Hosting a Jedi Gathering

Since the topic of donations has been brought up I thought I would suggest that if it got to the stage where we had a large amount saved up and were able to fund the expenses of the site for at least another year then it would be well within the realm of possibility to host a Jedi Gathering from the donations.

Alethea, how much does renting the land/rooms for each person come to when a gathering is done? If it was subsidised by us then then the cost of attending would probably be much lower.

Sigh...

*facepalm*

Lol....

Jestor wrote: Sigh...

*facepalm*

Lol....

Could you expand? lol

Jestor wrote: Sigh...

*facepalm*

Lol....

hahahahhahha

I think that if we ever do get to that point... it may be a difficult thing to offer assistance with non-essential... things!?!?

I think it would be nice to be at the point where we could help our members in such a way. Some concerns to think about would be verifying that they actually need assistance, who to choose to assist (depending on the amount of available funds) and how to not show favoritism. Also, I'm certain there are laws in Texas about how much you can give someone as charitable gains and not relief aid. I don't know that exact number or how it is worded... but I'm pretty sure there is something mentioned about it somewhere.

Just throwing my two cents... I could be WAY off though. It's happened before.

Well this seems like a pretty simple idea to get started with... let's suppose we do eventually have $1000 in our bank account... what exactly do we do then? Are we just going to keep hoarding it or are we actually going to spend some of it lol.

This seems like a pretty natural extension of using our funds, if the Temple were to book something (a lodge or whatever) then that would reduce the cost of every attending member, it wouldn't have to be TotJO specific either.

I'm just posing it as an idea, I'll give my honest opinion when I say I think it's a little more feasible than starting to build a building.

Akkarin wrote:

Jestor wrote: Sigh...

*facepalm*

Lol....

Could you expand? lol

Well, lol, I feel that we are talking about how we are not at a point for a physical temple, and then you bring an idea about spending money we still dont have, on another thing... lol...

I just found it funny... Despairingly funny....

That's all...

The funny side of me want to ask about getting decoder rings for us all when we get money ahead... lol...

So, I put it out there, bit know I was going for laughs...:woohoo:...

Jestor, I have a question... Why do we need money before we ask what to do with it?

To me, the logical sequence of events is:

Make Plans --> Campaign for money --> Do project.

Rather than,

Miraculously get money --> Decide what to do with it.

Like in the other thread, I love that we want to make a goal to pay for the server space for the year. That's an awesome, attainable goal. (at least, I think that's what you're going for... maybe I'm wrong. hahaha)

Akkarin wrote: Well this seems like a pretty simple idea to get started with... let's suppose we do eventually have $1000 in our bank account... what exactly do we do then? Are we just going to keep hoarding it or are we actually going to spend some of it lol.

This seems like a pretty natural extension of using our funds, if the Temple were to book something (a lodge or whatever) then that would reduce the cost of every attending member, it wouldn't have to be TotJO specific either.

I'm just posing it as an idea, I'll give my honest opinion when I say I think it's a little more feasible than starting to build a building.

If we do ever get to that point it would be awesome.

I think it would be nice to be able assist our members in going to one of our functions, but I would almost rather see it go to feed a starving child. I know... I'm a bleeding heart. hahhahhaha

Connor....

I would have thought that our constant comments of the site not being self sufficient would lead people to automatically understand that any and all money goes toward site fees....

My assumptions, combined with lack of direct questions, created some miscommunications, lol...

So, my flow was:

Site needs to be self supporting > donate money > site becomes self supporting...

That's a good flow. hahaha. I agree with it too. I think people just will forget about it unless you remind them.

All the time.

That's why church's collect EVERY Sunday. Otherwise, people would not do it on a weekly basis.

That's where my excatholic schtic comes in...

I always felt guilty not having an envelope to drop in the plate...

And, I'd just as soon not go, as feel guilty...

I don't want others to feel that way and stop coming....

We (TOTJO) have been accused of promoting only those who donate....

John used to to it all.. Money, PR, Membership stuff, site admin, all of it....

Slowly, the work is being spread...

And, right now, all of council is trying to.overlap with the parts that are not assigned...

When we have a finance officer, I will stay out of his/her way, mostly, lol....

Having a finance officer would be awesome... and I know that I do not want that job! :ohmy:

I have a hard enough time keeping my own books in the black! :whistle:

hahahhahahhahhahha :silly: :woohoo:

I've done it before. It's a most stressful job. Will not ever do it again. hahaha.

Jestor, maybe just keep all donations anonymous. Just a suggestion too. I understand the reason you wouldn't want it that way.

Sure, except that no one has offered to take that from john, and held onto it...

So, john gets to deal with it, still...

And, none of us are experts, lol...

It is a crap job Wes, you are right...

Maybe I can find someone to do.my job, and ibwould do that job..

Lol....

the filing is done by john anyway because he's the registered agent. We receive donations through one mean only: paypal. it calculates the balance for us and keeps a record of everything. We have a bank account so that we can pay for things with a credit/debit card, which is necessary for the server. Before, I used to pay for the server myself, and I'd charge totjo what it cost me, including VAT since I had to pay that. We managed to get exemption from VAT, by registering the server in totjo's name and opening up a bank account in the US. None of this is really difficult as we have no taxable income.

Jestor wrote:

Akkarin wrote:

Jestor wrote: Sigh...

*facepalm*

Lol....

Could you expand? lol

Well, lol, I feel that we are talking about how we are not at a point for a physical temple, and then you bring an idea about spending money we still dont have, on another thing... lol...

I just found it funny... Despairingly funny....

That's all...

The funny side of me want to ask about getting decoder rings for us all when we get money ahead... lol...

So, I put it out there, bit know I was going for laughs...:woohoo:...

Right, I get you Jestor

But as Connor was saying it might be good to have some kind of idea on what we might actually spend the money on. People at the moment are talking about donations so it might be good to have some idea of what exactly we might do with the money when we had it - and that it was a reasonably realistic goal.

As for the starving children Wescli, it has always been the position so far as I remember that TotJO is for Jedi things. If you want to donate to help starving children don't donate here, we don't spend our money on that, if you want to donate towards Jedi-like things then that's what we're for.

Akkarin wrote: As for the starving children Wescli, it has always been the position so far as I remember that TotJO is for Jedi things. If you want to donate to help starving children don't donate here, we don't spend our money on that, if you want to donate towards Jedi-like things then that's what we're for.

Except that religions have a responsibility to their membership just as members have a responsibility to their community.

Every year I paid attention to the prices, they were always under $200 USD (per person). But I believe the one that Jax is planning in Colorado next year will be slightly over $200. I know that when everything started, the group use to camp out on a camping ground to reduce the price significantly. This also helped build the numbers for people attending, and the price per person is greatly dependent upon having the numbers to accomplish it. When I figured up the numbers last year, I planned on 20 people to attend. I had about 18, and I personally pitched in a little more (about 70) money for food (which it turned out we had an overabundance of for Breakfast and Lunch, those were meant to be buffets, while dinners were home cooked meals by my younger sister).

When I went looking last year for a place, I looked in the area I was wanting figured up the max amount of money I wanted to have everyone pay and multiplied it by the number of people I believed would come. Although the previous year there was 30ish people, I know that the majority of the time about 15 show up, so I added 5 more to see if I could buffer it. Knowing I only intended on 20, I determined $150 would be the max anyone would pay (after talking with veteran planners). About 50 of that would go towards food, which allowed me $2000 to rent. Then just went looking for places that were either under that amount or at that amount for the 4 day weekend.

That said, I have no idea what prices look like out there. But something I had toyed with was the idea of actually getting hotel rooms and renting a conference room to do classroom formatted workshops. The only reason that would not work out, is because this group likes to do a lot more in the way of physical activities. Given that everyone enjoys the sword classes, I elected to not go that route. But a place like ToTJO seems more intent on the classwork type things, so it's something that you might consider doing if it is more cost efficient.

I could host a gathering. Depends on where and when and if the gathering happens though.

Thank you for posting the topic Akkarin.

Lykeios wrote: I could host a gathering. Depends on where and when and if the gathering happens though.

Thank you for posting the topic Akkarin.

Well....Traditionally The Host is the one to decide all that