WOMEN GIVING AS ONE, INC.
AKA Impact100 Sonoma
Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting
December 15, 2015 4:05 – 6:02 p.m.
Diamond A Clubhouse
Members Present
Celia Canfield, Pam Gilberd, Wendy Hoffman, Debby Kweller, Jeanne Montague, Hope Nisson, Ann Reder, Terri Rhodes, Diana Sanson, Gera Vaz, Liz Williams, Ann Iverson, Lynne Lancaster, Judy Scotchmoor
Members Absent
Cathy Gorham, Amy Rassen
Meeting was called to order at: 4:02 pm
Minutes from the November Board Meeting:
Debby MOTIONED acceptance of the November Board minutes and Hope seconded. Lynne abstained, as she was not present at the November Board meeting. Motion carried.
As a reminder, Terri will submit the draft Board minutes to Debby for review and then send the reviewed draft to the editorialboard. Following the editorial board review, the minutes will be sent to the to the Board at large so that any changes can be submitted to Terri prior to the meeting.
Presidents’ Report:
Celia reminded us of our Board buddy assignments.
Evergreen business cards are now available, Board members should write their names on the card when passing out business cards.
Celia made good headway on the interactive Google calendar; we need a gmail or impact email address.
The Awards meeting taskforce observations were presented by Judy. First it was a great meeting. Both Board members and non-Board members attending were in agreement with the recommendation for online voting. As demonstrated with online Community Grants voting, the voting percentage is greater and there is little potential for error.The recommendations will be presented to the Grants Committee and then to the Board for approval. The Awards and Salutes meeting recommendations are:1)Impact and Community grants finalists will make brief presentationsat two separate “Salutes” (new name to reflect workshop purpose suggested) meetings, to maximize member attendance2) The Awards meeting proposed change is that all award winners will receive notice at 10:00 on the morning of the Awards meeting.The members will not know the award winners.All awardees and non-awardees are invited to attend. Community Grants winners will be awarded in alphabetical order and remain on the stage. All Impact Grant finalists will have a moment to offer thanks. more detailedsuggestions will be provided during the January Board meeting.
Celia reminded everyone the she is the coordinator for the Calendar of events therefore any changes need to go through her.
Status of GEC recommendations: Grants to take the lead in bringing forward each recommendation.
There was discussion around Telosa and an update on data input progress.
Reminder: The Board retreat is July 19, 2016 (9:30-4:30). Amy has volunteered to help in the design of the Board retreat.
Governance Report:
Debby sent an email to everyone on Motions. The purpose is to provide advance notice for potential motions that will require discussion. This will expedite Board meetings,help us to be better prepared for discussion during the meeting and allow for better prioritization of agenda items.
Debby further discussed the need to consider succession planning, particularly because a significant number of Board members may be leaving in 2018 if they do not stay for a second term. We want to plan for depth in the organization. For example, we currently have assistant positions for Treasury and Communications. Debby will put together a small ad hoc committee to work on succession planning and develop a process that includes a strategic plan.
Treasurer’s Report:
Jeanne had nothing to add to the existing Board report.
However, she provided an updated on storage solutions. The cost is approximately $1,000/ yr. There is a waiting list for all options. All have access during the hours of 7 am to 7 pm.
Ann Reder MOTIONED that we contract with Downey Mini Storage after negotiation of an amount up to $1000 annually. Judy seconded. Motion carried.
Jeanne provided an update on the budget process. The committee met the morning of December 15 and the budget will be distributed next month. Jeanne reminded us that we should have a target of 1½ to 2 years reserves in operating expense(we currently have approximately two years.) We want to make sure to include all expenses in the budget so we can operate more effectively by budgeting for those tools, techniques and the speakers we need to be a more effective Board.
There is no update from Redwood Empire as we are still waiting for the revised budget.
Communications:
Judy reported that two more videos will be produced, 4Paws and On the Move’s Parent University.
Ann updated us on the grant review documents consolidation. She has spent a lot of time going through the first draft of documents and pulling everything together into one place.
Grants, Greater Impact
The grants committee did not have anything additional to add to the Grants report but Lynne reminded us that we should reach out to members about participating on a committee. A list of the committees is on the website and we include information in the newsletter. The next newsletter is going out January 2, 2016 but we want all committees set up as soon as possible. We currently have 30+ women signed up for community grants and 25 for the Impact grant.
Membership and Member Engagement:
Pam reported on member engagement. There is a committee sign up sheet on the website which describes all of the committees. There was discussion about revisiting the coffee events or something similar to what we did at Murphy’s. Pam will follow up to see if those interested would be interested in hosting one of these events.
Pam discussed G3. They have a speaker series and conference. Participants are primarily younger women but are looking for older women too. They do a monthly meeting and might offer Impact members a discount to attend their meetings to cross pollinate the two groups.
The next Impact event is January 9, at Pure Barre, an exercise studio. The owner is a founder of G3 and Shannon O’Brien from Transcendence will lead the group in light exercise and mediation to help everyone become their best you.
The February 18th event will be at Suite D with Kathleen Hill and Kathleen Webber, the owner of Della Fattoria.
Gera brought us up to date on theholiday party and praised everyone for reaching out to the guests. There was a lot of welcoming that occurred with Board members and guests.
Gera provided a membership number as of today – 208 members, of which 48 are new. This number is changing daily. There are currently 26 outstanding pledges down from 31. Thereare 78 women as the “non responders” who have not responded to outreach or other methods. A special email was sent to each of them with deadlines. There were some immediate responses to the email. There are 5 definitive no’s.
Jeanne reported that last year we had 215 members at this time versus our current 208 members and there were 43 new members last year compared to 48 this year. There is a high confidence level that we will get to last year’s numbers. Checks need to be received by January 7th at the latest.
There was discussion about what is “our number?” Ann’s goal is between 250 and 280 and Gera has a goal of 300, but wants to come in at least one above last year.
Celia thinks we may be hitting “our number” in the couple of years as we will stabilize recognizing there is attrition.
Gera will begin recruiting again in January to go after the new individuals to see how we can grow members from the new members.
An email will go out to new members with an invitation to join a grant committee or other committee.
Events
Hope requested $600 for new evergreen signage for our meetings. Judy MOTIONED that we approve up to $600 for new signage. Jeanne seconded. Motioned carried.
Closing Remarks:
Celia requested that we extend the January meeting to three hours due to the significant number of issues we have to discuss. After we verify the availability of a meeting location we have a tentative agreement to extend the January from 3:30-6:30.
Adjournment of Meeting
The meeting was adjourned at 6:02 pm.
Minutes submitted by Terri Rhodes, Secretary
1