot of time discussing them. Personally, I don't like to
live in the past. I don't see the benefit to expending a lot of energy on
something I can't change. What we can do is spend energy on what we do going
forward. So, I want to hear ideas on any By Laws changes, whether they
relate to spending money or not. If you want to write something down ahead
of time and bring it to the meeting, great that will help the board collect
ideas to use to modify the By Laws. If you don't have the chance to write
anything down, please still voice your ideas, we will do our best to write
them down so we can include them in our discussions.

Thanks,
Alex

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