Tuesday January 5, 2021, 7:00pm
Mid America Freedom Band
Board Meeting Minutes
Tuesday January 5, 2021, 7:00pm
Virtual
Attendees: Erin Trampel, Christian Montes, Alex Welch, Nathan Brown, Ruth Robarge, Grace Diebolt, Rameka Sahadeo; Staff: Jessie Riggins, Lee Heartman, Jeanine Asay, Ian Bradt
Called to order at 7:05 pm.
Reports
Artistic Director, Lee
Excited to launch back into rehearsals this week. Huge thanks to Christian and all the members involved with the 12 Days of Carols. They were really great at getting our name out there and most importantly we sounded and looked good compared to many of our peer organizations.
Meeting with No Divide KC tomorrow night to go over submissions for a possible collaboration about creating “artistic space” and coming as you are. KC Vitas and newEar are also collaborating on this project alongside some visual artists and dancers. Not sure what our role yet will be as that will be determined by the submissions. I won’t agree to anything without consulting Jessie, Ian, Christian, and Nathan first.
Found a grant opportunity for the Mighty Mo commissions that looks promising that is due before February 1. Jessie and I will work on that.
I’m concerned about the lag between the network for good checks and our donation receipt letters. I wonder if we could use the money in our bank account as a “cash advance” so that the people’s donations are more accurately reflected.
If someone can send me a list of the physical address of people who have donated I’d like to write a thank you note sent separately.
Facebook donation letters are sent out by another company, not us. Lee would like to send out ‘thank you’ letters to donors (CY2020). Our donation letters are exported from flipcause and emailed through mailchimp.
Assistant Artistic Director, Jessie
Still working on the best platform for a listening session hosted by Mighty Mo. The best ones I have found all require Spotify premium logins, but I would rather not choose something that would exclude some audience members. Christian - would twitch be an alternative to use here? I’d really like something with a chat feature.
Next Tuesday (12th) I will be hosting a trivia night/hangout via zoom for the band to engage our membership, a Facebook event has been created in the member forum. I will also be planning a movie watch party for later in the month.
I implore everyone to take a look at what you each could be doing during these times to continue to move our organization forward. There are basic functions of our organization that are suffering due to inaction. This is also a time we should be engaging our members, checking on them, and connecting with them.
Kast is another option for the streaming event.
Board Chair, Christian
Officer elections are next month. I need all those interested in being an officer to please send me an email no later than the end of next week (Friday, 15 Jan.) As a reminder, the board elects their officers every year in February. The board has the following officers:
Board Chair - Responsible for running the meetings, presiding over the board.
Vice Board Chair - Backup to the Board Chair.
Secretary - Responsible for keeping/distributing minutes, counting votes during online votes, and keeping the board calendar.
Treasurer - Keeps financial oversight for the band by keeping the financials, submitting tax info to the IRS, and paying bills.
More in-dept descriptions of the officer duties are located in Section 4 of the bylaws located here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ut1O_aJRRpf5qdTpzCTCHWADRUb4jcow/view?usp=sharing
If you have any questions feel free to contact me. If you don’t contact me before the deadline I will assume you’re not interested in running.
Staff contracts are being reviewed by Ian and will be completed by the end of the month.
Lastly, thank you all for an amazing year and for everyone being so flexible. We’ve done one of the hardest things: Adaptation. We all learned how to play with each other digitally (quite well!), we all learned to embrace the digital world and become experts on how to navigate through it. You should all be proud of all we’ve accomplished.
I agree with Jessie, that we need to all brainstorm together to think of ways to get our members engaged. I’m hopeful that we will get to be together soonish and now’s the time to start checking in with everyone and seeing where they’re at.
Special thanks to Nathan, Emily, and Erin who have finished their term with us. They have worked hard to make sure our band prospers and continues to grow. While a couple of them have chosen to rerun for the board, today will be Emily’s last meeting. Thank you Emily for all your hard work all these years and the contributions you’ve made as a board member!
Thank you to Erin as well. As our secretary for many years, she has done an amazing job keeping us organized and keeping the board meetings running smoothly. Erin will be stepping down as secretary to allow others to run for the officer position. Thank you Erin!
No additions.
Vice Chair, Austin
No report submitted.
Not attending meeting.
Treasurer, Nathan
Financial documentation available upon request.
Nathan will be working on the tax donation letters. 1099’s will be sent out by the end of January
Secretary, Erin
Minutes submitted 1/4.
Minutes approved as corrected.
Business Operations, Ian
No report submitted.
Staff contracts are being reviewed. WIll review donations to ensure that all are in flipcause.
Mighty Mo, Joe
No report submitted.
Not attending meeting.
Kelly, Social Director
No report submitted.
Not attending meeting.
Jeanine, Librarian
ASCAP reporting was submitted and approved.
No additions.
Webmaster, Erin
Removed Christmas hero from website, will get with Jessie sometime to go over website improvements/updates.
Need to update mission statement on Flipcause to match the website. Erin will look into the new Membership section of squarespace.
Committee Reports
Fundraising, Rameka
Chipotle Fundraiser raised $63.59 - will be getting our check in 30 (or so) days.
Working on Sexy Sax-O Grams for Valentine’s
2021 flipcause campaigns will be archived.
Marketing, Grace
No report submitted.
Thank you to Rameka for helping with social media posts for the fundraisers and fundraising events. Saxie Valentines are planned and ready to go, complete with sponsors.
Membership, Alex
No report submitted.
Among Us virtual social went well, attendees are looking forward to doing it again. The group would like to do member spotlights. Christian would like the first round ready in time for the annual meeting to show to the membership.
Membership agreements need to be done in Flipcause this year, dues should be paid before the annual meeting. Full year memberships will be pulled down as the year is half over. The committee is planning a watch part for the inauguration.
Election, Jessie
The election committee met this evening and interviewed our two candidates. We would like to put forth a slate of the following nominees for Board approval: Nathan Brown and Erin Trampel
This still leaves one open director position, which our bylaws allow to be filled by appointment by the board. We recommend revisiting this appointment later in the year, once the pandemic situation allows for more in-depth recruiting of potential candidates.
No additions.
Old Business
No old business.
New Business
Transition from Action Items to Review of OKR
Lee - Encourage outreach and inclusivity via virtual activities: Participation in activities increased by ✔
Christian - Encourage outreach and inclusivity via virtual activities: SM Followers/ Friends/ Subscribers increase by ✔
Rameka - Encourage outreach and inclusivity via virtual activities: Increase unique events
Austin - Recognizing local marginalized communities: Increased partnership with local orgs
Christian - Recognize Active Members - Celebrate Success & Community: Increase video submission by ✔
Austin - Recognize Active Members - Celebrate Success & Community: Increase submissions of member spotlight participants by ✔
Jessie (via Lee) - Recognize Active Members - Celebrate Success & Community: Increased engagements via recognition by ✔
Annual Meeting Agenda 29 Jan 2020 7pm
Let’s set up our Agenda
I figured it would be good to do a google meet meeting as I’m assuming there’s no limitations. Should we switch to zoom instead?
The membership knows zoom better, so that is prefered. Ruth would like to add OKRs to the meeting agenda. Add new vision and mission statement.
Approval of Nominee Slate from the Election Committee
The Election Committee puts forth a slate of the following nominees for Board approval: Nathan Brown and Erin Trampel
Ruth moves to approve the slate. Grace seconds. Slate is approved as submitted to be voted on by the membership.
Should vaccine proof be required to return to rehearsals?
The membership will be polled for their opinion. Requiring it could help take any liability off of the band and protect our membership. We could include it in the annual membership agreement. We will review what we can/should do with legal council. The board will do more research.
