[CSL board] Fundraising dan revised

[Fred G. Martin]

I would like to add two thoughts before the meeting:

1.  A realistic, sustainable, long term salary solution for Dan (or  
whoever is fearless leader of the CSL) would require an annual salary  
of significantly more than $16k.

2.  Following on Laura's note below, I would advise that a serious  
plan that we all believe in should be in place before any changes to  
employment status are made.

See ya'all later.

Fred



On Sep 11, 2006, at 8:34 PM, Laura MacNeil wrote:

> Dan and I talked about this at length over the weekend (as you can  
> well imagine.)
>
> Should the board decide to go this route, all board members will  
> have to make some effort to raise funds whether it be personal  
> donations, asking family, friends and professional contacts to  
> support the CSL and grant writing. Are we prepared to do this?
>
> Laura
>
> Dan MacNeil wrote:
>
>> Josh Harding wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All -
>>>
>>> Dan - you're probably not going to like this too much :P
>>
>>
>> What's not to like? Only my mom says nicer things. :->
>>
>> > today now). I would greatly appreciate feedback, critique
>> > and comments.
>>
>> It all seems good to me.
>>
>> > Dan be asked to allocate the theoretical 'new' 10 hours a
>> > week to growth opportunities. [...] actively and methodically
>> > seeking new contracts, contacts, and funding for the Lab.
>>
>> It is wonderful to be asked to do what you want to do anyway.
>>
>> > Dan systematically collaborate with another member
>> > of the staff for those 10 hours. This would introduce the Lowell  
>> NPO
>> > community to the Lab as an entity of it's own. Right now Dan is the
>> > face of the organization, which is fine, but should not continue
>> > indefinitely.
>>
>> I'm all for me not being the face of the organization. My fantasy  
>> is to have somebody like Felicia Sullivan or you do it. I'm much  
>> happier nagging people to show up on time or telling them that  
>> $GLOBAL_VARS are bad, than I am going to conferences and shaking  
>> hands.
>>
>> One problem is that right now in cadre (Kamala,Manny,Matt,John)  
>> there isn't anyone that is skilled and interested enough to take  
>> this sort of thing on and also likely to be around for long enough  
>> to make the investment pay off.
>>
>> John would do pretty well, but he's gone in March. (sigh)
>>
>> That said, I try to bring everyone to things like NPA events,  
>> Philanthropy Day, telcom dept focus groups, art receptions and  
>> Enterprise Bank cocktail parties and CBA protests.
>>
>> One pretty good work around, is to have Board Members do some of  
>> the networking. Melissa has been kind enough to attend various  
>> functions in our name and I think done pretty well.
>>
>> Another possibility is to be really nice to the coming fundraising  
>> VISTA, (there are a couple good candidates)
>>
>>
>> #######
>>
>>
>>>
>>> I have little experience with the finances of the non-profit  
>>> sector (heck, I
>>> can't even balance my checkbook). That stated, my opinion follows.
>>>
>>> It seems to me that on the road to sustainability, being able to  
>>> have a
>>> full-time executive director is a very important milestone. If  
>>> financially
>>> viable, I would be strongly behind getting Dan in the Lab full  
>>> time. Dan can
>>> best comment on the dynamic of the lab, but having a 'fearless  
>>> leader' who's
>>> full-time would strike me as a morale booster. Additionally,  
>>> there are many
>>> conclusive studies that devoting complete attention to a task  
>>> greatly
>>> improves effectiveness and efficiency. So, I think we'd be  
>>> getting more than
>>> just an extra ten hours - we'd be getting time for him to work on  
>>> larger
>>> projects, and effectively delegate minutiae to others.
>>>
>>> Aside from the technical skills & drive Dan provides, he's also  
>>> the public
>>> face of the Lab right now. I would propose that, should we find a  
>>> way to
>>> make it happen, Dan be asked to allocate the theoretical 'new' 10  
>>> hours a
>>> week to growth opportunities. That would certainly include  
>>> lunches with
>>> Gregg, but also actively and methodically seeking new contracts,  
>>> contacts,
>>> and funding for the Lab. Dan: your technical repertoire is  
>>> essential to the
>>> lab, but it's not what keeps us alive. It's your drive, your  
>>> presence in the
>>> greater Lowell community that allows us to exist.
>>>
>>> I would also suggest that Dan systematically collaborate with  
>>> another member
>>> of the staff for those 10 hours. This would introduce the Lowell NPO
>>> community to the Lab as an entity of it's own. Right now Dan is  
>>> the face of
>>> the organization, which is fine, but should not continue  
>>> indefinitely.
>>>
>>> I would also propose that we set an general set of deliverables  
>>> to be
>>> accomplished by Dan and his cohort, whether it be in new  
>>> contracts, grant
>>> applications, grants err... granted, conversations in which  
>>> people smiled,
>>> etc...
>>>
>>> All that was off-the-cuff, as I haven't had access to a computer  
>>> over the
>>> weekend and wanted to get this email out tonight (well, today  
>>> now). I would
>>> greatly appreciate feedback, critique and comments.
>>>
>>> -Josh
>>> On 9/10/06, Dan MacNeil <omacneil at brave.cs.uml.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> When I worked at Habitat, there was a guy "Richter", who had the  
>>>> word
>>>> from God to get on his bicycle, travel around the country and  
>>>> spread the
>>>> good news of Jesus. As I understand Richter, God also wanted  
>>>> people to
>>>> tithe to support Richter's mission.
>>>>
>>>> A couple times he came up to visit us up in Lowell.  
>>>> Unfortunately (?)
>>>> after Laura suggested that maybe God wanted Richter to get a job,
>>>> Richter decided not to visit us any more.
>>>>
>>>> I think the CSL would work better if I could quit my day job,  
>>>> but given
>>>> Richter's example, I have my doubts.
>>>>
>>>> My big questions for the board meeting:
>>>>
>>>>     Is it worth $16,000 to have my full time attention for a year?
>>>>
>>>>     If so, can we raise $8,000 by May 01 2006 to cover 6 months
>>>>     of salary, freeing up time for more fundraising?
>>>>
>>>> $16,000 is what the CS Dept pays me per year. With this money  
>>>> and a lot
>>>> of support from Laura, I've  volunteered full time for the past  
>>>> 4 years.
>>>> Our work is very satisfying, my support is solid. I can  
>>>> volunteer at
>>>> this level for quite a few more years.
>>>>
>>>> But...
>>>>
>>>> Fifty years from now, I'm unlikely to be fit to be fearless  
>>>> leader. 16K
>>>> might not be enough to sustain somebody who isn't married to Laura.
>>>> However, it is a start...
>>>>
>>>> With Ken's (my boss') blessing I spend at least half my time  
>>>> time at
>>>> the day job working on CSL stuff. At least in theory, paying me  
>>>> to work
>>>> full time at the lab will only free up 10 more hours a week.
>>>>
>>>> The problem is that these 10 hours are broken up in to small  
>>>> chunks and
>>>> while I'm allowed to be idle, I need to be on site. It is hard  
>>>> sometimes
>>>> to concentrate and I miss opportunities like 501 tech club or  
>>>> the Perl
>>>> Mongers.
>>>>
>>>> A 2-3 hour block of uninterrupted time every day would be a huge  
>>>> help.
>>>>
>>>> Except for the time I blow off, I'm on the clock 9am to 9pm  
>>>> which is
>>>> usually fine. (I like the work.) Occasionally, it is not fine  
>>>> and I find
>>>> myself being less accepting of cadre's little quirks than I might
>>>> otherwise be.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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