In order to facilitate smooth transitions between treasurers, I'd like to
make a rather specific request of aruba, our current treasurer.
This item is for discussion of the request, and sharing of thoughts relating
to it and its purpose.
To wit: Not assuming that such a thing is not already extant, I'd like to
see the formulation of a document, in electronic format but presented as
straightforwardly as possible, which is essentially a calendar of essential
deadlines and suggested start times to enable timely compliance with all
financial and documentary regulations to which Grex is subject.
For example, this calendar would show both due dates and suggested starting
times for the preparation of annual tax-related forms, insurance premiums,
lease renewals, telecom and internet service contracts (to the extent
applicable), monthly bills including rent and electrical service -- referenced
by the date these bills arrive at the mailbox and the date they're due, etc.
it would be tremendously beneficial to both the treasurer, and the board in
evaluation of the performance of any particular treasurer, to have all this
information in a single, accessible document.
My own preference would be to have this in a list format, with sections headed
by month names, and individual entries with the date, the item description,
and text pointers to other references to the item by date.
For example:
January
01 Personal Property Tax due, prepare beginning 01 December.
12-15 Electric bill expected, due around 28 January
If the document is in html format, the references could even be hyperlinked,
both internally and to accompanying documents such as service contracts,
leases, submission instructions, etc.
I think it is in the best long-term interests of the organization to make
essential jobs as independent of the individuals who perform them as possible.
Since the treasurer is primary administrative role within our organization, I
think it makes especially good sense to develop full and easy to use
documentation of the functions of the position. Let me emphasize the "easy to
use" part. Given the challenges of the position, the easier it can be made to
assume the position, the easier it will be to get and retain competent persons
in the position.
Mark, I'm sure you have most of this information already gathered in a way that
works for you, and I hope that this request does not present a significant
burden to you, but I imagine you'll have no difficulty understanding my
reasoning.35 responses total.
Sorry about the strange formatting, my window was wide and somehow hard breaks got inserted... :(
This is a good idea, Eric. Here's a file I made up a while ago, updated
with a few more dates. It's not exactly what you asked for, but anyone
could put it into that form.
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Parts of the treasurer's job:
- Check mail in P.O. box on S. University a few times a week.
- Process any money received in the mail.
- Record any money received via Paypal, and transfer it to bank account.
- Record all payments and ID information in the database.
- Send email acknowledgement of all money received. Include expiration
date if the money is for membership.
- Add new members to the /etc/groups file (add to voters if >= 3 months).
- Thank new members and renewals in Agora.
- Send handbooks to people who buy them and members who request them.
- Send renewal reminders to members (about once a week). Maintain
cheerful attitude in the face of much stringing along.
- Remove overdue members from the rolls if they admit they're not going to
renew, or if they are more than 2-3 weeks overdue and there has been no
response (the usual case). Give more leeway to people who have been
members for longer, less to those who have only sent $6.
- Answer mail from people who want info about membership. Usually, can
just point them to member.html and memfaq.html.
- Follow coop and answer any questions people ask about finances.
- Print handbooks as necessary.
Monthly:
- Pay phone and ISP bills when they come in. (Both arrive around the
middle of the month, are due near the end of the month.)
- Pay the rent and electricity bill at end of month.
- Record phone bill in phone bill database. (Optional.)
- Balance the checkbook when the TCF bank statement comes.
- Come to board meetings and present most recent report.
- At end of month, transfer money from the Paypal account to our checking
account.
- On last buiness day of month, deposit all checks received.
- Create and post treasurer's report in coop. Ask Katie to link to Agora.
Requires calling BoAA to find out how much interest we've earned.
Every 3 months:
- Enter the "Becoming a member" item in new Agora.
Yearly:
- (Jan) Change signers on our bank accounts, to reflect the new board.
- (Jan) Fill out and send in our sales tax license return (due at end
of February). This is easy since we don't collect sales tax.
- (Jan) Renew our P.O. Box (expiration February 2nd).
- (Jan) Figure out who has donated more than $75 in the past year, and
send mail asking if they want a receipt. If so, print and send a paper
receipt. If no response for a week, repeat mailing.
- (Jan) Pay personal property tax. This is mostly automated, as long as
the inventory database is kept up to date. The bulk of the work is
nagging STeve to assign prices to all our items, and then printing out
the attachments on the server, using the numbers from there to fill out
the forms, and writing a cover letter explaining that a lot of our stuff
doesn't fit into their boxes but is detailed in the attachments. (Due
January 31st.)
- (Jan) Fill out IRS form 990, tax return for nonprofits. Since Grex's
annual income is under $25,000/year, we are not required to file this
return. But twice we have been asked for one anyway, when we applied
for 501(c)3 status and when we applied for a charitable solicitation
license. The form is a big hassle, but it's a lot easier to do if it
was just done the year before. So this is optional, but I've been
doing it anyway, just in case we get asked again. Plus, it's a good
way to put a cap on the previous year's finances.
- (Jan) Post a summary of the past year's finances in coop.
- (Feb) Renew grex.org (right now, paid through 2/27/2005).
- (Aug) Pay our insurance premium (due August 14th).
- (Sep) Send in Corporation Info Update form (due October 1st).
- (Dec) Renew cyberspace.org (due January 12th).
- (Dec) Try to get rid of as much stuff from the Pumpkin as possible, so
we don't have to pay taxes on it in January.
During the auction:
- When a payment comes in, send mail to the donor, the buyer, and the
auctioneers, telling them the item may now be delivered. Mark the item
as paid in the query database.
- Send reminders to people who haven't paid or haven't delivered their
items.
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Wonderful! Thanks! IIRC, our income from Michigan sources is below the threshold beyond which a Michigan tax return is required.
That's right. Since our income from Michigan sources is less than $8000/year, we do not need to file an annual return with Lansing. We applied for and received that exemption.
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re 2 > - Add new members to the /etc/groups file (add to voters if >= 3 months). bash-2.05$ ls /etc/groups ls: /etc/groups: No such file or directory aruba, why are you propogating false information?
Because he made a typographical error. The file is /etc/group .
I think the treasurer should do a better job that aruba's doing. I call on him to resign.
And your call will get a whole lot more attention than it deserves, and a whole lot less than than anything that matters in the slightest.
I fixed the typo in the master file, which is ~aruba/jobslist.txt. THanks for pointing it out, naftee.
Mark, your composure in the face of raging idiocy is highly commendable. You are truly a gentle soul.
I agree. Another way to deal with the idiocy would be to ignore it. But to Mark's credit, he does give credit where it's due, no matter how annoying the proponent is.
I had a math professor who used to say, when someone corrected something he wrote on the board, that the great thing about mathematics is that there is no point arguing when you're wrong. I think that's true in lots of other contexts too.
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I can't think of anything on my list which will change when the new machine comes up, except that I can be much cheerier when encouraging people to become members. One thing I didn't include but should have is the date our DSL contract renews each year; I should look that up when I get home. Mary has always handled the lease renewals, so she'll have to enter the relevant dates for that. Out lease runs Jun 1st - May 31st. Also, while I think of it, we need to renew our Certificate of Assumed Name once every 6 years or so. I just did it last year, so we're handled for a while.
Great, those are exactly the sort of details I was specifically interested in. I knew that the less frequent and more obscure those items were, the more important it would be to have them documented in one accessible place. Thank you!
We need to let our landlord know, in writing, of our intent to renew our lease, within 120 days of the lease expiring. So you could put down January 1-14 as the period in which the board should authorize such an action, with the letter being due January 31st. If I remember correctly we have one more year in which to renew, then we'll have to negotiate a new contract.
re 11 Thanks for fixing it, aruba, and thanks to gelinas for the initial correction.
Looks like our DSL contract runs from July 15th to July 14th. It automatically renews each year unless we tell them otherwise by June 15th. (And they have to tell us by May 15th if they're going to raise the rate.)
Our Certificate of Assumed Name for "Grex" is good through 12/31/2007.
i think assumed names in wastenaw coutry are *5* year renewals, not 6. but i may be wroing.
It's a State thing, and you're right, it's for 5 years. It was filed in December 2002 and it's good through December 2007.
Wasn't GreX supposed to drop the domain grex.org a while back?
Yes, you are an idiot and a vandal. What of it? Oh...
That is entirely not true.
Why would we drop grex.org, naftee?
He wants us to grop grex.org? Why are you even responding to that?
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naftee, I'm not aware of any action to drop the name "grex.org". So far as I know, we intend to keep it.
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hmm, I thought it was supposed to be dropped. I didn't say I wanted it to be though. On a side note, has anyone noticed that ryan seems to be obsessed about polytarp?
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Just the way he wants it
TROGG IS DAVID BLAINE
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