Questions
How can others who want to be board members get involve or gain insight to the current board’s tasks, so that if they did want to run, they would have some idea what they are getting into?
What are DMS’ goals and where are we as an organization headed as of now?
I think that is a great question and I’d ask any and all board members past and present to answer. The “getting into” changes over over time.
Right now I’d say the 4 most pressing matters in my mind are:
1. Getting our accounting all up to speed for management purposes and compliance reasons, these have legal ramifications.
We have transitioned in just a few short years from less than $200K/year in revenue to over $900K in 2017 and very likely over $1 million for 2018. The complexity of our transactions has grown, not only in amount but methods: CC’s, bank debits, kiosks, through various payment sources (at one time Bit Coin), Event Bright, Brain Tree, PayPal, cash. Payment for class materials and fees have to be categorized for sales tax purposes, dues, shirts, mugs, Laser-MiG-time & 3D Fab materials, fees for outings, picnics, personal storage bins, etc. All have payment methods and how they are processed in our accounting. We even used to sell food prior to Parks for those here less than about 18 months.
Getting the back-end of these systems as automated as possible into our accounting system is critical to reduce work load. The number of transactions has probably gone up an order of magnitude in the last three years. Monthly dues collection have gone from ~250 a month when we moved here here to over 1300, that’s 5X. The amount of reimbursements when non-PO members buy things that keep us going. Honorariums have exploded in number, not a bad thing as we have more classes, but it involves making sure instructors are properly meeting all requirements, W9’s, issuing/mailing checks, credits to committees, 1099’s. Tax filing federal, state, and county.
Getting everything credited to the proper committee. We now have an accounting firm that specializes in Non-profits, we also have an onsite bookkeeper, Kathy McKee, three days a week, and things are improving daily.
2. Looking for a new larger spaces This is something that has gone across a lot of BoD’s. Monetary is our 3rd location working and we are actively working on our 4th. Assessing our needs becomes ever more complex:
3. Financial, Non-Accounting
4. Infrastructure improvements
DMS has a lot of moving parts. These are the ones I see as most pressing and urgent. But then there are lots of single issue items that pop up each month. There are lots of things that need attention, we aren’t some small club, we’d be classified as a medium sized business if you think of how many people have to manage.
What are DMS’s goals: That is a different for every person that’s a member. Not a cop out, it is true. The goals come out more refined/consolidated at committee meetings and flow up. Collectively once a year we pick five people out of that that step forward that we best think will achieve our individual for our vision goals. Board members are charged and entrusted with keeping DMS running. Each of us have values we place are certain aspects they we think are best for DMS.
One thing that I’ve been very happy to see, while board members individually may at times disagree on something, usually it is on the details and how to implement. Occasionally, it is a philosophical issue over some matter that comes down to a split vote - that’s okay. Without reservation I can say ALL board members I’ve worked with sincerely have a deep love for DMS and want it to succeed and flourish.
Lots of words, but a complex question.
Great question!
*First off anyone can submit an item to the Board of directors agenda to be considered by the board. We ask that you show the reasoning behind the request as well as the need for the item or issue you are putting before the board. The more data the better for the board to make an informed decision and items are to be posted 48 hours in advance so the board can have some time to dig into the request.
*There are a lot of things that have gone on this year that the current board has been working on. We try to post all topics to Talk, Discord and encourage discussion within committees and in person. As long as it’s not something we have to keep private due to legal reason, ie lease negotiations, lawsuits; then we make every effort to discuss. Finding a board member and having a one on one conversation is my preferred method and if you can talk to more than one you can get their opinion on the subject at hand. Not one board member can act as the board of directors. We are members just like any others until we sit in session to make and consider decisions for the good of DMS.
*An important item the next board needs to look at is single points of failure. We are run by volunteers, every day I am in awe how this works and grateful for those folks that spend hour after hour taking time out of their lives to give back to DMS. This is why we are so successful. But it also is a weakness if we rely on only one person to do a job so to that end the next board will need to focus on cultivating backups for folks who hold key positions within DMS. I believe in times of need volunteers will step up but it would be so much smoother if we had a system in place for backups.
There are so many things that we can accomplish together using members skill sets. It’s just an amazing thing. Thanks for the question!