AEOE Board meeting, Fri 15 April 2005

Walker Creek Ranch, Marin County Outdoor School

Attending: (notes)

Absent: Helen DeLaMaza, George Stratman, Debbie Carraway

8:34 Heather starts the meeting with introductions and people bingo

1. Leadership update
1. Tami/Lisa Co-chairs elect north
2. Tom chair elect south
2. Communication
1. Email lists; email takes lots of peoples' time

i.Laura: yahoo groups can poll members; try a second trial run? ii.Also: people should refer to Board page, for communiqués and links to all groups iii.Maggie: can upload attachments to group iv.Aaron: do we need a 1-page "best practices' sheet for comm.? v.Maggie has been collating policy decisions made, has set default state board as reply to sender; she can set up a daily digest of all AEOE emails, if people want this (but attachments don't come this way) vi.Confidentiality: we don't share our list

2. Heather: wants Board or someone to edit/review any printed/published materials (such as newsletters, press releases, grant requests, letters to potential speakers, articles, etc) before they go out into public; An official board approval isn't always needed - just a couple of good eyes that are familiar with AEOE. Helen, Heather and Maggie have editor aptitudes

3. Membership fees, categories and benefits

1. Complimentary for service? – a suggestion from Helen
   (policy: Board members don't pay membership fees)
2. Provide "institutional membership" for people who do AEOE work on company work time? (16 hours recommended minimum)
   -or give these organizations a thank-you certificate? -"organization of the year" award? -flexibility in recognizing helpful agencies is valuable

>Hoppy will make up a certificate, Maggie can post a template on the website, for easy access

3. benefits possibilities: Bay Nature, Green Teacher, E Magazine, Clearing

Maggie: give option for higher levels? e.g. "Supporting Member," at $50, with premium of a magazine subscription:
-E magazine is $6
-Clearing: we should partner with these guys; Northwest focus, plus; affiliates of NAAEE might get discount
Would this be too complicated for Membership person to coordinate? They (Helen) must be willing
Could it increase our revenue?

4. eliminate Student Member category? ($10 = beer money)
   1. make it one year only? (very few transition to full membership)
   2. raise Basic category to $20?
   3. Add more activities/events? (low attendance, but well-received)
   4. Give new members a code so they can sign themselves up for magazine?
   5. Wait until after Strategic Plan is completed, when members have weighed in on benefits desired

>motion passed: ad hoc group, including Michael, Lisa and Zayanne will work on this with Helen, proposing to wait until Strategic Plan is done, eliminate Student category, add Supporting category, investigate magazine subscription benefits

5. institutional members: Maggie proposes removing the arrangement wherein one individual gets free conference attendance

>motion passes

6. Tom proposes
   1. a promotional CD-ROM that goes to all ROSS at the start of the school year, to promote participation and increase membership
   2. >Hoppy's friend is video-ing conference; a promotional product might cost $3-4000 for 3-4 minutes; a recruiting tool, on the website
   3. an 11x16 poster, from Kinko's, for conference promotion
   4. iii. tear-off cards: info on one side, membership sign-up on the other, to mail in; get these to every ROSS in September, inexpensive
      - not much room in budget for these things
      - they'd be better than the complimentary newsletter we've sent, which makes people think they're members
      - ecological costs of all this paper?
      - Michael: we need a better membership brochure, but must first wait for strategic plan to be complete, and non-profit status finalized; put Helen and Maggie on a committee for this
      - Aaron and Michael: promote beyond just ROSS group
      - Tom will research expenses in more detail

Break 10:44 - 10:55

4. Tech/website report: Maggie
1. Daily work for her, lots of hours, couldn't do it while holding full-time work
2. Ref. "Boxwood": $10k/month to host job announcements!
3. Resources section: adding our affiliate/partner links
   1. NAAEE, Clearing, Orion, Raincloud, Acorn Naturalists, bookstores, Edmund Scientific, Gaiam, Patagonia, REI, Sierra Trading Post, Sierra Club, Apple
4. Some companies give kickbacks with enough sales via our site
5. We have 80 institutional members now! (now 92!)
6. We have a "green life' page
7. Could do a "training and professional development' page
8. The "games' page needs more input
9. Has member survey on home page
10. "Rustle the Leaf" link; has a good Earth Day pledge

5. Liability form: Laura
1. Maggie will amend, to put 10-20 signature lines on each sheet
2. Add a photography release to this form, too

>motion passed: approve Laura's modified form, and deploy it today

6. Policy: Maggie is posting on-line policy updates; please give her any new information/decisions

At this point, there was a break, to present the first half of the Howard Bell Award to Acorn Naturalists' Jenny Rigby

7. AEOE data gathering
1. Tom wants to understand how many people AEOE affects
2. This'd be useful for grant applications, ads, political influence
3. 900+ members (649 current)
4. Dan and Helen did a survey 2-3 years ago

8. Publicity: Michael
1. Sandi Funke helped with conference
2. CREEC in Bay area, mailed to NAAEE and AEOE members, GSEEC and CREEC lists
3. Hard to fit more people into our conference, sites, though
4. Wants to work on improving our display, with conference and professional development pictures, as well as kid pix; maybe Debbie C. can help. Should there be N and S display boards?
5. new brochure needed
6. staff more tables/booths at other events
7. strategic plan seeks to include more classroom teachers = go to CSTA?
8. Tom's CD-ROM idea could be a useful tool
9. Member survey is on web; 30 responses to date; an internal member survey (vs. external stakeholders) to be handed out at registration, for input to strategic plan
10. Timeline on strategic plan is being stretched out; with Debbie absent from this conference, there's less to be done here

9. Financial report: Zayanne
1. all forms available on website (expense, cash advance, etc.); please do timely submissions, use invoices
2. Heather did a great conference budget: $8300+ net income
3. Combining N, S merchandise sales on one line
4. Can we add expenses for Tom's CD, poster?

>budget proposed, move to accept, seconded, passed

5. investing our accumulated funds
   1. $43k was our lowest balance last year, 77k highest, almost 60k for this year's budget
   2. Zayanne recommends investing $30k in 3 different vehicles:
      1. aggressive long term
      2. safe/secure long term
      3. money market for liquid/cash
   3. all should be socially responsible (SRI)
   4. six-month CD's a possibility
   5. put revenue towards scholarships?

>motion to invest $30k as above, seconded, approved

Zayanne will compose recommendations on exactly where to invest

10. Miscellany
1. plan to attend Sunday afternoon multicultural consultation with Running Grass
2. Janice: passing on 7 years as AEOE historian; she needs a volunteer to work on the history display, boxes of archives kept under her house, scanning the good stuff, labeling N conference fotos

Summary of actions taken:

1. Hoppy will make up an organizational "thank-you' certificate, Maggie can post a template on the website, for easy access

2. motion passed: ad hoc group, including Michael, Lisa and Zayanne will work with Helen: proposing to wait until Strategic Plan is done, eliminate Student category, add Supporting category, investigate magazine subscription benefits

3. motion passed: institutional members: Maggie proposes removing the arrangement wherein one individual gets free conference attendance

4. motion passed: approve Laura's liability release (with photo release) form, and deploy it today

5. 2006 budget proposed, move to accept, seconded, passed

6. CFO will develop detailed recommendations for the investing of $30k in 3 diverse SRI vehicles for liquidity, long term growth and security