[Noisebridge-discuss] Fundraiser at Cellspace October 9th

Sun Sep 20 08:37:26 UTC 2009

"fleecing" has all all the wrong connotations...

---
Pigs can fly given sufficient thrust.
    - RFC 1925

On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 11:06 AM, <dfine at sonic.net> wrote:

> I think it's totally fine for a small fundraiser to break even if it
> introduces a lot of new people to your cause. It can pay off in
> unexpected ways down the road.
>
> To make money on a small fundraiser you can't leave it to chance, enact
> a plan for fleecing the appropriate amount of money from each attendee
> to make it worth the effort.
> --D
>
> > I in fact still have the money with me.
> >
> > Likely to no one's surprise, we did not do well.
> > Simply put, many people saw free bar and actively ignored the donation
> > box.  Additionally, there were a select few who definitely consumed
> > more than the average guest (and generally donated little or nothing).
> >
> > At the end of the night, we had $325 in donations. (Don't take this
> > number as too much yet, see below)
> >
> > The amount spent on the items were as follows:
> > Keg of beer $130
> > Ice $27.79
> > Capt. Morgans $22.98
> > Salsa $5.49
> > Chips $3.95
> > Cups $10.94 (there are many of these cups left over, however, and can
> > as such be used another time).
> >
> > Additionally, paper towels and toilet paper were purchased for the
> > space at costs of $16.20 and $19.70.  As these two items were somewhat
> > separate from the bar, I'll leave them on the side.
> >
> > In total I fronted $201.15 yesterday for items for the bar.  The
> > amount I spent running around town and on parking meters for this,
> > along with a bottle of port I randomly donated will also be left out
> > of this.
> > The initial thought that we walked away with about $125 extra sounds
> > good at first (or not terrible, anyway), but that number will get
> > dropped quite a bit, sadly.
> >
> > Firstly, in order to keep the cash in the place safe, we emptied the
> > money from the fridge (it seemed like a bad idea to have a stash of
> > money that random people could find).  We didn't count this
> > (stupidly), and I am very unsure how much was there, but I'd say
> > somewhere between $30 and $50.
> > Then, there are some costs we incurred that are not included in my own
> > expenses.  We went through a bit of the soda that was kindly purchased
> > by JSharp -- I'm not sure at all how much off hand, but somewhere in
> > the vicinity of ~1.5 cases of soda (approx $20), and perhaps another
> > $20 in various other items (vitamin water, hansens, a couple mexican
> > cokes [we didn't hand those out really], some candy).  We also were
> > lucky enough to have Miloh's latest soda, which he put together
> > entirely at his expense, and I have no idea how much it cost.
> >
> > In the end, I'd say we broke even or made $20-40.
> > --
> >
> > So, do I think it was a good idea to do the bar?
> > I'm split.  I've heard of three "incidents" that people saw as
> > alcohol-fueled and "not excellent".
> >
> > The girls with the chairs were the most destructive, and I did
> > actually immediately tell aestetix who was near me to go have them
> > stop -- which they ended up doing themselves.  I think this was a
> > situation where everyone thought it was bad and should stop, but
> > somehow no one felt empowered to be able to say anything.  A point I
> > actually put on the meeting agenda for earlier this week was that ANY
> > member has the right to tell guests to cut shit out, or get the hell
> > out of our space, but I sadly was unable to make it.  I think we
> > should drive this point home again though, as it applies to anytime
> > someone is doing something that is not excellent at Noisebridge.
> >
> > I also heard of someone spilling a beer and leaving it, and rumour of
> > an incident in which a genius decided to pee off the fire escape
> > (which I'm still not convinced happened).
> > The spilt beer is sadly inevitable at events, and I see as less a
> > result of us having an open bar.  I've seen bottles of beer people
> > brought themselves spilt over the floor at 83c, and while people are
> > then mostly responsible to clean it up themselves, it's sadly not
> > always done.  I would encourage members to take the initiative to tell
> > someone who spills their drink to clean it up, and then to help them
> > do it (at the very least in assisting them get cleaning materials).
> > Accidents happen, and let's not stress over this too much.
> > With the fire escape, I sadly feared someone might do something
> > stupid, although I somehow predicted it would be something a bit
> > different than urinating off it (I envisioned worse -- someone
> > throwing a bottle or the like).  I might suggest we side-step this
> > issue in the future by not allowing people to use the fire escape to
> > smoke -- it's going to be one of those things where one stupid asshole
> > ruins it for everyone else who is responsible.
> >
> > I do not think the bar was really a bad influence, however.  There has
> > always been a large amount of alcohol at 5mof events, and whether
> > people bring it or provide it, it will be a large influence.  In
> > providing it, I think we significantly reduced the amount of bottles
> > that are often left floating around the space (to the point of almost
> > eliminating them), and we didn't even seem to fill up our recycling
> > bin.  We had no incidents of broken glass during the event either.
> >
> > The down sides that the bar introduced was that there were likely some
> > people who drank more than they may have otherwise.  There was also an
> > increased liability for those who ran the bar (especially me, as I
> > purchased the keg).
> >
> > Before attempting to run a bar at Noisebridge again, I would have more
> > organisation involved and look into ways to help reduce the chances of
> > problems and increase the chances of donations.  I in fact have a
> > number of realistic ideas on this that should also hope to allay the
> > complaints some had of having an open bar (especially if we can find a
> > way to enforce something like a 3 drink maximum and have a closing
> > time for the bar).
> > If people think it's a good idea to try and repeat this, let me
> > know... with some help, I think we can do it right.
> >
> > Jeffrey
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 12:50 AM, Rubin Abdi <rubin at starset.net> wrote:
> >> Christie Dudley wrote, On 2009/09/18 22:52:
> >>>
> >>> I am curious how much we made on the "donation only" open bar we had
> >>> the
> >>> other night.
> >>
> >> Poke Jeffrey as I gave him all the big bills before I left for the
> >> night.
> >>
> >> Last count we made enough to pay for all the booze we bought that
> >> night,
> >> two ice runs, and some snacks with extra left over.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Rubin Abdi
> >> rubin at starset.net
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> >>
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> >
>
>
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