Geeks Without Borders

Status Report #2

December 3^rd, 2002

Hi! Hailing channels are open, and I, Pat, your interstellar com-geek have returned with yet another exciting status report from all of us at Geeks Without Borders. OK, we're starting to kick into high gear now. For one, this is going to become a regular bi-weekly communication (with occasional other announcements as events warrant).

Paperwork:

Yay! The paperwork's done! (Well, the original incorporation paperwork, anyway). We have finished all the forms required for the IRS, including the Oregon Articles of Incorporation, Application for an EIN (corporate equivalent of SSN), and application for non-profit status from the state and Federal governments. So now we're just waiting on the IRS to review our application and grant us our 501(c)3 exemption. Once that's done, we can begin receiving donations, (and people can get their tax deductions for giving us stuff), as well as all the other perks of being officially non-profit, such as being able to sell stuff for free on E-Bay. (So if you have anything you want to donate, for the proceeds to go to GWoB, drop me a line: plutherus@yahoo.com, and we'll talk).

Speaking of which, we still don't have a solid fund-raising plan, so if anyone has any ideas, or wants to volunteer their services, let us know! Remember, in addition to the gwob-info@yahoogroups.com mailing list, there is also geekswithoutborders@yahoogroups.com, our active discussion list, if you want to get involved. (To subscribe, send email to geekswithoutborders-subscribe@yahoogroups.com).

Web Site:

Chantel, Matt, Dora, and I all met in Portland on the Friday before Thanksgiving to discuss plans for the web site. And what plans we have! Lots of bells & whistles and all sorts of fun stuff as well as what I, in my personally completely unbiased opinion, believe to be an exceptional way of organizing all the information on it to make it easy to find no matter what you're looking for. Matt's working on the overall look of it, while Dora (along with whoever she can rope into helping her) is working on making it all work.

Unfortunately, it's going to take 6-8 months or so before it's all together and ready. In the meantime, we're putting together a temporary web site, which you can find at www.gwob.org. Check it out! And check back frequently, as there'll be lots of updates in the coming weeks and months.

OryCon:

Half the reason I was in Portland, in addition to having my input into our web site, was to attend OryCon, an annual Science Fiction convention in Portland. What better place to network with other geeks, huh? And network I did. Chantel printed up some brochures and business cards. Unfortunately, there were a very limited amount, so I couldn't give them to just everyone. The good part of that, though, is that since I only gave the brochures to people who asked if I had any literature, they all went into the hands of interested people. I also exchanged business cards with a couple dozen people, so our mailing list should be expanding soon. Everyone I spoke to loved the whole idea (well, except for the one Trekkie with whom I got into an animated discussion over the wisdom of the Prime Directive), and many offered to help.

It was all kind of put together at the last minute, so there was nothing formally associated with the convention, though I'll be talking to the con-com of OryCon as well as NorWesCon soon to discuss something formal at upcoming cons, once we figure out what would be most effective. A con panel? An auction? GWoB room party? Send me any other ideas, and I'll let you know what happens!

Fundraising:

Our next big push is fundraising. We need money to make this all work, so this is going to be our area of focus for awhile. We're making plans for things to set up, and where to set them up, but before we do any of that, we'll need to finance it all. As I mentioned earlier, we're still developing our fundraising plan, but here's a few ideas:

Merchandising: T-Shirts! Coffee Mugs! Pocket Protectors? Anything we can slap a logo on and sell it at an outrageous price. (Who wouldn't want a "Geeks Without Borders" mouse pad?)

Grants: Lots of companies, foundations, etc., have money to give away for exactly this sort of thing.

E-Bay: Did you know E-Bay has a special section for non-profit companies to auction stuff off? We already have some cool geeky items donated for auction, and can always use more.

Personal Donations: Push the Donate button on our web site, mail in a check, ship some equipment, it's all good.

Manufacturer donations: Hardware, software, peripherals, other devices, we're going to need a lot of it. Perhaps the companies that make it would be willing to donate some of it?