https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/ Recent content in Welcome on May First Office Docs Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us Thu, 24 Nov 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/barter/ Tue, 25 Mar 2025 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/barter/ Barter If we request a service from a member and they request that we pay them via a reduction in their dues, we can handle both the membership dues and the expense payment as a barter. Expense When recording a barter expense, please request a formal receipt from the member which includes the amount. Then, enter it as you would enter a normal expense, except in the Bank drop down menu, select “Barter”. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/anonymizing-payments/ Wed, 10 Jul 2024 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/anonymizing-payments/ May First members may request that their payments be anonymized. To anonymize a payment: CiviCRM: Ensure any in progress recurring contributions have been cancelled. View the payment, if a copy of a check is attached, delete the attachment. Find the contribution in CiviCRM, click the “…” option, and choose “Anonymize Contribution” Review the member contact record to ensure no traces of the contribution remain In GnuCash If the contribution has been imported into GnuCash: https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/freescout/ Fri, 26 Jan 2024 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/freescout/ Freescout is our ticketing system, available via https://freescout.mayfirst.org. The office is responsible for tickets that arrive in the “May First Office” mailbox. Bounces We get a lot of bounces. We take different actions depending on the type of bounces. Bad email address in our system. If the message is from members@mayfirst.org AND the error message seems like a permanent error, then search for the address in CiviCRM and in the control panel and remove/replace it with another email address from the same membership or research (search their web site) to find a working email address. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/1099/ Wed, 17 Jan 2024 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/1099/ Every January we have to send 1099’s to our contractors. That is almost always limited to our interpreters. Each interpreter who gets paid more than $600 in the previous year is required to send us a W-9 form, which includes their social security number of tax id number. These are saved in our “mayfirst-admin/contractors” folder in Nextcloud. We find the total amounts for each interpreter in our GnuCash system by reviewing the “Professional Fees -> Interpretatin” category. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/refunds/ Mon, 27 Nov 2023 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/refunds/ How to issue a refund Both PayPal and Stripe allow us to refund payments, including ACH (bank transfer) payments. In both cases, the the first step is to find the contribution in CiviCRM. Then, click the “More” button and select “Record Refund.” Stripe: You are done! The refund is automatically processed via Stripe. PayPal: The refund is only recorded in CiviCRM. You also have to login to PayPal and cancel the payment there. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/bank-transfer/ Thu, 12 Oct 2023 11:00:00 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/bank-transfer/ All Bank transfers are made via the Citibank main site. We made two kinds of transfers: Domestic: typically for paying interpreters or any other vendor who does not want to be paid via credit card or Pay Pal Foreign: Paying staff who are out of the country Domestic Payments and Transfers -> Payments Dashboard Click Pay Your Bills Click Pay next to existing person OR Add New Payee Foreign Payments and Transfers -> Payments Dashboard Click Wires and Transfers Click “Send a Wire Transfer” button Wait for it to load… Click “Set up a Wire Transfer” Click “Foreign” Click “Use Foreign Model” button Select Jes Currency: Change to USD Amount: Enter proper amount Click continue https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/payroll/ Mon, 11 Sep 2023 07:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/payroll/ Sure Pay Roll For US employees, we use the Sure Pay Roll service, which properly handles all employee and employer tax deductions. It does not include any state-imposed insurance, such as workers comp or disability. At present, we do not have any employees with such state requirements. We are sent a reminder twice a month to login to Sure Payroll and approve payroll. And we are billed monthly for the service. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/virtual-postal-mail/ Thu, 26 Jan 2023 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/virtual-postal-mail/ We maintain the following physical mailing address: May First Movement Technology 440 N BARRANCA AVE #4402 COVINA, CA 91723 When a letter arrives, we are notified by email and we can see a scan of the outside of the envelope by logging in to Virtual Post Mail. If don’t need to read the letter, we can trash it for free. If we want to read the letter, we can choose to scan it (we are charged per scan). https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/gnucash/ Sun, 18 Dec 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/gnucash/ Nearly all of our income comes from Membership dues, which are already entered into our CiviCRM databases. Similarly, our practice is to enter all of our expenses into CiviCRM as well. To avoid entering the same data twice by hand, we automatically import these transactions from CiviCRM to GNUCash using our GnuCash Importer script. The importer does the following: Imports contacts that have a membership as “Customers” in our accounting system. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/reconciling/ Sun, 18 Dec 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/reconciling/ Reconciling At least twice a year we reconcile our various accounts: Checking Account (citibank) Stripe Account (for credit card contributions) Pay Pal The steps to reconcile are: Login to each service and download the monthly statement for each month Each statement is placed in our Nextcloud accounting folder for the proper year. Stripe: From left side bar click Reporting -> Reports -> Balance Summary. Generate a new report for each month. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/answer/ Thu, 24 Nov 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/answer/ Members and prospective member ask general questions using either the members@ or info@ email addresses (support questions are asked via the support@ address). The members@ address is the from address for most membership related automated email messages, like notices to pay your dues, etc. The info@ address is the from address used for mass mailings sent to members. Frequently asked memberhip questions include: What’s included with our membership? Can I do X? https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/civicrm/ Thu, 24 Nov 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/civicrm/ Our primary database for both member communication and tracking membership dues uses the CiviCRM software and is located at: https://outreach.mayfirst.org/. A general CiviCRM users manual is available. This page provides limited information that is highly specific to our instance. Entities In CiviCRM, there are several entities: Contacts - Each member of May First has one contact record that represents their membership. If they are an individual member, it’s a Contact record of the type “Individual. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/engage/ Thu, 24 Nov 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/engage/ Our democratic culture is based on member participation in our activities and our participation in our members’ activities. Additionally, participating in movement activities outside our membership is a vital way to introduce May First to new groups and also run into members who also participate in those spaces. Email lists Sending mass email about our activities is the primary way we let our members know what we are doing and providig options for them to get involved. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/followup/ Thu, 24 Nov 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/followup/ Members fall behind on their dues regularly. Rather than see this as debt collection, we can instead see it as an opportunity to get to know our members better. Timeline: Automatic notices: Members begin receiving automatic notices about their membership expiring two weeks prior to their membership end date. If their membership is configured to auto-renew, their notice includes that information. If they do not renew their membership, they will receive a notification every two weeks for two months. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/introduce/ Thu, 24 Nov 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/introduce/ Being in movement spaces We can’t always wait for folks to come to us - it’s important to go to conferences, webinars, and other spaces where movement folks are gathering and letting people know we exist and are available to answer questions and support the movement. Joining the mailing list Our CiviCRM installation has a “Universe” group that we send general announcements and updates about our work. These announcements go to everyone in the database with an email address that has not opted out. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/mxn/ Thu, 24 Nov 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/mxn/ Our members have the option of paying in USD or MXN. May First Movement Technology only handles payments made in USD. And, the independent Mexican Coop Primero de Mayo/Enlace Popular (PM/EP) handles payments made in MXN. PM/EP is responsible for the accounting of MXN payments, sending receipts or facturas and communicating about any questions or problems related to MXN payments. Any questions from members paying in MXN should be forwarded to the miemtros@ email address. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/new/ Thu, 24 Nov 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/new/ New members join May First by filling out our new membership form, which triggers an email to everyone in the “Receive New Membership Notifications” group in our CiviCRM database. After filling out a membership form, the contact is added to the database with a membership in the “Requested” state. Office workers can click the Memberships -> Review Pending May First Memberships menu item to review pending memberships. After clicking “process” you are presented with a page listing three steps: https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/payments-in/ Thu, 24 Nov 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/payments-in/ The two most common ways payments are sent to May First: Stripe We have an account with the company Stripe that has a dashboard showing all transactions. We collect money this way: Donation page - which has an embedded form for people to enter their credit card. These are entered with the financial type “Donation”. Membership payment page - which directs people to the external “Stripe Checkout” Page. These payments are entered with the financial type “Member Dues”. https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/payments-out/ Thu, 24 Nov 2022 13:53:34 +0000 https://office.docs.mayfirst.org/payments-out/ Overview Most of the money May First spends is automatically disbursed: Payroll - For US employees, we use the Sure Payroll service which requires a human to login and approve the payroll twice a month. In addition a payroll fee is automatically deducted from our account monthly. For international employees, we transfer funds via Citi Mobile manually once a month and pay a small transfer fee. This is not categorized via CiviCRM, it is entered directly in our accounting software.