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comment by ButterflyEffect
ButterflyEffect  ·  2880 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: January 11, 2016

My life is in the process of becoming a lot more public. This is likely a good thing for me on many different levels. It does seem like everything is happening at the same time, building a relationship, joining the board and a committee of an area nonprofit (and have a retreat next month, whoa!), and starting to volunteer at a DIY space. All within a month of each other. Plus I'm starting to get tinker-y again...

This is a thing I own now, by the way. Going to check the worm gear this weekend to see if there's any cracking, and clean up what I can clean up.





Existentialist  ·  2879 days ago  ·  link  ·  

!!!

Where did you get that? And if you don't mind my asking, how much was it?

ButterflyEffect  ·  2878 days ago  ·  link  ·  

There are some benefits to seeing someone who owns their own thrift store.

On eBay they seem to go for $50 - $100 depending on the condition. Bell & Howell Autoload 1545 is the model shown in the picture.

user-inactivated  ·  2879 days ago  ·  link  ·  

We are going to do some TV stuff. The rule is that if you don't show for a meeting, you get volunteered to be on the idiot box. The good news is that board meetings have record attendance.

    joining the board and a committee of an area nonprofit

You poor bastard. As a fellow poor bastard serving on a board, remember, its a not for profit, you are trying to do good, and choking everyone in the room would be bad PR.

ButterflyEffect  ·  2879 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    You poor bastard. As a fellow poor bastard serving on a board, remember, its a not for profit, you are trying to do good, and choking everyone in the room would be bad PR.

So far I haven't wanted to choke anyone. A very interesting question was raised at the first meeting I attended after volunteering at their big event on New Years Eve. In a nonprofit there are types of organizations, would we rather be an efficient organization, or a community driven organization? How much of one are we willing to sacrifice for the benefit of the other.

user-inactivated  ·  2878 days ago  ·  link  ·  

When I was dragged back into not-for-profit boards and politics, there were under 50 paying members of the society. I came up with a number of members that we needed to keep the lights on- property taxes, fees, upkeep, IRS fees, etc- and we were less than 1/6 that number. We've increased our visibility and are dragging more people into doing outreach and posting online, so my hope is that I hit my number this year.

    would we rather be an efficient organization, or a community driven organization?

Had the same issue here. Pick one, then hit that hard. Then, work slowly on the second, building the organization. Which one you pick will depend on the human and financial capital at your disposal. We needed bodies, so we went there first, and are slowly working on the efficiencies in the background as they come up. The more people we get the more we can talk about making things run better. Everything is a long process. Everything gets frustrating. But I'm starting to see some of the good happening.

Digging out of a hole, on top of feeling great, also looks amazing on a resume. Good luck out there.