November 2021
November 18th 2021, San Francisco
Agenda
Opening Items
Review Agenda & Vote
Vote to approve previous minutes
Discussion Topics
Committee Updates
Events
Marketing
Fundraising
Tech
Board Development
Music
Finance
Review Action Items
San Francisco Reopening Fund Grant fund allocation
End of Year Fundraising Check-in
Ferry Building status
Closing Items
Open for public comment [Secretary]
Any other business? [Secretary]
Minutes
Scribe: Ben Ward
Present:
Erika Delgado, Events Director
Amanda Guest, Chair, Executive Director
Caryn Kesler, Vice Chair, Creative Director
Jenn Lemon, Treasurer
Clair McDevitt, Chair of Fundraising Committee
Brandon Paski, Chair of Marketing Committee
Ben Ward, Secretary, Technical Director
18:11 — Convene, Vote on Agenda & Previous Minutes
Vote YES to approve the MONTH minutes.
Vote YES to adopt the proposed agenda.
18:08 — Committee Updates
Events
Besties Bash last night. We have a bonus event with The Complex on Dec 8th, hosted by Kristin.
Make Out Room booked through March.
Marketing
Giveaways are happening again. Public Works, Bottom of the Hill.
Committee met, outline of efforts, regular cadence of meetings. Going to put that into action. Brandon will share documentation with board.
Fundraising
Received $5000 grant from arts reopening fund. We’d applied for 2 and received less money than hoped, but see later.
Confirmed acceptance from Grants from the Arts, disbursement TBC.
Fundraiser: We’re at $650 for the Leadership Fund. Board members should look at the donor roster (before Dec 1st!) and commit to reaching out to 5-10 people. Email is drafted for you.
Each DJ has $100 goal in “Off-Air” fundraiser. About 25% participation from DJs, $2600 raised. Double what DJs raised last year, 2019 raised $3000 at this stage.
Good DJ feedback on the GiveButter platform. Also good feedback on the small goal. Some DJs just gave $100 themselves, which works too.
Released Nanosaur tee. Order deadline is Dec 1st, only sold 3 so far but will step up the marketing (Insta, newsletter) prior to the 1st.
$16,800 to go!
Tech
Lydia and Lisa will serve as Chair and Secretary respectively for 2022Q1.
App development is going great — first screenshots were really solid, awaiting first round of modifications to share hopefully this week. Aiming for beta test early December.
Board Development
No update
Music
No update.
Finance
Jenn working to resolve some compliance issues.
Non-profit status in California is resolved.
Working to get a Supplier ID from the City in order to receive a grant. Should be resolved “in the near future.”
18:xx — Review Action Items
Eddie: shirt idea
Done. Will probably release around the end of year.
Board: fundraising email
Clair has done it! Everyone else to look in next few days/before Dec 1st.
New turntable cabinet
Nothing new to report.
Amanda: Follow up with Julie for PR quotes.
Done. Julie will be following up with us by end of this week; had been busy with another client.
Amanda: Write down job functions that could be contracted out
Work in progress. Will pick this up again next year.
Caryn: Meeting in Person.
Will try to set up something between Thanksgiving and Dec 15th.
Apple Pay support (rolled over)
Resolved with notes from last month.
18:28 — San Francisco Reopening Fund Grant fund allocation
Applied for 2 grants on October 8th. Virtual and Physical grants. (Physical, e.g. upgrading spaces for COVID compliance, etc. Virtual, e.g. expenses to maintain operations remotely.)
Virtual: Applied for $5000 for 3-camera set-up for video, plus money to hire a video editor for re-use of that footage.
Physical: Applied for $15000, Secret Alley can’t continue to rebate our rent (back to $1650/month), so want to cover that, purchase of $3000/each for medical grade air filtration units, replace Studio A PC with new models.
We got Virtual, did not get Physical. As such, want to reallocate the funding in the spirit of the grant, but to account for not getting the second grant.
Amanda proposal:
Still purchase the cameras, but reduce spend on accessories and.
Get 2 air filtration units (Studio A and B) rated for ~850 sqft (studios are < 100 sqft, but want to support use in the larger space for events.)
Reduce order on Studio A PC from 2 PCs to 1 and use old model as back-up.
Use remainder of grant money for increased rent, and flex money for events in the space.
DJ feedback for going back to the Alley studio is heavy on air filtration, so that seems like the right priority.
Clair: Support with caveat, note that it’s not usual for a grant to be this flexible with reallocation. It’s amazing that we can, but don’t assume we’ll always be able to do this. Might argue that the tech budget could provide the second PC? Agree that the live-streaming equipment is lower priority.
Ben: Would like us to more clearly articulate the use case for a redundant second PC, make sure it’s something we really need while pursuing a strategy of moving more stuff into the cloud. We should definitely replace the current PC though.
Side discussion about how the existing PCs are used, whether donated hardware would be appropriate. Outcome: If someone were to donate an iPad, that would be very useful.
18:45 — End of Year Fundraising Check-in
Most of this was covered above under Fundraising committee.
Clair: Note that there is a second list of target donors (“Year Over Year”) in the donor spreadsheet (not just the “Leadership Fund” list) that board members should review for email outreach (The “Leadership Fund” shortlist is mostly allocated already.)
18:50 — Ferry Building status
End of year coming up and no change in status at the Ferry Building. DJs are generally expressing a preference for going back to the Alley as it reopens, so we’ll monitor that. However, we still want to make use of that space, even if it’s not our main studio.
One idea: What if we moved it to share with other community radio stations to create more visibility for all?
Or, what if it was converted to be a studio for the BFF.fm Podcast Network, and help grow that?
Or, what if we installed streaming cameras in the booth and live stream special events from the space.
Action items for everyone to think about ideas for use of the space.
Ben: Do we have insight into the general FB reopening, will they be opening later, or will more events be occurring near the space that would make it more valuable next year?
Amanda: No info.
Clair: There is a new city-wide live music effort with local venue involvement; not sure if Ferry Building is part of that.
Amanda: We understand that effort to be focused on a single location, with local venues curating shows for that venue.
18:57 — Public Comments
No public comments this month.
18:57 — Any other business?
Clair: I’ve been hosting BYOB events on Slow Streets around the city. The last one of the year is happening on the Clay Slow Street. You should all come. Starts at 2!
Ben: Won’t be here next month as travelling for the holidays.
We’ll move the date of next month’s to Dec 13th, as Thursday is also a clash for Eddie so will consider a permanent schedule change.
Clair: Thinking about kicking off the Development Committee next year. Anyone with leads or recommendations of people to join that, let me know.
Amanda: Need to meet with Caryn about end of year fundraising and social media things.
19:11 — Meeting adjourned.
The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for 6pm on Monday December 13th 2021. See https://board.bff.fm for more information.
Action Items
All: Think about Ferry Building space use.
Brandon: Share committee documentation with board.
All: Follow up on fundraiser emails
Amanda: Julie PR follow-up
Amanda: Turntable Cabinet
Amanda: Job Functions
Ben: Share App design mocks with the board when available
Caryn: Meeting in Person before December 15th.
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