2020 accountability

Putting on a conference is a lot of work.

Organizing a full-on 3-day-long online-only conference for a topic that has not been explored in a setting like this has been a very educational and rewarding challenge for the planning squad. Pulling this off relied primarily on many MANY hours of volunteer work from a variety of people who were very generous with both their time and expertise. No amount of money could afford this dedication and commitment and we are eternally thankful for their contribution.

We endeavored to keep most of the work DIY but in order to make things run smoothly and effectively we also needed some tooling and infrastructure to support us and ensure all participants would have as smooth as possible an experience. The following is an accounting of the costs associated with these items.

Expenses


  • $270.00 - Video conferencing and recording with Zoom (1 month)

  • $40.00 - Live captioning services with Rev (2 months)

  • $100.00 - Cloud storage and domain names with Google and Dreamhost (12 months)

  • $50.00 - Communication tools and automation with Zappier (2 months)

  • $20.00 - Bingo setup and distribution with MFBC (1 time fee)

  • $32.00 - Merchandise sales and fulfillment with Printful and Storenvy (2 months)

  • $100.00 - Shipping and distribution with local mail services (one time fee)


Total to date: US $602.00 as of September 22, 2020



Donations

To help us offset the expenses incurred, we have set up a PayPal pool to gather donations. We chose Paypal to keep transaction fees as lowest as possible so all donations could be maximally applied to offset the amount spent as noted above.

Total to date: US $996.00 as of September 22, 2020.


We are not looking to raise a specific amount, only enough to offset the expenses accrued above. Paypal requires a number set for fundraising goal so we picked Anne Lister's birthday arbitrarily.

Our sincerest thanks to the following for their generosity and support: Jane Kendall, Sue Jewsbury, Samantha Bennion, Linda Pellegrino, Sari Miettinen, Margaret Allen, Patricia Book, Kyriana Lynch, David Hughes, Tracy Dale, Kayleigh Reading, Melissa Lebel, Liza Millett, Janice Webster, Janneke van der Weijden, Pat Rafa, Julie DeVincenzi, Janet Lea, Lucia Falzari, Erin Resso, Alison Kirchgasser, Nichole Graves, Suzen Searle, Kristin Armstrong, Maria Magpusao, Victoria Neale, Kate Igoe, Janice Price, Cheryl Crawford, Jude Dobson, Diane Halford, Kerstin Holzgräbe, Elaine Milardo, Susan Miller, Lynn Shouls, Stephenie Yeung, Cornelia Tremp, Livia Labate


We expect that some of the expenses above should become an ongoing commitment as we continue to maintain the content created and plan further gatherings and other activities to support this growing community, so any donations that exceed current expenses will be applied towards future expenses. We don't currently have specific forecast for ongoing costs but a rough estimate of continuing with basic infrastructure for website, storage, domain names, occasional online meetings, etc, should amount to roughly $130/month.

While we have an active store selling merchandise of interest to Summit attendees, we created these products because people asked and are excited about it, not to turn a profit, so all items are sold at cost and we do not make any money off it.