Meeting Minutes 10/26/08

 

Attendees: Anson, Gaurav, Murali, Ganesh, Savitha, Bhaskar, Jith, Sais, Mohit

 

  1. Fundraising ideas
  2. Show of Hope update
  3. Unnati Uday Patshala online budget approval poll extension

 

  1. Fundraising ideas - Gaurav

−       Expected goal for this year’s marathon program $70,000 which is much lesser than the expected disbursals for the forthcoming year

−       The Show of Hope is expected to raise approximately $5000

−       Need more fundraising ideas

−       Spring concert, extending Strides of Hope to cover a series of 10k’s or other races that happen in spring or summer, collecting change through boxes at different locations like stores, etc .

−       Need volunteers to take up one of these ideas  or come up with a new idea and do some basic research on feasibility

−       Murali, Jith, Ganesh and Gaurav to look into the feasibility of setting up a shorter run program starting in January for a race like the Capitol 10k in March.

−       Applying for grants: need a team of volunteers to research foundations to apply, follow up with the required paperwork, etc.

−       Need to look into applying for UT grants from the coop, student government, etc.

 

  1. Show of Hope update – Savitha

−       All gifts for the show were bought from Shristi Special Academy

−       We ended up ordering more than needed (60 items more than what was needed)

−       Total cost was approximately $ 750

−       About 27 items were sold on the day of the show.

−       3 items will be held at the chapter as samples. Sales were approximately $270.

−       Another 30 items are being sent to Asha SV to be sold at a conference. The proceeds would later be transferred to Asha Austin.

−       There are issues with the chapter selling goods from projects directly (distribution channels, logistics, sales tax, etc.)

−       But there are options that can be explored like having a tie-up with 10,000 villages so that the project gets the money directly instead of the chapter handling the financials and logistics and the chapter only acts as an enabler.

−       Apart from Shristi, RMKM also has such products for sale

−       The shipping for the products from Shristi turned out to be very expensive, because of deadlines that had to be met to get them in time for the show

 

  1. Unnati Uday Pathshala –Murali

−       Online poll for approving the budget will be extended till Wednesday, Oct 29th.