---
layout: post
title: "Privacy Guides Fund Committee Minutes from 2025-10-27"
date: 2025-10-27
author: jonaharagon
---

## Attendance

**Present:** Jonah Aragon, Niek de Wilde, Daniel Gray, Freddy, Olivia

Justin Ehrenhofer (Magic Grants President) joined meeting as non-voting advisor. This meeting was convened via video conference on Signal.

## Agenda

1. Jonah: Retirement fund recommendation to Magic Grants
2. Jonah: Healthcare reimbursement recommendation to Magic Grants
3. Jonah: Creation of Digital Content Producer position
4. Jonah: Redefinition of Project Director position
5. Jonah: Merchandise gift credit for employees and volunteers
6. Jonah: Inflation adjustment for current staff
7. Jonah: Hiring plan for Digital Content Producer position
8. General discussion: Staffing updates and planning for 2026
9. Niek: Travel reimbursement policy
10. General discussion: Plan for next meeting
11. Justin: Compensation discussion for Project Director role

## Retirement plan recommendation

Jonah recommends Magic Grants establish a retirement plan for all US-based, full-time employees. We recommend any standard plan with a Roth option, which could include a 401(k), 403(b), or SIMPLE IRA. We anticipate employer matches will be needed and approve funding up to 5% of each employee's annual salary for this purpose. Justin notes that Magic Grants will be ultimately responsible for selecting the specific plan and match amount. We also approve spending up to $100/month total in plan maintenance fees, if applicable.

**Affirmative votes (5):**

- Niek
- Freddy
- Olivia
- Daniel
- Jonah

## Healthcare reimbursement recommendation

Jonah recommends Magic Grants establish a healthcare reimbursement plan for all US-based, full-time employees. We would recommend a QSEHRA plan from Take Command (recommended by Gusto) with a maximum annual reimbursement of $4,800 per employee, and to reimburse insurance premiums only, including reimbursements for an employee's spouse's employer group plan. Justin notes that Magic Grants will be ultimately responsible for selecting the specific plan details. We also approve spending up to $50/month plus $30/employee/month in plan maintenance fees, if applicable.

**Affirmative votes (5):**

- Niek
- Freddy
- Olivia
- Daniel
- Jonah

## Digital Content Producer position

Jonah proposed the creation of a new Digital Content Producer position at Privacy Guides. The job duties would include:

- Hosting scripted videos **on camera**
- Performing basic cuts/edits to footage before sending to editors
- Scripting and recording YouTube Shorts, TikTok videos, Instagram Reels
- Transforming existing content into video scripts/drafts
- Finding featured news stories for *This Week in Privacy* each week and drafting discussion notes and questions.
- (Co-)Hosting *This Week in Privacy* shows
- Participating in weekly all-staff meetings
- Proposing new video/article ideas
- Drafting/posting new social media posts on all social channels
- Helping deliver members-only perks
- Other duties as assigned

This position would report to the Project Director. The salary range would be up to $66,560 annually, depending on experience. This position would be full-time and eligible for all standard employee benefits. The position would be FLSA exempt.

**Affirmative votes (5):**

- Niek
- Daniel
- Olivia
- Freddy
- Jonah

## Project Director position redefinition

Per Matrix discussions from early 2025, Jonah proposed redefining the Project Director position to focus more on high-level project management and oversight, and classifying it as weekly salaried (FLSA exempt) rather than hourly. Revised compensation for this discussion is discussed later in the meeting.

**Affirmative votes (4):**

- Niek
- Freddy
- Olivia
- Daniel

**Recused/Abstained (1):**

- Jonah

## Merchandise gift credit

Jonah proposed offering up to $500 in merchandise gift credits to all employees, volunteers, and community moderators. This would be a one-time gift to be used on Privacy Guides merchandise, and would not be considered taxable income. This would be effective when our merchandise store is established.

Niek suggested expanding this to HELLOTUX merchandise purchases, which was agreed upon. Justin notes this should be done through Magic Grants making HELLOTUX purchases on behalf of employees/volunteers rather than reimbursements.

**Affirmative votes (5):**

- Niek
- Freddy
- Jonah
- Daniel
- Olivia

## Inflation adjustment for current staff

Jonah proposed a 3% inflation adjustment for two positions (video producer and staff writer).

**Affirmative votes (5):**

- Jonah
- Niek
- Freddy
- Daniel
- Olivia

## Hiring plan for Digital Content Producer position

We discussed the hiring plan for the new Digital Content Producer position. We agreed to open the position for applications publicly with a short-term deadline, Jonah to post the position to our community channels. Further details are confidential to the executive committee.

**Affirmative votes (5):**

- Jonah
- Niek
- Freddy
- Olivia
- Daniel

## Staffing updates and planning for 2026

We reviewed our planned staffing levels for 2026. Our rough estimate of payroll is $265,000 for 2026 which is in line with our anticipated budget. Further details are confidential to the executive committee. There was no matter to vote on for this agenda item.

## Travel reimbursement policy

Niek proposed a travel reimbursement policy for all employees and volunteers traveling on behalf of Privacy Guides. The policy would primarily cover mileage/gasoline costs. Jonah proposed a $100/month limit on these travel expenses. How exactly these would be reimbursed and/or expensed will be determined by Magic Grants.

**Affirmative votes (4):**

- Freddy
- Daniel
- Jonah
- Olivia

**Abstained (1):**

- Niek

## Next meeting plan

We agreed to hold our next meeting the first week of December, with the exact date to be determined via a Timeful poll and selected by Jonah by the end of this week. There was no matter to vote on for this agenda item.

This concluded our formal agenda.

## Project Director compensation discussion

Justin led a discussion with Freddy, Niek, Olivia, and Daniel regarding appropriate compensation for the Project Director role following its redefinition earlier in the meeting. Jonah was not present for this meeting. After discussion, we agreed to set the salary for this role at $1,128 weekly, effective immediately.

**Affirmative votes (4):**

- Niek
- Freddy
- Olivia
- Daniel

**Recused/Abstained (1):**

- Jonah (recused from discussion and vote)
