Financial

  The MTRA was starting to get recognized in the community.  We wanted to have an office downtown, so that we could do the work we wanted to do.  We had been using the Modjeska Simkins house as our base of operations.  It was where to Progressive Network had their office.  We were using their copier for our mailings and brochures.  We were using their meeting space for our Board of Directors to meet.  It would be better to have a place of our own.  There was a house just one block up the street from the Simkins house that was zoned for business, so that seemed like a good place.  It was available.  

 I spoke to a friend at the United Way and asked if he could check around town and see if we could get any donations.  He came back to me about a week later and said that several companies were interested, but we needed a 501c3 for them to donate, so that they could take the donation off on their taxes.  I reached out to the hospitals in town and got the same response.  Keith heard from the Walmart Foundation.  They were willing to give us a sizeable amount, but we needed a 501c3.  No one on our Board knew much about how to go about getting a 501c3, so one of our Board members suggested a friend who was a financial planner.

 The man came to our meeting and said that he could help us out for free.  Free was good.  As I mentioned earlier in a previous story, we were working off of a shoestring.  We were paying for our own stuff, except what we got for free from the Progressive Network.  We were mailing out at least 150 envelopes a quarter, and sometimes more.  We were buying our own stamps and envelopes.  We bought our own business cards.  We bought our own post office box.  All of which came out of our own pockets.  The planner said he would get the paperwork together and send it off to the IRS.  He also said he would help us get grants from the government and people interested in transit.  I had created a budget for the Association based on estimates for an office, utilities, insurance, office supplies, and more.  We also needed a car to travel around town and elsewhere for Association business.  One of the stipulations to be on the Board of the MTRA was that one needed to be a bus rider.  That meant no car.

 So, we gave the planner everything he needed and waited.  We waited.  We waited some more.  After a few months of waiting, his friend called him and asked how the process was going.  He said that he hadn't gotten around to it.  It turned out that the planner wasn't a planner after all.  He had run into some legal problems in Orangeburg and skipped town.  Thankfully, he didn't have any of our social security numbers.  Just our budget.  So, no office, copier, car, nor big donations.  We did find that we could reserve a meeting room at the library for free, so that is what we did.  And, a friend at the library allowed us to meet in their auditorium for free for our quarterly membership meetings.  Free was good.