Minutes of Fundraising Meeting (19/10/05)

Sorry for the delay

Attendees - PaulB, C., Ant, Chekov, Jon

Agenda:
Hosting and Finances
Projects for funds
Events and Fundraising

1. Hosting and Finances

The hosting bill, due at the start of November is c €380 (can't be exact because of exchange rate). At the time of the meeting, including a €50 cash donation at the meeting there was €520 in funds. The majority of this was raised through Paypal within hours of the appeal on the website. ... Update

2. Projects for Funds

While the hosting was now covered a number of other projects were discussed. For the following it was agreed to fund them on the basis of a) funds being available and b) firm costs and agreement from other parties being in place. The projects discussed were

(i) Contribution to the global Indymedia Network. A prior agreement was that 5% of all funds raised would go to the global network. Contact has been made with radio.indymedia.org which is being used more by Irish contributors recently, however they do not seem to have immediate requirements. It was agreed to explore the possibility of contributing to a community server and establishing this as a media and oscailt server which will be made available to other indymedias or groups. €200 was allocated and contact will be made with kino who has previously requested funds in relation to this.

(ii) The Seomra Spraoi Initiative was discussed. It was agreed to investigate setting up a computer lab in the space for use both by Indymedia and other groups. Donated equipment would be used in the main but funding would be needed for cabling, hubs etc. Subject to Seomra Spraoi agreeing €200 was allocated.

(iii) The organisedideas initiative to purchase a projector was discussed. This is organised by people who have previously run very successful fundraisers for Indymedia and also has the potential to meet a long term objective of the Media Support Group - to have a projector available to indymedia and other groups for film showing etc. Contact will be made to discuss the best forms of support - either publicity or a donation. Again €200 was allocated if needed as a contribution.

(iv) It was agreed that reserves for the next hosting (€380) and domain fee (€135) should be sought.

(v) The issue of local groups came up and Belfast, Cork and Galway were all mentioned. It was agreed to allocate €300 to pay for people to attend any local meetings, organised by prospective collectives around the country.

3. Events and Fundraising

The total target for fundraising was set at €2,000 as per the projects outlined above. It was agreed to set a finish date for the fundraising regardless of the target being met. This was to be linked into an event to finish the fundraising drive with a proposed date of 5th November. The following activites were discussed.

(i) Event on 5th november. Aim for meal in Seomra Spraoi space with discussion on 'What Indymedia should be[*]. Then pub with DJ. €7 / €5 entrance. This was seen as better than just pub event as it would be possible for new people to get the know Indy contributors. Food not Bombs to be contacted about food - to help Indy volunteers who will make it, not to provide. We still need a venue for dj/pub. Abbey st. area with a room we can book.

(ii) T-Shirts: it was agreed to try and get 50 done, as much for visibility as current fundraising.

(iii) CD / DVD - still on agenda, C. to follow up.

(iv) On 4th Nov the organised ideas event is on in Portobello - agreed to do a stall there - although this may be just to publicise the following night.

(v) If possible any material available can be sent to the anarchist bookfair in London to be sold. We were unsure if there are CD's still available.

4. A.O.B.

A.O.B. It was agreed to put a notice up Thursday regarding the hosting and by Monday on the overall plan. These minutes would be circulated to the IMC-Ireland list initially then posted on site. The IMC Ireland list would be used for organising events and items discussed.

* I can’t remember what the topic of the meeting / discussion was to be, so am suggesting this.

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Updates

Since this meeting, it has emerged that a social event in Semora Spraoi is premature. We will revisit this proposal at our next meeting.