[Computerbank] Re: was nominations - now funds, fundraising and getting support in the cities (+ Vic exp)- V.LONG

[Kylie Davies]

Hi all,

See my notes embedded below. :) Warning this is quite long. If need be,
this email can be broken into appropriate sectiions for the purpose of
replying...and do reply to this list, so all can see. :)

> 2. We employ 3 people 1 Executive Officer and 2 Work for the dole co
> ordinators and lease premises this means we have to budget and find min
> $3000 per month. Mostly funded by our WFTD project.

Can I also say here, that the people we employ are employed on a part
time basis - yet they sometimes 'work' full time (and overtime)...and I
am one of these employee's.

> 3. No, state reps don't automatically become members of CAI
> you have to be a financial member before you can be a State Rep as they
> are full National committee members and according to our constitution > you
> have to be a full
> financial member to be on the committee.

I have signed Romana Challans and Craig Warner up as financial members.
We are having a meeting tomorrow night, where we are appointing
co-ordinators for the national committee. If everything is
'constitutional' re memberships (having only just signed you up on the
28th) - they can be ratified, and thus be appointed. 

Tony Joblin was (by virtue of being a financial member) appointed and
ratified as the QLD State co-ordinator for the National Committee.

> 4. There are only 31 members and the money for membership goes to the
> states but has to be reported and receipted to the national committee as
> they are responsible for the financial reporting( to the Auditor
> General)of the whole organisation.

To streamline this we can develop some sort of reporting template. :) 

We will be sending out "state kits" - these will comprise: 

Receipt books for membership and other financial transactions.
Excercise books - for recording Memberships
A swag of numbers (ABN, REG org #, ARBN, Ins and Pub Liability Policy
numbers and details)
A copy of the Constitution
Reporting Template (draft 1)
Relevant Policy Documents (will be available online soon enough)


> 5. There is going to be some seed funding available for other state
> branches.

Dependent on the shape and form of individual state branches (ie:
likelihood of being able to accommodate a program such as wftd and
sustain  operations over 3-4 days (min) per week) will determine how
money will be allocated to branches. 

Remember we only have 'seed funding,' not ongoing funding, to allocate
to start up branches. The suggested use of this money - will be to
establish bond/1st months rent/start costs for operations that are
likely to run programs that can be funded from government or other means
(eg: wftd - a success for Victoria). 

There is no sense in taking out a one or two year lease on a commercial
propoerty if you can not reasonably guarantee making the payments. There
is also no sense in taking out a commercial lease if you can get
suitable coshare or subsidised rental arrangements (temp or perm). 

Branches interested in investigating wftd - are encouraged to check out
http://www.esn.gov.au/ (appears to be down atm) and take a look at the
section for Sponsors. 

One of the conditions for obtaining "sponsor organisation" wftd funds is
that an organisation needs to have a premises from which to run the
program. 

Another condition that needs to be met is the need to have public
liability ins (This we meet by virtue of being a national organisation).

In Victoria, we did not sign a lease, until we were absolutely certain
that we would get wftd funds. It was only then, that we signed the
lease.

Point to note: The real estate agent would not allow the organisation to
sign the lease, individual members of the Victorian branch are
responsible if the organisation defaults. 

The Dept of Work Relations and Small Business (DEWRSB) has signed a
contract to continue running WFTD until the year 2005. While a change of
government might mean a name change (needed) and changes to aspects of
the program itself (more training related outcomes), the program will
continue. :)

Start talking to your Community Work Co-ordinators now. You can check
for them on the site. 

State branches should also look to State based programs for funding, and
other Commonwealth grant schemes (Community Jobs Programs).Check out the
Dept Ed Work Relations and Small Business at http://www.dewrsb.gov.au)
for other employment programs. 

More on wftd soon, I'm sure there wil be a swag of questions.

Another option for fundraising is to have a 'fundraiser' or have someone
have one for you... Maybe some of the Linux User Groups could help out
here? 

Other ideas for support (that which will minimise costs, like providing
printing services) and fundraising include sponsorship, donations of
non-technical items and services. 

CBV held a "geek trivia night" in association with the Alternative
Computer Expo (We raised $980)and Kingswood College held an out of
uniform day and donated the proceeds to CBV ($110). :)

It is also possible to sell some of the equipment that you will not use
within your program. (The National Committee will set a framework for
this). 

Above all, Jenni's post highlights a dire need for more support at the
state level (particularly SA, NSW and QLD) - if anyone on this list can
help facilitate linkages that will result in positive outcomes
(immediate: storage, temporary or permanent premises)- PLEASE contact
the appropriate people for those states. 

Talk to politicians, talk to trade unions, talk to educational
institutions, talk to Welfare group - get their support, get them
*doing* things, not just *promising* things. 

They are:

Tony Joblin (QLD) tonyjoblin at yahoo.com.au - Romana Challans and Shaun
Branden (SA) cbsa at linunix.com - Craig Warner (NSW) craigw at blue.net.au 

While this may seem very city-centric - if we do not have city branches
that are healthy and in a position to support regionals - we dont have
much hope of spreading Computerbank into the regions. 

I feel very pressured (and so do other Vic's) when there is mention of
another regional branch wanting to form (Bruce/Kerry) when we haven't
even got well supported branches in the cities of NSW, SA and QLD. (A
lot of the equipment that will go out to the regionals will be shipments
from the cities).

 I dont know how Michael White is doing atm ? and I know we have let Don
Cameron and Mudgee down. (and probably other people too)

Note: Don - I have contacted Craig Warner of NSW - and it seems they may
be able to come to Mudgee and build the network for the Youth Cafe (and
apparently they have better machines than Vic). I will email you both in
a separate post. 

In VIC, while we have distributed many systems out to Bendigo (through
BRITAFE) - we still do not have a branch there. Many people from Bendigo
have made the trek down to Melbourne for all day training. 

There is so much involved with our comprehensive operations and I dont
think many people really know the complexity of it all. 

There's telephone calls, mail outs, assessing applicatios, support
calls, drop in support, support  by appointment, then there's
reconfiguring systems to work with new items such as printers, cdroms,
modems and c), scheduling training (over and over again in some cases
b/c of cancellations and no shows), getting information so that a
'personalised' system can be built (usernames, hostnames, additional
applications), stripping hardware, building machines, upgrading
machines, installing software, providing customised desktops and
configurations (big fonts / big cursor), delivering training to people
from a range of backgrounds, arranging transport (for donation pickups
and for dropping computers to recipients), co-ordinating and meeting
contractual obligations for wftd,volunteer training and mentoring (we
sometimes have work experience students too), keeping track of finances,
paying bills ontime, meeting oc health and safety reqs, writing
information sheets, writing training manuals, writing comprehensive
instructions for software installation and hardware procedures,
addressing national development issues and constitutional changes
(done), developing policy, assessing applications, moving and
reorganising the store room every week because we need to make more
space (eventually we lose the ability to do this) - just to name a few
of the things we do.  :)

I think that'll probably do for now. :) I'll write more soon. 

Cheers,

Kylie