November 2020 Board Notes

Date:

11/10/2020

Attendance:

Board Attended: Tristan Anderson, Ashley Rahn, Kim Hofer, David Vetrovec, John Itzin, Hotura Vo, Christina Kramer
Board Absent: Anthony Laberge
Observers: Troy Macdonald

Notes:

Meeting called to order 18:30

Agenda

  1. Recap off cycle board actions and votes

  2. Open Session (First 30 minutes)

    • Any members of the community can bring new business to discuss with the board

  3. Planned Discussions from scheduled visiting parties/ATC Partners

    • NA

  4. Equipment Rental Requests

    • NA

Coordinator Updates

  • Anime Detour

    • Will be getting information posted about Artists Alley and Exhibit hall which we will need whichever direction the convention holds

  • Charities

    • Was working on possibility of getting loans, but that is not something we are wanting to pursue

    • Working on getting specific requirements for requests for funds dispersal for the LEG fund

    • When can find a coordinator will want to push to tell our membership more about the education fund 

    • David will draft a policy about ATC not applying for loans

      • MN Statutes 317A.501 317A.505

  • Communities

    • No Updates

  • Communications

    • No Updates

  • SOS

    • No Updates

  • Finance

    • Education Fund $2,262.39

    • LEG Fund $12,998.30

    • Bank Account $183,985.10

    • Financial reports went out yesterday, the beginning of the fiscal year does take quite a hit with finances, expense to GPS and insurance premiums. 

    • Completed documents for 990 and various other paperwork

    • Tristan is attending some events about grant application writing.

    • Microsoft annual fee - for excel and word

    • Also refunded a membership fee for a specific circumstance

Updates on current Board projects

  1. Trademark Registration Maintenance Document

    • Tristan will make sure it is taken care of.

  2. Anime Detour Budget Discussion

    • When we first looked at the budget a month ago it was what we had on hand minus what we thought expenses would be. Did not have any projected income on the budget. 

    • Finance went ahead and projected income to be able to incorporate into the budget at our off cycle meeting

    • Asking for a budget for Anime Detour for $245,895, this is roughly $75,000 less then previous year’s budget. Currently very close to that number will need to make a couple more small cuts.

    • For Kim and Troy, both of you believe the $245k is an attainable number that we can work with that and we will be ok functioning with the rest of the year?

      1. Kim - if all of the projections come through yes. 

      2. Troy -  Can only speak to Anime Detour, projections are about half of what our normal projections are, so believes this budget is workable.  

      3. David presents motion that we approve this budget

        1. Ashley 2nds motion

          1. All in favor

    • Question from chat, do we have projections for virtual con? It depends on what we would want to do for a virtual convention, has much less overhead then a physical convention, would need a site to host it. Would need to decide how to do charity auction and many other things

    • Chat question: Question if we do not have in person convention, does this total cover the hotel cost and potential refunds

      1. As far as hotel costs, if we are assessed the full cancellation fee and have to refund all memberships, no there would not be enough money, cancellation fee is $179,000

    • Chat question: ​what does this mean for 2022 and the seed money or.possible lack of?

      1. It’s really hard to say right now, we kind of have to get through this year first and see what happens to be able to plan further out 

        1. How 

    • Have we started planning Virtual 2021? When will it be announced if that is a thing?

      1. Touched out this earlier, working on opening information for how to plan different departments for virtual or in person

    • ​Also, by looking at the numbers why did we get approved for $245K when we only have $184K in the bank? where are we going make up the difference?

      1. The difference comes from projected income, no convention starts at the beginning of the year for all it needs. We would like to be further along, but the difference comes from Kim’s evaluation of what we can expect. Have got to assume some people are coming. Have never had full approved balance in the bank account in any year. Have always had to project registration/walkups/merch sales/dealers etc. 

    • Also in regards to seed money was there any board oversight on how much seed money was being put back into Detour? or was it the decision of one person?

      1. The decision of one person, but it does get presented to the board and has to get approved by the board. 

        1. At the end of the convention once I make the decision of what I am going to recommend for charitable decision, and what we are going to seed for, usually 130k-150k, about half of the budget for next year. Usually around May. 

        2. We will work on having even more transparency and clarification for this in the future, take place during the board meeting after the convention and before charitable giving. 

    • Chat question:Were Detour coordinators ever asked for any recommendations on how much should be set aside?

      1. No but in the previous question discussion, it is something that will be discussed in more detail in the future. 

      2. That request was not made by the previous coordinators. 

      3. Will/have been work/ing on improving our processes in general. 

    • ​Chat question: final questions Is the board going to discuss changes to make sure we won't be in this situation in the future? and what happens if we don't meet the projected amount?

      1. We have been looking into alternative, but it is very hard to plan with the current work situation

      2. If we don’t meet the projected amount, it is a global pandemic we can only do the best we can. 

      3. At this point the board has entrusted Troy with the approved amount, we do not see Troy being irresponsible for this amount. 

  3. Reminder about Bylaw proposal vote taking place 11/15/20, due to current bylaws it has to take place DURING the meeting so will only be open for probably an hour. 

Open Board Projects/Future Meeting discussions (sorted by due date):

  • Meeting Month <Caretaker(s)> - Example Project 

  • December <John> - Recording Board Meetings

  • December <Tristan> - 5 Year Plan

Meeting adjourned 19:44