Minutes Of The WCPCA Board Meeting, December 5, 2011

Location: Home of Dorothy Soper

Attendees: Miriam Aiken, Keith Beyer, Josette Green, Maggie Keenan, Hannah Klausman (U. of O. Peace Corps Recruiter, ex officio), Felicia Kenny, Dale Morse, Dorothy Soper

Agenda Items:

1. Welcome to the 2012 board members

   The slate of board members elected at the AGM met on December 4^th and began planning for the next year.  The roles of the new board are as follows.

   • Dorothy Soper, President for the second year. She is looking for an understudy to replace her in 2013. Dorothy also manages the membership functions with Felicia Kenny.
   • Maggie Keenan, Vice President. Maggie coordinates the potlucks and will form a tag team with Josette Green for 2012.
   • Dale Morse, Treasurer. He has designed a new format for the treasurer’s report.
   • Miriam Aiken, Secretary. She will also assist with membership in 2012.
   • Felicia Kenny, Communications Coordinator. Felicia publishes the newsletter, maintains the group web site, manages the membership database and publishes the membership directory. She will soon send board members an email address that can be used to access the emails of all board members.
   • Keith Beyer, Member at Large. He works with Felicia on the newsletter, collecting articles and arranging them for publication.
   • James Cloutier, Member at Large. James has designed tee shirts for the WCPCA the sales of which have contributed to the support of grants.
   • Josette Green, Member at Large. Josette will work with Maggie on the potluck planning.
   • Hannah Klausman, Peace Corps Recruiter on the U of O campus. She acts as a liaison among newly returned Volunteers who are attending the U of O and she encourages potential applicants to attend WCPCA functions.
2. Updates:
   1. Newsletter.

      Keith and Felicia continue to work together to get articles for the newsletter and distribute it in a timely manner.

   2. December Annual Meeting and potluck

      Dorothy thanked Dale and Leslie for hosting the potluck for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Sunday, December 4. She thanked Maggie Keenan for putting together the slide show of photos of WCPCA members’ Peace Corps days. Felicia also scanned photos that were used in the show. The slide show was considered to be a great success, creating unity among the group and it was decided to do a similar show at the next AGM.

   3. Calendar sales

      There are 40 calendars remaining to be sold. There is a good possibility that the bookstore at the U of O will sell some.

3. Review of general subjects in WCPCA Annual Report dated December 5, 2011
   1. Communications:

      Membership Directory: published annually and distributed via email to all members who have paid their dues by the end of December. The directory also includes free members who are in their first year of free membership.

      WCPCA Web site: the web site is available to the membership and includes lists of projects funded by WCPCA, the constitution and by-laws, access to past issues of newsletters. There is a restricted access portion of the web site for board members only. Felicia will distribute an email to board members about user names and passwords to access the site.

   2. Membership: The NPCA, with which WCPCA is affiliated, sets the criteria for some kinds of free memberships. The NPCA admits as free members first-year members and active PCVs. WCPCA uses these criteria and adds two more categories: students and active Peace Corps trainees. The NPCA also sets the membership fees. People may join WCPCA by checking us as their choice of affiliation and NPCA forwards their dues. If people join WCPCA directly, membership fees are $15 for a single individual and $22 for a family. (The NPCA does not have reduced dues for couples or families under their joint membership arrangement.) All but 3 of our members have email addresses. Dorothy has been printing and mailing copies of the newsletter to these members. We have 140 paid memberships of which about 100 are paid memberships. WCPCA has received almost $1,400 in dues in 2011 and this is about the level of our basic administrative expenses. It has been our goal to have membership dues support business expenses of the organization, such as NPCA affiliation fees, and mailing costs. There will be a final figure of income from dues at the January meeting.

   3. Financial Status: Dale reported that we are financially secure and he submitted a new format for the treasurer’s report. With a few minor changes the format was approved. The Beryl Brinkman Memorial Fund at OCCU that holds the distributions from the endowed fund will be renamed “RESTRICTED FUND”. Money in the Restricted Fund will include the distributions from the endowed fund, donations designated for grants to humanitarian projects, and other money that the board decides should be deposited in this account.

      Account balances are:

      • Oregon Community Credit Union (OCCU) checking account: $2,107
      • OCCU savings account: $4,037
      • OCCU Restricted Fund (Beryl Brinkman Memorial Fund): $26.00
      • OCCU Beryl Brinkman Memorial Fund at the Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) 9/13/11: $26,652

   4. Affiliation with National Peace Corps Association (NPCA): Dorothy pointed out some benefits of affiliation with the NPCA, which include the joint membership option for people who join the NPCA and indicate WCPCA as a group of choice. The NPCA also has a mentorship program to assist newly returned RPCVs. They hold a Group Leaders’ Forum and WCPCA can send up to 3 – 5 group leaders or members to participate. The Northwest Regional meeting will be held in Seattle on March 10. Daryl Johnson is the regional representative for this area.

   5. Goals in 2012: The board agreed to organize its major activities under three goals as shown below. The board began its discussion of the exact wording of the goals, the order in which they should be listed, and how to organize activities under the goals. This discussion will continue at the January board meeting. The goals reflect the board’s missions as stated in the constitution and the obligations of the organization’s 501 ( c ) (3) status with the IRS.

      Goal #1. Organizing activities to serve the Peace Corps’ Third Goal, to “bring the world back home.” This goal will include networking events of interest to local RPCVs, voluntary activities that support the work of local humanitarian organizations, and outreach activities in the local community. The board voted to hold six potlucks with programs in 2012. The board has already made commitments for 2012 to give a presentation on the Peace Crops’ 50^th anniversary to OASIS in February and to sponsor in August the summer campout of the northwest regional RPCV groups.

      Goal #2. Funding of humanitarian projects and fundraising activities to support Goal #1.

      Goal #3. Supporting the University of Oregon’s Peace Corps recruiter. The recruiter, Hannah Klausman, is an ex officio member of the board. She will request support as needed for campus activities. She also suggests the names of recently returned PCVs who may be willing to give a presentation about their projects to the WCPCA membership. Goal #3 continued. The recruiter’s office and WCPCA will co-sponsor a celebration in the spring, the NOM party, to honor those newly nominated to be Peace Corps trainees.

Other Business:

1. The board decided to hold its meetings in 2012 on the first Monday of each month, subject to verification through the year. Due to the Rose Bowl football game the first board meeting in 2012 will be Monday, January 9^th, 7:00 – 9:00 pm at Dorothy’s house.

2. The board voted to award $300 from the general fund to the following Peace Corps Partnership Project: Gender Empowerment Weekends, Ukraine. This step was in response to an email request on November 29, 2011, from the project’s organizer, Anne Falla, who is from Portland, OR.

Respectfully submitted December 12, 2011

Miriam Aiken, Secretary