[Noisebridge-discuss] Re: Draft Finance Policy

Meredith L. Patterson mlp at thesmartpolitenerd.com
Wed Oct 1 00:34:10 UTC 2008


Jacob Appelbaum wrote:
> jim wrote:
>> Noisebridge corporate account checks should require two 
>> signatures, any two of four Noisebridge members may sign 
>> checks (or all board members or all officers may sign 
>> checks: the important point is to require two signatures 
>> for a check). Those who can sign checks should also have 
>> the responsibility for reporting current financial status 
>> at regular times. 
>>
> 
> It's possible that we'll implement something like this. I suspect the
> limiting factor is two-fold:
> 
>     1) Banks are probably not going to like this very much.

Requiring two-of-N board signatures is fairly normal for corporate 
accounts, actually; it's handled on our account's side. Usually it's 
only applied to checks over a certain amount (e.g., checks for <$X can 
be signed by one of N, checks over $X must be signed by two of N) but 
you can set N to whatever you like.

>> Consider a second short-term CD or other interest-bearing 
>> account as a complement to the checking account. Such an 
>> account should have a restriction to control release of 
>> funds, perhaps funds can only be released to the checking 
>> account. 
>>
> 
> This is a great idea. If you have some suggestions for a bank that can
> handle all of the above, that would be wonderful! We've put up a lot of
> banking stuff on the finances page. Do you have any preference?

Most banks do this. As an additional suggestion: take the amount you 
want to place into an interest-bearing instrument and divide it by 3. 
Purchase one 3-month CD the first month, a second 3-month CD the second 
month and a third the third month. This way, there's a CD maturing every 
month, so if it's not needed, its value+interest can be rolled over into 
a new CD; if it is needed, there's money available every month.

> We do not need _anything_ currently. Loaning things is probably a very
> bad idea. If you're burdened with something and Noisebridge could use it
> or would want it, please by all means donate it. When we're a 501c3,
> this will especially be great. With that said, we're probably going to
> destroy or consume a lot of things. It's unrealistic to want it back and
> it may even create personal drama when someone brings in "their"
> do-hickey that is "misused" or otherwise not available to them on their
> personal whims.

Did we ever talk much about how we're going to handle reusable items 
that get broken? I have a fairly absurd amount of lab glassware that I'm 
willing to bring in to bootstrap bio- and chem-hacking. Glassware 
breaks; this kind of stuff just happens. However, I am a little worried 
about what happens if someone breaks the $150 Liebig condenser and 
doesn't have the money to replace it. (It's a meter-long *piece of 
glass* that gets exposed to temperature gradients. Someday, it will break.)

Though I suppose one way around that would be to build less-breakable 
equipment where possible; it's pretty easy to make a condenser from 
copper or pvc pipe, though non-glass equipment is harder to clean.

I can't make the meeting tonight, unfortunately, but if this does come 
up, I'd like to hear how people feel about it.

--mlp



More information about the Noisebridge-discuss mailing list