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Board Meeting Minutes — December, 2024

  1. Open

    4:03 Eastern, Brandon called the meeting to order
    Present: Matt, Ruth, Brandon, Isabel, Quintyn, Fred, Shneur, and Peggy are voting members
    Amanda non-voting
    Not present: Charlotte, Enrique

  2. Approve Agenda

  3. Review Previous Meeting Minutes

    1. [2024-11-17]
      Quintyn and Amanda have made some changes to the original minutes so we looked at the minutes again. No opposition to approving them.

  4. Reports (20 minutes)

    1. President/Vice-President (5 minutes) No reports at this time

    2. Central Office Report – CO Director (5 minutes)

      • State of the Central Office – Amanda shared a report including Completed Tasks Since November Meeting.
        1. Paid for film festival and the CPA who prepared our 2023 Form 990 last month.
        2. Made about $500 from the new bookstore so far.
        3. Paid UN rent for three months.
        4. Paid Directors & Officers liability insurance.
        5. Paid editors for Issue 3 of Usona Esperantisto.
        6. Sent form letter to prisoners who have inquired over the past few months.
        7. Supported committees: Membership, Nominations, and Dulanda Kongreso.
        8. Responded to questions/concerns about survey & membership list.
        9. Now using Monday software for organizing Central Office tasks. (Brandon adds that we got Monday for free, as a nonprofit. We get up to ten licenses.)
      • Pending tasks for year-end:
        1. Finish D&O insurance rider application for CO Director and Treasurer bonding.
        2. Get Docusign set up and get Dulanda Kongreso contract with KEA signed.
        3. Prepare a year-end Mailchimp that will include several topics:
          1. Announcement about Dulanda Kongreso with website link
          2. clarification about the new membership system on Square as of Jan. 1,
          3. reduction of intermediary services (being go-between for bookstore purchases and memberships through other Esperanto organizations),
          4. follow up with IRS about Reed Trust taxes,
          5. send thank you letters to donors, especially lifetime members joining in 2024
          6. review inventory data in Bill’s Quickbooks and do a full, physical inventory so QBO is clean on Jan 1
      • Dulanda Kongreso Update
        1. NASK team is working on resolving an issue with lodging, and there’s a good chance they will approve NASK in Toronto.
        2. Website for the Dulanda Kongreso is ready: Toronto2025.net

    3. Finance Report – Treasurer (5 minutes)

      • Matt gave his report; [here is a link to that document]. Also, here is [the folder containing the detailed statements].

    4. Executive Committee – Secretary (5 minutes) No report

  5. Old Business (5 minutes)

    1. TAKE 2026 (5 minutes – Brandon)

      • Suggest that we postpone a decision to host TAKE for now, express support for it to be held in North America and a willingness to work with others to help that happen. Reluctance of others to travel to the U.S. due to political situation may be a factor. Quintyn suggests we take another year or two to figure out our finances before we take on a project as big as hosting TAKE. Shneur asked about participant numbers; maybe as many as 200, said Brandon. Peggy and Q both said it can be hard for people to get a visa into the U.S. Team agrees that 2027 may be a more realistic time frame for us to potentially host TAKE.

  6. New Business (65 minutes)

    1. End of year membership renewal drive (Peggy – 5 minutes)

      • In Slack a week ago, Peggy shared a Google Sheet lapsed member list.

      We want to be sure people understand that THIS MONTH is an ideal time for them to renew their memberships, or to rejoin if their memberships have accidentally lapsed. If they wait until January, the dues will cost more. We have sent Mailchimp announcements out, but maybe some people have not read or understood.

      Ruth requested a sort of script or bullet points that can be used in these communications; Peggy will write one and send to the board.

      Matt said he is willing to contact people whether he already knows them personally or not. Peggy asked, do other board members feel the same? Ruth said that after Peggy sends the script, it’ll be easy for board members to do this.

      Peggy will suggest “assignments” in the GoogleSheet.

      • In the new year, the membership committee hopes to be able to introduce an electronic membership directory; soon we will begin a trial period with one possible program, to evaluate it in terms of privacy, usability, etc.

    2. Financial Policy Updates (Matt – 10 minutes)

      • [POLICY Financial Management] – View the addendums at the bottom:
        1. Investment Management Addendum. This pertains to endowment and our investments. Matt showed us a draft of the addendum. Garry Evans, president of KEA, experienced investment manager and special member of our investment committee, has reviewed it too and advised us on investment strategy. Investment diversification will help manage risk; mostly ETFs (ETFs are Exchange–Traded Funds and are similar to mutual funds but with much lower cost structures). The asset classes in our portfolio reflect moderate risk tolerance. The document includes a mention of responsible investing, though admittedly that is a tricky area.
        2. Reporting Details Addendum. Matt and Ruth have put together, these are the tasks we will report on monthly, these are quarterly, etc.
        3. Matt moved to approve both of these addenda. Ruth seconded it. Eight in favor. None opposed.

    3. Budget (Matt – 30 minutes)

      • [DRAFT – E-USA Budget_FY25_P&L – v1.xlsx]
        1. A few of us reviewed this together during the 30 minutes prior to this board meeting. Matt thanks everyone who has commented while this has been up in Slack. Also many thanks to people from outside of E-USA who have helped. The budget is organized into:
          1. Income (dues, donations, corporate gifts, etc)
          2. Cost of goods sold (mostly related to the Bookstore)
          3. Expenses
            1. Landa Kongreso and Usona Esperantisto are considered programs because they go well above the minimum requirement in the bylaws
            2. In 2025 the Landa Kongreso budget is simple, because KEA is taking care of the details and we will pay them what we owe solely based on participation of E-USA members.
            3. We may or may not spend all of this; a budget is an estimate

      Our budget is important for completing our Form 990 for the government. Brandon pointed out that grant-making organizations will look at this information to decide whether to make grants to E-USA.

      Matt responded to questions from Ruth and Fred about specific areas of the budget.

      We pay small annual dues to UEA for E-USA members who are not UEA members.

      Amanda will attempt, throughout 2025, to keep track of approximately how much time she spends on different general types of tasks.

      Deficit of nearly $12,000 is projected in this budget. Also, there are large spendable amounts in the endowments which will be better organized into the following categories to help drive our programs while remaining true to the endowment’s instructions: Education (CATW, Schulze, and Goldman Funds), Education/Scholarships (Lewis (aka NASKE) Fund), Promotion (Wolff Publicity Fund), Promotion/Publishing (Restricted Publishing Fund). Matt explained that it isn’t as bad as it sounds, because the spendable amounts of the endowment funds will be used to pay for parts of the eligible programs by fund; that isn’t money that comes in the door during the year, so it isn’t shown in the year’s income.

      Brandon and Quintyn commented that this year’s budget took a lot of work, making it clear and complete. Many thanks to Matt, Ruth, Amanda, Deepika, and anyone else who has helped.

      Matt moved to adopt the budget. Quintyn seconded. Eight in favor. None opposed.

    4. Discussion of communication strategy and community expectations (10 minutes)

      • How do we want to handle our communications strategy?
      • Peggy would love to see an electronic newsletter maybe every two weeks, something that members can receive but nonmembers don’t receive. Some people want to know, what will I get if I pay dues?
      • Matt comments that the content we send out can drive traffic to the website and our social media sites
      • Brandon agrees that it’s fine to include information about Bobelarto, the Universala Kongreso or other events
      • Ruth suggests we include highlights from the Eventa Servo calendar
      • Amanda mentions that the Central Office receives newsletters from other organizations (Gresillon, etc.), and maybe a volunteer can read them and communicate to the members any information that is valuable
      • Brandon proposes featuring the “local group of the month”
      • More frequent electronic newsletters like these would require more time and effort than the current level of communication
      • Peggy suggests taking a survey of members in January, seeking talents and skills that can serve the organization
      • Brandon says, we just have to follow through and keep on top of things
      • Matt says, we need a social media person who posts on Facebook, Telegram, etc. and decides where to post things.
      • Amanda says we ought to revisit these things, this whole topic, in a future meeting.

    5. Executive Director Position Review (10 minutes)

      • [2024 Annual Review.docx]
      • [Transitional CO Director Position – Final]
      • Went into executive session at 5:31 Eastern. The six voting members present at the time voted to approve the Summary and Recommendations, and adjourned Executive Session at 5:51 Eastern. The approved Summary and Recommendations:

      We recommend that Amanda Higley Schmidt be made the Executive Director of the Central Office (no longer in a transitional capacity) and that the budget for labor for the position be increased from an average of 20 hours per week to 25-30 hours per week. The Executive Committee will work with Amanda to craft an updated position description for the Permanent Director of the Central Office/Executive Director position by the end of January 2025.

  7. Miscellaneous

  8. Adjournment

Minutes were taken by Peggy, in Charlotte’s absence.
(Thanks, Matt and Amanda, for your additions and clarifications!)