[LPL Board of Directors] MOTION FROM THE CHAIR - Fundraiser position

Thu Jan 31 16:50:03 CST 2013

I am fine with that approach.

---------------------------

Howard Kearney

Membership

From: scc-bounces at lplouisiana.org [mailto:scc-bounces at lplouisiana.org] On
Behalf Of Wes Benedict
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2013 3:46 PM
To: Mailing list for LPL Board of Directors
Cc: Guy Mclendon
Subject: Re: [LPL Board of Directors] MOTION FROM THE CHAIR - Fundraiser
position

Thank you for adding Guy to the discussion.

At this point, it sounds to me like you just want to start discussing and
negotiating a proposal with Mr. Mouser.
I don't think you need this motion to discuss and start negotiations on a
proposal with Mr. Mouser. 
I just think you would need a motion approved by the board to sign and enter
into a contract with Mr. Mouser.
Since you are talking about an April time frame, that gives plenty of time
for the Finance Committee (me in particular) to put up or move out of the
way.

I think it would be appropriate, if the chair wanted, and no one else
objected, to withdraw his motion, and continue his non-binding discussions
with Mr. Mouser, with the board expecting a possible proposal to be
considered at the April meeting.

--Wes Benedict

Adrien Monteleone wrote, On 1/31/2013 1:05 PM:

Thank you Wes,

Vote Received.

As with Mr. Ebarb, I will attempt to address your concerns. Some appear to
be the same, so please refer to that reply as well.

I have no intention of having a signed contract in place without the Board's
knowing what is in the contract.  I'm not asking for approval of an
unwritten document.  Perhaps the amendment I suggested to Mr. Ebarb would
address that concern as a clarification.

As for the commission level, that of course is negotiable, but recall, it is
not an expense on our part per se.  We would not be paying unless the money
was raised, thus there is no real impact on the budget.  Both sides of the
equation increase accordingly. No negative net change to our cash assets
occurs.

As for the likely success of the contract, all I can say is if no one was
any good at it, the other parties wouldn't be raising billions. To be sure,
Mr. Mouser is not a professional.  But I would like to attempt to offer him
the opportunity to put his skills and experience to use. And as a former
chairman, who has already performed this service for the party, and is known
to many members with whom we have lost contact with, I would think he would
stand the best chance of success that a non-professional possibly could
have.

I see it like this:  we can raise only so much on our own dime and time.  He
is a former activist, chair, and fundraiser for the party.  He will either
be able to raise more funds than we can, or he cannot.  If he cannot, then
my next consideration would be to hire a professional firm or individual
with no ties to the party.

There is lots of work to do in this party.  Wendy is doing some, and could
and would like to do more.  As it is, we raised her pay, gave her some
security with a year long term, and extended some compensation for personal
expenses incurred on behalf of the party.  She's agreed to the contract
because she believes in the party and in the work she is doing.  But the
amount we can afford right now is woefully inadequate.  (it comes to $6.25
per hour, assuming only 40 hours a week worked)

If we are to be serious about advancing the party, our candidates, and
making an impact in elections, we need to ramp this up much bigger than
where we are now.  We can't do it all at once, but I consider this a crucial
step in getting there.

We will need additional staff, and we will need an office.  That alone will
necessitate hiring a fundraiser.  Being able to pay our Executive Director
enough so that she doesn't have to work a second job and can focus all of
her time on the LPL also necessitates hiring a fundraiser.  I would like to
see one in place no later than April.

In conclusion, paired with the suggested amendment, and an April time frame
for formalizing this contract and position, and for those who haven't,
getting a chance to meet Mr. Mouser, I think that will be sufficient time to
judge our own efforts with respect to Mr. Ebarb's letters, and the Finance
Committee's activities.

I've added Mr. McLendon to the conversation, though of course, only Board
members can vote.

You mentioned a 3rd member on the Finance Committee?  Feel free to include
them as well for their opinions on the matter.

In Liberty,

Adrien Monteleone - Chairman
Libertarian Party of Louisiana

On 1/31/13 10:07 AM, Wes Benedict wrote:

I am voting nay on this.

I'm uneasy approving a contract without knowing what's in it on something
that would have a large impact on the budget.
I'd be more willing to consider voting for a contract that was already
written--and more like a 25% commission.
I'm comfortable if our Chairman wants to develop a proposal with Mr. Mouser
and present that for a vote.
I think the effort is likely to be unsuccessful. I've seen several people
around the U.S. volunteer to raise funds for commissions, then not raise
much because it was much harder than they imagined. 

However, I am glad our Chairman thought about this, took the initiative and
made the proposal. It has put a bit of pressure on the finance committee and
others to deliver.

I spoke with Guy McLendon of Lake Charles last night. He's one of the three
of us on the finance committee. I believe he feels confident he can raise a
few thousand, and I can raise a few thousand, over the next three to four
months. 
The finance committee will raise funds as volunteers with no commission. 

I'd like to see other board members, in addition to Mr. Ebarb, try to raise
$300 or $1,000 from others. 

Perhaps even Mr. Mouser, as a volunteer, could raise $1,000 or $2,000 from
sources he's aware of. 

I'm not dead set against our Chairman's proposal and will not be upset if it
passes against my recommendation.

However, I recommend giving the finance committee and the rest of the board
a few months to pass or fail before paying someone to do this.

With our Chairman's permission, I'd like to forward this email to Guy
McLendon.

--Wes Benedict - Finance Officer
Libertarian Party of Louisiana
512-659-8896

Adrien Monteleone wrote, On 1/30/2013 11:12 AM:

Thank you Wes,

Yes, the intention was to move the workload to a fundraiser and off of the
Secretary/Treasurer and ED.  Though we might set the Finance Chair as the
person "in charge" of the fundraiser since that is more within their
purview.  We could however, do the same as with the ED and simply put both
under the Chair's direction.

Ms. Adams has indicated to me she is not very good with asking people for
money.  She's doing a heck of a job in nearly every other task we have her
doing.  She's great at coordinating and getting people involved, but asking
for money is not her strong suite.

Vinson is experienced doing so and has raised quite a bit in the past.  As
Chair, he kept the party financed on his own fundraising efforts without
outside assistance, and as Campaign Manager for Lee Horne, raised several
tens of thousands.

Reed is of course the party Secretary and acting Treasurer.  Neither is
officially a fundraiser, and both positions have plenty of other duties.
His non-LPL life is keeping him very busy right now, and I'd like to
continue the trend of bringing new people on board and spreading duties
around than to continue to shovel things one person's way.  Just as we know
and have seen that recruiting members and activists is itself a full time
position, so is raising money.  Thus I believe we should make a similar move
and bring on a fundraiser.

I don't think Wendy alone or even with the efforts of Mr. Ebarb continuing
to pull in what they are pulling in, are going to get us to 20,400 in
revenue.  There would have to be a significant increase in the level of
fundraising activity to do so.

>From what I've gathered in conversation with others, though I will have to
verify, is that we would offer somewhere between 35% and 50% as
compensation.  I think 50% is standard fare, but I could be wrong.

At 35%, we'd need Vinson to raise $31,385 or so in the year.  He would be
paid ? $10,985.  I'm not sure he'd work for that amount unless he could pull
off those numbers part time.

He'd like a full-time position.  My guess would be he would need 50%, which
if we were to net $20,400, would mean he would raise $40,800 and keep half.
Even then, I'm not sure if that is enough for him, but he would be in
control of that by his efforts.  If we went with 35%, he'd have to raise
$75k-$90k to make it worth it to him to quite his day job. (which he is
willing to do if the money is right)

That should cover the main part of the terms.  I'm still looking for example
contracts for the ancillary stuff that goes along with the position.

Yes, we would likely have to amend the budget at some point, though even if
we were to hire him this week (I doubt it) I think we'd be okay till the
April meeting.

The budget after all, is just a model or target, it isn't a hard and fast
"law" or "rule" we have to follow short of a vote to amend it. So if the
money is coming in, then I don't think it matters if we are paying him some
of it that wasn't set aside in the budget.  He's raising it himself. The
goal for this position is to free up other people to focus on their core
tasks, especially the ED.  Once someone is 'activated' by the ED then the
fundraiser can go into action, hitting them up for money and soliciting
monthly pledges, and special project donations.  Certainly, she'll still
have to try to get people to sign up as members, but she can spend more of
her time on logistical stuff and leave the bulk of the money raising to
Vinson.

We don't really need to amend the budget, beyond adding in to both the
revenue and expense side, the amount of his compensation.  Since he's
getting it as a percentage of whatever he raises, then revenues would
increase by a corresponding amount to any incurred expenses for hiring him.

Thus on a 50% model, Total revenues would now be $40,800 and we'd add
$20.400 as a new Fundraising Expense item, or place it under "staff" or
whatever line item that was. When I discuss this with him, I'll work on what
our target goal should be and we can use that to amend the budget.

In Liberty,

Adrien Monteleone - Chairman
Libertarian Party of Louisiana

On 1/30/13 8:53 AM, Wes Benedict wrote:

I'm not against the concept of hiring a fundraiser, but I'd like to know
more about what you have in mind and how it would affect finances before
voting on the issue.

At our January Shreveport meeting, I believe we passed a budget with Revenue
of $20,400 and Expenses of $18,600. (Please correct me if my numbers are
wrong--whatever ends up in the Secretary's minutes are the official
numbers.)

I'd like to ask the Chairman how he foresees the budget being affected and
if he thinks the Board of Directors would need to vote to amend the budget
in order to implement a contract with Mr. Mouser. 

For example, if we foresee Mr. Mouser raising $10,000 and being paid 25%, or
$2,500, then perhaps we would not need to amend the Revenue portion of the
budget, but might need to add a Fundraising Expenses budget item of $2,500.

If we hire a fundraiser, perhaps that would take some of the workload off of
Mr. Ebarb, Ms. Adams, and the finance committee so they could work on other
things. 

--Wes Benedict
Finance Officer
512-659-8896

Mailing list for LPL Board of Directors wrote, On 1/29/2013 12:17 PM:

To all,

We had discussed at our October meeting the possibility of taking on Vinson
Mouser(former Chairman for the new folks), or someone else, as LPL
fundraiser.

My apologies for not including it in January's agenda.

Considering the new contract we've offered Wendy, and the funding goals set
by the SPC, we will need some major effort to bring money into the party.

I suggest we take up the issue ASAP.

I'll get the ball rolling with this then:

Motion - 

That the chairman is authorized to negotiate and offer a contract for
fundraising with Vinson Mouser for the remainder of 2013.

Please submit your votes, and or discussion as soon as possible so we can
get moving on this.

-- 
In Liberty,

Adrien Monteleone - Chairman
Libertarian Party of Louisiana

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