OIAA Finance Committee 

Record of Minutes

Saturday, January 13, 2024

9:00am – am HDT

11:00am – pm   PDT

2:00pm -pm EDT

 

Attendees : 

Jennifer – OIAA  Treasurer

Susan – OIAA Chair

Nona – OIAA Vice Chair

Erica K. – Finance Subcommittee Member

Mark – OIAA Technology Chair

Nicky – Finance Committee  Secretary

 

Jennifer leads Serenity Prayer.  All in Attendance join in.  

 

Jennifer introduces herself as the Treasurer.  Susan introduces herself as the Chair.  Nona introduces herself as Vice Chair.  Mark introduces himself as the Technology Chair.  Erica introduces herself as a member of the  Finance Committee’s Financial Review Team.  Nicky introduces herself as the Secretary

 

Review of Agenda

Jennifer begins by saying that she re-sent  the Agenda as some new things recently  have come to light.  Jennifer asks for a motion to Approve the agenda.  

Susan moves to Approve the Agenda.  Mark seconds it.  Jennifer calls for any opposition.  There is none. 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

 

Review of Previous Meetings Minutes

Jennifer brings up the Prior Meetings Minutes and asks if everyone had a chance to review. Jennifer calls for a motion to Accept the Minutes.  Suan moves to accept the minutes.  Jenifer asks if anyone opposes this decision.   No Opposition.  

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS MINUTES

 

Jennifer explains that this is an action packed agenda and begins to pull up the financial reports.  Erica asks Jennifer if both of the reports are included in the Agenda.  Jennifer replies that she has them both queued up. 

 

Review of Budget Variance
Jennifer pulls up the Budget Variance.  Jennifer explains that the reason there are higher than usual revenues is because four checks came in that did not clear before the end of the year.  Jennifer applied an accrual to reflect this  in its proper period.  She will show the journal entries  associated with these. Paypal fees are associated with revenues.  Professional fees are $42.00 for the  accounting system.  Jennifer says that this is the last accrual for  the 2025 International and that there is a nice nest egg of $5,500 to use to participate.  She states that anything over that can  be expensed in 2025.  Jennifer continues reviewing.  Translation ASL services were for the December Assembly.  Other technologies are where Google expenses went for 2023.  In 2024 you will see them in Website Hosting/Management.  She states that an accrual for web hosting management was prorated for a 2 week invoice for our tech service worker.  She pulls up the General Journal entry #4866 for  $162.50 on screen.  She explains that we received the invoice after January but that it was associated with the Assembly,  so it was accrued as a 2023 expense, even though it will be paid in 2024.  She states that it will be reversed in January.  Next she pulls up General Journal entry #4866 for $14.29.  She explains that this is the accrual of the proration of 10 days for our tech service.  And lastly she pulls up General Journal entry #4842 and states that this is the four checks she was speaking about earlier.   $2281.46 was accrued to December to put into its correct year.  Jennifer asks if there are any questions about the Budget Variance.  Erica would like to know about the operating income and loss. Erica points out D43 which shows a loss of  -$2,413.00 in “Operating Income / ((Loss))” and under “Dec 2023 Overall Budget” in Operating Expenses.  Erica would like to know if this was actually a loss.  Jennifer answers that the  budget  had changed when the increase of web hosting was increased.    This is why the budget became negative.  Erica would also like to know where to look for the Prudent Reserve data.  Jennifer answers that it is on the Balance Sheet.  Erica thanks her for the info.  Jennifer asks for any other questions regarding the Budget Variance and asks if everyone is in agreement with the final year end accruals.  No Disagreements. 

NO QUESTIONS OR FEEDBACK

 

Jennifer brings up the Balance Sheet for everyone to view.  Susan would like to go back for a moment to the Budget Variance on the second page to the distributions that were made.  She wants to double check that the National Tech Workshop matches her records and wasn’t paid into.  Jennifer agrees that, indeed, there is a zero balance in that category.  Mark would like to add that they did send 10 people to the National Tech Workshop and that he believes that expense had been recorded elsewhere.  Jennifer agrees and states that those  expenses were categorized under “Conferences” and has a total of  $6,460.00 there.  She says the $450 in total for the ten people is included in this amount.  Susan states that this is not a contribution, but an expense.  Jennifer agrees.  Jennifer asks if everything is good, and Susan says that  it is.  

 

Review of the Balance Sheet

Jennifer goes back to the Balance Sheet and starts off with an added line item named Undeposited Funds.  She explains these are the  four checks that did not clear, but should be recognized in 2023.  The 2025 International has been the only prior accrued expense , however, there is also $814.00 for the web past.  The Web Management/Hosting will be in for January 2024.  The accrued expense will go back to $5,500.  Jennifer states that this is a year end journal entry.  Unearmarked cash is slightly over $100,000.00.  

 

Jennifer says that she would like  to talk about the Prudent Reserve.  She explains that she sees the Savings as the Prudent Reserve.  She is asking for the input of the Finance Committee as to how to address this account.  She brings up that it states in the Guidelines that six months of Prudent Reserve plus an additional “up to six months” of Cash Retention. Our budget has about $111,ooo in Expenses. Jennifer has figured half of projected expenses for 2024 is $55,920.   There is $60,000 in the Prudent Reserve.  Options are (1) (a)Leave $60,000 in there and in six months she can put in  $51,840.00 to equal $55,920.00 .  (1)(b) She can transfer $4,080 out of Prudent Reserve and put in Checking Acct.  and have the correct amount of $55,920.00 in Prudent Reserve for the next six months.  or (2) do a moving Prudent Reserve.  Erica says that she’s having a hard time grasping these options.  Jennifer says that the Prudent reserve has $60,000 in it now.  Erica asks if that is over the 6 month amount.  Jennifer answers yes, but adds that the Prudent Reserve says six months, so you could just leave it alone or to do half of the projected budget.   Nona would like to add her thoughts saying that she thinks the 6 month option is the best as to not be confused if there is an overage of Prudent Reserve.  She  also states that the membership seems to be looking at the distribution overages.  She adds that there aren’t any actual overages after looking 0ver the expenses.  So, Jennifer clarifies with Nona that she is speaking to changing the $60,000 to the $55,920.  Nona agrees.  Erica wants to also clarify  they are supposed to keep half plus “up to six months” of cash retention.  Jennifer answers  that six months of Prudent Reserve is there in a separate account , but that we also have “up to six months” of Cash Retention to fulfill the budget.  She explains that the Guidelines are going to become a permanent document so there may come a time where all we have is the 6 months of Prudent Reserve.  For now we have the Cash Retention, but that will not always be there.  Erica states that she understands now and is satisfied.  Jennifer explains that the Prudent Reserve is very static, whereas the Cash Retention can be from $0 to 6 months worth.  

 

Susan would like to know where the Cash Retention is kept.  Jennifer answers that it is kept in the Checking.  Susan would like for those categories to be changed so they know what they are talking about.  She suggests, “Mercury Checking/ Cash Retention ” and “Mercury Savings/Prudent Reserve”.   Jennifer explains  that to change the name on the report, she would have to change the name on the account.  Jennifer says that if they would like  those names to be generated onto the report, she would have to change the name of the account.  Erica asks if there can be a note added.   Jennifer states that she isn’t comfortable with changing the Checking account since it is their Operating Expenses.  She is also not comfortable changing the name away from Mercury, but would agree to “Mercury Savings – Prudent Reserve”.  She asks if this is a consensus with the group.  Jennifer would now like to reiterate the decisions that have been made.  (1) That the group would like to take half of the total expenses of 2024 for the Prudent Reserve.  Nona answers Yes.  Jennifer summarizes with the group that their Checking amount will increase some and the prudent reserve will be reduced some.  Jennifer asks for any questions or concerns about the Balance Sheet.  No Questions or Comments.

BALANCE SHEET CHANGES :

PRUDENT RESERVE: Jennifer will take 50% of Projected Expenses of 2024 to keep for Prudent Reserve.  In six months, the second 50% will be shifted over

ACCOUNT NAME CHANGES : Account name will be changed from “Mercury – Savings” to “Mercury Savings – Prudent Reserve”.

  

Review of Contributions

Jennifer now pulls up the Contributions Sheet for December.  Jennifer begins by saying that the accruals she stated are reflected in this report.  She had to put in some manual entries.  She shows that the largest one is from “Womens Early Risers” and she points out some of the contributions that didn’t post until 2024.  Jennifer shows  that there were 82 contributors for December 2023 and a total of $10,012.02 for contributions.   Jennfer asks if anyone has any questions.  Mark would like to know if this number is a consistent number looking at past months.  Jennifer answers that it is a good reflection as it averages from the 70s to low 80s.  He  asks Jennifer’s opinion if the contributions are consistent and what the most she has ever seen.  Jennifer answers that it’s generally between 70, to low 80s.  Mark gives his interpretation of the Membership Survey to the average of about 175 to 185 unique groups.  He was just wanting to gauge these numbers with those statistics.  Mark ponders on whether or not  the groups are giving consistently.  Felix speaks to Mark’s inquiry.  In Felix’s experience of going over these numbers the last month, he notices a lot of Individual contributions vs Group contributions.  So this December month could be being made out of the spirit of the end-of- the- year holiday traditions contributions.  .  

Mark would like to get a general idea of what kind of contributions are being made and what to expect.  Jennifer believes that this organization continues to grow and is attracting new members and contributions every day.  She adds that they are nowhere near a maturation point.  She continues  that this point is clearly  apparent on the finance side and is sure they are reflective on Mark’s Technology side as well.  Mark agrees 100%.  

 

Jennifer states that she observed that back in July, there were some large contributors who stopped and in return, this new influx of people and groups has filled in  that gap.   “You don’t even recognize that the large contributors are no longer doing so”.  Mark replies that the financial hit we took as a result of all that happened seemed minimal, or short lived.  Jennifer agrees and adds that they are healthier than they’ve ever been.  Susan is happy with the good news and says to keep doing what we’re doing.  

 

Nona says that the groups that are making really large contributions are wanting to participate in things like the IGR Forum.  The Women’s Early Riser group and Dawn Patrol have been wanting to participate and have been very responsive.  She believes that the correlation of the contributions given and these groups  wanting to become involved within the organization, are signs that this is a very healthy state of the organization.  Jennifer asks if there are any other thoughts on this subject.  Susan would like to comment that over the last year she has watched two organizations go through upsets and she thought that if we were going to see any challenges, we would see it in the finances.  She hasn’t seen the numbers for the other organizations, but she does know that they aren’t answering the phone. She wants to wait and see what happens to the other organizations, but is grateful that we are doing well.  Jennifer states that the upheaval  they had to endure was not in vain and the group continues to attract new groups every month.  Jennifer can only get 90 days projections, but the amount of new contributors is significant.  

 

Internal Financial Review Update with Erica

Jennifer passes it over to Erica for the Internal Financial Review Update.  Erica starts with the Update first.  Erica hopes everyone was able to review the documents that were sent previously.  Erica shows what she and Leslie have gone over since Eldin resigned as lead of the Internal Financial Review committee.  Erica says that, to start, she and Leslie are not comfortable with doing a formal audit because they are not forensic accountants, but they have decided that they are comfortable with doing a Financial Review.  They chose to use the Renosi Guide, which is a very good non- profit review organization.  From this guide, they customized it to work for OIAA.  Erica says that Leslie went through the checklist and Erica created the questions.  Erica submitted this long list of questions to Jennifer verifying the reporting systems,  OIAA policies and disbursements, and financial roles.  Jennifer was able to return the questions with answers quite quickly.  Erica shows the document which shows Questions followed by Jennifer’s answer in a Q&A format.  Erica explains that by using these answers as a guide, they will be able to go back for review.  Erica would like to submit this document with the questions and answers to the Finance Committee as an Update of where they are in their process.  

 

Erica would like to go over the second part which is the Financial Report/Guide for conducting an Internal Financial Review.  This template is what she and Leslie believe should be the format for this review and recommends that it be done once a year.  She says she believes that there are policies in place that state it should be completed by Spring each year. She asks Susan or Jennifer if they remember these policies.  Jennifer answers that the Guidelines state “as needed’, but she believes the best time for this type of review would be now, or once the 2023 books are finalized.  Mark asks if that would mean that they would be using the unaudited results of the year.  Erica answers that this is just the template that they are presenting to the Finance Committee.  Jennifer wants to clarify what Mark is saying.  She asks him if he means that 2023 should not be finalized until after this review?  Mark answers that his question was directed towards the question of when a good time to do the review is.   He states that in a regular financial institution you would audit the financial statements before their release.  He says that this question is in the nature of answering the timing question.  Erica agrees.  Erica continues that this document is a scaled down version of theirs.  She asks for questions from the Finance Committee.  She continues that it is recommended that a review once a year is for revenues of $100,000 or more.  She believes their recommendations are reasonable.  Jennifer says that she should be left out of the process so as to not be seen as guiding it.  She has given all the needed access to the Accounting system, Banking system, and the Paypal, so if they need any access help, she can Zoom conference with them, but they should independently be able to proceed without her participation.  Erica agrees and says she needs the committee to review and accept this template to go forward.  Leslie has already created it as an AA  form, in case,  and if the committee decides to make this the template then they can put together a team to do the tasks.  They will then go into the documents and do a random selection of 5 of the income items and receipts or a random selection of  5 disbursements.  They can also review tax documents and so on. Jennifer asks if she can get a motion to accept this template.  Mark moves to accept the template.  Nona seconds.  Jennifer asks for any opposition?  None.  Review has been approved.  

INTERNAL FINANCIAL REVIEW TEMPLATE APPROVED

 

Susan says that she read somewhere in the last two d0cuments something to the effect of how Charters need Assembly approval.  They go to the document where it says “Charter has been approved by the Board, just needs to go to the Assembly” as an answer under “Policies : Are there any OIAA written financial policies other than the unapproved charter?   Susan asks if this is correct.  Jennifers says the Board approves it but then it goes to the Assembly  as well.  Susan asks Jennifer if she is sure that each Charter has to be approved by the Assembly?  Jennifer says that this is what she thought.  Susan asks for a copy of this document.  Susan would need to like to schedule an Assembly if we have to put every Charter up.  Nona says she just looked it up and it says that you only have to submit your charter when you’re wanting to be voted as a standing Committee.  Jennifer says to Erica that the answer to the question under Policies on the Q&A document, is in question so she would like her to be aware of it. Jennifer asks if there are any other questions about the Financial Review.  Nicky offers to help out the Financial Review.  

 

Paypal Non Profit Status Update

Jennifer starts by saying that OIAA now has Non-Profit status,  which means we have the 1.99% and the 49 cents per transaction discount.  She says that, unfortunately, Paypal has automatically put us into the Giving Fund.  Jennifer has gone back and forth with them, but she has started the process of getting them off of the Giving Fund.  She received an email from them stating she has to email them from paypal@aa-intergroup.org to verify herself as a moderator.  Jennifer says to Mark that she sent him an email about what they need.  Mark answers that he had just responded and the  email account  in question is available to everyone that has access to Google Groups.  Mark states that he has tagged her, so she should be able to see where to access it.  Jennifer would like to know if she can send an email from the paypal@aa-intergroup.org address.  Mark says that she just has to go to My Groups and since she is a moderator of her group, she should have no problems accessing it. Jennifer says that in the verbiage of the email she read, it sounds as though they will be removed from all platforms so she’s unsure if their DONATE button will still work.  She is unsure how to determine what it means, as it is interpretive.  Mark thinks we should dump ‘em.  He says that we should look elsewhere and go with the many other options that are available such as Venmo, Zelle, or Stripe.  Jennifer answers that Paypal is Venmo now.  

 

Jennifer says she would only like to do one more payment platform, and that any more would be too complicated. She is looking towards using Stripe.  She says Stripe is on the Agenda for discussion a few lines down.  Jennifer says that she will continue to work diligently on Paypal.  She says that she will send an email after the meeting from the email address they requested.  Nona is asking about clarification on whether the Pay button will or will not work.  Jennifer brings up the documents that show the language she is having a hard time translating their verbiage.  . 

It says “If you’d like to remove your charity from the PayPal Giving Fund directory, please ask an authorized representative from your charity to contact us.  Unless asked otherwise, we’ll distribute pending donations that we’ve already received to our charity.  After processing our request, we’ll inactivate your Paypal Giving Fund profile.  Your charity will be removed from PayPal Giving Fund’s director and removed from our partner platforms (e.g. PayPal, Facebook, GoFundMe, Twitch).  Donors will no longer be able to support your charity, via our partner programs. Please note that our partner platforms can take up to 24 hours to be updated.  Outstanding donations are paid to your organization when you’ve been removed from our directory, unless you ask us not to grant those donations  We distribute donations to enrolled charities on or before the 25th of each month by depositing a single payment into each charities PayPal account.  Donations received on the 18th of the previous month up to the 15th of each month, by depositing a single payment into each charity’s PayPal account.  Donations received on the 18th of the previous month up to the 14th of the current month are included in the monthly payout.  We grant all of the donations that we receive to benefiting charities in accordance with our Donation Deliver Policy. 

Jennifer highlights the section that states, “After processing your request we’ll inactivate your PayPal Giving Fund Profile.  Your charity will be removed from PayPal Giving Fund’s directory and removed from our partner platforms (e.g. PayPal, Facebook, GoFundme and Twitch).  Mark replies that he doesn’t read it that way.  He says that it is referring to the Giving Fund.  Jennifer agrees that they are saying they will remove us from the directory, but she reiterates that PayPal does not listen and they do not respond correctly. She states that they are very difficult to deal with.  Mark understands her frustration and tells her they should move on to the next Agenda as he believes nothing will happen.  He says not to worry and that PayPal won’t do anything to disrupt their finances.  And if they do,   We can just change platforms anyway.  Jennifer agrees.  She asks if everyone is good with the PayPal update.  Susan says yes and others nod their heads. 

NO QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Review of Contributions Listing Individuals

On our current contributions sheet, it has names and amounts.  Jennifer states that she  manually takes out their last names and leaves their last initial for anonymity purposes.  It has been suggested that all of the individual names should be grouped into one line designated as Individual Contributions.  She asks for discussion from the group members.  Jennifer states that for transparency purposes, putting the names under one category makes it easier for the treasurer to abscond with money.  Quite frankly, Not having every single transactional name on this list makes it easier to take money.  Mark says he would love to take all the names off of this list and put it on one line.  He doesn’t like seeing every name and would like the records to be kept, but doesn’t get why we should publish it.  Most of the people that he knows that contribute, do not necessarily want their names on that list for all to see.  Mark is against having the individual names on the list.  Nona also agrees with Mark and states that in the spirit of humility she would also like to see the names gone as it makes her uncomfortable.  She would ask personally to remove her name.  Susan says she agrees that it should be put as a ONE line item.  Individual Contributions.  Jennifer said she looked at other examples and her research shows that other groups use one or the other processes.  She counts it to be at 50/50 of the groups using either/or.  She would leave it up to this committee to state what this group’s preference is.  She has not published this list so she can start now in the December 2023 posting. 

Felix asks for audit purposes,  could we possibly keep their names recorded somewhere else?  Jennifer says that nothing would change report wise.  Jennifer said she would just personally sort it and take out the individual’s names.  There is no way to sort it out of the accounting system.  Mark would like to make a motion to take the names off the list and reduce it to a single line item.  Susan would like to Second.  Jennifer asks for votes.  Everyone raises their hands.  No Opposition. 

INDIVIDUAL NAMES TO BE REMOVED FROM FUTURE POSTINGS

 

Felix offers to help Jennifer in tallying the number of contributors, or if he can contribute in any other way.  He would like to discuss offline how to help out.  Jennifer agrees. 

 

Review of Charging for October Convention 

Jennifer says that originally the Board decided to not charge for the online convention in October and to instead receive 7th tradition contributions.  She brings up the reference MG-04 in AA Guidelines – Conferences, Conventions and Roundups.  This speaks of self-support that the convention needs to be self-supporting.  She also references MG-02 in Central or Intergroup Offices.  This states, “Special Events – Some service offices hold yearly banquets, conventions, and similar events, using the “profits” for support of the office.  Jennifer opens up discussion on whether or not to charge for the upcoming October convention.  Susan speaks and says that she and Jennifer had spoken about this before and she would be more comfortable bringing this back to the table after the Board discusses it.  She also thinks it would be good for a wider group conscious to put out a survey. She also realizes what these two documents are saying, but to the 7th tradition, it states that we are self supporting.  She doesn’t believe this is something that needs to be addressed today.  Jennifer replies that she’s attempting to gauge the thoughts of the Finance Committee.  She believes this should be an Assembly vote and the Board, or the Committee should not have a vote here.  Nona adds the Assembly approved the fund, so the funds are there.  She would like to see the recommendation of the Finance Committee and that recommendation should go to the Board meeting for discussion.  Jennifer agrees that this is her intention in bringing it up.  In Jennifer’s opinion, historically, when there is excess funds, they will have free events.  In Oahu they did a dinner, dance, and a meeting to create fellowship with funds that were available.  She believes that this fellowship is more important.  Also, there are many people that cannot afford the events.   Mark states that he has no interest in charging for this event.  Nona says she also doesn’t see any reason in charging for this event either  since it gets complicated between who gets the scholarships and who doesn’t.  She does think they should ask for 7th tradition contributions, but that is all.  Susan says she has never attended a convention where there wasn’t a registration fee.  She says it has been approved and determined that we have the funds this year to offer it for free, but she would like to see this topic explored and have a membership  survey.  She also would not want the Board or any Committee involved.   Jennifer completely agrees, but she thinks that we should talk about it first.  

Susan continues that we should discuss.   What concerns her is at the Assembly when they approved the budget, there was a bit of push back on this line item.  And she also knows that the Unity Committee charter says Yearly Convention.  Are we going to be able to pass a Budget for this much money next year? Mark interjets and states that that is a “Future Trip”.  Jennifer answers that she doesn’t project that to be the case next year.  She projects that she will be able to meet the expenses with revenues this year.  However, we did not budget as such.  She says that  we budgeted revenues conservatively.  She does believe they will meet those budgeted needs this year.  Jennifer says that iIf they don’t have $18,000 to spend next year then we can modify the convention to meet the budget constraints.  She figures  that we never said how long it could be.  They could have a one day convention if there are budget constraints.  Susan states that we are bordering on governance.  Jennifer disagrees.  Mark says that he would move for all board members to refrain from  further discussion since they are going to discuss it at the Board meeting and he encourages  any Finance Committee member to share.  Erica would like to share that it’s always a good idea to be financially inclusive.  We are self supporting and some people don’t have the money to put in the basket.  She’s wondering as a member of AA if it’s possible that there is a sliding scale starting with Zero.  People can opt to pay or not to pay.  Felix wants to say that he completely agrees with Susan and that every event he has been to has had to contribute.  “I have had times in my  life when I had no money, but I did find a few dollars to contribute.”  He doesn’t think it’s too much to ask to contribute to this convention.  Jennifer wants to say that there’s an option to contribute with the 7th transition.  Erica wants to add that she lives in a place where 30% of the people can’t afford to heat their houses.  She says that since they’re an international organization, they  have to include these people who are poor and cold at night.  Jennifer wants to take a count  and take it to the Board.  Jennifer calls for those in favor of Charging for the Convention.  Felix and Susan raise their hands.  Susan says that she would like to modify this stronghold Jennifer has by saying that this year is spoken for and it will be available free.  Jennifer disagrees and says that the feedback she has been getting has been that they still can change this year.  She says that maybe she is mistaken, but that Susan should be getting the same emails as she is.  Mark wants to speak and he wants to know about the emails that Jennifer is speaking of because he hasn’t received any emails.  He asks Jennifer who is bringing this up as an issue.  Jennifer answers, Beth.  Mark asks if Beth, the Committee Chair, is bringing this up?  Jennifer and Susan  correct him that she is not the Committee Chair, but the International Trustee.  Mark asks if she is just raising the question since  she has a leadership role for the convention? “Is she the one suggesting that we charge for it?”  Jennifer answers that she is advocating for charging for the event.  Erica would like for Jennifer to restate the position.  Jennifer calls for votes in support to charge a fee, to please raise their hand.  Felix raises his hand.  Jenifer asks if you are in support of voluntary 7th convention please raise your hand, Nicky, Mark, Erica for 7th transition.    Jennifer says that it is the consensus of the Finance Committee is Voluntary 7th Tradition Contributions during the Convention.  Jennifer says she will bring that decision to the Board tomorrow for further discussion.  Erika thanks Jennifer .

 

Using Stripe for a Payment Platform

Jennifer has looked over the application and has started the process to see how it works.  She says it’s a lot like Paypal.  Processing fees are about the same.  Paypal at 1.99 % plus .49 cents a transaction.  Stripe is at 2.2% plus 30 cents per transaction.  Depending on how  the contribution is to determine which is the better deal.   Erica would like to ask two questions.  (1) Does it make your job more complicated?   Jennifer answers that she’s assuming it will only take another account to reconcile. She thinks Mercury recently began using Stripe which is the bank we use. Jennifer believes it  would require an extra button on the Contribution page.  Erica asks if that would create more work for the Tech Committee. She  asks if it will cost us more money to have Tech put the new button in.  Jennifer answers that it would be volunteer work.  Erica replies that since Tech is in this meeting could they reply.  Eria asks if Tech and Finance would even want the extra work for another entity.  Mark says that on the Tech side it will  only take 5 minutes.  Erica asks Jennifer if Finance and Tech are ready to take on another account to reconcile.  Jennifer asks Felix how he feels Feix says he feels fine about it.  Erica says she’s in favor since her questions were answered.  Jennifer says thinks she’s seeing  a consensus about Stripe.  Mark adds that he doesn’t have a preference.  He is okay with adopting another payment option.  Jennifer says that the new International Trustee recommended it. Felix asks Jennifer how they plan to get the information out to everyone.  Mark answers that you add it, you send out an email which can specify IGR’s, they can put a notice on the website, and it’ll be on the Contributions page.   

Jennifer asks if there is any  other business to discuss.  Mark would like to inquire about a topic he has with his home group.  He was going to bring it up at tomorrow’s Board meeting, but he’d like to discuss it here also.  There has been discussion on registering as a Non-Profit.  They believe it would bring the option of Digital contributions to the table.  His inquiry is to the subject of Workshop and whether there is a resource for helping teach how to use these new entities.  He wants to know if this is something available or offered? Nona states there are a lot of things that go into becoming a non-profit. Nona states that in her opinion it’s so hard to explain as it varies from state to state.  She says they have to establish directors…Mark interrupts and says he isn’t asking for how to do it, he says there are four or five things to get to state level.  Nona continues that you have to go to the IRS to get an EIN number.  Jennifer says  she has responded individually to others asking these questions. Jennifer continues that she will be happy to provide his group with the same information if they need it.  She has also been advocating for some sort of workshop.  A financial part in theIGR forum would be a very good thing.  Jennifer says she has brought it to the table.  Susan says that there are so many different diverse ways of going about this process.  She thinks it would be a good idea to ask the groups to share their experiences since everyone has had a different one.  Nona says that this is something that would be a great idea for the forums and Jennifer could definitely help out in this area.  

 

Jennifer Closes with the Responsibility Statement.