Padu, KY Gonk Fundraiser

Ok, I've done my research on the subject of selling the Gonks on ebay and have come to the conclusion that we would be the only ones doing it, which could be good. I liked TKYTROOPER's idea about selling Gonk Kits. That would be much easier to ship, since if we sold completed ones we would have to take them apart to ship them anyway. We could have in the auction the following points:
Pick your own color
Pick designs you want on it, if any: Imp or rebel symbol or other

And any others you can think of on this thread.

The club could buy the supplies and we could have a gonk prep saturday once a month, if they are selling that well, where we would cut faceplate & leg holes, cut 2x4's, and paint parts. We could crank out 7 or 8 sets.

We will need to put the first auction up and just keep relisting it. People put in thier orders and we will make the gonks to thier specs. This makes it not only a cool movie prop to have but thier personal specs make it one-of-a-kind, which is a strong selling point.

All the proceeds will go to buying more gonk supplies and to benifit the ff. If we charged between $60-75 ea. We would be doubling our money on each one.

We could also sell completed ones at our events for $75-100 ea.

We will definetly have to get a little better at the hole cutting, I am talking about me here, and a few other bugs to make these as professional looking as possible. post your thoughts, pv

 

I think its a great idea.maybe on the inside we could put something like paducahimperials.com or built by Paducah Imperials just to spread the word around.

 

Where do we have to really work on this project where we can spred out? I doubt the Library will want much contruction going on.

 

You'd make more money and spend less time if you just sold schematics and lists of instructions, parts, and where to get them for $10 each on ebay, with the option for them to buy the parts for more money or a finished Gonk. I don't have that kind of time on my hands. And I'm concerned now - doesn't any of this money go to charity? Kind of hope we're not losing focus of giving back to the community here.

 

I disagree with that sith monger.If someone had said heres the schematics for stormtrooper armor for $10 I doubt I would own a set right now but give me everything precut and in color with the difficulty of a model kit.I am so there. As for the charity part we could raffle a few off at OT day in Murray and donate that money but really I don't see why any charity should get anything we get "just cause".I'm in this club because I have an intense love of STAR WARS and I can walk,talk,breathe,and eat all things STAR WARS maybe once or twice a month and not feel like I'm completely alone in this world. I would prefer to give our name to charity and have them contact us about doing something. But thats just me.I could be wrong.

 

I completely agree with TK8049. Yes we do things for charity and that's great, I feel great pride in the fact that a "lowly Star Wars fan club" that I've only been a member of for a few weeks has raised more of a charitable contribution than the Fraternal Organization ,that I've been a member of since I turned 21, has in the past two years. But there I don't believe that every fund raiser we do, some part of it has to go to charity. We need operating funds also. There is a time and place for both.

 

As far as the Gonk-building, TK8049, yes, I pretty much agree with you. I did mention having the option for buying the parts, and we could offer painted or unpainted. But we might even make some money on just the instructions, and it doesn't cost us anything after we spend the time to make them once. We could even post it on our site and not fool with ebay. "Send us $10 and get tried and tested instructions to build your own Gonk droid. See our gallery of Gonk pictures. (link)" Thanks to Arnie and Marjorie we may get enough publicity to do that. Not sure if "manufacturing" through demand is such a good idea, though. If you sell and can't meet turnaround or demand, you open a can of worms. But it would be an interesting experiment.

I just don't have the time to build Gonk's twice a month, so I was trying to think of some idea that I could contribute toward that effort.

As far as the donations, yes, this FanForce has already accomplished far more than I could have imagined.

I just think doing a little bit here and there is the key. I'm still confused about when we went from going to be "non-profit" to "not for not-profit" but I got no dog in that race. We don't need to have so-called "charity" events, unless, like you said, they contact us. But, since we are a FanForce, I think there needs to be some continual thinking done regarding outreach even if it's just a little. But, in the end, everyone may be content to just be as we are, and, believe me, I'm not really one to think of being "charitable", thus the stacks of SW stuff in my closet. But I just saw the FF as a group to have lots of fun while doing some good. Just don't hate me for it.

But I had to do my part. Those kids down as the orphanage sure did like those UGH Commander Codys and Scorches I found this morning that I opened and handed out to them today. That was a good thing to do, wasn't it? Noone else wanted those, right?

 

Please inform me of when we(the Paducah Imperials) have had an event that was a "charity event" that did not benefit the cause we decided upon?

To my knowledge the Paducah Imperials have had one and only one event labeled as a charity event and that was the saga weekend at the library.

The previous posts started by pv and others only stated potential ways for our ff to keep itself running and help with costs of when we have our next charity event.

about the gonk raffles at the Murray screening, I think it would be a great idea!

And remember all you little troopers if you take it out of a box and surround with with ceiling tiles art it does not make!

Here ended the reading...

 

Well I just got back from taking a load of lightsabers to the "Kids Without Arms"shelter. They'll be jedi's before you know it.

 

If there is a bus going to H3LL, TK8049 is driving.

 

OK, selling specs for the gonks or selling kits for the gonks are both ideas we can try. I understand both sides and would like to find out if sithmongers idea would work because we could sell more and it would cost the club less than the kits. There is no gaurantee that either one will sell well for us but they are worth a try.

As for the charity issue that many of us seem to have an opinion on. We are a club based on fun for fans of the Star Wars universe. We will give to charity several times through out each year but that can't be the focus of every thing we do, we will go broke long before then. I feel giving larger sums of money to charity from specific events held for that purpose is a better idea than a few dollars here and there from whenever we sell a gonk droid. I hope I'm not coming off mean, thats not my intention. I just want to be up front with the intentions of the club. I don't want members, joining or existing, to think that our main goal is to raise money for for charity. We are here because we love star wars and we will give back to the community as the oppurtunity arises.

As for the club bank account issue. We changed from a non-profit account to for profit account because we would be taxed in accordance as to a 501c(3) for the former. The Secretary/Treasurer and I are not sitting a pile of money, planning some trip to the Bahamas. That money we've earned is allowing the club to pull off events that without it we would not be able to do. I appreciate everyones interest and input in this matter, and I'm glad we finally got some action on the board. pv

 

Oh geez, what am I to do with all these helmets for the kids with no heads? I guess their lil stumps will be protected, huh. And those poor children will never get to utter the line "I can't see anything with the blast shield down." come to think of it they wont see anything, and we will test the old hermits theory about "a jedi feels the force...flow through them"

eh whatever PV your doing a fine job and I need printer cartridges ASAP BUDDY!

 

501c? That's an imperial troop division, right? I don't speak tax language so I'm glad you guys got that under control. Thanks for the explain, though, pv.

In my original post, I wasn't necessarily wanting stuff from charity to come from the Gonks as much as I was wondering, in all this talk of doing stuff, were we planning on doing anything else in the forseeable future with charitable contribution in mind? I just think the charity thing is an important PR device so that the community doesn't continuously tag us as a bunch of selfish geeks that cling too tightly to our toys..er...collectibles. (Hey, I'm one, I'll admit) If we keep out there helping others, not necessarily just giving money, then the more members and things we're able to achieve in the long run.

I know two people right now with kids who really don't want to have anything to do with the group because they don't think we're heading in the right direction toward family oriented events and being a positive part of the community. Yes, I know that's not what we're really about - there are mainly adults in the group anyway. And there are those on the other extreme who would rather we be a smaller group who meets in a dark room so we could just play with our toys. It's hard to find a happy medium. Every event can't apply to everyone. And we're new - so I guess we'll flesh that out as we go. And I think PV and everyone else has been doing an awesome job.

As long as we're fundraising for what we need, then I'm all for it and will help out as much as I possibly can, as I know we all will. And I know we're all going to be pulling our hair out trying to come up with fundage once C4 is officially announced. Soon, we hope!

 

Boy so much has happened since I last posted!

A 501(c)(3) is a provision of the US tax code that provides exempt status, for Federal income tax purposes, for some non-profit organizations in the United States. The Paducah Imperials do not qualify under the list of exempt organizations. As a ?non-profit? organization without any affiliations to a larger sub-group, our income, i.?e.; donations and profits, would be taxed unless the entire revenue of each event was to be used for not profit.

It is true that our club has not held a specific ?family oriented? event where the main goal was to unite ourselves with a positive image within the community. PacerVader and myself have kicked around some ideas that we have thought about presenting to the club for their thoughts and ideas with this regard; such as a Saturday Padawan?s Training Camp Day, a Children?s Saga Saturday featuring the animated Clone Wars and a Star Wars family picnic. These ideas have not yet been shared because of the other planning and events that have been taking place. We would never want individuals to not join because they are in belief that we were ?headed down the wrong direction?.

It is true that our club consists primarily of adults who, for whatever their reason enjoy different aspects of the Star Wars Universe. Uniting these individuals together was the primary focus of this clubs intent. We understand that many individuals may in fact be turned off to some of our ideas and associations-where it is true, we do not want to continue any false impressions through the community that we are a group of selfish, toy hording geeks, we also want to remember that this is a club founded by fans, built by fans and maintained by fans. This is not to say however that every event is designed or specialized for every member, that?s why we try to plan multiple events and have planning meetings, so that individuals and guests have their choice and their freedom to come and go as they please.

I personally would love for TK8049 and TKYTROOPER to just wear the Trooper Suits around all the time, but unfortunately there?s not an occasion that can be planned just for that specific event.

We are a new club, forging our way through, learning what is acceptable and not for each member. I strongly believe that once our membership has steadily maintained it?s origin, that we will be able to foresee and plan on a regular basis scheduled charity events.

If anyone has suggestions or ideas as to charities, social service work or volunteering that we may want to consider as a club, please email PV so it can be discussed or bring it to the table at our next meeting. This is the first I have heard of this particular topic and am personally pleased that some of it could be clarified.

 

If there is a day I don't wear the suit,Thats a day wasted. And it makes me most proud to see a childs eyes light up when they see me in the suit.Man, I'm getting really sentimental here...I also like it when hot girls dig the armor.whew,thats better.

 

Alright, since it was kinda my idea to do the gonk droid E-Bay thing I guess I should put in my .02 on this apparently contested idea. I say we build a new gonk (with anyone that wants to, no one has to help). We make this one top notch. I mean make him look good, take our time and make a real good one. We take notes and good pictures as we go. At the end of building we should have a really nice gonk ,good set of plans with pictures, and a materials list. Then we can look at dismantling the gonk for shipping. Find a box that it will fit and get a ballpark on what it will cost to ship partially assembled. We can then make a pdf file of the instructions or however we want to do them a hard copy or whatever. We list one then the other and just kinda play it by ear on what will be the best route to try and use our gonks as fundraisers. Now as far as what we do with the money, I don't have a problem with giving some to charity here and there but I think we could do this without regret if we don't split all of our money on every single project we do as a club. I mean I think it would be cool if like when the Easter Seals Telethon rolls around that if we have a substantial amount of money in the bank that we could vote and say hey lets give $200 bucks to the Telethon. But you have to have money to be to put that to a vote right? On the flip side I think it would be awsome if we could go as a group to C4 we all know how expensive that is going to be. Anyway both takes money I say we give this a shot and just see what happens. I mean we are not talking about a sweat shop and putting 7 year old Indonesian kids to work building gonk droids 14 hours a day. Building gives us a chance to hang out, have fun and to watch PV try to spray paint something (very entertaining by the way). Anyway we'll talk about it.

 

If we don't get 7 yr old Indonesian kids I'm out.

 

Hell, all you have to do is join the Super Adventure Club for that .

 

That's a little creepy.



"There is good in him, I've felt it."

 

So TK8049 it doesn't make your day anymore to see my eyes light up when I see you in youe delicious armor? Why must you continually hurt me? I don't even know you anymore....

TK8049 you had me at, "There's one set for stun"

 

Sith love. Where DO They put the thermal detonator? Next on Java with Jabba.

 

Wow. That is sick. lol.

I volunteer my kids for sweatshop droid building.

But seriously, I would like to say that in regards to family oriented activities, I have continually hauled my kids to almost every event and they love it. I am extremely excited about future activities and plan to keep bringing them where they can participate because they also love star wars so much. (They are actually crushed when I go to the Pasta House without them.) I think that everyone has done a fantastic job thus far with events.

I love the idea of ebaying the gonk. I think it would go over! I would definitely buy a kit if I saw it online, especially to personalize it. I love the collector stuff that is weird and original.