up for discussion.
I would like to suggest that the distribution of membership funds to the causes be upgraded.
eg. instead of the $6 per member per cause (max of 3 causes per member presently) raise that to $10 per member per cause. yes, this would mean less funds going to general, but based on the last general meeting, it has been doing well in the financial department.
I feel that each cause is different in there financials needs, so a sliding scale could be met $6 to $10 per member. or keep it even across the board.
I don’t know where you got those numbers from but they are wrong. At the moment 30% of a members fee is put towards causes. This is a total of $18 for a full paying member or half that for a starving hacker. If you are a full paying member and support 3 causes, you’ll pay them $6 each. If you only support one cause you’ll pay them $18.
Trying to introduce any sort of “sliding scale” becomes an unimaginable nightmare for the treasurer to try and manage.
When causes start to pay for the electricity they use (with metal/woodshop being the biggest users by a significant margin), our public liability insurance, internet, access system and infra costs, cleaning costs, consumables like toilet paper etc, advertising costs, website hosting and admin costs, landlord fees, PPE, first aid and other safety equipment, paper and printing costs, etc then we can start talking about giving causes more budget.
The current system works quite well and is simple enough to manage. At the moment, most causes already have around $2000 in their account, why do they need more, ie what perceived problem are you trying to solve?
edit:
Cause funds are only meant to be for consumables/hyper niche tools/tooling etc. or if a cause wants to save up for something the general memberships doesn’t want to buy. Most tools etc should come through a general meeting imo.
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For reference, cause contributions are not a set $ amount. The cause policy specifies that a member may distribute up to 30% of their membership fees to up to 3 causes. If you were to set a $ amount like that it wouldn’t scale appropriately (or cleanly) between the three membership costs.
A sliding scale of cause incomes based on what their perceived costs are would not be equitable or align with the general principals of what HSBNE’s goals are and would be an administrative nightmare for any treasurer. There is already a working sliding scale in place - it’s how many members choose to support your cause and what percentage of that 30% they choose to give to the cause.
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I’d just like to add for reference, the current 30% and 3 causes rule is because the numbers divide evenly and cleanly in all situations. It took a while for us to work that out. Here’s a few examples:
$60/mth hacker:
3 causes: 60*0.3 = 18, 18/3 = 6 to each cause
2 causes: 60*0.3 = 18, 18/2 = 9 to each cause
1 causes: 60*0.3 = 18 to each cause
$30/mth starving hacker:
3 causes: 30*0.3 = 9, 9/3 = 3 to each cause
2 causes: 30*0.3 = 9, 9/2 = 4.5 to each cause
1 causes: 30*0.3 = 9 to each cause
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ok, thanks for the clarification.