Midwest Burners

This is a public call for available board member positions. According to our Midwest Burner bylaws (http://midwestburners.com/about/bylaws/), current board members holding Vice President/Secretary, Treasurer, and Legal & Resources Coordinator positions must reapply for their positions. This allows other community members to also apply for the vacancies. Nominations will be accepted until December 15, 2016. A committee as set forth by the bylaws will vote on the nominations. The elected board members will be announced sometime between January 1 and January 15, 2017.

Nominations will be accepted here: https://goo.gl/forms/6W7c7aYeiJGTxWE42

VICE PRESIDENT/SECRETARY

Sets up meeting location & logistics (sends out agenda)
Creates meeting minutes
Writes & archives documentation for org history, policies, procedures
Communicates with webmaster to update information on the website
Communicates with Quartermaster regarding org property
Receives board@midwestburners.com emails. Re-directs/shares and/or responds to emails.
Communication liaison between board and MWB
Work with ECs throughout the production of the MWB sponsored events.
Work with treasurer, accountant and ECs to establish a budget schedule, including a preliminary budget.
Answer, assist and support ECs with questions regarding event requirements (insurance, organizations – this is probably a document that should exist); organizational infrastructure (medical supplies, perimeter, radios, TLA infrastructure, etc.); and other board and organization needs/questions.
Assist members with other MWB events, including sponsored events (such as Ignition/Kickoff) and member events (art fundraisers, etc.)
Serve as a web contact and additional admin for the web site and other MWB online presences.
Assist with administrative duties on Facebook and other groups.

TREASURER

Name on bank account & can receive and disburse money
Access to bank, checkbook, and PayPal accounts
Downloads and sends monthly bank reports to Accountant
Tracks checks and PayPal expenditures and sends monthly reports to Accountant
Possibly cashes mail order checks for event ticket sales.
No access to accounting software
Works with Event Coordinators to purchase gift cards, directly pay large event expenses, sends reimbursement checks/PayPal disbursements for event expenses
Writes and sends checks to art grant recipients

LEGAL & RESOURCES COORDINATOR

Dealing with issues affecting our 501(c)(3) status
Researching State and Federal laws affecting the organization and events
Give opinions on civil and criminal liability
Drafting internal MWB procedures and bylaws
Dealing with State and Federal agencies
Reviewing contracts

All board members share these responsibilities:

Oversight for Event Coordinators and the ability to replace ECs if necessary
Accountable to the community (report to the community, adopt community feedback, and able to be removed by the community somehow)
Make major policy decisions or sign off on them for ECs
Investigating issues and banning members if needed
Caretakers of community assets
Visioning
Coordinate annual budget between all the events and other expenditures. Approve event budgets for ECs

Nominations will be accepted here: https://goo.gl/forms/6W7c7aYeiJGTxWE42

Hear ye, hear ye! The Midwest Burners board has decided to offer scholarships to Midwest Burner community leaders to the Global Leadership Conference in San Francisco in spring 2017.

Who should apply?

This event is for community leaders. Community = you attend Midwest Burner events: Interfuse, Burning Down the River, HearthsOPhyre, and/or HullabalU. Leaders = those in leadership positions: co-lead, department lead, EC, board member.

What do we mean by scholarship? We haven’t yet decided! There’s the conference ticket, airfare, transpo, crashspace, and feedyoface to consider. The board will be evaluating the pool of money we feel we can dish out for this purpose, but not until this year’s finances are done. Once we evaluate the apps, recipient’s needs, and what the coffers hold, we’ll offer the scholarship amount to individuals and those individuals can accept or reject the scholarship offered.

How to apply?

Go to https://goo.gl/forms/kH2phyia9lTmfK682 and fill out the form. It’ll be open until 11:59 Sunday, November 27. The board will announce recipients in December (TBD, but ASAP).

What the fuck happens at this conference, you ask? Here’s the blurb from BMOrg:

Since 2007, the Global Leadership Conference (GLC) has been Burning Man’s premiere educational event, bringing together Regional Contacts and community leaders from around the world to share an intensive weekend of knowledge sharing and network building. To meet the emerging leadership needs of our global community, GLC workshops have evolved to include not only skill-based knowledge but also higher-level learning, including the creation of business entities, insurance and risk management, grant writing, and other key organizational topics. Based on the notion that teaching and learning are as inseparable as speaking and listening, many sessions now focus on peer-to-peer sharing opportunities where groups present their projects and event experiences, and highlight their successes and challenges so that others may build on those ideas and grow to the next level in their own communities.

Want more info?

Visit http://burningman-glc.com/ (still 2016 info there) or talk to other MWB community members who have attended like Zay Thompson, Britta Nova, Jeremy Gaston, Ginger Anhtan and Shagrin Burner.

Woohooo! Let’s do this!