The Bella Vista Computer Club is an Arkansas Non-Profit corporation and an IRS 501(c)3 educational charity. Our goal is to provide the residents of Bella Vista, Arkansas, and the surrounding area an opportunity to gain knowledge of computer hardware, software and systems, and to participate in educational and training programs designed to put that knowledge to practical use. Through Help Clinics and remote support we assist our members in resolving issues they are having when using their computer hardware or software. We also strive to keep our members aware of the best practices for use of computers to keep their data secure and available.
To that end we produce a monthly Bits & Bytes newsletter and have a monthly general meeting open to the public at 7pm on the 2nd Monday of the month. For our members we also provide Help Clinics, remote help, classes, and a Genealogy Special Interest Group (SIG). During normal times, General Meetings are at the Highlands Crossing Center (HCC), lower level, Room 1001 in the West wing; classes, Help Clinics, Board Meetings, and Genealogy SIG meetings are in the John Ruehle Training Center in the East wing of the lower level of HCC. During social distancing for the COVID-19 virus, we will be using the Zoom application as an on-line substitute for in-person meetings, and remote help as a substitute for our Help Clinics.
Our staff and Board members are all unpaid volunteers from the BVCC membership. Out technical support people range from self-taught to those with formal college training and decades of professional experience in computer-related fields. At this point our primary sources of revenue are membership dues and donations. Almost all (97% in FY 2018) of our expenses are for maintaining a Training Center and associated equipment at the Highlands Crossing Center (HCC)). That facility is used for Help Clinics, classes, and smaller meetings. The rent for those facilities also gives us monthly access to a larger meeting room at HCC for our monthly General Meeting.
While much of our support tends to center around PCs and MS Windows, we also have members with experience with other platforms and Operating Systems. Some presentations are not platform-specific.