2005-04-12

This is the proposed agenda for the April 12th, 2005 Board meeting to be held at 19:00 UTC in #spi on irc.spi-inc.org.

  1. Opening
  2. Roll call
    1. Regrets received from (no one)
  3. President's update (John Goerzen)
  4. Treasurer's report (Jimmy Kaplowitz)
  5. Outstanding minutes (David Graham)
    1. March 1st, 2005
    2. March 15th, 2005
  6. Items up for discussion:
    1. Disposition of Purcel (inaccurate motion passed March 15; correction needed)
    2. Tax filing status (Jimmy Kaplowitz)
    3. Adopting the BBB Wise Giving standards (Ian Jackson)
    4. XEtrade (see below) (Jimmy Kaplowitz)
  7. Next meeting: May 17th, 2005 (John Goerzen)

Treasurer's report

Software in the Public Interest Financial Data
==============================================

This report uses a cash-based method of accounting,
recording donations when deposited (not when the check was
written or received by us) and recording expenses when sent
or scheduled for payment (not when incurred). Network for
Good processing fees are listed in a separate column,
because they have already been factored into the earmarked
donation amounts proportionally to each different earmark.
Thus they are not subtracted a second time when calculating
total donation income. This is an improvement from last
month.

This month, the Known Debian Earmark line is negative. This
should not be cause for alarm; Debian definitely has a good
deal more money in the Earmark to be Determined line, as
well as in the AmEx Financial Advisors account (for which we
have not yet received the 2005 first-quarter statement and
which therefore is not listed here). Instead of alarm, this
should be an impetus to do research into our historical
transactions and break out more of our Earmark to be
Determined line into its component parts. However, most of
my Treasurer time in the next month or so will be concerned
with sorting out our tax filing situation, ensuring that I
have enough help now that Branden is DPL-elect, and
continuing to work on setting up a merchant account. If you
want to help do this historical research, talk to me.

Profit/Loss Mar 1 2005 - Mar 31 2005

   Ordinary Income/Expense
      Income
        Donations
          Debian                                     414.20
          Unrestricted                               833.90
                  Network for Good Fees           (8.40)
        Total Donations                            1,248.10

      Total Income                                 1,248.10

      Expense
            Debian
                  DebConf Travel Reimbursements           (1,137.92)
                  Hardware Reimbursements                   (300.00)
                  GNU FDL Talks Travel Reimbursements       (290.00)
                SPI
                  First IB Maintenance Fee                   (10.00)
      Total Expense                               (1,737.92)

   Net Ordinary Income                              (489.82)

   Net Income                                       (489.82)

Balance Sheet as of Mar 31, 2005

   ASSETS
     Current Assets
            First IB Checking
                  Known Debian Earmark                      (853.41)
                  Known GNOME Earmark                         20.00
                  Known Unrestricted Earmark                 985.57
                  Earmark to be Determined                12,258.78
        Total First IB Checking                   12,410.94

        AmEx Cash Mgmt Acct
                  Earmark to be Determined                39,697.42
                Total AmEx Cash Mgmt Acct                 39,697.42

     Total Current Assets                         52,108.36

   TOTAL ASSETS                                   52,108.36

   LIABILITIES & EQUITY
     Equity
        Retained Earnings                         52,598.18
        Net Income                                  (489.82)
     Total Equity                                 52,108.36

   TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY                     52,108.36

- Jimmy Kaplowitz, SPI Treasurer
treasurer@spi-inc.org

Additional discussion items

I've been meaning to send this to -general for discussion for a week or so at this point, so now I'd like it simply to be on the agenda for today's meeting for brief discussion there. There is a currency exchange and payment service, XEtrade, that looks very useful for transferring money to non-American payees, whether that would be the DebConf5 team or an Australian/Canadian/European/Korean/Japanese/etc. who is owed money by Debian/wxWidgets/Drupal/etc. They support many currencies, and since they specialize in foreign exchange they don't charge commissions or fees beyond a small spread in the exchange rate. I reviewed their Better Business Bureau record as well as their Terms and Conditions, and it seems good enough that I want to sign up in time to use it for DebConf5. Still, I thought I'd solicit everyone's opinion. Look it over in the next few hours and we'll discuss it at the meeting. No board vote is needed IMHO, but I wanted to run it by you before I act.

XEtrade: https://www.xe.com/fx/
XEtrade FAQ: https://www.xe.com/fx/faq.htm

Resolutions

Resolution 2005-04-12.jpg.1:

This resolution supersedes 2005-03-15.dbg.3.

1. WHEREAS SPI no longer has a use for the server purcel;

The board resolves that:

2. SPI would like to have its disks wiped and the machine donated to a non-profit.  SPI hereby authorizes Brainfood wipe the disks and deliver the machine to Heart House, a Dallas non-profit.