Date: April 15, 2023, 2pm
Location: TSFS Discord channel #april-2023-business-meeting
Attendees:
Michael Houghton (Herveus), President
Marilyn Mix, Vice-President, Chessiecon Webmaster and Marketing
Sam Hogan (Poryshkin), Treasurer/Chessiecon 2022 chair)
Dave Montouri (Dave/Evan(damont)), Secretary/Chessiecon Registration
Eric Fleischer (DrGandalf)
Keith Lynch
Agenda:
Next Meeting: August 19, 2:00pm, Saturday. Discord #august-2023-business-meeting
Called to order: 14:05 EDT
Treasurer Report:
In various accounts, we have a total of $5,536.43. in the various accounts.
The outstanding hotel bill currently is $4,107.00. The Go Fund Me has been
funded to a total amount of $7,178; this includes a recent Grant from
DISCON 3 of $2,000.
Income taxes will be filed.
New Business:
1. TSFS Income Source:
TSFS is setup as a dues-driven organization. Part of the tax picture is that
the State of Maryland does tax us on saleable assets-the few t-shirts that
we have. And they inquire as to how the organization is funded in the absence
of selling inventory.
When we sell a membership to our convention, what we are legally doing is
collecting dues from members: and the right of paying dues is the right to
attend the convention we put on every year. What is TSFS source of income
where there is no convention to attend, like this year?
Asking people to fork over $45-$60 in the absence of holding a convention
is not viable.
Q: What is our annual operating budget once the storage room is
released?
A: That depends on the tax return. Ball-park: $200/year (See last
meeting minutes for breakdown)
Tax year is the calendar year.
Motion #1:
Made by Poryshkin, Seconded by Dr Gandalf
In years when TSFS cannot or does not hold a Chessiecon, the dues shall
be set to $20. Annual Membership dues to be paid by 1 December of the year
in question.
Motion: Carried
Payment can be made through Paypal: chessiecon@paypal.com, check to TSFS, or email registrations@chessiecon.org to request an invoice via Square. (For payments that incur processing fees, the invoice amount will be $21.)
Publicize through mailing list, social media and website. Poryshkin mentioned the MailChimp list needs some maintenance, but could be used.
2023 Website:
Marilyn stated that we currently do not have a website for 2023 since we
aren’t having a convention. So we don’t have a place to post the notice
about annual dues. She had added the messages for the financial issues to
the top of the 2022 home page. Herveus agreed that we should create a
separate website for future TSFS status and announcements. Marilyn will
ask Jo Hogan to create a new Word Press instance, then restore the 2022
site to state it had during the convention, for posterity. She will move
the TSFS announcements to the new 2023 page and add the Membership Dues
notice. Come up with a banner illustration, such as a sea monster tail
disappearing into the water. Herveus agreed it is not urgent. Due
mid-summer. Since Marilyn is Balticon webmaster and will be preoccupied.
Discussion:
1. Emptying the store room:
Meeting adjourned: 16:00 EDT
Motions:
Action Items:
Action Items from February meetng.
Action Items from January Meeting