Great email, well written and well reasoned. Worthy of debate.
I believe shinny toys are not a sustainable way to build membership. I am fiscal conservative to be sure, and a collection of 3-D printed action figures is something I can get behind. I would like to see us with an electrical system which meets our needs and a better financial position. Ian Sent from my iPhone On 2013-01-24, at 14:19, "Justin Lacko" <[email protected]> wrote: > The "official" policy of SkullSpace currently is that until we balance our > budget, we can't spend on anything except the basics - such as rent and > power. This is a fiscally-conservative policy. I believe we need to still > have nominal spending while operating at a deficit, for reasons which I will > outline below. > > We are currently operating at a deficit. We can pay our bills each month > without a problem; we have three months of rent in our coffers. But our > monthly income is less than our expenses. The targeted fix for this problem > is to increase membership through whatever means available, such as > advertising at conventions. > > When I worked on the plan for SkullSpace 2.0, I knew that we had to expand > our membership base and ask for more money. Looking back since we moved to > the new space at the beginning of December, we certainly have worked on this > goal. Lately, it seems membership has again plateaued (I base this > observation on the fact that there haven't been any recent emails from > Courtney announcing new members). What I want to outline is that we need to > continue to work on getting more members if we want to eliminate our deficit. > > I think that our current fiscally-conservative spending policy is not > beneficial to the long-term goals of SkullSpace. I believe that right now is > the most important time to be investing SkullSpace capital into the space, in > creative ways that will bring in new members. The constant reminder of "we > can't spend a penny until we break even each month" is not encouraging and > dampens any creative thought for how SkullSpace can grow - because sometimes > ideas/things need money. I offer the example of our now-defunct monthly $100 > prize to be awarded to a worthy member-nominated project. While we may not be > able to afford $100 monthly now, we could bring it back at $50 each month, or > a similar level. > > A basic projection, without knowing exact numbers, is that it will take at > least 6 months or more to break even with our income and expenses, with the > assumption that membership continues to grow. I don't think that we should > wait until this time before spending money. While deficit spending is a > hotly-debated issue, it is beneficial as a means of injecting stimulus in > order to continue growth in a stagnant economy. The current situation is the > funding of a 3D printer for the space - much of which has graciously been > funded by the membership. A 3D printer would arguably bring in more members, > with the promise of using a novel machine as an added bonus to their > membership. A $100 donation from SkullSpace hardly seems harmful, and I think > that we are missing an opportunity to contribute to a really good idea. > > I propose that we form a committee to assist with budgetary decisions, as Jay > is stepping down at the next election, and make the entire process much more > membership-oriented. The job of treasurer for a fledgling organisation is one > with many duties, and understandably one person can easily get burnt out with > it. I would volunteer to sit on this committee. Currently, our funding > decisions are resting with a single person, which is unfair and does not > follow the SkullSpace mantra/rule of members having a say in the running of > SkullSpace. > > I think that going-forward, SkullSpace is in a good position right now and we > are slowly working towards our goal of breaking even and eventually turning a > profit. We need to continue to spend where members think it is necessary or > else we will surely stagnate. > > Please respond with opinions, criticisms, rebukes, death threats, etc., but > I'm hoping to keep this discussion on-topic. > > ~Justin > _______________________________________________ > SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List > Help: http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss > Archive: https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/ _______________________________________________ SkullSpace Discuss Mailing List Help: http://www.skullspace.ca/wiki/index.php/Mailing_List#Discuss Archive: https://groups.google.com/group/skullspace-discuss-archive/
