Board Meeting - January 12, 2009
Minutes of the WCPCA board meeting, 1/12/09
Attending: Felicia Kenney, James Cloutier, Michael Kresko, Rolly
Thompson, Wayne Thompson, Jack Meacham, Dorothy Soper
Minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated and approved by
email. Prior to the January meeting the board voted via email to
keep general funds and restricted funds in separate accounts. This
decision is reflected in the allocation of funds shown in the
treasurer's report.
This was the first meeting of the newly elected board whose tenure
will be from January to December, 2009.
Treasurer's report: The board approved a 2009 budget that
anticipates approximately $4,000 in expenses and $4,600 in revenue.
Major items in the final budget include $2,000 in grants to Peace
Corps Partnership Projects, with priority given to Oregon
volunteers, and $2,650 to be earned in fundraising efforts. The
approved budget will be posted on the website.
Jack had emailed the treasurer's report to the board which we
discussed and approved. A summary is below:
- Checking and savings accounts at OCCU: $5,778
- Edward Jones' accounts which are made up of money dedicated to the
principal of Beryl's Memorial Fund plus interest on the bond which
is available for grants:
- Bond with Principal Life: $18,000
- Money Market Fund: $6,000
Dorothy reported that WCPCA now has 70 members. The board
accepted her recommendation (below) regarding how to include COS
members assigned to WCPCA by the national organization. These
members have one year of free membership. If they live in the
northwest, they'll be included on our membership roster. If they
live outside of the northwest, Dorothy will email them to ask if
they want to be considered a member. We'll include them only if
they reply in the affirmative.
Some members in the latter category were dropped recently since they
didn't indicate an interest in WCPCA. This explains the drop in
membership between December and January.
Felicia gave a report about communications matters. The board
accepted her recommendation that we apply for the free advertising offer by Google Grants, one of the features of Google for Non-Profits. James will ask Benj
to submit to Google the information that this requires. She also discussed moving the mailing list to Google Groups. The board said that she should do what she feels is best on that front.
Felicia explained some aspects of the new design on the website.
She would especially like members to send her digital photos to
include in the "scrapbook" portion. She can also scan regular
photos for this purpose.
The board congratulated Felicia on the new design which is both
appealing and practical. We expect that it will encourage more
people to use the website.
The board looked at the four goals that it has adopted for 2009
and discussed activities under each.
Goal #1: We'll continue the bimonthly potlucks which Rolly
organizes. We discussed ideas for alternative activities on the
alternate months. Felicia pointed out that a membership poll on
the website showed interest in outdoor activities. We thought of
going to movies as an activity. We decided to ask the membership
for more ideas via the newsletter and the website. James will ask
Justin for ideas to include U of O students. We need to consider
having participants sign a waiver when we have outdoor activities.
Goal #2: Awarding grants: Shannon Micheel has accepted
responsibility for identifying several PC partnership projects which
are available for funding to present to the board. The board agreed
to spend $1,000 to fund one or more such projects no later than
March. We'll ask Shannon for a list of her recommendations at the
February meeting. We're looking for projects of volunteers from
Eugene, Lane county, Oregon, or the northwest in that order of
priority.
Goal #3: Fundraising: We need to identify some fundraising
possibilities and identify one or more people willing to organize
them. Rolly and Wayne will look for both ideas and people.
One idea that we discussed came from the newly published directory
of RPCVs. It lists several hundred RPCVs who live in the Eugene
area. We have in mind to send them a letter to ask them to join
and also contribute to our grant program. The board agreed to do
this. The responsibility hasn't been assigned yet. Dorothy is
willing to work on this in late March but can't before then.
Goal #4: Identifying local service projects for WCPCA members
to take part in. As yet we haven't identified a person to organize
this. The board expressed interest in continuing to work with Food
for Lane County but would like some other possible activities to
consider as well.
Eugene's International High School's Africa Celebration, January
23rd. Dorothy is working to identify people in WCPCA to take part
in this day long celebration. WCPCA/PC will have a table to inform
students about PC work in Africa and give examples of a few
projects. An email is going out to the total membership to ask for
volunteers to help.
We made plans for the northwest regional RPCV organizations'
regional meeting in Eugene on February 21st. We discussed having a
potluck lunch supplemented by some food that we'll buy. Dinner
will be a no host affair at a local restaurant. James will ask Joe
Hindman to give opening remarks. We'll ask our membership to offer
accommodations to those attending from out of town. Rolly will
coordinate the ongoing planning.
Rolly reported that almost all of the 200 calendars for 2009 have
been sold. We don't yet have a final figure for the amount earned.
She recommended ordering the same number for 2010. The board
agreed. We plan to order them in the spring and start selling them
in June.
We discussed the publication of a membership directory for 2009.
The board agreed to publish it electronically as a PDF and to
distribute only to paid up members. We plan to send out an up date
in June. We agreed to consider publishing a membership directory
each year in January.
Dorothy and Felicia will go over the copy to check for accuracy and
then Felicia will send it out before the end of January. We expect
that members who want a paper copy will print it for themselves.
Jack distributed his notes regarding regulations for nonprofits
that have 501 status. The board discussed them and we all agreed
to monitor our activities to stay in compliance. These notes will
be posted on the website.
The board set its next meeting on Monday, February 9th, 7:00 pm,
at the home of Michael Kresko and Shannon Micheel.
Meeting adjourned at 9:10 pm.
Summary by Dorothy
Addendum: Later the board set the date for the next potluck as
Friday, March 13th. Place and program will be decided later.
