Minnstf board meeting, Thursday Jan 7, 2021, 6pm on Jitsi. Attending board members: Matt Strait (recording), Aaron Vander Giessen, Eric Forste, Scott Raun, Linda Lounsbury. == Ratify approval of November's meeting minutes == Unanimously preapproved by e-mail. Ratify? Yes. == Approve December's special meeting minutes? == Yes. == Review TODO list == The TODO list is: * (2020-07) Linda will continue working to buy a pile of books from Uncle Hugo's and figuring out where we can donate them. Linda reported by e-mail on Jan 6: "Pile of books (54) received from Don and check delivered to him. Books scheduled to be in hands of school librarian later today." And they were picked up as scheduled. The libraries got a total of 76 books (Dreamhaven + Uncle Hugo's). Linda has some extra bookplates. Linda asks if we should get something in writing from the librarians confirming that we donated the books. It could perhaps come up if we were audited. Couldn't hurt to keep an e-mail on file from them just in case. So this project is all done. Matt has been thinking of making this an annual project. Would it go faster the next time (it took 6 months this time)? Linda says probably. We all seem to like the idea of repeating it, probably. Matt has added it to the recurring task list to remind us about it in May, so as to kick it off on about the schedule we began in 2020. Done: * (2020-11) Matt will ask Brother Joe in December to go check on the storage locker again. He says he's pretty busy, but will try. Since we weren't too very antsy about the timeline, he's going to call that done. We'll be reminded by the recurring task list to check in again in February. * (2020-11) Aaron will update the Minicon concom on how to be a voting Minnstf member. * (2020-11) Scott will get MinnStf's GiveMN registration updated. * (2020-09) Matt will suitably alter the Einblatt webpage. * (2020-11) Matt will send bills for past due accounts. * (2020-11) Matt will announce our next meeting to our officers. == Review recurring task list == Here's the whole list so we have a recent copy if the wiki goes down: ==== begin recurring task list ==== January: read this list into the minutes so we have a recent copy if the wiki goes down. January: pay GPS $200 as per our cooperative agreement with them. Pay the rent on the PO box. Twice annually, Apr/Mayish and Oct/Novish. We are notified of this by e-mail to board-at-mnstf-org on the first of the month for a bill due at the end of that month. Possibly we also get a paper bill in the PO box. As of April 2020, this is an automatic credit card payment. Proposals for future Minicons: Solicit starting 18 months prior to the desired Minicon, requesting that bids be in to the board by January 31 (approximately 14 months before the proposed convention), with earlier being better. Proposals for next year's fallcon: Solicit at and immediately after the current fallcon, if any, or sometime in the fall if we're skipping a year. Due to the board by February 15, approximately 8 months before the proposed convention. Convention preliminary finances: Due to the board one month after convention. Should include gross income, gross profit, and amount given to the board. Final finances must be done "within six months of the convention or by thirty days prior to the deadline for filing Society tax returns for the tax year in which the convention was held, whichever is earlier", as per the bylaws. ASCAP: Due maybe March 31 for previous year, although they are not very clear. To be done by the MnStf Treasurer at the direction of the board. Voting meeting: The membership secretary and outgoing president should make arrangements for nomination and voting meetings. The board should check over and update the information for new board members. The voting meeting must happen before March 31, typically before Minicon. There are two nominating meetings that must happen before then. At the first meeting of the new board, review the mailing lists and forwarding addresses: The board-chat mailing list is currently administered by Scott Raun and DD-B. Currently the board-at-mnstf forwarding address goes to Scott. Remember to switch the president-at-mnstf forwarding address sometime between the voting meeting and Minicon. Officers: Chosen by the new board at the voting meeting or as soon as possible thereafter. Names and positions of officers should be submitted to the MnStf webmaster. Convention incident info: More than a month before Minicon, and other cons, forward any relevant information about incidents at previous cons to the upcoming con. Taxes: Due May 15. At this point, since we gross under $50k, we only have to file the 990N "postcard." Scott has been doing this. Scott reminds himself to do it with Chrome to make PDF generation easier. With the taxes (actual deadline Dec 31): Renew Minicon assumed name (as of 2020, must be paper filed). With the taxes (actual deadline Dec 31): Annual renewal with the Minnesota Secretary of State for Minnesota Science Fiction Society. Here's where we do it. May: *If* we want to make book donations (first done in 2020) an annual program, get it going. June: Annual domain registration renewal and contact information verification through GANDI. Current domains are mnstf.org and minicon.org. GANDI sends notifications to the address on file (board-at-mnstf), who needs to confirm information. October: Pay the rent on the PO box. Annually, due Oct 31. We are notified of this by e-mail to board-at-mnstf-org on the first of the month for a bill due at the end of that month. Possibly we also get a paper bill in the PO Every December (this timing is arbitrary): Review what address we have on file with the state of Minnesota or whoever else won't use the PO Box. As of 2020, this is Scott and Irene's house. Feb/March-ish, July-ish, Oct/November-ish: Get a report from the Quartermaster. January, April, July, October: Send bills for past due accounts. June, December: Send notice to concoms reminding them how voting member status works. ==== end recurring task list ==== Up this month: * Do the thing we just did there * Pay GPS $200 as per our cooperative agreement. Scott will make this happen. Tangentially, how is GPS doing? They had a major budget shortfall because of the pandemic. Scott says that they had a donor that covered their expenses through December 2020, but they now are in need again. Aaron will get more details for our information. * Send bills for past due accounts. Matt will do this. * Make sure nominating meetings and the voting meeting get set up. We have a February meeting scheduled. Matt talk to President Sharon to make sure plans are in the works and Membership Secretary Michael to make sure that he's up on his duties. Linda says we should make sure the Einblatt indicates that meetings are nominating meetings. == Storage locker billing == Do we approve changing the address the storage locker uses to send bills from our PO box to Carol's house? This is to get the bills to Carol faster. We approve. == Is our mail getting picked up regularly? == Scott remembers getting mail in December from Hershey. We think that maybe it is getting picked up every 2-3 months. Scott will query Hershey. == Donations, to us == We got $21.76 from Give to the Max day. == Our savings == Let's discuss them in light of not having Minicon income for two years. We also have lower expenses because we have no in-person meetings during the pandemic. But we are still paying for the storage locker (biggest expense), PO Box, and domain registration. The total is around $3000, plus we've spent extra money on book donations. How much did our Vanguard investments net in 2020? Aaron will find out. If it is similar to our expenses, then we're doing fine, even without Minicon income. == Conventions == * Minicon 55 See special meeting minutes from December. Also notable: Offworld Designs, our t-shirt vendor, is going out of business, so we'll need a new source. We've been working with them for over a decade and they've been great! We still have the Minicon 55 t-shirts in the storage locker, ready to be used whenever Minicon 55 happens. * Decongestant 5 Still waiting and watching without a contract or dates. * Minneapolis in 2073 Still planning on a virtual party at virtual Capricon. == Next meeting == February 25th, 6pm. On Jitsi. == New TODO list == * (2021-01) Matt will announce our next meeting to our officers. * (2021-01) Scott will get GPS paid $200 as per our cooperative agreement. * (2021-01) Aaron will find out more about GPS's finances for our information. * (2021-01) Matt will send bills for past due accounts. * (2021-01) Matt will talk to President Sharon to make sure plans are in the works and Michael to make sure that he's up on his Membership Secretary duties. Maybe double check with Osce as well to make sure the Einblatt says "nominating meeting". * (2021-01) Scott will query Hershey about PO box pickup frequency. * (2021-01) Aaron will find out how much our investments made in 2020.