2023/02/28
Summary
Relatively minimal updates. We completed authoring our impact report and it was sent to every funder from last year, satisfying all grant and reporting requirements. Neuromatch Academy is back in session with the executive team having their first meeting. NMDA is providing a project and budget outline to Georgia Tech as part of our first development project. Meetings with tech recruiters and PIs so far shows that we are setting ourselves up for success in providing great career development opportunities for our participants.
Progress Updates
Data Analytics
We have met with several recruiters and PIs to determine how they look for candidates, what needs and issues they generally have, and how Neuromatch could set up our constituents for success.
Open Publishing
No significant updates. Only doing fundraising activities.
Community
COSYNE registration has finished. Our matching event will have over 300 people. There was such high interest in it that we hit the cap on participants weeks ahead of registration ending.
We are also doing two online matching events for VSS.
Patrick’s matching code is working well and is well documented enough for transfer. The next step/level for matching is to develop a better front end for it. This will be partially gated by Konstantine’s time availability to help manage/guide another person.
Academy
Exec committee at Neuromatch met for the first time. Climatematch continues to drive forward on curriculum, which is the current focus area as it is the highest risk item in the project right now.
Financial Report
Treasury Review
Bank of America Account: $133,856 USD
Lending Club Account: $193,040 USD
TOTAL: $326,896 USD
Fundraising Status
Received Donor Funds and Commitments
New Science funds were received.
We are waiting on $50,000 from Gatsby. We have received our Open Science Prize via check at Earth Class Mail. It is en-route for deposit.
Accounts Receivable is ~$95,000.
In Discussion Donor Funds
Deepmind is in discussion on a donation for development of a new course.
We have been invited to submit a Letter of Intent/Proposal to Sloan Foundation for NMDA job matching activities/professional development events.
Simons is currently considering a $150,000 donation for development of a neuro and behavior course.
We are in very early stage discussions and introductions with a number of wealthy individuals on donations to the open blushing project.
Fundraising Plans
No changes, we are still trying to secure our grant writer to help with federal grants.
Financial Projections
Earned Income
We will earn approximately $2,000 from matching as a service.
Donations
Without additional fundraising, we have a pending $180,000 in grant funding incoming this year.
Major Costs
Our grant writing consultant will likely represent $10,000 in charges. We will hire an admin person, which is not a high cost by month as they work part time.
Runway
Hiring, Team Changes, and People Updates
Operations/Admin
This job posting is active.
Marketing and Brand Consultation
We are getting quotes from several designers to help improve look and feel of our website and brand.
Market Trends and World Event Impact on Neuromatch
Section 230
The Communications Decency Act may have sections overturned, holding platforms more liable for the content posted by users. This may impact Mastodon as a service generally, and Twitter could leverage it to hurt the open platform.
Real ID
With the launch of Meta Verified, more people are authenticating themselves online. A move towards real identities in virtual spaces may change how we identify and verify people when doing matchmaking, content recommendations, etc. This is a positive trend for Neuromatch in that it supports humanization of virtual spaces.
Other Notifications
New Front Page
www.neuromatch.io has been refreshed to provide quicker access to more relevant information at the org level, rather than at the academy level.