Board Meeting - April 10, 2008

Summary of the WCPCA board meeting of 4/10/08, 7:15 pm, Deb McLaughlin's home

Attending: James Cloutier, Rolly Thompson, Wayne Thompson, Benj Epstein, Felicia Kenney, Evangelina Sundgrenz, Rob Dwan, Artis Spriggs, Michael Kresko, Deb McLaughlin, Brett Holt, Dorothy Soper

James called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm. The minutes of the previous meeting had already been circulated and approved by email.

1. Treasurer's report:

Evangelina reported that she had given a check for the funds in Beryl's Memorial Fund to Rick Karr of Edward Jones. He suggested investing the funds in either a CD or a bond for approximately 2-3 years. The bond matures in twelve years and pays 6% interest. The CD in question matures in 3.5 years and pays 3.9% interest. The board voted to invest the funds in the bond, hoping to earn enough in interest for the fund to reach $25,000 within three years.

When the amount in this fund reaches $25,000 the board plans to create an account in Beryl's name with the Oregon Community Foundation. The board would then use the interest to fund projects. Felicia questioned whether $25,000 would be enough based on information on the OCF's website. Evangelina will look into this matter.

The board asked Evangelina to invest $2,500 of our funds from the business checking and business money market funds in a CD. She explained at the OCC (where the funds are now in our accounts) six month CDs are available but not three month CDs. The board approved her investing in a 6 month CD. This step will close the business money market fund.

Current funds on hand:

Business savings: $5
Business checking: $5,572.96
Business money market: $509.06

WCPCA is renewing its affiliation with the NPCA. The board gave $300 to Hannah Klausman who is a PCV from Eugene currently working as a high school teacher in Mongolia. She'll use the funds to help create a library at her school. Reports are that she was very pleased.

2. Membership:

A week before the meeting Felicia had circulated a list of WCPCA members whose memberships have recently expired. We discussed how to encourage these people to renew and specifically to join WCPCA directly rather than through the national organization. (Our individual dues are $35 but the national organization will rebate only $15 to the affiliate organizations.)

Board members had previously contacted some of those listed. The list was circulated again and some board members signed it to call again if the individual had not joined. Dorothy will send an email to those who haven't renewed. She felt that we have to contact people about 6 weeks prior to their membership's expiring in order to give them time to join and also consider joining WCPCA directly.

We discussed how to recruit new members. Some ideas focused on ways to contact people at the U of O and also using ads in local newspapers. James would like this task referred to a committee. Benj agreed to head such a committee.

3. Felicia mentioned a group called 'Play Back' that has proposed using the stories of PCVs to 'create' short, humorous presentations. The board isn't interested at this time.

4. James noted that at our May meeting we should discuss the role of subcommittees in carrying out some of the organization's work. Some were created last summer and there is a list of volunteers interested in working on them.

5. We discussed membership fees. Many felt that the individual fee might be too high for some people. We discussed how to make a flexible fee schedule work with Paypal. Felicia suggested that we keep the current fee structure but indicate on the website that the organization will waive or reduce the membership fee for potential members who request that. They would have only to send an email to request the consideration. The board asked Felicia to add this option to the website. Felicia will be the one to receive such emails and will forward them to the other board members.

6. James would like to design a membership certificate that we would give to members who renew their membership or those who join for the first time. The board liked that idea and encouraged him to work on one.

7. Rolly and Evangelina reported that we haven't yet heard from the IRS regarding our application for a 501 C 3 status.

8. Fundraising:

James will put together some ideas for products to sell online through Cafe Press. Wayne is working on some ideas for fundraising which he'll present to the board at a later date. Artis mentioned that there was an opportunity for members to work selling items at the Olympic trials. She'll look into this.

9. James suggested that we have a service project for our members in the month in which there is no potluck. He has in mind an activity that would take about two hours on a Saturday morning and then having pizza. He asked board members to suggest possible service projects. The board liked the idea. James asked board members to email him with ideas for service projects.

Benj recommended the 'Walk for the Gold' as a fundraiser for the Special Olympics.

10. Brett gave us an update on preparations for the NOM party which is April 22nd, 6-8 pm. He has sent out postcards to invite people on campus, new volunteers and their families, and also WCPCA's mailing list. He's also invited the WCPCA emailing list via email. He's received 40 confirmations. We allocated some responsibilities as follows:

Set up beginning at 3:00 pm in the Many Nations Longhouse: Wayne, Rolly, James, Benj, Brett, Artis.

Buying and bringing plates, napkins, and utensils: Evangelina

Bringing red plastic table cloths: Dorothy (drop off in the afternoon)

Ordering and bringing additional food and beverages: Brett We're counting on the WCPCA membership to bring potluck dishes but they'll be only about half of the number who attend.

The program will include entertainment by international students, two speakers, and an ice breaker activity. Brett is working on the latter.

We'll encourage members to stay to clean up after the dinner.

Dorothy had previously agreed to write a small handout to explain that WCPCA is interested in supporting the work of local PCVs and how they can reach us with a proposal. She'll be available to hand these out at a registration table. Do we want people to sign in' Name tags'

11. The board agree to nominate Joe Hindman as a candidate for the West Coast NPCA representative.

12. Michael reminded people that our next service project is the clean up at the Chef's Night Out fundraiser for Food for Lane County. Volunteers should arrive at 8:30pm and they may have dinner there before working. The event will be on Wednesday, April 16th. Anyone interested should let Shannon or Michael know.

13. Michael announced that next summer's Northwest Regional Campout will be August 8-10 at Davenport, WA.

14. Coming up:

The next board meeting will be on Thursday, May 8, at 7:15pm, at the home of Artis Spriggs.

The next potluck will be on Friday, May 9, at 6:00 pm, at the home of George and Diane Jeffcott, 363 Mary Lane.

The board asked Rolly to see of Bob Krites can speak to us at the potluck about his 'Kids Helping Kids' program. This is an outgrowth of Bob's Peace Corps work in Brazil. He recruits schools to raise funds to support the education of street children in South American and Africa. Bob was formerly a WCPCA member. He now lives in Brazil but is visiting Eugene at this time.

Minutes by Dorothy; approved by the board via email, 4-18-08