Raising money for NJRC

[Reeftreasures]

Ok so heres the deal we need to raise some money for the club what we have is a lot but we need some more to get our non-profit paper work taken care of so we can actually become a real legit club please help us to get some money raised. We will be looking for donations of corals to be raffled off and also we'll be holding corals frag sales to build up our account. If you would like to donate a frag or two to be raffled off, all money will be going into the club, you can send emails to NJRCinfo@aol.com. I'll respond ASAP to all emails.

Thanks
Kevin Romano

[bmkindig]

kevin
y g m

[bmkindig]

hey kevin
any luck?

[Reeftreasures]

some luck but nothing worth wild yet a few sponsors but the club need to get together at the June meeting so we can get everything worked out

[bmkindig]

hey kevin
what are you looking for in donations maybe i can help you out some more

[Phyl]

We could use a frag or two for the July meeting raffle :D

[Reeftreasures]

anything would help and would be greatly appreciated

[moose8721]

Help me out here. Why do we need to file non-profit paperwork? I'm just not sure I understand the advantages...

[Phyl]

The reason is that most businesses won't consider sponsoring an entity that is not non-profit. If we're non-profit then their donations (and yours and everyone else's) are tax deductable. Without that status they can't write it off. We don't want to have to pay taxes on the "income" to the club via dues and whatnot... I'm sure there are other reasons but those are the two that jump out at me.

[moose8721]

Ah, makes sense. Thanks Phyl.

[ToUcHoFeLeGaNcE]

so what's the clubs bank looking like as of now $$$ wise?

[Phyl]

As soon as we have the books proofed out we'll let you all know!

[blstravler]

Hello-

Good thing I found this thread, though you would think I would be look being from NJ and all.

I was about to go give Tropaquarium a bunch of corals that I have fraged. However since you are in need of raising money for NJRC you can have them.

However before I give them away I need to know that you have a good place to keep them? I have a few mili's in 2 different colors, a few pieces of balassto one piece is very large and could be broken up into several niece size pieces. I could also cut a few niece frags of blue colored SPS and one pick piece, Rics in different colors, and a few other pieces. I just need to make some room in my tank so I can get some different things.

Besdies that my only request is to see if you would have a piece of live rock to trade for the 10 or so corals I have for you to raise money for NJRC. One of the corals I would be willing to donate is a large piece of live rock covered in Rics and some polyps and I would like to be able to fill the whole left behind with something.

Let me know if you have a good home for them until you can auction them and let me know if you have a piece of live rock to trade.

My e-mail is kjmjr@comcast.net and I live in Tinton Falls.

Regards-
Keith

[concept3]

Hey Keith, I have a frag tank I can store them in, but I'm sure there are others out there who wouldn't mind "holding" them for the next raffles. I've donated frags for the raffles the last two meetings, and will continue to do so to help raise money. Let me know if you want me to hold them for ya. How are the frags we traded in February by the way?

[Phyl]

Merv's tank is a very good place to put them, IMO! The grow out tank will be perfect to protect and expand your investment in the reef club! Now we just need a piece of live rock to put it their place! Thank you for your offer!

[Marcelog]

I've got a piece of dead base rock :(

Marcelo -

[concept3]

Originally posted by Phyl
Merv's tank is a very good place to put them, IMO! The grow out tank will be perfect to protect and expand your investment in the reef club! Now we just need a piece of live rock to put it their place! Thank you for your offer!

Phyl, I have access to Live Rock.....I've made oystercrete rocks remember? :) and I have reefplugs too....

Or I can use Napman's dead base rock, I mean Marcelo's base rock :lmao:

[RichT]

blstravler - what size piece of rock do you need?

Merv, if its not that much, maybe we could talk to Jason / John / Frank and get a donation or discount. Heck, the return on the frags vs. the cost of the rock should easily pay for the rock. For that matter, if its not that much and no body steps up with a donation, I'll buy the rock, donate it or get reimbursed from the raffle/auction. Either way....lets get those frags!!!!

[Reeftreasures]

just like to let everyone know i picked up the frags and i also got myself a lot of nice stuff i was there for about 2 hours and we pretty much cleaned out his tank thanks again Keith

[ruden]

Awesome, let me know I can chip in on the LR if needed.

Bob

[RichT]

How are we going to convert the frags to club money? Sale, raffle, auction? And what did we get? Also, if any are going to be offered for sale, I am currently stocking my tank and would much rather see my money go to the club than anywhere else. LMK

[ruden]

Rich we are waiting for a stock list from Kevin. I suppose the quantity and type of frags we have will dictate what is done. I would suppose a mixture of raffle, sale, maybe auction. The last one could be fun.

Hopefully Kevin will have the list soon and pictures also.

Bob

[blstravler]

This is what Kevin picked up-

I VERY large piece of live rock with at least 15 grey/green/blue rics on it. I had originally wanted a piece of live rock to fill the void of this piece but I think I like having a little open space in the tank.

3 frags of peach milli, all fully grown to their own piece of rock

1 orange digi frag, ummounted

Small piece of green zoos

1 almost softball size piece of "big pipe" blasto with blue centers orange outer ring, could be broken up to make multipule frags for the sale/auction. I did take a piece of this beofre we bagged it up.

1 piece of blasto (the bigger type) green center with red outer ring, this pice wasn't doing to well but had become stable in the past 3 months and was not bad enough that it would die.

1 flat piece of rock with 1 or 2 redish color rics on it.

2 small frags of blue SPS

1 nice large piece of pink brids nest, could be broken up to make multipule frags for the auction/sale

1 small frag of a pinkish SPS fully grown to the rock

1 frag of a blue mili unmounted

I hope you can use these to get a good start top the club.

Oh Concept3 (Merv) I gave Kevin a table acro for you that I forgot to bring to you on our last trade, he said he would be abel to get it to you.

Good luck everyone-

Best Regards-
Keith

[RichT]

Keith,

Was it intended for all these corals to go to the club?

[RichT]

Got my answer through another channel and yes they were all intended for the club.
Thanks again Keith!!!!!!

[Triggers430]

I dont know where you got that information but that is not true. I was there with Kevin when he went to pick everything up. Keith was very free spirited just grabbing stuff from the tank & never specfically stated what was for the club etc. As they were talking he said to Kevin "Do what you want with them I just want them out of my tank". I dont want to get involved & am not taking sides but I know what happened bc I was there & heard everything that went on. If everyone was so worried about these corals someone else should have drove 25 minutes to go pick them up. Kevin was just trying to help out and to get some stuff for the club.

[Phyl]

I think if there's any confusion Kevin should talk to Keith again. His post certainly indicates that these were to be club raffle frags. I'm sure Kevin would hear the same thing from Keith should he contact him. Kevin never told anyone he was going for them or I would have gone with him. I would have picked them up and delivered them to Merv myself. Hopefully the entire list of items will make it to Merv, as planned. Otherwise we'll learn from our mistakes and move on.

[JCURRY@WESKETCH]

This is what Reeftreasures posted:

Here is a list of frags I just picked up from Keith.
Blue center Blasto
1 peach Milli
1 Digi
some green zoo's

This is what Keith has posted in this thread:

Besdies that my only request is to see if you would have a piece of live rock to trade for the 10 or so corals I have for you to raise money for NJRC.

This is what Kevin picked up-

I VERY large piece of live rock with at least 15 grey/green/blue rics on it. I had originally wanted a piece of live rock to fill the void of this piece but I think I like having a little open space in the tank.

3 frags of peach milli, all fully grown to their own piece of rock

1 orange digi frag, ummounted

Small piece of green zoos

1 almost softball size piece of "big pipe" blasto with blue centers orange outer ring, could be broken up to make multipule frags for the sale/auction. I did take a piece of this beofre we bagged it up.

1 piece of blasto (the bigger type) green center with red outer ring, this pice wasn't doing to well but had become stable in the past 3 months and was not bad enough that it would die.

1 flat piece of rock with 1 or 2 redish color rics on it.

2 small frags of blue SPS

1 nice large piece of pink brids nest, could be broken up to make multipule frags for the auction/sale

1 small frag of a pinkish SPS fully grown to the rock

1 frag of a blue mili unmounted

I hope you can use these to get a good start top the club.

Keith's intentions seem pretty clear to me. NJRC was created to help all of it's members benefit, not just a select few.

[RichT]

Well,........I certainly hope he does the right thing and gets all the frags listed above to Merv, .......the same size they were when he picked them up.

[blstravler]

Oh joy, this is what I did want to have happen, he said she said.

First let me state one thing. I am no longer in High Scool and I do not have time for this non-sense I am a very busy person with a very demanding job. So once I am done writting this message I expect no phone calls or message from Kevin or his girlfriend.

I am going to state the most obvious fact that I am posting this message in a post titled "Raising money for NJCR"

I responded to this post, that was started by Kevin, offering corals to raise money (hence the name of the post). Kevin said he could keep them until the money could be raised for them. By starting this post and offering to keep the corals Kevin represented himslef as a representative of NJRC, with good intentions of rasinng money to get the club up and going.

Kevin came to my house and I gave him the list of corals I have previously listed in this thread. I told Kevin he could do what he wanted with them. As a representative of NJRC Kevin could have sold them, auctioned them or what ever he wanted to do as long as it was going to a good cause, in this case NJRC.

What I did give to Kevin for his personal use was an old RO unit I no longer used and an open brain that was being taken over by green zoos.

The problem here is that when people assume they tend to make bad decesions. Kevin assumed that when I said he could do with the corals what he wanted that I meant it was for him to decide if he should give them to NJRC for sale/auction or keep them for himslef. Kevin has assumed worng what I meant was take whatever means possible to sell them as long as the money goes to NJRC.

At the time Kevin was at my house he should have asked me what exactly I meant. Again he did not, he assumed.

So now we are left with the current situation at hand. Kevin has a bunch of coral and he is unsure of what is his and what is not. Kevin, the decesion is yours to do as you see fit, it is not mine or any other person's on this board. Your decesion, I am sure, will have it own effects.

Again this is the last message I will post on this subject my final word has been written/spoken. I DO NOT expect phone calls or e-mails from Kevin or his Girlfriend.

If the club leaders want to chime in on what should be done, I will leave it up to them. It's not that I don't care I just don't have the time.

I hope this works out in the end for everyone, though I will not be commenting further I will be lurking.

Best Regards-

Keith

[JCURRY@WESKETCH]

Keith,
I'm sure everything will work out just fine. And thanks again for your generosity & support of NJRC.

Jeff

[ruden]

Keith,

Thanks again for your support. We truely appreciate your generousity. This too will come to pass with an appropriate resolution.

Your friends at the NJRC

Bob

[ALTI]

maybe there will be a new sale on reeftreasures.com now:).
we should have a group buy.

[Phyl]

Now that all the facts are on the table I'm sure that Kevin will do the right thing by the club (he has always been generous with the club and always had our best interests at heart). We are working on coordinating the frag delivery and as soon as we have them in Mervs tank we'll post the (hopefully) good news. Let's all just hang tight until then! Thanks for your undersanding and your patience!

Thanks,
Phyllis
NJRC President

[ALTI]

sorry, i couldnt resist:).

i run a non profit org and i know the nightmare you guys must be goin thru. i see that u are trying to step up and do the right thing with this club, but IME it is very hard to get the members to really do anything for the club. if they do it is normally for their benefit, but thats just human nature. members generally want to reap the benefits of the club with the least ammount of effort and money. in reality this is the true purpose of the club anyway. why would anyone want to be a paying member if they didnt get any benefits.
i tried to get donations to open my club for months and never got anywhere. i basically had to take the expense and effort upon myself to rent the location and set it up. "if u build it, they will come". and they did come. it took me a number of months to get my money back, but eventually i did. as an officer of the club u have to be willing to sacrifice for the organization, but u have to also set up a way to be rewarded for your efforts. membership dues and donations are not going to pay the rent. u have to have some kind of money making setup even if the club is non profit. as a non profit org u are allowed to make profit, but all profit must be spent on the club expenses.
maybe it would be a good idea to open NJRC store. if u get the organization registered and get a business license you could buy drygoods and livestock at wholesale prices and offer it to only NJRC members with a very low markup(10%). it would be cheaper for the members than the group buys and you would be able to order individually instead of having to do it as a group. you also could sell members frags there. 50% of the sale to the club and 50% to the fragger. this would encourage more people to send in frags if they know they will get a couplke of bucks out of it.
just an idea from a non member, but i think u guys have to make something happen if u really want this to be a club a success.

[concept3]

Words of Wisdom ALTI, thank you. There are a few minds working together to get the club moving forward, and between all of our personal lives, careers and other commitments, it is slowly progressing. I have been following the club movements for quite sometime now, and through its progression and slight regressions, I have seen it all. I have lent a helping hand in the past, and will continue to do so in the future because I want to see unity amongst all of us aquarists in this Great State of NJ :)

A little background: I've been keeping Saltwater fish for years, way back when I was a Junior in Dumont High School (I worked at Bergenfield Pet Center), and then went to Stockton College for my Marine Biology degree(class of 1999). I have since graduated with a Bachelor's but alas, couldn't find a career in that field (Marine resource management) that could comfortably pay for my expenses, hence my current Sales career.

Enough about me, how can we get people to help out the club; because I for one, would like to see a UNIFIED club! In my early days of reefkeeping, EVERYONE still used undergravel filters with their saltwater tanks, and the only source of information we had were from LFS workers and books published in the 1970's :lmao: Now, we have the internet, better knowledged LFS's, new publishings, and more informed reefers. I think we need to step back and realize that we can all help each other out by being informed aquarists rather than finding our indifferences, which seems to be the current trend :rolleyes: We're all supposed to help save the reefs, one living room at at time, and enjoy this bottomless pit of a hobby..... while we better ourselves and make new friends.

Opening an NJRC store seems like a profitable venture, but the problem arises again when it comes time to appoint a dedicated full time worker to manage sales and orders....maybe in the future, but am sure your recommendation WILL not fall on deaf ears. Thanks for the input.

[ALTI]

hey merv,
was george the owner of bergenfield pet center back then? i know he was around for a while. i tried to buy the store from him, but he wanted too much. he just sold it a few months ago. i havn't met the new owner, but i hear he is goin to add saltwater.

[concept3]

yes, that name rings a bell....he was an older guy.... I think his son (who ran it at the time I worked there) got in trouble for something I'd rather not say if you know what I mean..... :lmao:

[ALTI]

now in sure its the same guy:).

[Nagel]

Closed per Phyl's request