Board Meeting - June 12, 2008

Attending: Felicia Kenney, Benj Epstein, Evangelina Sundgrenz, Rolly Thompson, Deb McLaughlin, Wayne Thompson, James Cloutier, Dorothy Soper

The minutes of the previous meeting had already been circulated and approved via email.

1. Rolly, Wayne, and James gave us an update about their work to nominate Bob Crites for the NPCA's Sergeant Shriver Award. The announcement of the recipient will be in a few weeks.

2. President's report: James met with Charlie Ward, a local RPCV, who is an accountant and has volunteered to consult pro bono with the board about WCPCA's financial matters. In particular he'll review our financial history to see if there are any questions regarding our tax status and explain our filing obligations once the organization gains 501, C3 status.

   James will make another appointment to meet with Mr. Ward along with Evangelina and Dorothy.

3. Webmaster's report: Felicia reported that Comcast is still rejecting some of the group messages. She's working on this matter.

   Felicia purchased a new scanner with funds approved by the board. She has it now and is pleased with it. She needs the list of people who attend potlucks in order to verify the quality of our emailing list. She volunteers to organize some outings such as hikes, bike trips, rafting for the summer. She and Deb will work on this. Felicia and her husband will need a ride when cars are needed for an outing.

4. Treasurer's report:

   1. Evangelina had emailed a draft budget for this board's tenure to board members before the meeting. The budget was for December, 2007 through November, 2008. It included a report of our current cash balances and investments as follows:

      Cash on hand in the Oregon Community Credit Union: $3,651; CD: $2,512; Calvert Fund investment: $2,000; Beryl's Memorial Fund: $22,612. The latter is invested with Edward Jones in a bond and a money market fund.

      The board discussed the budget and adopted it with the following revisions:

      Operating Expense:

      1. Verify and correct any expenditure for 'web service'.
      2. Add cost of the scanner to 'operating expense'. The cost of the database software should be charged to the budget of the previous fiscal year.
      3. Correct total as necessary.

      Revenues:

      1. Dues paid directly: change projected income to $1,200.
      2. Calendar sales: change projected income to $1,800.
      3. Correct total.

   2. Evangelina asked us to look over the information that she gave us about 'Survey Monkey' and to look at its website. She wants the board to consider using this service for any surveys that it decides to make of the membership.

   3. We verified that WCPCA renews its lease of a domain name for the website automatically each year using our credit card. We decided to continue this arrangement.

5. Secretary's report: Dorothy didn't have the current membership information to share with the board.

6. For our financial review, Dorothy had previously sent to the board the minutes and recommendations from the meeting of the financial planning committee. The latter felt that the board could offer as much as $2,000 in humanitarian grants for the current year.

   The board discussed the amount that it would like to spend on humanitarian grants this year above the $300 grant already made. Since we don't have a firm grasp of how much to expect in membership dues, the board decided to grant a total of $1,000 for this fiscal year instead of the higher figure. Thus a total of $700 more will be granted to one or more humanitarian projects by the current board. No plans are yet made to search for or select additional projects.

   We also noted that the funds currently invested in the Calvert Fund, $2,000, plus interest, will be returned to the board in August. We'll need to decide how to use them.

   Dorothy gave board members a copy of the most recent report from the Calvert Fund to explain its use of funds and the outcomes. The board will return to this subject in subsequent meetings.

7. We decided to ask a staff member of the Oregon Community Foundation to attend a board meeting and discuss the fund that we anticipate creating with the organization after WCPCA receives a 501 C3 status from the IRS. We'll wait until we are close to creating the fund.

8. Rolly reported that the IRS is now reviewing applications for a 501 C3 status that were filed in January. Our application was filed in February and so should be reviewed before long.

9. Report on fundraising: Rolly and Wayne reported that they'll have a meeting of the fundraising committee soon. Tom English and Mike Helm have agreed to be on the committee.

10. We talked about possible community service projects and agreed to take part in the Special Olympics' 'Walk for the Gold' race that will be held in Alton Baker Park in August. A team gathers pledges to support itself and walks together for as long as it can.

    We thought of carrying the flags that we use in the Eugene Celebration Parade. Benj will work on this and give us more information. In the meantime we hope that WCPCA members will consider taking part.

11. The membership committee with James as the chair will work on a short handout that describes WCPCA and can be used at various community events that we join. Evangelina has worked on a draft for such a handout and will send it to the board.

12. We agreed to print a simple directory of the names and contact information for our paid up members. Dorothy will work on this.

13. The next board meeting will be on Thursday, July 10th, 7:00 pm, at Benj's home.

14. The next general membership gathering will be a picnic at the Thompsons' farm on Saturday, July 12, 2:00 pm, 30781 Fox Hollow Road.

James adjourned the meeting at 9:00 pm.

Minutes by Dorothy.
6/13/08; approved by the board 6/17/08