There are some things that are questionable, 72 hours gives time for the auditors to discuss which often happens when I was taking part before something was rejected. This is also what is driving the more defined rules.
I know you’ve heard this before, EVERYTHING done at the Space is by volunteers. For the size organization we are this is remarkable. We deserve congratulations - it means our dues are going towards our mission, we really have very little non-core mission spending.
IMO You don’t want to give acceptance authority to one individual, this makes it really susceptible to to abuse. Some classes that are are taught routinely: 3D Printing, Wood Shop Intro, Laser, Bridgeport, HAAS, Sewing, Intro to Leather working, etc. have pretty much as far as subject matter been vetted and usually have a link to course materials. So they go through without problems. But it also allows to review who the instructor is - which goes to quality at times.
i believe hearing we had almost 200 classes one month recently, that represents $20,000 in Honorariums, both Committee and Instructor portions. (I think in June I pulled out all honorariums paid over the past year, 62% of that $10K stayed within DMS, meaning 12% of instructors donated everything to the committee. It was actually a higher percentage because of the way HAAS instructor fees had been handled - they went out then came back as a matching contribution Probably closer to 65%-66%).
But given the number and dollars involved, call it $100K/year, I think the process we now have and are fine tuning will result in better classes and better use of DMS funds… Also, this review process serves as an internal on-going true audit process against favoritism in the allocation of DMS funds, When a class is authorized, an Honorarium is an authorized expenditure commitment of DMS.
You may want to volunteer to become an auditor. It takes only a couple of minutes on average twice a day to do it, you are looking at the newly submitted classes. Even if you do it every other day, you’ll still be looking at ll the classes submitted, Become involved!