[Lnc-business] Executive Committee Conference Call - 7/24/14 @ 9:30 pm EST - NH Ballot Access

Thu Jul 31 07:52:36 EDT 2014

Thanks.
On Jul 31, 2014 4:27 AM, "Alicia Mattson" <agmattson at gmail.com> wrote:

> Joshua,
>
> Restricted cash is money sitting in our bank account, but the donor
> specified it is only to be used for a particular thing.  It would require
> permission of the donor to spend it on anything else besides what they have
> specified.
>
> The largest pile of restricted cash we have had recently has been
> donations for the building fund.  As of the end of May we had restricted
> funds of approximately:  $8,300 for campus outreach (a donation from Dr.
> Lark, I believe), $9,400 for the building fund, $350 for a radio ad
> project, and $2,000 for the legal offense fund.
>
> Most of our donors give us unrestricted funds, though, and it's then up to
> us how we choose to spend it.
>
> When you see the total cash amount on our balance sheets, you have to
> subtract the restricted fund amounts to figure out what is available for
> everything else.
>
> When we create a budget, it does not create restricted funds because it's
> not the donor putting limitations on what our cash can be used for.  The
> budget is the LNC putting spending caps on certain categories, but the LNC
> can later amend the budget and shuffle things around between categories
> without having to go back to the donors for their permission to make those
> changes.  (Though the budget may include a plan for using some of the
> restricted funds, in which case only those lines are restricted and the
> rest are not.)
>
> If we have budgeted $1,000 for category X, but we have spent only $300,
> the balance of $700 isn't restricted.  Restricted funds are cash already in
> the bank account.  But the remaining $700 of spending authority for
> category X is dependent on us actually receiving the budgeted revenues.  We
> might not even have $700 cash on hand, though we have $700 left in the
> budget.
>
> I am not aware of any open lines of credit that we have, though there are
> party credit cards that we pay off every month.  Article 10.5 of the bylaws
> forbids the party from borrowing more than $2,000 without prior approval by
> a 2/3 vote of the LNC.  There is an exclusion there for "trade payables"
> like when a vendor goes ahead and ships the product to us and then bills us
> with the understanding that we'll pay in so many days.  That's not
> considered borrowing under that bylaw.
>
> -Alicia
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 9:34 PM, Joshua Katz <planning4liberty at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> What does unrestricted cash on hand mean? If money is budgeted for a
>> certain use, but no expense has been incurred, is that money then
>> considered restricted? If so, what would be needed to unrestrict it? If
>> not, are we at risk of not paying our bills? Does the party have open lines
>> of credit?
>>
>> Finally, given this situation, how can we cut costs associated with our
>> upcoming meeting?
>>
>> Joshua Katz
>> On Jul 24, 2014 5:05 PM, "Alicia Mattson" <agmattson at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I inquired about our cash flow status, since things looked very tight at
>>> the end of May and I don't think I have seen June financials yet.  Robert
>>> Kraus provided me the following information, indicating that our cash flow
>>> has gotten worse since May:
>>>
>>> Current unrestricted cash on hand is $110k. We are looking at the
>>> following upcoming expenses: $26k in ballot access obligations for LPIL and
>>> LPKY, Payroll $18k, Hyatt Columbus (estimated) $90k, Credit Card $21k
>>> (mostly convention related). That's a total of $155. That would be a cash
>>> shortfall of -$45k. I think if funds come in as they've been the last week
>>> or so we can cover this over a period of a couple weeks and I can delay
>>> some of the payment to Hyatt. Also NY has generously agreed to spread their
>>> obligation over a 6 week period but that still doesn't leave us any wiggle
>>> room for any additional expenses until at least Sept/Oct.
>>>
>>> We're currently in a financial hole.  In June of 2010 (a comparable
>>> point in our 4-year financial cycle), we were approximately $200k better
>>> off in terms of cash flow.  I believe some contributing factors to be the
>>> fact that we hired a political director with "savings" from buying a
>>> building, but we hired the position a year before we actually bought a
>>> building and moved in so as to achieve any savings.  The building
>>> fundraising efforts seriously cannibalized our general fundraising
>>> efforts.  We have a political director and own a building now, but we left
>>> ourselves in bad financial shape.
>>>
>>> We need to be building the warchest to get our 2016 presidential
>>> candidate on the ballot, so on tonight's call I will be asking questions
>>> like:
>>>
>>> 1)  Given how many of our affiliates currently have 2016 ballot access,
>>> what is the ballpark estimate of what we'll have to spend in the 2016 cycle
>>> to get our presidential ticket on in the other states?
>>>
>>> 2)  Looking at historical data in NH for LP U.S. Senate candidates, what
>>> baseline % does the typical paper candidate get?  What has been the maximum
>>> an LP U.S. Senate candidate has gotten there in the recent past?  In other
>>> words, has presidential ballot access been successfully obtained this way
>>> in the past, or is this a hail-Mary?
>>>
>>> 3)  What is the state party doing to contribute to this candidate's
>>> ballot access effort?  Funds?  Volunteer signatures?  Etc.
>>>
>>> -Alicia
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jul 24, 2014 at 12:19 PM, Alicia Mattson <agmattson at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Robert Kraus provided me with the call-in details for tonight's
>>>> Executive Committee teleconference regarding NH ballot access as follows:
>>>>
>>>> Meeting Time:  9:30 Eastern / 6:30 Pacific
>>>>
>>>> Guest Instructions
>>>>
>>>> Dial-in: 1 (217) 258-5588
>>>>
>>>> International Dial-in: 00 + 1 (217) 258-5588
>>>> Guest Pin Code: 207730
>>>>
>>>> Alicia Mattson
>>>> LNC Secretary
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Jul 24, 2014 at 6:53 AM, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> All,
>>>>> There will be an Executive Committee conference call tonight at 9:30
>>>>> pm EST to discuss spending ballot access funds to petition to put
>>>>> Gardner Goldsmith from the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire on the
>>>>> ballot.
>>>>>
>>>>> Wes or Robert will follow-up with the call-in details.
>>>>>
>>>>> -Nick
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
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>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
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>>>
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>
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