Three calls happened recently. Here are the results.
Alumni Interest Group Leadership Meeting (6/25/08):
Attending: Aiton, Carsen, and members of AB Tech’s Alumni group, with Sarah McMullen.
1) Carnival recap included attendance figures for various events. Tom Wood believes the figure of 62 for HoB is pretty low. Carsen suggested that a form be available every year during Carnival and Homecoming events to add yourself to a club or activity listing. This way, graduates from the past 9 years will be included in our mailings the year after they graduate. Currently this form is sent out only the year before your 10th reunion and (I think) every 5 years after that.
2) A call for nominations is out to join the Alumni Association Board. There is a meeting in June, and a new Alumni Interest Group Committee will be active. If you are eager to voice your opinion or represent us in the committee or Alumni Association in general, please contact Carsen.
3) We discussed the Homecoming schedule briefly. We are currently not on the schedule. This is a topic for the next phone call…
4) A meeting on the 30th of June will hopefully give us good news about our tax deductible gift status. Currently the definition of “educational purposes” does not include buggy, and Anne Witchner is lobbying for our cause. This meeting I believe will include Jenn Church and possibly Mike Murphy.
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East Meets West brainstorming session (6/26/08):
Attending: Carsen, Aiton, Abby, Dani, Chris
1) Homecoming. Set up a table and/or pass out fliers advertising HoB and BAA kick-off during freerolls and around the UC during morning reunion activities. Merchandise to be included at table. Possibly have an old buggy displayed?
2) History of Buggy. We will encourage undergrads to attend and grab as many passing alums as we can during the weekend. A mailing will go out by the end of August to buggy alums with a letter, a link to the website, and possibly an “I heart Buggy” sticker.
3) Web site. Lots of ideas came out, and these will be passed on to Sam and Adam in the next couple days.
4) Chris has already put out the call for a logo on the Facebook Buggy Alumni Assoc. group. If you are not a member, think about joining, or DESIGN A LOGO! … and send it to Chris Stengel.
5) The psyche reel has got to be done well, and soon, to be included on the website and advertised before Homecoming mailings go out. Dani will be giving this a boost.
6) Carsen will meet with Tim Seidel of Alumni Relations to set up email addresses for BAA execs, and we’ll address combining forces with their resources to tie our database in with theirs.
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Call between Tom Wood and Carsen(6/26/08):
1) History of Buggy presentation will be condensed to about 45 minutes and focus on years ending in 8s and 3s for reunions happening this year. A teaser version may also be produced.
2) A flyer advertising the Buggy Alumni Assoc. will be handed out during HoB and at various locations during the weekend.
3) The preferred time for the presentation, followed by our kick-off event, will be between 11:30-2, hopefully in the UC, on Saturday, October 25.
4) There might be a panel of speakers talking about their years in buggy through the decades. This is still in its infancy, but a few members of the class of ’73 have expressed some interest.
bordick says:
I’m sorry to put it like this, but if you don’t ask me to do stuff, I probably won’t. would be happy to participate on the phone calls, but have not been invited.
My intent is to be at Homecoming with Mad Dog in fine shape. Also, I will be picking up a few legacy Pika buggies when I’m in town. I will be happy to show them at some forum. However, I will not be able to open them up. If you need more than this, let me know. I (heart) buggy.
carsen says:
I see where you’re coming from, and in no way do we mean to be exclusive in the phone calls. We’ve been in the bare bones planning stages so far, and we’re trying to knock out the administrative stuff. Now that we have a time pretty much nailed down, we need to get the ideas flowing.
I nominate Bordick, Chris, Abby and Dani to head up the reception planning. Accept, decline, let me know, and I will set up a conference line to discuss.
bordick says:
I’m in. Let me know about the next call. I plan to take off Friday and be in town sometime before 8pm. The drive from CT is long and painful.
Carl Nott says:
Y’all are doing a fantastic job, BTW. I would be happy to volunteer but at the moment I can’t commit to much more than the odd snide remark.
Carsen Kline says:
Thanks for the vote of confidence, man. We could use some more snide remarks on the other website these days – it’s a little quiet over there.
I’d like to figure out who else besides Bordick will be willing to show a buggy during Homecoming. I’ll try for an old Fringe buggy. Aiton has initiated Operation Find That Big Black Buggy. Anyone else?
dani says:
Thanks for the minutes, Carsen!
Glad to see you and Tom set a time (11:30-2 on Saturday). I’m speaking to Sarah tomorrow about deadlines, marketing, event, budget, etc.
A call next week with the group — Andy, Chris, Abby, myself and maybe McCue — would be great. Anyone else who is interested, please post your intentions here by Friday the 4th, and we’ll invite you to the call. (We’ll actually be talking about event stuff, rather than admin stuff this time.)
Carsen Kline says:
Update from Tom: more likely 12:30 to 2+ on Saturday since we want to avoid clashing with reunion luncheons.
Carl Nott says:
Any word on the tax-deductible-ness?
Carsen Kline says:
No word yet on that. The meeting is supposed to be this week, today even, and Sarah will forward the word on to me about the results. Abby is going to make it a two-pronged information attack, so expect an answer soon.
Madler says:
Good question on the tax-deductible-ness — is this something being explored w/CMU or independently? I can help. I think we’d need to form an entity first, by the way, which I can help with as well. Might be easier if there were some kind of CMU umbrella under which we could huddle (though that could have its downsides as well). Is there an agenda for the Saturday call? If this is on the agenda, I can dial-in. M
Carsen Kline says:
Clarifications: The conference call is not on Saturday (that reference in Dani’s note was about the Homecoming event). It will be next week, and it so far is going to focus on how we want to set up the event.
Tax deductibilitude is being handled at the highest levels in Warner Hall. As an Alumni Interest Group, the BAA is included in CMU’s tax exempt status. The tricky part, which sparked the meeting, is that gifts and donations can only be spent on “educational” programs. Currently buggy is not considered educational, but several people are fighting to gain ground on that.
Matt, we’ll keep your offer of forming an entity in mind if it comes to that.
dani says:
I spoke to our friendly Alumni rep this morning, and she said they have an answer on the tax-deduction. She said it’s good news, but she’s just confirming some things about how we can spend tax-deductible gifts vs. non-deductible gifts. We’ll have details in the next couple days. …Not a moment too soon, because we’ll need some donations to fund our stickers, mailing, etc. Plus, if we want booze at our Homecoming event, we’re apparently on our own, financially.
I wasn’t thinking we’d have the Homecoming conf call this Saturday. Maybe next week. But will include you on the call, Matt.
Will post an update soon on Homecoming info I got (mostly Dos and Don’ts, resources, etc. that we can use in our planning).
Madler says:
I’d donate money for stickers, stamps and alcohol, whether or not deductible – I think the non-educational donations sound more fun. As I’m not sure I can be there, can someone please limit Stengel to only one Big Gulp’s worth of coffee and Bailey’s?
dani says:
I knew we could count on you, Madler.
By the way, y’all…please expect to do the Homecoming planning call next week (i.e., week of July 14th). I will send an email out to get peeps’ availability in a couple days.
Sorry for the lag in notes and follow-up. Working for a living sucks and is way too time-consuming. But I promise to get you more info soon. Abby and I even got drunk and organized over the weekend. More drunk than organized, but it’s a start.