[Noisebridge-discuss] Proposal: Discounted full-year dues

John Menerick john.menerick at gmail.com
Wed Jun 16 23:54:50 UTC 2010


Since we are a nonprofit, I could look into easily hooking us up with a free
NetSuite account via netsuite.org .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetSuite
SaaS and Paas offering "...one integrated suite that includes
accounting</wiki/Accounting_software>
, customer relationship management </wiki/Customer_relationship_management>
 (CRM),enterprise resource planning </wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning> (ERP)
software, e-commerce and Web site development...."


Disclaimer: I'm an employee at NetSuite.


John Menerick
www.securesql.info
Security at NetSuite



On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 2:31 PM, Miah Johnson <miah at chia-pet.org> wrote:

> If we're going to mention additional products (and those that we may work
> for). I'm pretty sure Noisebridge could qualify for access to a limited
> Salesforce interface through Salesforce Foundation.  The Non-Profit pack
> covers things like donations and recurring donations, members, fundraisers
> etc.
>
> http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/
> http://foundation.force.com/products_donation_eligibility
> http://wiki.developerforce.com/index.php/Nonprofit_Starter_Pack
>
> FWIW, I believe we are not using one of these external interfaces because
> people have concerns regarding data privacy and, lists of members.
>
> Though I personally am a fan of 'less stuff to manage' and it seems like
> adding accounting software to the infrastructure at Noisebridge would
> require a bit of work (server,database,backup,security).
>
> Additionally, I've mentioned before that NB could use me a bit and get
> ~$500/yr out of my company (Dollars for Doers -
> http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/volunteers/grants).
>
> We talk about fundraising and money problems, but nobody seems to be
> focused enough to make it happen. Do-ocracy and all that. I'm personally not
> motivated enough to make it all happen. I'm much better at doing things
> people have asked me to do so getting 50hours of work out of me in a year at
> Noisebridge wouldn't be too hard. I've done plenty of work at Noisebridge
> and could do more. I wonder how many other people going to Noisebridge have
> similar programs that could be taken advantage of. After my initial mention
> of this months back at 83c nobody has ever approached me regarding it.
>
> What I'm saying here is: I'd like to help, but somebody needs to drive
> things.
>
> -Miah
>
> On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 12:44 PM, Ronald Cotoni <setient at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 3:40 PM, aestetix aestetix <aestetix at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > Are we actually in the red?
>> >
>> > There's a big difference between not having a few months wiggleroom, and
>> > having our checks bounce.
>> >
>> > On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 11:56 AM, Rachel McConnell <rachel at xtreme.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> oooh I had no idea!  yeah i'll get in touch with them right away.  i
>> did
>> >> search various open source repos and found nothing useful...
>> >>
>> >> Christie Dudley wrote:
>> >> > Katie from Hacker Dojo was mentioning they'd put together a complete
>> >> > open source package for managing things, including payment tracking
>> and
>> >> > so forth that they're interested in sharing.  It might not be a bad
>> >> > idea, and foster a bit of goodwill if we at least had a look at that,
>> >> > don't you think?
>> >> >
>> >> > The problem may already be solved for us.
>> >> >
>> >> > Christie
>> >> > _______
>> >> > "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from
>> mediocrities.
>> >> > The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly
>> submit
>> >> > to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his
>> >> > intelligence." -- Albert Einstein
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 11:10 AM, Rachel McConnell <
>> rachel at xtreme.com
>> >> > <mailto:rachel at xtreme.com>> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> >     It's all done by hand right now, there's no automation.  I mean
>> the
>> >> > bank
>> >> >     account (and paypal, etc) tracks that $X has shown up, but there
>> >> > isn't
>> >> >     any system to associate it with a particular member.  Sometimes a
>> >> >     payment comes with a note; if it's a check you have to go look at
>> >> > the
>> >> >     name on the check, etc.
>> >> >
>> >> >     jim wrote:
>> >> >     >    Y'all have reminded me of payment, so there must
>> >> >     > be some tracking in place, yes?
>> >> >     >
>> >> >     >
>> >> >     >
>> >> >     > On Wed, 2010-06-16 at 10:29 -0700, Rachel McConnell wrote:
>> >> >     >> I like this in theory but in practice it would be folly to
>> >> > officially
>> >> >     >> promote it until we have an accounting system that can support
>> >> > it.
>> >> >     >> Already we don't know who is paid up and who isn't; work is
>> >> >     underway on
>> >> >     >> a system to manage this but let's get it working first before
>> we
>> >> > make
>> >> >     >> massive changes to it.
>> >> >     >>
>> >> >     >> Rachel
>> >> >     >>
>> >> >     >> jim wrote:
>> >> >     >>>    (seems like a discussion of policy.)
>> >> >     >>>    per the proposal and the points:
>> >> >     >>> * how much to discount for a one year pre-payment seems
>> >> >     >>> the difficult part: too little and no one goes for it;
>> >> >     >>> too big and we miss out on possible income; variable
>> >> >     >>> (maybe within some limits, hoping for generosity) may
>> >> >     >>> work....
>> >> >     >>> * if we don't have a "real accounting system", as long
>> >> >     >>> as we can track payments with respect to members, this
>> >> >     >>> seems a non-issue. for example, i pay by the quarter
>> >> >     >>> and haven't had any problems. if a payment is recorded
>> >> >     >>> as income for the current month, is there a tax
>> >> >     >>> implication?
>> >> >     >>> * we should certainly try to help our current cash
>> >> >     >>> crunch"; the overall downward trend scares me.
>> >> >     >>> * grabbing a year's supply of money may help the
>> >> >     >>> initially excited retain their interest over a longer
>> >> >     >>> time period, which seems an additional value.
>> >> >     >>> * i'm not convinced of your arithmetic, but certainly
>> >> >     >>> money today is worth a fair amount more than money
>> >> >     >>> some later day, especially if there's some question
>> >> >     >>> about getting money on those later days. a real
>> >> >     >>> answer to this might help settle the discount problem.
>> >> >     >>>
>> >> >     >>>
>> >> >     >>>
>> >> >     >>>
>> >> >     >>> On Wed, 2010-06-16 at 09:49 -0700, Shannon Lee wrote:
>> >> >     >>>> Hi All,
>> >> >     >>>> This idea has been brought up at several meetings now and no
>> >> >     >>>> satisfactory resolution reached, so obviously it's time to
>> >> >     expand the
>> >> >     >>>> conversation!
>> >> >     >>>> The specific proposal brought up last night was this:
>> >> >     >>>> If you pay your dues a year at a time, you can knock $20
>> off.
>> >> >     Or one
>> >> >     >>>> month's dues off. Or some amount of money.
>> >> >     >>>> Many perspectives were voiced on this.  I think it's a good
>> >> > idea;
>> >> >     >>>> others disagreed, primarily because, as we do not have a
>> real
>> >> >     >>>> accounting system, this amounts to counting a year's dues as
>> >> > this
>> >> >     >>>> month's revenue.
>> >> >     >>>> Again, I think this is a good idea, for the following
>> reasons:
>> >> >     >>>> * it could help with our current cash cruch
>> >> >     >>>> * it means that people who get very excited about
>> noisebridge
>> >> >     for just
>> >> >     >>>> long enough to be members and then never show up again have
>> the
>> >> >     >>>> opportunity to pay a whole year's membership upfront
>> >> >     >>>> * the economic value of a bird in one's hand is double that
>> of
>> >> >     a bird
>> >> >     >>>> in a bush
>> >> >     >>>> Thoughts?
>> >> >     >>>> --
>> >> >     >>>> Shannon Lee
>> >> >     >>>> (503) 539-3700
>> >> >     >>>>
>> >> >     >>>> "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from
>> >> >     science."
>> >> >     >>>> _______________________________________________
>> >> >     >>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> >> >     >>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> >> >     <mailto:Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
>> >> >     >>>>
>> >> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>> >> >     >>>
>> >> >     >>> _______________________________________________
>> >> >     >>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> >> >     >>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> >> >     <mailto:Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
>> >> >     >>>
>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>> >> >     >
>> >> >     >
>> >> >     _______________________________________________
>> >> >     Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> >> >     Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> >> >     <mailto:Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>
>> >> >     https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> >> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> >> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>> >
>> >
>> FYI there are two other software solutions that could do this.  One is
>> Freshbooks.  It is for accounting and the other is OfficeDrop.  You
>> can scan and upload your documents to officedrop and link them to
>> freshbooks statements.  I happen to work for the latter but this is
>> exactly one of our use cases.   We convert stuff into text searchable
>> PDFS.  We also provide a web interface for searching them.  We accept
>> documents via email, our web interface or physically sending them in.
>> We do have a FREE offering that might be exactly what Noisebridge
>> wants since you guys prolly have a scanner SOMEWHERE there.  I don't
>> know much about the freshbooks side of things but this could link both
>> the physical piece of paper, paypal email or whatnot to a statement in
>> your account.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
>
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