Anual Membership Meeting
Mid America Freedom Band
Annual Meeting
Friday, January 29, 2021, 7:00pm
Virtual
Agenda (Recorded)
Welcome
Christian Montes, Board Chair
We encourage all members to join us for virtual rehearsals.
Financials
Nathan Brown, Treasurer
The band is doing well financially. We have a little over $32,000 in the checking account. Our regular expenses include Lee’s salary, Jessie’s salary, website hosting, flipcause, and rehearsal space. We are saving money by not having in person concert costs. Thank you to all of our donors to help us through this time. We are still paying for virtual concert streaming rights and new music for our virtual concerts.
Using flipcause has helped us save over $250 in processing fees through donors covering those fees. Our donations for 2020 have been lower than the previous years but have still been very good considering the circumstances. All donors should have received a donation tax letter last week. If you did not email treasurer@freedomband.com and we will help resolve the issue. Donations that are not directly to MAFB are not on the MAFB tax letter, you should receive a separate letter from the company which handles those donations.
If you see anything missing on your tax letter please let us know, it may have gotten lost in the migration to flipcause.
Season Plans
Lee Hartman, Artistic Director
While this is not ideal, we are doing wonderfully. Being together in person is sorely missed, but we hope to be together in person again soon with the vaccine rollouts. Our reach at this time is much wider with virtual performances, so while it is not ideal it is a positive. We do not have plans to resume normal operations in 2021. We currently can not meet more than 10 people to a room according to city guidelines. We hope to be able to have some outdoor, socially distanced events this summer. We are volunteers and do not expect those who are not comfortable to attend any events. The Drag Double Concierto will be performed as soon as we are able to perform in person again.
Russ Houser would like to work with us to create a book to record our history as an organization. He will be reaching out to members for their stories.
Thank you to all donors for staying with us during this difficult time.
On the 20th and 21st MAFB will be featured on Classical KC 91.9 FM at 8:00 pm for 20 minutes.
Mighty Mo Season Plans
Jessica Riggins, Assistant Artistic Director
Hi all! So sorry to miss tonight. Mighty Mo is currently not planning on returning to rehearsal this season. I encourage Mighty Mo players to sit in with the virtual concert band rehearsals, the flex pieces Lee has programmed are open to a variety of instrumentations! Be on the lookout for more virtual events throughout the spring, such as trivia nights and a virtual listening party! If you’d like to be added to our mighty mo email list please let me know.
Board and Staff Season Plans
Christian Montes, Board: Vision/mission; OKR
New vision and mission statements were created with the help of Grace Diebolt.
Mission Statement: The Mid America Freedom Band provides a safe space for performance opportunities, outreach, and social advocacy through instrumental music for music enthusiasts within the LGBTQ+ and ally spectrum of Kansas City area to create an inclusive community that fosters diversity.
Vision Statement: We strive to create a more inclusive, diverse, and celebrated community through music as Kansas City's premier volunteer ensemble.
OKRs were created to help the board determine quarterly goals and create tasks to help complete those goals. The board’s current OKR goals can be seen here.
Flipcause has been a good asset to the organization, making financial and donation information much easier to track.
Fundraising
Rameka Jennings - Fundraising Chair
The “Saxie Valentines” fundraiser is currently ongoing. There are many options for different price points to best fit your budget. If you have any questions, please contact Rameka. Many of the sales so far for this fundraiser have been by friends of members, showing great outreach.
Membership Update
Alex Welch, Committee Chair
The membership spotlight is going to be renewed as a video spotlight. Christian Montes will be our first spotlight The committee will send requests for submissions soon.
The board has decided to create a band ambassador system to help new members feel more comfortable when they are new. We would also like to maintain relationships with those who have joined us virtually this year but are not in the Kansas City area once we have returned to in person rehearsals.
Among Us socials will be continuing soon, more information to come.
The membership handbook is being updated to have more inclusive wording.
We will continue to do member of the year awards. We are also looking into creating recognition items for virtual performers.
Election Results
Election Committee
Ask if anyone wants to volunteer for the board
The ballot passed with 38 votes for and 1 vote against. Erin Trampel and Nathan Brown have been elected to remain on the board. There is still one open position on the board. If you are interested in joining the board, contact Jessie Riggins or Christian Montes.
Q and A Session
Membership, Board, and Staff.
What is the password for the members only page?
That section is currently empty, so there is no password. If there is something you would like to see in that section let us know and we will update the section, otherwise it will be used again when we begin in person rehearsals. Board minutes are not under the members section to allow for full community transparency. Erin will get the minutes updated (sorry).
