Monday 30^th September 2019

Opened 10am Coast Road Cairns Central

Attending:

Anja van Hooydonk – Teacher of Mathematics & Science St Mary’s Catholic College; Mathematics B Panel Chair Cairns; QAMT President Cairns
Tiffany Turnour – Laboratory Technician St Mary’s Catholic College
Celia Berrell – Science Rhymes; Admin Cairns Neurophysiology

STEM Account Funds at The Makers

Tiffany received advice from Matt Ritchie on how to proceed with accessing the STEM Hub funds for Cairns Regional STEM activities as follows:

As an incorporated not-for-profit association there are some particular rules that need to be followed.

Any purchase above $100 needs the following (in general terms);

• Meeting Minutes where the spending amount was discussed.
• The minutes need to show that the particular spending was approved by the committee.
• A recurring spend only needs a single approval, as long as it is noted as a recurring spend.
• All one off spends need to be approved.
• An in principle agreement on payment doesn’t constitute an approval for a spend in its category.  e.g. Helpers get 20% of workshop proceeds.  Still needs approval for each payment, unless approved as recurring set amount.
• No one can approve or pay themselves.  A person must abstain from the vote if it is a direct conflict of interest.
• Payment should be done using association accounts where possible.
• All transactions require original receipts.
• All financial transactions need to be recorded with notes.
• Any invoices in or out need to be kept for records.

As long as we have meeting minutes, receipts, approvals (STEM committee), then we should be fine for previous spends.

Going forward, please CC: accounts@themakers.org and  treasurer@themakers.org on the following;

• Receipts
• Invoices sent/received
• Meeting minutes (discussion/approvals)
• Any notes regarding financial transactions.

We will be setting up separate accounts under accounts@themakers.org for shopping accounts such as;

• Paypal
• eBay
• Alibaba
• Aliexpress
• Bangood
• Post….
• Etc.

These will be the preferred method of payment, so as to avoid conflicts of interest, increase transparency, and improve reconciliation of accounts.

There is currently a Standing-Rule initiated by previous committee members that requires any spending to be approved, even under $100.  We will be removing this next week.  We still require past receipts, minutes, etc for these small amounts.  Sorry, I didn’t make the rule, but I followed it.

Going forward we should discuss some written rules specifically for the STEM hub as a sub-committee/circle.  This could facilitate the STEM committee having direct access to the Bendigo Bank ‘petty cash’ account, which is segregated for STEM only.

Please let me know what needs approval, or if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Matt

She Maps Drone Tournament 22^nd November

Those present at the previous STEM hub meeting approved supporting the She Maps Drone Tournament in November up to the value of $1000.00.

Action: Tiffany to request official invoice from She Maps for Treasury submission.

Q-Site

Tiffany spoke to Mark Hollands at Q-Site and no available booth space at Technology in Tropic for Cairns Regional STEM hub. All Committee members present approved of Tiffany making a request for Q-Site membership as our STEM Hub representative.

Action: Tiffany to request single Q-Site membership as we are not in a position to take on a group membership. If granted, request an official invoice.

Website

In order to maintain the Cairns Regional STEM website, Tiffany has asked for an invoice to cover costs for the next three years.

Action: Tiffany to include this invoice with the others for approval

Next STEM HUB Meeting

Wednesday 30^th of October at St Mary’s B11 nearby the library