Board of Directors

Regular Meeting -- August 21, 2011

The Board of Directors held its regular monthly meeting at 2007 Bert Avenue, Austin, TX 78704, starting at 2:35 pm. The following directors (constituting a quorum of the full board) were present at the meeting: President Kathy Lee, Vice President Tamara Vogt, Secretary Pam Chambers, Treasurer Penny Chambers (by phone) and Laine Morales. Robert McGarey, Executive Director, and Ann Carson were also present at the meeting.

Reading of Mission Statement and Approval of Minutes

The Mission Statement was read aloud at the beginning of the meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting were read aloud. The following changes were suggested: Laine Morales was actually present. Under Online Classes, change "it-person "to "in-person".Under GoodwheelChairs, Bob didn't post "on" chairs. Omit "on".The minutes were then approved as amended.

Executive Director's Report

Possible new board member. Ann Carson attended the meeting and talked about her background, including being a counselor, minister and Doctor of Divinity. We will find out next month if she's interested in being a board member.

Finances. Finances in July were particularly difficult because Bob was gone for several weeks.. We are still hemorrhaging but it wouldn't be as bad if we had been selling wheelchairs and if Bob had had more Personal Growth Sessions.

IRS Reports. The 990s went out with one little error in it. Bob is still trying to figure out what to do about that.

Online classes are coming along for AHP. They tentatively offered the webmaster job to Bob for $300 a month. It's tantalizing. but he hasn't decided yet since there is a lot for him to do already.

Fundraising. Kathy is trying to send out an email newsletter about all the ways people can support the Center. It will contain everything we are involved with, Shaklee, Compass for Your Cause, etc. Bob needs to correct a link in the flier before we send it out.

We brainstormed about our annual fundraising drive. Penny suggested that we ask people to sign up for a certain amount per month to donate, even if it is a dollar, but $25 would be better..Any letter should have a section talking about the reasons they should support us, that is, all the great things we do.

In the letter we want them to have only one thing to do, and then ask them to do it. In a follow-up letter, we can remind them to donate, and then tell them that if they're interested in other ways to support the Center, they can click on the following link which would have the newsletter Kathy is talking about..

Bob talked about how a person can know something intellectually through taking workshops, but may not know it at an emotional level or be able to apply it in their daily lives. So we need to remind people that at the Center you get the opportunity to use what you've learned in your workshops, to try it out and practice it as much as you want in order to become a better person.

Pam said it's important to make the letter fun, especially since that's one of our goals at the Center. Tamara said that in addition to fun, one of the big things the Center provides is community.

Penny liked Bob's idea of a "I slayed a dragon! Ask me How" button, since it's energizing. We could tie it into some kind of workshop. At the end of a course we could bring the participants back together to process what they have done since their last get together, using the dragon metaphor.

Penny said it's really important to make it clear what the Center is all about, to put it in front of participants all the time, every single time they come here. Keep reminding them what they are here for.Laine agreed, because the more you tell people that they are going to grow, the more they will grow.

We set a September 10th deadline for getting a first draft of the fundraising letter.

Since there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at around 4:36 pm.

Minutes submitted by Pam Chambers, Secretary, August 21, 2011.