Money Things

Money! It's so fun! Or not, depending. Workshops can require dealing with some of it, so here's how we roll. (We try to avoid dealing with money by having sponsors order food directly, but that's not always possible. Such is life.)

Sponsorship and Reimbursement

If you have expenses that aren't covered by a sponsor and you need additional sponsorship from RailsBridge / Bridge Foundry, we'll need to give you the okay ahead of time. Email the finance team at [email protected] for approval. Workshops which require less than $150 do not need advance approval.

(RailsBridge can act as the sole sponsor for a workshop, but we highly encourage organizers who are able to seek sponsorship from companies and organizations in their networks, so that RailsBridge funds can be used for workshops in new cities where finding sponsorship is onerous and might prevent a workshop from taking place.)

Reimbursement Process

Once your workshop has happened, email scans / pictures of all of your receipts to [email protected] along with your mailing address and an overview of the expenses and how much each was.

Here's what we consider to be appropriate expenses:

• Workshop expenses within approved budget for: babysitting, breakfast/lunch, after-party, USB drives, nametags, and misc supplies
• Travel to a new location for an experienced organizer/teacher to help a local community get started

TO DO: Add process for payment via PEX card.

TO DO: Add process for working with approved vendors where applicable.

Finance Team

The Finance Team is comprised of Lillie Chilen, Rachel Myers, Luke Morris, Melissa Xie, Austin Putman, Sarah Allen, and Sarah Mei. Finance things should be emailed to [email protected].

Tax-deductible Donations

RailsBridge is a project of Bridge Foundry, which is part of School Factory, a 501c(3). This means we can accept tax-deductible donations! There are two main paths for this: PayPal and snail mail checks. For the organizers, this means that you'll cover the initial expense, and submit the receipts for reimbursement.

Regardless of how the money is donated, this form needs to be filled out, so that a receipt can be generated and appropriate records can be kept: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGY2RWlyVjdmWW51LURRTW5kRnVQS3c6MA#gid=0

PayPal

Sponsors can make a PayPal donation to RailsBridge via School Factory. The form lives at http://railsbridge.org/help/donate.

Checks

Checks can be sent to:

Bridge Foundry c/o School Factory, 706 South 5th St, Milwaukee, WI 53204

ACH Transfer

School Factory can take donations via ACH transfer. Email [email protected] to get that started!

Sample Budget

The main expense is catering, but you'll also need a few supplies (pens, nametags). Here are some figures from a previous workshop to give you an idea of how much to budget. This menu totals about $1,000 to $1,200 (all currency US$).

Catering for 60

• $200 for Installfest pizza & beer.
• $150 for coffee + bagels for workshop morning
• $500-700 for Saturday lunch from a catering service/restaurant
• $300 for workshop after-party with drinks and tip for 25 volunteers
• If you have extra money, it's nice to get some appetizers to share.

Other Expenses

• Name tags and pens shouldn't cost you more than $30.
• The Installfest instructions tell students to get a sticker from a volunteer when their install has been checked. You'll want to procure stickers from your sponsor if possible, otherwise star stickers work just fine.
• It's helpful to find a space that has the necessary tables/chairs so that you don't have to worry about renting those.