Noel asked about the new board member - Amanda would like someone to reach out or do more research
Amanda and Mai discussed the strategic plan - they have a meeting set. Amanda would like Mai’s input on how to vet a board member. If that meeting ends positively, amanda would like Tom to reach out to him. Tom agreed.
For this month, the agenda was carried over from last month. The initiative for increasing listenership had three items from last time. Will has started sending out the newsletter. Tom and Noel would like to be added. Amanda said you can sign up on the web site.
Tom had an update on the coasters. It was not as easy as he had hoped. He spoke with 4 companies. Patron, Jameson, Bud, siete laredo. They don’t want the liability of having their logo on the same item as another organization, regardless on how charitable they are. Prices for printing them ourselves are 0.13 to 0.40. Tom said if we had an event, it may make sense to just spend $500 to print them ourselves.
Ben suggested BFF whiteboards. Eddie noted that we would probably get a penis drawn on them. No one was particularly enthusiastic.
Noel suggested that we could partner with Precita Eyes or do murals in other locations. Amanda suggested the Yawl on top of the building. Noel noted that there may be other locations, like a new building for Smitten ice cream on capp.
Tom would like to contact Allison to see about spending $150 to get 1000 coasters.
Action item: Forrest to put Tom in touch
Noel suggested popups - but that implies a lot of work to run them.
Ben suggested renting a car and putting speakers on the roof and throwing candy out the windows. Ben would like to drive. Noel noted that we would get a lot of press. Amanda isn’t sure that we would get a lot of listeners that way.
Eddie suggested having business play BFF during the day. Amanda likes the idea but someone has to do the legwork to ask for it. The SFArts gallery on Valencia suggested a partnership but their board declined. Eddie thinks it’s not a bad idea but you would have to come to an agreement. Tom wants to know if we could partner and offer some sort of incentive to encourage membership. Forrest noted that the bicycle coalition does something similar. Tom likes the idea. It’s similar to Broke Ass Stuart’s coupon book.
Action item: Amanda to ask Broke Ass Stuart to send us one so we can look at it.
Noel asked if any of the DJs are real DJs who have a night or events. It may be possible to ask for $5 off their nights in order to encourage membership. Amanda noted Jamie Jams puts the BFF logo on all of his posters. Tom notes that he listens to that show because it’s livestreamed on Facebook. A similar show is the Espresso Sesh. Nino likes to use his cell phone and not the camera in the studio because he can put a donate button on the post.
Amanda: we are really close to launching the new website, which looks really awesome. Everyone took a look. Each show now has an individual support this show button. If a donation is collected, it will be subtracted from their dues. There is a buy link on each of the tracks that will give us a portion of the proceeds if the listener buys the track. We now have an affiliate link for Amazon.
Amanda gave Broke Assed Stuart an article credit to write about the new site once it launches. In return he’s going to give us some advertising on his site.
Eddie offered to make BFF a sponsor - Forrest asked for the cost so we can send a receipt.
Ben suggested a bunch of websites that we could look into marketing on. They all cost money, so he’d need to negotiate a deal, but we can see.
Action: Ben to look into prices/deals
The online newsletter goal was to increase publishing and increase opt ins. The last newsletter was sent out in 2015, and we had 276 opt ins. We sent the first newsletter out August 31, we had 505 recipients. Some of them opted out but we’ve also had new sign ups and are currently at 562 recipients.
Forrest suggested we put a piece of audio equipment with the affiliate link to add to the end of each newsletter.
Action: Forrest to talk to Will about picking them
The latest email had 10% fewer opens, but the click through rate was still pretty high. We’ll keep the frequency to once a month with special events also listed. Amanda will ensure all current BFF DJs are on the list.
Action: Forrest to contact Owen Owington about his correct email address.
Ben also suggested having us played in boutiques, which we had discussed. Noel asked about partnerships with struggling clubs like DNA lounge. Amanda said we are sort of doing that already, like one or two rickshaw events and elbo room etc. We sometimes get giveaway tickets from these events. Amanda tries to make sure DJs are aware of shows that are relevant to their show. Forrest asked if we know multiple months in advance and whether we include that in the newsletter. It is.
Tom said he would hang flyers in his work and living neighborhood - Western Addition, Mission. The block party expected 4000 people but they crushed it. Pop’s block wasn’t too exciting but it was good.
Action: Amanda to have Allison design new generic posters and have them printed
Amanda: as you can see, we have more embedded buttons for people to donate more easily. This all came about because commit change switched their business model. They used to charge a fixed fee per month, but they now also take transaction fees. The good news is they hired consulting teams to help them to increase their income. They did an overview and suggested some of the features that we have incorporated into the new site. When the new site goes live, they will review it and assist us with SEO, covered under our current fees.
Tom: is there any incentive to the DJs to get donations. Forrest: the current model is anything they raise gets deducted from their dues. Tom: is there any plan to raise dues or charge for prime time slots? Forrest: no plan yet, but we found out that another station charges $135 per month. They have problems collecting those dues because they are so high.
Our monthly showcase, loud and local, may not continue, but it we will continue to put out the table, have the signup sheet, and we have signature cocktail.
BFF got hired to do nightlife on October 9. The theme is sharktoberfest. Caryn and Amanda will be left shark and right shark from katy Perry’s superbowl show. Sometimes we get hired by nightlife and sometimes we get hired by Noise Pop, and the fees can differ, but we expect to get $600 for that event. We won’t have the chance to do another this year but will be scheduled for next year.
Action: Forrest to contact the board to see if they want to be on the guestlist.
Forrest proposed that BFF spend $500 a year to have a hotspot that allows unlimited internet. He also ran up a list of items to buy for live events.
Action: Forrest to circulate the items and information
Amanda recounted kioskfest - we had a few listeners show up and a few bands play. We were a late addition to the schedule. Having the live equipment would allow us to do similar events, regardless of power setup.
Amanda mentioned pop up magazine. They do an event several times a year, and it’s like a live magazine. They have a house band that plays and then they have several performers give talks or presentations or videos. A few months ago they sent out an email announcing pop up zine, which is like a smaller version of pop up magazine. Amanda put BFF and the secret alley in the running. We were accepted into the first round. Create a curated show with some events. We still need to pick a date and come up with a program.
This got Amanda thinking about pop up zines and Ben wanting to drive a car around, and she realized for $447.29 you can rent any muni car for 2 hours. It takes an hour and a half to run from the Castro to Fisherman’s Wharf. The boat car holds 44 people. We could consider doing a promotional pop up event for BFF where we charge $20 per person to ride in it and have an event.
Action: Forrest to look into getting business insurance for BFF specifically
Forrest mentioned getting BFF into a parade - would that make sense? Is anyone interested in handling that?
Action: Forrest to ask via email if anyone is interested in it
Eddie mentioned that one of his roommates participates in critical mass and has a bike with a PA system. Amanda wondered if he would be interested in doing a BFF ride. Forrest suggested we may be able to build something similar. Amanda was thinking about doing a bike event.
Meeting closed at 9:15 PM
7:55
Convene as Best Frequencies, Inc. Board of Directors
8:00
Roll Call & Check-ins
Board Members Present: Amanda, Forrest, Tom, Noel, Eddie
Board Members Absent: Ben, Mai, Will
8:05
Discuss Strategic Initiative: Increase Listenership
Goal: Identify ways to increase listenership- narrow focus to 5 main projects
Current ideas:
Promotional beer mats/coffee sleeves
Online marketing
Email newsletter
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8:35
Review 2017 Fundraising Initiatives Progress
Amanda to provide update on fundraising initiatives:
LOUD & Local monthly at Pops
Signature cocktail for September
Other benefits
Grant: San Francisco Nonprofit Displacement Mitigation Program for the Arts
Pop-up beer gardens
Tom Tierney to provide update on underwriting
8:15
Other Business
