[Imc-finance] some background for network funding, seattle's role and some nextsteps

[melissa roberts]

Thanks (as always) Sheri for such a detailed response and for Susan's
help on this.  (quick note: today is Sat. 10/06 and this e-mail is dated
Tues. 10/16...not sure if you intended delivery for next Tues. or...?)

I'd like to request that we have Mark, Susan, Cinde, Ryan, Carlo, Micah,
Jill and the other movement abroad that you mention below subscribe to
the IMC Finance list so as to keep e-mails simplified and all stay
together on Network financial development.

Me? I have over 15 years exp. in activism/org. development/fundraising
beginning in New Orleans, LA for racial/environmental justice then
branching out into (blessed or cursed) far too many areas. My IMC
connection...earlier this year I helped to jumpstart the creation of a
business that would be donating 50% of its profits to NPO's (IMC
included because of its prominent and most important media role even
though it does not have a 501 (c)(3) status). We ran into a
dilemma...this business stands to donate a large amount of $ to the IMC
but it doesn't have a way to dispurse the funds...so, I went to my local
IMC in Seattle to ask to be part of the collective and to find out how I
could help and learn more about the unique challenges the IMC is facing
with an all-volunteer base and no real network decision making body. 
That was several months ago and I'm commited now more than ever to
helping the IMC meet challenges (they're always there) and grow
according to our mission.

Since the majority of my background is in org. development that then
leads into fundraising, these are the areas which I feel most
comfortable contributing to. Also, as I mentioned in my intro. e-mail,
I'm working on completing an advanced professional 8 month Fudnraising
Magm't. certificate program at the University of Washington.  What I
should let everyone know is that the Fudnraising part is sooooo easy
once all the pieces of the org. dev. is put into place. I'll be working
over the next 8 months in some development capacity with FSTV (free
speech TV) and am willing to give the same attention to this network.

I believe there are several areas that should be in place before any
additional Network funds are dispursed (with the NYC Indypendent being
one exception), much less accepted:

1- Defined Network Decision Making Group ("who" and "what" is the role
of this group and DMWG member responsibilities? I would suggest that a
call be placed to all IMC's within the network to ask that such a group
be officially recognized and have at least 2 members from each IMC
become members of this group, choosen by each local's spokescouncil or
general membership.  I can't emphasize enough how quickly this should
happen.

2- The establishment of our own 501 (c)(3) IMC Fund in order to:
	A. prevent 4% of monies being lost

	B. creat a board of directors whose primary responsibility is 	
fundraising + opening doors to additional possibilities (formal 
decisions being made by the DMWG). There is no limit to the amount 	of
directors that can serve on board...some have 3, some have 30. 	The
misconception comes in when people define BOD's role as 		anything but
what is mentioned above.  It's not some slack, 		priviledged position
that many view it as.  It requires $$ 		commitment, either their own or
others, and a fair amount of hard 	fundraising work. BOD positions are
never paid positions.

	C. have an official place of record where Network donations can be 
held securely and can be open to member IMC audits.

	D. Hire staff to maintain, grow and administer this Fund in 	
accordance to the DMWG.

It's a Sat. eve and time for me to get off of this computer so I'll
following up with this later, but soon.  Please let me know your
thoughts out there.

good ju-ju,
melissa


Sheri Herndon wrote:
> 
> hi john and everyone,
> 
> it's a long email but well worth the read if you are interested in
> the issue of indymedia network funding.  i've provided some
> historical background and context which  has been requested by bart
> and which until now i hadn't been able to find the time to do.
> 
> john, you've asked all good questions.  i have a few answers and
> thoughts and also some outstanding questions about how to deal with
> these issues.  susan gleason from imc-settle and i have been wanting
> to write up a history of the finance issue from the seattle imc
> perspective, but due to busy schedules, distractions and taking on
> too much, it hasn't happened.  but we are still working on it.  this
> has been discussed at the seattle spokescouncil level and it was
> something we both agreed to do.  we're getting closer :)
> 
> here's the outline for what we want to share.  it'll give you a rough
> idea of what we are wanting to talk about and hopefully accomplish.
> this information can serve as background, context and hopefully as a
> catalyst for movement forward for some of the unanswered questions.
> and always trying to keep it as simple as possible given all of the
> variables.
> 
> i know that there's other movement abroad in the larger network and i
> can't wait :))
> 
> IMC NETWORK FUNDING
> 
> 1.  History of Network Funding
>         * Early history ... funding from Seattle etc.
>         * Recent history
>         * Seattle's Glaser grant to support the Network
> 
> 2.  Seattle Shifting out of the Network Funding Role
>         * Our intention
>         * A model/solution we're interested in; maybe others share this idea?
> 
> 3.  Dilemma of the Anonymous Donor
>         * Several calls have been made to the lists about this $, it
> needs to be spent
>         * Donor wants Seattle to use/distribute the funds as it has
> been doing w/Glaser
> 
> 4.  Where to go from here
>         * IMC-Finance - is this list an interim solution?
>         * Following up on the Decision-Making Process
> 
> 5.  Security
>                * How to have our financial discussions done in a
> secure way that doesn't leave us vulnerable
>           (especially in the current climate)
> 
> that's a simple outline of some of the topics we wanted to discuss
> and put out to this list to share some of the thoughts that we've
> been having here in seattle and also some of the issues we are facing
> (in particular with #3).  we had hoped to do this a few weeks ago,
> but the past month has been full of many important distractions.  it
> might be able to be finished in a week or so.  rather than try and
> write that document right now, i will respond to some of john's
> questions in particular here and see how far i get.  i think i will
> focus on #1 in this email.
> 
> for those who don't know me, i've been involved with the imc since
> before the wto meeting in seattle and currently live in seattle and
> am active in local and network working groups, including grants wg in
> seattle, the spokescouncil, media and process.  in seattle, the
> collective has been keenly (and at some points painfully) aware of
> the role it is playing in having some oversight over the current
> network bank and looks forward to when the responsibility and
> oversight can be handled by the larger collective.
> 
> in order to achieve that, i am hoping that this list will become a
> serious imc network working group with participation from as many
> active imcs and working groups as possible.  several people are
> currently working on updating the imc network contacts list which
> will be used to send out an invite to ALL IMCs to join this working
> group.  at that point, many of these questions and issues can be
> discussed with the kind of participation we all are wanting.
> 
> for now, john, here are a few quick responses to your specific
> questions.  i'm hoping that jay, cinde or susan will jump in
> specifically about the bank account history if they have more to
> share.  and of course others too about the other topics and things in
> general.
> 
> >Just to offer some kind of context to the use of Seattle's bank account, can
> >we review some of the details surrounding this account? For the record,
> >which bank is the savings account with, in what name is the account and who
> >are the signing authorities on the account, is the account associated with
> >any cards, etc.? I'm comfortable foregoing information about signing
> >authorities, assuming that they participate in this list, but that means the
> 
> 1. History of Network Funding
> 
> (NOTE:  this is incomplete because i don't have time to write up a
> thorough document right now, but hopefully the questions will be
> answered and some context will be provided, and we can build from
> this simple yet important foundation of information)
> 
> * recent history
> 
> early on, monies were received by two different groups - direct
> action media network (damn) and seattle imc.  jay can talk more
> specifically about the early history regarding damn.  at the end of
> last year, following a conversation i had with a private donor, we
> received another $5K.  since we currently had monies set aside for
> the network, he agreed to send seattle the money.  emails were sent
> out to the global process list notifying people of this as well as
> urging us to figure things out:
> 
> cash donation to imc network (12/22/00)
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-process/2000-December/001039.html
> jay's response re damn's network bank account
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-process/2000-December/001041.html
> another contribution email
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-process/2001-May/001751.html
> 
> interestingly enough, there was very little discussion in direct
> response to these emails.
> 
> * global tech account
> 
> monies had also been received from early on that were designated
> specifically for imc global tech.  seattle also currently has those
> funds and keeps separate accountings for those as well.  micah works
> closely with cinde on that account.
> 
> * global bank account background
> 
> at a certain point, seattle felt strongly that we needed to have a
> completely separate account rather than just keeping the accountings
> separate, so we set up the savings account.  there is curently
> $12,156.13 in the account gaining interest.  the signers for this
> account are the same people who are on the seattle account:  cinde,
> susan, sheri and jill.  everyone is on this list except for jill.
> there are no cards associated with this account and no checks.
> 
> the bank account that is for the global network is currently in
> seattle at a washington mutual bank SAVINGS account.  all we've
> basically done is (1) set up the account, (2) transferred funds from
> the seattle bank account; and (3) deposited some recent network
> donations that have come in during the past months.  jay and i have
> been keeping track of all network donations and requests for
> information.  we have a list of people who have inquired about
> sending in donations.
> 
> in terms of disbursement of any network funds, NO funds have ever
> been taken out of this account since it belongs to the entire
> indymedia network and we have been waiting for a process by which to
> disburse funds democratically.  we are merely acting as a steward and
> hoping that we can shift the responsibility at some point to a
> network working group, like imc-finance.
> 
> *  wish list/imc projects list
> 
> another topic which we can address will be to establish a wish list
> for all imcs, different network-wide projects and specific projects
> that local imcs have -- all of this can be on the donate page and
> people wanting to donate can pick something that inspires them.  we
> could also arrange for a paypal account so that people can easily use
> a credit card.  something we have discovered is that having people
> send in checks is very inconvenient for people and we have received
> some criticism for not making it easier for people to donate....i
> think we must figure this out.  we can set up the paypal account so
> that it will designate where the monies are to be directed in terms
> of projects, etc.  if it is a local imc, they can have their own
> paypal, at least here in the states.  for most international imcs,
> this can also be done, except some countries can't access a local
> bank account - so we'd have to figure out how to do that, etc.  but
> we can work toward a system that works easily and efficiently).  this
> has been brought up several times in the past in various contexts.
> 
> perhaps this is something that can be included in the call out to
> imcs or to the survey that some folks are also working on.
> 
> i'd love to hear from folks who have used paypal here in the states
> and how that has worked and other imcs in other countries with what
> works for them.
> 
> >account is ultimately being governed by imc-seattle and that this list
> >(imc-finance) should make requests to imc-seattle for account transactions
> >to be administrated appropriately. This may be the most secure means to
> >administrate the global account for imc-finance, given that others at
> >imc-seattle can assist in auditting the account and distribute the
> >responsibility.
> 
> * Seattle IMC's Current Role
> 
> i have to respectfully disagree with the phrase the account is being
> "governed by imc-seattle" because i think that gives the wrong
> impression and it is also slightly inaccurate.  we perhaps are the
> custodians of the account.  more than anything, we are eager for
> ideas and a process for how to make it more democratic.  i imagine at
> some point in our future, we will have decentralized bank accounts
> for regional imc network funding.  but at this point, it's in one
> account.  we have no control over it other than we set it up and we
> are doing some of the administrative tasks such as depositing funds
> into it when they come in.
> 
> * Seattle's Fiscal Sponsor
> 
> seattle has been using our current fiscal sponsor, jam for justice,
> for some of the donations that request a tax deduction.  jam for
> justice is a nonprofit.  they currently take out a 4% administrative
> fee, which is typical for fiscal sponsors.  there is now an imc that
> has its own nonprofit status - urbana-champagne imc.
> 
> >Otherwise, the idea of helping out imc-nyc print collective sounds do-able,
> >however, if this opens imc-finance to all kinds of requests for services
> >from other imc's or global work-groups. It depends on how much work
> >imc-seattle is willing to take-on -- perhaps this can be distributed between
> >imc's in the future, for different kinds of imc-finance requests. Are there
> >any other ideas that people are working on?
> 
> in direct response to "opening up imc-finance to all kinds of request
> for services from other imc's", i think we need to really figure this
> out.  because we need to have a way of supporting the network as
> different imcs and different working groups and sister-city
> relationships start raising money, writing grants, finding people to
> support specific projects, etc.
> 
> seattle has been in a position to be able to help out and we continue
> to be committed to helping out as best we can, but ideally, there
> must be some kind of decentralized network structure that can handle
> these requests.  like a bank account on every continent that has
> regional oversight by all the imcs there and that also work with the
> imc finance global working group....as one possibility.  there are
> many.  for now, it is seattle who is keeping the global bank account.
> how we transition this to the network as we develop a solid working
> group will be important.  we can continue of course to do
> administrative support until something is figured out and can
> disburse funds once a process is agreed upon by the network and the
> working group.
> 
> * Seattle's Glaser Grant to Support the Network
> 
> Last fall, seattle wrote a grant proposal to a local foundation
> requesting money to help 'build the global communication network".
> we received 15,000 from the glaser foundation to help us in this
> respect.  we can provide a more detailed account of specific global
> projects that we have supported, but some include:  (1) money for the
> brasil imc ftaa paper; (2) funds for imc-argentina at a critical time
> of their growth; (3) start up funds for imc-south africa for the
> world conference on racism; (4) travel stipends for us-based imc
> folks as well as folks from chiapas, belgium, australia and brasil to
> come to san fran for the press freedom/imc convergence in april; (5)
> nyc print paper following events of 9/11; (6) travel funds for
> argentina and italy folks to come to dc and spend some time
> networking with other imcs here to increase north-south and us-europe
> imc networking; (7) travel funds for tech person to attend imc-europe
> meeting....for example.
> 
> we are down to the last few thousand dollars of that grant and feel
> really good about the choices we've made in supporting the network
> with these micro-grants.  alittle money can often go a long way,
> especially in indymedia.  we've done phenomenal work on a shoestring
> budget.
> 
> i'm sure there's more to say on this but i'll just stop here.
> 
> hopefully susan and i will be able to put together info on the other
> points in the above outline, but for now i hope this begins to answer
> john's questions and provides more context and background.
> 
> love & solidarity
> sheri
> 
> ps - interesting email from michael albert from the archives:
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-finance/2001-July/000046.html
> 
> >                   Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2001 15:41:56 -0700
> >>                  To: IMC-Finance
> >>                  From: Sheri Herndon
> >>                  Cc: mikeburke99@yahoo.com
> >>                  Subject: [Imc-finance] Fwd: NYC IMC --Emergency Grants for
> >Peace
> >>
> >>                  hi friends,
> >>
> >>                  here's a request from imc nyc to use the global bank
> >account.  as
> >>                  some of you may know, that bank account is currently in
> >seattle and
> >>                  it is a savings account, accruing interest.  it is a
> >completely
> >>                  separate bank account from any of the seattle funds,
> >although seattle
> >>                  people have been doing some of the admin work as well as
> >jay from
> >>                  philly imc and damn (direct action media network - during
> >early days
> >>                  of imc).
> >>
> >>                  does this work for everyone?  i imagine that if they
> >received the
> >>                  funds, it would be deposited into this account and we'd
> >write a check
> >>                  or get a cashier's check since we don't have a checkbook
> >for this
> >>                  account and write it to the print collective in nyc.
> >>
> >>                  thoughts?  concerns?
> >>
> >>                  in solidarity
> >>                  sheri
> >>
> >>  --------------------------------------------------------------------
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