August 8, 2009

Board of Directors Meeting

2009-08-30 7:00pm EST
Via Calliflower – recorded

Attending

Commitments and Decisions

• Board has committed to in-person meeting October 17th
• Kristen has committed to catering October 17th board meeting
• Shadee has committed to researching protocol for new elections
• Next board meeting is Sunday September 20th at 7pm EST (4PM PST)
• Patrick to research propose initial ideas for payment of expenses, accounting procedures for accessing OFF accounts, compensation w/i next two weeks
• NY based board members to continue exploring large fundraising event to take place in NYC
• Kristen organization of e-filed notes/minutes
• Nisma committed to providing templates for budgeting, etc.
• Wayne commited to monthly financial reports to the board

Full Meeting Minutes

• Wayne Update
  • Sent on out on email on Friday
  • Highlights below
    • Wayne will most likey be a Fellow at GWU’s Institute of Politics, Democracy and the Internet
      • Required to Co-author a report under the institute’s name
      • Required to blog once a month on their blog
    • May blog as part of the European Internet Foundation’s Policy Blogger’s Network
    • New social media strategy
    • Brenna Holmes, who works for Adams, Hussy, and Associates helping to create our social media strategy
    • Meeting with Mark Walsh, founder of Air America radio- meeting with him Tuesday!
    • Hope to be in beta testing mode of GovLuv within the next few weeks

• Dave Weinberg- Excited about GovLuv and interested in getting involved.  Has been introducing Wayne to important people (including Mark Walsh)
  • Brief Intro: Canadian!  Married with two children.  Been involved in start-ups and different non-profits (e-philanthropy and social media, what it means to fund raise and get on social media)
    • started own non-profit to help people find jobs and network. Started locally and decided to take it to scale- to be easily introduced
  • Vote to place on the board: All in favor
• Congress Camp!  September 12th-13th
• Accounting concerns
  • Need to know what the system and the approval will look like- once we have funds (to ensure that we can reimburse and salary)- What’s the protocol?
  • Need a cost report system, accounting procedure (how does Wayne take money out), what are approved expenditures, compensation
    • We should hire an accountant to help us with this! Nisma knows some people she can talk to- to guide us.
    • Wayne has met with a couple of accountants – about $2000 to get all of this set up initially
  • What’s the standard protocol? Particularly when it comes to expense accounts.  Where can we find this out?- Foundation center?
    • Need to make a decision within the next two weeks
      • Next steps: Compensation
      • Foundation Center
        • Patrick to propose initial ideas for payment of expenses, accounting procedures for accessing OFF accounts, compensation
        • Need an accountant- accounting procedures, even if it happens after the fact
          • Monthly financial statement to board (how much we have, how much we’ve spent, what we’ve spent it on)
            • Wayne commits to submitting this
• Suggestion: google calendar- timeline
  • To keep board meetings
  • Fundraising goals
  • beta testing

• Next Board Meeting? September 20th, Sunday 7pm EST
  • In person board meeting: October 17th, Saturday- ALL Day, meeting – Kristen has committed to catering.
• Executive session
  • Board contributions
    • Board should make a ‘meaningful contribution’ one of the three or four highest contributions you make in a year
    • Discussed what a mini-fundraiser might look like (dinner parties, marathon fundraising, etc)
  • Shadee getting nervous about school obligations and board requirements- will research what elections would look like
  • looking at joint fundraiser for new york board members again this fall