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President, Jan Robinson, called the meeting to order at 5:50 after a lovely potluck dinner.
Present were: Jan Robinson, Leslie Lawson, Larry Sullivan, Don Holznagel, Jeanette Hopkins, Loretta Welsh, Sandra Whiteman, Bruce Conrad, Michelle Holley, Sue Lydic, Gerald Lenzen. Guest: William Smith.
OLD BUSINESS
Announcement Larry has agreed to take over the maintenance of the Website. He has already begun to make changes, so go check it out. Thank you, Larry. Jan will send a formal thank you to Kathy Cardoza for all her work over the year in creating and maintaining the Website.
Minutes December minutes were presented. Corrections:
Larry moved the minutes be accepted as amended, Bruce seconded. Motion carried.
Nominating Committee William Smith reported that the committee is still waiting for a response for the position of President but that everyone else has accepted. The slate of board members will be presented at the membership meeting on January 13, 2007.
Treasurer's Report The report was distributed for review. Jeanette reported there is a $260.00 donation that needs a recommendation for where the funds should go. Rex and Marty will meet, discuss and make a recommendation.
The Annual Appeal has gone very well, there were many donations in December and there has been another $1200.00 in January. As of this date, the total is $9205.00. There are $377.73 expenses to be subtracted from the total. Kudos to Jeanette and her team for this successful fund drive. About 50% of the income is budgeted.
January and February should have more membership dollars. Membership is about 1000 right now and seems to be fairly stable with new members replacing the ones that leave. This is positive considering that other organizations are losing members.
Question concerning the profit from the book sale at the Fall Seminar, Sandi will bring those figures to the February Board Meeting.
Correction for the ISBN Code expense, it should be $915.00 and should go under sales.
Approval of the Treasure's Report as amended, motion by Larry, second by Bruce. Motion carried.
Endowment Fund Gerry reported that the fund as of December 2005 was $129,276.92 and as of December 2006, it was $152, 885.55. $15,000 of that are market gains and dividends. Marty, the chair of the Endowment Funds is researching different ways to invest the money. He may be asking the Board to consider investments that have more risk that our previous investments.
Special Interest Groups Don reported that he has been going through the Bylaws and visiting with Committees to determine how they are formed, if they have written rules/guidelines. The Library Committee does have specific rules but some of the other committees do not. He questioned if there is a chart available that listed all the special interest groups that use the GFO facility. Some of these groups are sponsored by the GFO, some are not. Do we need to change the Bylaws; do we need a policy or some guidelines for what our role is with these groups? Does this pose any liability for us? Our brochure states that we offer space here at no charge for genealogy related groups. Don, Gerry and Loretta volunteered to draft a policy for special interest groups to present to the Board at the February meeting.
Tax check-off box deferred to the February meeting.
ISBN update Loretta reported that the 100 ISBN numbers have been ordered at a cost of $914.95. She personally paid for them and will need to be reimbursed for the cost, minus her contribution. Discussion concerning what should have ISBN numbers assigned to them-all existing books and CD's or just new ones? Loretta and Jim will go through what we have and determine what should be given a number.
Audit of Treasure's Books Sue reported that she audited all the material given to her by Jeanette and had discussed her questions with Jeanette and found no concerns at this time. It was requested that a formal report be submitted for the record. Sue will bring this to the February Board Meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
Budget Variance Request Jan requested a variance in the budget to cover the cost of the Corporate/Business sponsorship letter. The cost is approximately $150.00 for supplies, labels and postage.
Motion made by Leslie, seconded by Michelle to create a line item in the budget for $150.00 for the Corporate/Business sponsorship letter. Motion passed.
Volunteer Coordinator Sandi sent an email to the Board members requesting consideration for the position of Volunteer Coordinators, to assist in securing people for the various jobs that need to be done at the forum. Lengthy discussion concerning what is already in place for recruiting volunteers and what needs to be done. Suggestions included:
Jan, William, Sandi and Jeanette agreed to work on the volunteer form.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:30 P.M.
Next Board meeting - February 13 at 5:30 p.m.
Next Planning meeting - February 13 at 4:00 p.m. (potluck)
Next Membership meeting - February 10 at 2:00 p.m.
Submitted by
Sue Lydic
Recorder for Cathy Lauer
The meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m. by President, Jan Robinson, following an earlier planning session and potluck dinner.
Present were: Jan Robinson, Leslie Lawson, Larry Sullivan, Don Holznagel, Sandy Sterling, Lyleth Winther, Jeanette Hopkins, Cathy Lauer, Loretta Welsh, Sandi Whiteman, Bruce Conrad, Sue Lydic, Gerry Lenzen, Jim Morrow, William Smith and Sue LeBlanc.
Guest Report Sue LeBlanc is a GFO member who coordinates the Ruth C. Bishop Volunteer Recognition Award for FGS and is looking for nominations for this award. The only requirements to be nominated are that the member has contributed his/her volunteer services toward the organization and is someone worthy of being recognized as a participant to the benefit of the genealogical community. This can be a living person or someone who is deceased.
Sue also took a moment to explained that the reason she had not been active in the GFO in the recent past was because of other conflicting obligations and that it had nothing to do with situations that were occurring within the organization at the time. She wants to be involved with the GFO as time permits.
Old Business:
Minutes Minutes of the January meeting were presented and there were no corrections or additions. Leslie made a motion, 2nd by Lyleth that the minutes be approved. Motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report Jeanette reported that the taxes are done and mailed. Basically this tells the Government where we got our money and how we spent it to keep our 501-C status. She submitted copies of her report and told us that our cash balance is much better at this time and we are able to pay our bills with ease, thanks to the membership donations. Marty Krauter has not designated where the remainder of his 2004 cash donation should be used. Another $20.00 check was received from a First Families of Multnomah County applicant. Some old S&H Green Stamps were sold for a profit of approximately $25.00. The Spring Seminar in April is projected to bring in a good income. Research requests have brought in $106.00. A motion was made by Sue L. and 2nd by Loretta to accept the treasurer’s report. Motion carried.
Membership Application Volunteer Form - Sandy S. presented her draft of the new form to be used for new and renewing members. A few additions were suggested and she is looking for more input before making the final copy.
Tax check off box There was nothing to report. Discussion will resume at the next meeting.
GFO persons who do research The list will be updated as Jan contacts those persons to see if the info is still current. Lyleth will announce a cut-off date in the INSIDER for changes, deletions, or additions. Gerry suggested that the names on the list should be rotated on the website in order to give all Researchers an even advantage for business.
Phone book sale Jim Morrow told us that 93 boxes of old telephone books have been sold to Ruth Bishop for the sum of $930.00 and we thank him for his hard work. We discussed what we should do for the persons who donated their locker space to GFO for 11 years. Loretta made a motion that we give them 2 free memberships for one year (to be used as they want) and a certificate for $100.00 at a nice restaurant. The motion was 2nd by Bruce. Motion carried, with one Nay.
New Business:
Spending Policy A new policy will be drafted to make us more current. The Board is encouraged to submit ideas and to send them to Jan. We will have more discussion at the March Board meeting.
Special Interest Groups Don would like to have a written policy that acts as a contract, for procedures to be followed by the SIGs, that would list guidelines and details of what is expected from these groups. More discussion will take place at the next meeting.
Surplus Equipment Jim said that we have lots of equipment in storage that needs to be purged. Bruce, Loretta, and Jim will look for ways to dispose of the items. Most are in need of repair or not working at all. They may be able to advertise on Craig’s List for parts
Volunteer Photos Bruce is almost finished with the Research Assistant and other Volunteer photos.
By-laws Discussion continued about updating the by-laws and a few changes and deletions were addressed. Don is asking for more input, and he will email more of the thoughts to the Board during this month.
Membership meeting for April – Because the Spring Seminar will take place on the scheduled day for the membership meeting, a motion was made by Sandy S. to waive the membership meeting for April. The motion was 2nd by Sue L. Motion carried.
Motion to adjourn, 2nd by Sandy S. was passed at 8:00 p.m.
Next General Membership Meeting – March 10, 2007
Connie Lenzen “Taking Women out of the Shadows” in honor of Women’s History month.
Next Board Meeting – March 13, 2007 at 5:30 p.m.
Submitted by
Cathy Lauer
Secretary GFO
The meeting was called to order, following a potluck supper and planning session, at 5:30 p.m. by Jan Robinson, President.
Present were: Jan Robinson, Leslie Lawson, Larry Sullivan, Don Holznagel, Sandy Sterling, Lyleth Winther, Sandra Stapleton, Jeanette Hopkins, Cathy Lauer, Loretta Welsh, Sandi Whiteman, Bruce Conrad, CR Hanna, Sue Lydic, William Smith.
Minutes were presented and there were no corrections. Leslie moved and Sandy S. 2nd that the minutes be accepted. Motion carried.
Treasurer’s report Jeanette presented her spreadsheet of accounts and told us that we have had more income than expenses for the months of January and February. So far, 40 persons have made reservations for the Spring Seminar. Another check for Multnomah County First Families has been turned in, which makes 3 applications approved. The first commission from Amazon totaling $24.54 has been received. We need to get the word out again to the members that we can earn money by purchasing items from Amazon through our GFO website. A motion was made by Sue to accept the treasurer’s report. Seconded by Lyleth, the motion carried.
SIG Policy Don presented his ideas for discussion regarding the revamping of the current Special Interest Groups policy. He feels that we need to have a solid written policy that will address the current and future SIGs that will be using our room facilities. All persons attending the SIG should sign in at the front desk. Non-members must fill out a blue visitor’s card and pay the $5 visitor’s fee if they plan to do any research in the library. It is the responsibility of each group leader to make this policy known to the participants. Don moved that the policy be adopted, and Bruce 2nd the motion. The motion was approved.
FGS nomination The GFO Board makes the nomination for the Ruth C. Bishop Volunteer Recognition Award for FGS. Lyleth will write up a formal nomination for presentation.
Hall of Fame Nominations will soon be due for this honor. These nominations will come from the general membership.
Endowment Funds Sandi has researched the rules and regulations that were put in place since it’s inception in 1983. The fund was set up to use only the interest earned from the savings for operating expenses. This is a dedicated fund and the principle cannot be used. If the GFO should disband, the money must go to a non-profit organization.
Budget Jan, Sandy, Jeanette, and Don will work on the budget for next year.
DNA Group – Bruce reported that money has been donated by members of the group to purchase books of interest. They have been donated to the GFO library and we will have 2 circulating copies. Bruce will prepare a summary of the donation.
Corporate donors Letters sent out to 575 prospective donors but no money has been received from any of them. Offers for 4 item donations have been received. Jan will check with the donors to see if the items can be converted into cash in the form of EBay bids, seminar bids, or other promotions.
New Printshop Software Loretta has donated Office Professional 2007 software which she has installed on the publishing computer. This is a $499 value. Thanks Loretta!
The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m. on a motion from Larry. Motion was 2nd by Sandy. All were in favor.
Submitted by
Cathy Lauer
Secretary