On May 22, 2010, the NoVES Board met at the home of president Hank Gassner. All Board members were present at the meeting, as was Leader Jone Johnson Lewis. Vice-president Mary Ellen Stanton chaired the meeting. Prior to the meeting the Board approved, by email, the minutes of the April 17, 2010, Board Meeting. The items on the To Do list were also discussed by email.
In her Leader’s report, Jone discussed her upcoming schedule. She is changing the way Platforms are scheduled on the NoVES website. Mary Bellamy and Judy Oppenheim will be dealing with Facebook next year. A lot of members have been scheduling birthday meetings with her. The Board agreed with Jone’s suggestion that, when we have new members, we need to inform appropriate committee chairs including the chair of the caring committee, nametag committee, newsletter chair and membership list chair.
In her vice-president’s report, Mary Ellen noted that, at the AEU assembly, there will be a special breakfast for Society presidents. She will be attending the meeting and asked us to let her know if there are any issues we’d like her to raise.
In his president’s report, Hank thanked everyone for backing him up during his operation and recovery. Our request for a cut in our AEU apportionment payment is on the agenda at the AEU assembly.
Treasurer Sven Sinclair noted in his treasurer’s report that this year’s projected deficit is now about 4-5 thousand rather than the 6-7 thousand projected last month. Pledges for next year will probably total about $57,000.
Mary Ellen gave a brief summary of the meeting of the budget preparation team. She reported that Green Hedges has agreed to our request for a 10% rent reduction. The Board agreed to email the newsletter to nonmembers unless they informed us they needed a hard copy. The Board agreed to adopt the proposed budget with a decrease in pledge income from $58,000 to $57,000 and include the Green Hedges rent cut. The Board agreed that it may revisit the budget next January if there are any major changes in our financial circumstances.
As to the pledge campaign, there are 15 pledge units that have not made pledges. The Board will contact them.
Regarding the Focus Group Reports, the Board agreed to Mary Ellen’s suggestion to send the report to members by email and mail copies only to those members without email. Three or four copies will be put in back of the room at future Platforms, including at the membership meeting. The Board agreed that there will be a Board member available at each Platform to discuss member concerns and ideas.
Regarding summer activities, the Board decided that our summer colloquy meetings will not be at Green Hedges, to save money. We will decide later where we’re going to have our meetings.
In the Learning component, Jone led the discussion on the factors involved in congregational growth today. Who are the people you are trying to reach? Suggestions were made that nametags for newcomers should contain first and last names and there should be more social activities such as a lunch bunch.
For next year, the Board agreed to start on September 12 and end on June 12. We will not meet on Thanksgiving, December 26, the day after New Years (January 2) and on Easter Sunday. The Winter Festival will be moved to January 9.
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