In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Payne, Salem
Start time: 7:12 PM
- Event Review/Reimbursement – 2025 Fundraiser
We had our annual yard sale fundraiser on Friday and Saturday, which was combined with our first-ever bake sale fundraiser. We suffered through two very hot days, and we managed to gross $1348.87 despite having kind of an off year in terms of the quantity and quality of items donated to the yard sale. As has been the case with the last couple of years, we will likely raise a little more money as Jackson will be listing some of the exceptional leftovers on the Facebook Marketplace.
The bake sale was fairly well received, but we produced far more baked goods than we could sell. It wasn’t realistic for us to measure exact sales, but Jackson estimates that the bake sale at least broke even considering the (admittedly excessive, in hindsight) cost of the ingredients and supplies that we had to buy and be reimbursed for. Because we are all broke, and the sale did well overall, Jackson recommended that we all get reimbursed for the things we had to buy for the bake sale. Jackson will be reimbursed $61.01, while Payne will be reimbursed $108.41. Salem was reimbursed $14.90 tonight, but more will be owed later (as they didn’t have all relevant receipts in hand tonight).
We are not sure if we will do another bake sale next year, but we did spend several minutes critiquing things that we will need to do better in case we do try again. Payne acknowledged that we will need to produce much less overall; our overall production should be no more than half of what was made this year, and the vegan offerings will be reduced even further as they performed much worse than we thought they might. Jackson pointed out that certain things like vegan chocolate chips, vegan butter, and using ziplock bags to hold the finished goods for sale were particularly too expensive and that they will have to be avoided in the future unless we can find them much cheaper. We will also need to avoid some of the mistakes that ruined the entire batch of vegan oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies and the first batch of vegan brownies. The suggested donations being expressed in a range was confusing and counter-productive; we should only do one price in the future. The prices themselves may have been too high for many of our would-be customers; it occurred to Jackson and Ty during the sale that our bake sale was more like a coffee shop, and that most of the people who frequent yard sales aren’t necessarily the type who buy their sweets at Starbucks…
The lemonade did moderately well, although we can also probably cut its production numbers similarly to the bake sale items. The tea and water did very poorly, so we probably won’t try those again. Payne suggested possibly serving Gatorade and lemonade next time.
- Upcoming Events – We have our propaganda event on Saturday afternoon, and we’re tabling at Pepe Fest on Sunday afternoon.
We still haven’t advertised this event online! Payne brought a draft to the meeting, and Jackson will tweak it for publishing. Jackson will get the space cleaned up, but it’s a big job after the sale. Payne reported that he is working on the presentation; Jackson encourages him to shorten it, as most people struggle to keep their attention span when one person lectures for more than 45 minutes to an hour. Jackson thinks a 45 minute presentation is ideal, as our guests are more likely to absorb material that they can interact with via Q&A and/or discussion afterwards.
Salem and Payne are tabling at Pepe Fest on Sunday afternoon. We’ll gather materials for that on Saturday, when the room is in better shape. We will be giving away stickers, buttons, and zines.
- Summer Calendar –
We may be tabling at Star City Pride on June 13th and 14th
Tabling at Juneteenth? (June 21st, Noon-3PM, Woods Park – 33rd and J) [Note that Payne and Salem will be out of state…]
Disability Pride – Saturday, July 26th Antelope Park 9AM-1PM
Free Pride events potentially on June 28th?
Payne and Salem out of state June 18th-22nd
Saturday, June 7th, 1-3 PM: Protest/Rally Etiquette and Safety in Early June
Friday, June 27th, 7-10 PM: Movie Night TBA
July – Malcolm X 100th birthday tribute? Jackson thinks a reading discussion may be ideal, to hear Malcolm in his own words. Jackson will look for an article or speech transcript.
Friday, August XX, 7-10 PM: Movie Night: White Light/Black Rain
Saturday, August XX, 1-3 PM: Winslow’s Wardrobe (Jackson needs to confirm the date with their folks)
Documentary idea: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (African-American music month); Jackson has seen it, and while he liked it he had concerns that the movie doesn’t explain a lot of things that a non-expert
Movie Night: Pride (2014)
July 18th is Nelson Mandela International Day
Salem suggested some kind of event with tips for staying cool with lower energy costs; Payne suggests adding some kind of staying safe in the heat component to it.
Meeting adjourned: 9:00 PM