While I appreciate the sentiment, we need to come up with a better and safer way to solicit online donations. As a 501c3 we must account for and be responsible for all solicited donations. @Finance should come up with a better alternative. There are several reasons I bring this up. I know you have good intentions but the next person may not and as an organization if we have made this acceptable practice, we could be held responsible for their actions.
@finance has a better way and has used it multiple times when asked.
EASIEST - fill out a donation envelope, put cash or check inside, insert envelope into blue box in Ceramics or at Front Door. Note: it is important to let the Treasurer know what you’re raising funds for so they can be tracked.
2nd EASIEST - have the Treasurer set up a PayPal button and then hang said button in the shop where people are raising the funds. Note: this method does cost money in the form of a percentage of each transaction goes to PayPal (2.9% I think)
We can’t give guidance to things we don’t know are happening.
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It’s not an official policy, or am I missing something on the wiki? If you want people to follow a a certain process you have to give them guidance. Expecting people to follow a process without codifying that process is planning to fail.
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Is the issue here that money was solicited? If a group pools cash for a tool to donate is that a problem?
Also is there an official process to follow if an individual has tool or machine to donate?
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@Jesse there is a written policy on donations, here is the Wiki link (on the main page it’s under policies) Donations - MakeICT Wiki
I’m afraid that legally the lines are easily muddled when it comes to finances and 501(3)c organizations. We could lose our status if we don’t follow requirements for reporting fundraising. The state also requires fundraising persons to be registered if they aren’t meeting certain other requirements.
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Awesome i will read it!
Thanks
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Interestingly,
It does not cover monetary donations or the rules surrounding them.
I guess that’s a blind spot. We should fix.
I think that some things have been handled over time by custom.
It occurs to me that it’s a totally normal thing to have a custom surrounding donations. However, we have failed to communicate that custom/process effectively.
I think it would be an excellent thing to have a wiki page that clearly spells out the process for raising funds, who can solicit donations, how to track fundraisers, including an FAQ.
@Sherry is that something Finance + Fundraising + Communications Committee can work on together?
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Communications is certainly very interested in writing it, and will make sure it’s approved by Finance and Fundraising. Malissa and I were just discussing where we might place it on the Wiki.
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Sounds great. Finance has a meeting Monday will y’all have something to review?
I also have a question in, When talking donations and raising money-is there a difference in raising a large sum for a department for a project and a group of people coming together and pooling their money or resources together for an item for a department. I donated/loaned a kickwheel potters wheel to ceramics and never had to do anything. Am I suppose to fill something out for donating the use of my potters wheel. I have also bought and donated tools for ceramics and free classes to ceramics, Do I need to fill something out for that? I wasn’t aware that I was suppose to. So, what type of donations and fundraisers have to be done in order to stay compliant by law and which donations/funds raised are of no real importance and not in violation? Kind of like holding a raffle. One way is through a non-profit, but a Legal way around it, you can hold a raffle and ask for Donations “BUT” if someone asks for a free ticket you have to give them one where as a non-profit raffle you don’t. The non profit raffle it’s different. Both have to do with gambling laws.
I have a point to make. (I see the eye rolls from the Board) lol…Here’s the thing, Often times people get real involved with making stuff and learning a new craft. This inspires them to want to learn more as they grow in skill and confidence. I know we all have experienced that feeling as makers. Once we grow we want to expand on that knowledge and try new things. Sometimes, most times we lack the equipment and funds to buy what we want or need. People get together and ask the Department head, most times it’s not in the budget. Understandable. So these same people want to raise money to get what they want and need but we are told 50 ways why we CAN’T but no one ever tells us the ways we CAN. So when we figure out a way and we “GET ER DONE” it becomes an issue that becomes discussed to death to the point peoples eyes glaze over and their brains wonder off like zombies. They’ve lost interest and moved on while it’s still being debated. The real kicker is THERE IS NO DEFINED RULES ON THE ISSUE in the first place. You have any idea how discouraging and frustrating that is. This is One reason why people lose interest and avoid stepping up and taking a more active interest in the workings of makeict. If a department is active and growing-if there is a need and desire for that department along with a willingness to achieve that goal, why not ENCOURAGE us and help us figure out HOW we can achieve our needs. If money is an issue then tell us HOW we can raise it without violating any non profit laws. We really don’t want to hear 50 reasons why we can’t when there is no defined rule because then people get the attitude …MEH, they don’t care, it will never happen, Meh. I’ll just do what I’m doing and mind my own business. Meh…Just let them discuss it to oblivion despite no real rules on the matter. Nothing will get done, no one will tell me how to get it done, if I go ahead and do it then it becomes an issue so… Meh…What’s the point…See my point.
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@Michelle I completely agree with you. It’s very frustrating to not have any written information about fundraising for guidance. Malissa and I are working on that issue right now, we were discussing it again last night at the Cricut event and I expect to discuss it this morning at breakfast with the board.
The physical item donations do have a written policy on the Wiki which I posted a link to above, and area leads are aware of that policy.
There are many shades of gray with money and one issue we’ll run into is the government isn’t very helpful with specifics until after they decide you screwed up - and at the present I don’t know that a tax attorney is in our budget. So answering the “how much money does it take” question is the question of the hour.
The two routes Jai. posted above are good, effective methods for fundraising, however. So we have at least that in print right now.
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I think that is kind of where the Griffin Grip issue falls in to, No real defined guidelines that tell us what we can do, so something was done, now we feel like we screwed up with the board. Can’t you simply call the IRS and ask. I had an issue I was unsure of so I called and asked and someone answered it. LOL …It was over Raffle drawings.
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You didn’t mess up with the board, leadership failed membership. When we don’t have experience or training in a area we make our best guess, unfortunately that isn’t always the best path to the answer. We are joining a nonprofit coalition that has training to help us understand what laws exist and base our policy on best practices. I hope we allocate funds to help our leadership get training that will benefit running the space. Since having employees is not possible in the foreseeable future.
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Bingo -BANGO!
Very well said Michelle. Thank you for your insight and understanding.
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I wouldn’t beat yourselves up too much. I doubt the IRS is going to cancel our status over something of this scope, especially since it was immediately addressed. We just need to develop guidelines and follow them going forward. No harm, no foul, in this case.
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As you work your way through writing up some draft guidelines / policy, there is also some language on the Inventory Committee page that overlaps with the other page shared previously, as well as the donation forms on the Inventory page. The policy and forms on the Inventory page were approved by the board.
There’s certainly a good deal of confusion. And it does lead to a bit of strife and a can become off-putting to folks as @michelle said.
Speaking of, @michelle I should have had you fill out one of those inventory equipment loan forms for your kick wheel. 
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One relevant section of the wiki where @pwhutchi mentioned. @doug.wilson’s fundraiser fits in this category. Making this type of information easier to find will be helpful - inventory isn’t someone’s first thought for a location of how to fundraise for tools.
Purchases and reimbursements
(Redirected from Purchases and Reimbursements)
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- Each Area Lead has an approved budget for equipment, ongoing maintenance,upkeep of their area, andincidentals. Area Leads must keep a receipt for all items purchased and deliver these to the Treasurer monthly.
- Targeted donations may be collected to increase a budget without board approval. The treasurer will adjust the budget according to the target of the donation after it has been collected, in addition to recording the specific purpose of the donation.
- Members who identify items that need to be purchased for the makerspace should email the appropriate Area Lead, Makerspace Program Director, or Treasurer to request the item to be purchased. Alternatively, the member may consider buying it themselves and donating it to the space.
Approved by the board on February 15 2018
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It’s not really disputed that anything an area lead approves can be donated or loaned. And that it’s not reasonable to expect people to remember whether a piece of equipment was donated, loaned or purchased if no record is kept. Anyone loaning equipment does need to have any conditions of the loan recorded so that it’s known, for example whether repairs can be done without the donor’s approval. And it’s actually very important to be able to correctly track the disposition of anything sold, given away or discarded.
If a number of people decide to pool their money and buy something that’s wanted and then donated to the space there’s nothing preventing it being treated the same as one person buying then donating the item.
Fundraising committee desire to be involved should in my opinion only be a concern when a public fundraising activity is taking place. Using our forum to arrange fundraising by a group of members doesn’t make it public fundraising and the organization isn’t risking any IRS or reputational harm by allowing the arrangement to be visible. If the board ir fundraising insists the only effect would be that people arranging to pool funds to buy something will have to be a little less visible.
That’s my personal opinion not to be taken as anything other than a prediction that people will find a way around excessive control and rules based on fear.
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Actually some of that is outlined including a spreadsheet to track what has been loaned. ( https://wiki.makeict.org/wiki/Tool_Loans_to_MakeICT_Policy ) I don’t know how up to date it is, but there is much more of an attempt to track tool loans that what i feel is implied by your response.
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On Sat, Oct 15, 2022, 23:39 Mike Barushok via MakeICT Forum <noreply@talk.makeict.org> wrote:
| mikeb
October 16 |
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It’s not really disputed that anything an area lead approves can be donated or loaned. And that it’s not reasonable to expect people to remember whether a piece of equipment was donated, loaned or purchased if no record is kept. Anyone loaning equipment does need to have any conditions of the loan recorded so that it’s known, for example whether repairs can be done without the donor’s approval. And it’s actually very important to be able to correctly track the disposition of anything sold, given away or discarded.
If a number of people decide to pool their money and buy something that’s wanted and then donated to the space there’s nothing preventing it being treated the same as one person buying then donating the item.
Fundraising committee desire to be involved should in my opinion only be a concern when a public fundraising activity is taking place. Using our forum to arrange fundraising by a group of members doesn’t make it public fundraising and the organization isn’t risking any IRS or reputational harm by allowing the arrangement to be visible. If the board ir fundraising insists the only effect would be that people arranging to pool funds to buy something will have to be a little less visible.
That’s my personal opinion not to be taken as anything other than a prediction that people will find a way around excessive control and rules based on fear.
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