Board Meeting Minutes – February, 2024

Ĉeestas

Ĉeestas sen Voĉdonrajtoj

The meeting is opened. A quorum is declared. Added to the agenda under New Business are a discussion of forming a committee to discuss bylaws changes, and a KpK update. 

Standing Reports

CO

Bill and Amanda have been working together and working to get the CO converted to QuickBooks online, pending support regarding accounting. Amanda reports that many of the current systems will become obsolete once we have an accountant and modernize our retbutiko. 

President

Brandon has had many meetings with Amanda, Quintyn, David, and Charlotte, regarding the LK, the CO transition, the bulteno, and other strategy matters. It looks like we may be able to print and mail the bulteno in a higher quality format for not much more cost.

Treasurer

David has met with Matt, the Treasurer candidate, and has discussed with the finance committee how to diversify our investments and ensure our investments are environmentally sound, as well as bringing on a bookkeeper to work with us more regularly. The monthly reports have been sent to the board.

KpK/VP

Carter WILLIAMS and Lanjo MEJO have been helping build up our social media campaigns. A subcommittee of KpK is also working on a podcast idea that would be largely educational and would promote Esperanto events on behalf of E-USA. Quintyn has been working with members of the board to learn about each person’s priorities and experiences, to help build an understanding of organizational and board priorities. He is also working on a Master’s in Public Administration with a focus on Non-Profits, which will help in guiding E-USA to follow best practices. 

Old Business

Website

Regarding the website, Hoss and Wes have been working together to transfer the bulteno website and allow for a smooth transition with the new editors. This will allow the bulteno website to be more fully integrated with the main E-USA website and accounts. A small working group has been working on outlining the website’s pages, including what the content of each page is, where it links to, and what the purpose of each page is. It is clarified Wes is a volunteer who has programming experience and is a member of the LKK, and who has been helping us set the website back up after it crashed, and helping us plan for longer term sustainability. David states that many links still do not work, such as the bulteno and bylaws, and he asks when this should begin to work. Quintyn states that it should be today sometime for the bulteno, and that he will continue to work with Wes on the other links, but that functionality is still improving.

LKK

We have ordered what we want from the university, but no contract has yet been signed nor money exchanged. Food and hotel options are still being considered. We are now looking at the possibility of allowing minors to stay on campus. Excursions have been planned out, which is being discussed in the Telegram group, and will be sent out elsewhere as well. Campus housing has been figured out and solidified, and excursions will be available for an entire week surrounding the LK. Excursions will have additional costs for participants, which will be advertised in advance, so that participants can plan ahead. The programaro has not yet fully been settled upon, but some programeroj have been selected. David Jordan, author of “Being Colloquial in Esperanto” will be the keynote speaker. Brandon recommends planning several board meetings, as well as dinners and joint sessions with KEA and/or ESF. Saturday night will have a beach BBQ for everyone, rather than a formal banquet. 

New Business

Grant Request from ESF

ESF asked for $1200 to support Lingvohelpilo, which will help people write in Esperanto on their computers, including providing suggestions. ESF will fund the bulk but is asking for co-sponsors, starting with E-USA, in order to show us as leaders in the international movement. While we cannot guarantee they won’t ask for more, they are willing to spend heavily, and we will always be free to say no to any requests for funding beyond this, in addition to the option to say no to this one. They already have a (Dutch) programmer lined up and a budget plan in place. One potential challenge will be ensuring people know about it. This will be a program you can download and add into existing word processors. We will be listed as a cosponsor and can ask for this to be prominent. (Current website). ESF has the information about how the full amount will be utilized and has sent us this in their proposal. This will be a 2-year project. The full proposal has been uploaded into Slack as of January 11th. Amanda speaks on behalf of the people listed as supporting the project. David moves that we support the Lingvohelpilo project by donating $1200 out of the Goldman Fund. Charlotte seconds. Q suggests that such proposals would be able to move more smoothly if the board had agreed upon priorities. Motion passes unanimously.

Grant Request from Liĉjo MILLER

Lee Miller has requested $500 to purchase a scanner which would enable him to digitize his Esperanto library. Lee is the chair of the Educational Media Fund but did not want to approve an expenditure for himself. He wants to digitize the files and let Esperanto-USA manage what to do with them from there, although he does not want E-USA to have exclusive control over them. Brandon recommends that, wherever we share the files afterward, we do so with a statement that these digital files were made possible with a grant from E-USA. Fred points out that Phil Dorcas also has a lot of Esperanto books. David proposes that we give Lee $500 for a scanner from the Educational Media Fund, which supports E-USA’s priority of providing educational and cultural materials, as well as preservation of materials; this money is to be sent contingent on the files being uploaded to a digital location that E-USA will have access to, and that wherever they may be shared, it will be with a statement that these were made available through a grant from E-USA; E-USA shall be updated at least every 6 months through the course of this project. Quintyn seconds. Motion passes unanimously.

Board Procedure

What tool do we want to use from our board meeting? We should also discuss board meeting schedule, voting in Slack, Google Workspaces, and meeting minutes procedure. 

Zoom is what we have been using for board meetings. We could alternately use Google Meet or Slack, both of which would be more convenient. Google Workspaces would also allow outside members to join more conveniently. Fred points out that many people already know how to use Zoom. Charlotte and Quintyn state that Google Meets is very similar and intuitive for people who know how to use Zoom. We could still post the link in Slack like we do for Zoom. David was previously on board with Google Meets, except that in a Google Meets call with Brandon just prior to this board meeting on Zoom, there was more background noise through Meets. E-USA gets the Google Meets professional version for free, and everyone with an E-USA google account could automatically have their own Google Meets, whereas Zoom would cost money. Quintyn volunteers to ensure that, if we move to Google Meets, he will support other board members in understanding how to use Google Meets. Discussion arises as to whether this item requires a formal vote. Fred and Brandon request a formal vote. Fred moves that E-USA adopt Google Meets instead of Zoom as our virtual communication tool for monthly board meetings. Quintyn seconds. Motion passes unanimously.

The board meeting was moved to this current time in order to ensure Tim could attend. Tim has stepped down from the board. Discussion occurs as to whether the earlier time (1 PM Eastern) or the later time (3 PM Eastern) is preferable as a start time for board meetings. Candidates are also encouraged to provide input. Current board members tend to prefer the earlier times, but some candidates may prefer different days or times altogether, so this may need to be changed once we have the new board after the LK. Charlotte moves that board meetings begin at 1 PM Eastern time, starting in March until the board decides otherwise. David seconds. Motion passes unanimously. 

Voting in Slack was initially an option in order to allow the board to make decisions more quickly, but the intent of this seems to have changed to encourage everyone to check Slack for votes. David recommends that voting in Slack be reserved for urgent matters that cannot wait for the next board meeting. This would include times when a board meeting does not have a quorum, but needs to vote on matters without waiting another month for the next board meeting. Brandon asks about how to determine whether a given matter is sufficiently urgent. Mateo suggests that, on his previous board for another organization, a similar requirement was in place, and this was restricted to items with a specific hard deadline. David moves that Slack voting be reserved for urgent, time-sensitive matters. Enriko seconds. Motion passes unanimously. 

Google Workspaces. Proposal for all board members to be provided a Google Workspaces account, which they are to set up and begin to use for any emails related to Esperanto-USA, as well as for Google Drive. Quintyn recommends in the future creating a formal user agreement for board members, which may be a task for the board policy working group. He has something drafted for this. Amanda already has access to help people set up these accounts. This vote would be to clarify and support official board policy, rather than relying upon best practice. David moves that we accept this proposal. Quintyn seconds. Motion passes unanimously. 

David moves that we extend the meeting by 15 minutes. Charlotte seconds. Motion passes by acclimation. 

Virtual Town Hall

It has been suggested in Slack that E-USA have a virtual town hall event in Discord, where the board can present several top items which have occurred under the current board. This could include items like allowing the members to meet the new interim CO director, newsletter editors, and candidates, as well as items like a report by the LKK and the board. This could occur in mid-March. All board members are asked to go into Slack and list in a given thread their top 5 priorities which they believe should be discussed at such an event. Charlotte will then work to schedule and plan the event in such a way as to make sure all board priorities are given time.

By-Laws Changes

It is proposed to form a small committee to work between now and the next meeting to present by-laws changes for the board to vote on, which would then be presented to the membership. David proposes the formation of a committee, including David, Brandon, Fred, and Quintyn, to be chaired by David, to discuss and present possible by-laws changes, which shall meet at least once per week and present a report to the board no later than 7 days before the March board meeting. Fred seconds. Amanda asks whether this will be only board members on the committee, and David says yes, for now it should be. David, Brandon, Fred, and Quintyn all volunteer to be on the committee, and Margo or Jane may also volunteer. David volunteers to chair the committee. Motion passes unanimously.