I noticed the mission statement changed. I couldn’t find any meeting discussing it as the wiki notes imply. I bring it up since it could impact things like the tax exempt status of the organization, grant applications, etc.
Old - Mission Statement - Dallas Makerspace
New - Mission Statement - Dallas Makerspace
History - Revision history of "Mission Statement" - Dallas Makerspace
Rogue edit? Or was this actually discussed but maybe not documented?
The original was thoughtful and had purpose. The new one seemed to adhere to its creed of * “Start projects, finish whenever” - as it seems less than polished.
I’m assuming it’s a joke/trolling but you never know.
What do you mean? The new one was a joke, or what I posted was a joke?
The mission statement. I’m assuming the new one is a joke or trolling.
It never crossed my mind that someone would unilaterally change something as important as that.
Things are slowly warming up, about time you consider getting your boots on the ground up there again.
No published minutes whatsoever from June…
I agree with this statement. If we can’t find any minutes authorizing the change let’s change it back to the old one.
The mission statement is one of the oldest documents we have, and if I recall correctly was directly referenced in our Form 1023 filing (applying for 501c3). Normally it’s one of those boring, bureaucratic things that mostly people never look at.
If it was just another page on the website talking about DMS and what we do and stand-for I think editing it as needed is fine. Unfortunately this particular document is “important” and technically an official thing, so we do need a record of the vote to change it. Just more fun things about running a non-profit
Edit: Adding some historical/references for anyone bored enough to read:
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/501(c)(3)_purpose_and_mission_statement
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/IRS_Form_1023_Draft
The page is protected so I went ahead and rolled back the edits for right now.
Protection log
We also directly reference the mission statement (with link) in the rules, so changes to it technically have an impact to the standing rules.
- Scheduled classes/events should uphold our Mission Statement
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Rules_and_Policies#Classes_.26_Events
- For purchases over $200, the request must include a description of how this spending furthers the organization’s Tax Exempt purpose (see Mission Statement.)
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Rules_and_Policies#Organizational_Meetings
Just to be 100% clear, this is all procedural nitpicky kind of stuff, nothing anyone has done with this is bad. We just have to be sure we do things the proper way when it comes to these kinds of things, because we’re a global leader for makerspaces/hackerspaces and we’re large enough to start being on the radar for the IRS/govt.
This is in DMS’s Articles of Incorporation:
Article 5 – Purpose
This corporation is organized exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes, including,
for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal
Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code.
Within the limits of such purposes the corporation shall:
Personally, I think this states what DMS is about. The new Mission statement seems to be “How to be a good member”, which is nice, but isn’t a charitable purpose and as stated above, the mission statement is something we submit to the IRS.
Thank you for pointing this out
The statement in the articles of incorporation are unchanged and there is no plan to change them.
It looks like the old mission statement was moved to this page: IRS Statement - Dallas Makerspace
Fwiw, I like the way the old statement was phrased, though I’m not sure we’ve fully lived up to those ideals in the years since. The update better reflects the reality of the space, whereas the original better states the ideals of the space.