DSC Board Minutes - February 26, 2007

ATTENDING: Delyth Balmer, Linda Longo, Susan Klimist, George SanFacon, Gisela Wilson, Peg Tappe, Barbara Brodsky

Minutes from the January board meeting were read and approved.

There was sharing of personal matters from board members.

ITEMS DISCUSSED

• 2007 Budget
  • Linda Longo responded to questions board members had last month about why the 2007 budget was different from the 2006 budget in reflecting class revenue and teachers? fees. In the 2007 budget the income for teachers was recorded as net dollars. This was a change from 2006. The change was made because the teachers had expressed a desire to have classes offered for Dana. Another difference in the numbers was because the Retreat Budget was totally put under ?Miscellaneous? instead of it being broken down.
  • There was discussion about whether the budget should reflect something that might happen (i.e. Dana) or should be changed as needed if the money coming in needs to be recorded in a different manner. Linda Longo read the November minutes regarding the Dana issues. Barbara reported that the teachers didn?t have total consensus about going to a Dana system and not all the teachers were present. There had been a suggestion to begin classes in the fall of 2007 so the Center would have ten months of working with this before the lease came up for renewal or we would be considering a move. The Guiding Teachers Advisory Group will discuss this and make a plan to present it to the teachers again. The deadline for the Fall Class schedule is in June or early July.
  • The board agreed to approve the budget with an explanation, which reflects the difference in how the monies were recorded.
     
• Bookstore Report
  • The bookstore ended the year with a deficit of $138. Susan shared that some of the independent booksellers who gave us a discount have gone out of business. We have not had as much space for the books at the past few retreats. Also Alice is a good sales person and she was out of the office for five weeks this fall. Barbara shared that the original purpose of the bookstore was to have books available to students that the teachers recommended, not to earn money for the center. Deep Spring has a bigger selection in the library and Dhamma books are more readily available. George pointed out that the potential benefits from all that has been sold surely outweigh the small loss incurred
     
• Board approved sending out a Sangha wide email notice for the Interfaith Dedication and Celebration Service.
   
• Retreat Report
  • The February Self Retreat had eleven students attending. The March retreat is full for residential retreatants and has a few spaces left for commuters.
     
• Report on the Newsletter
  • There was some discussion about whether the calendar and the newsletter should be separated and whether the frequency of the newsletter should be changed. The board agreed to keep things the same for the time being. No one has volunteered to do layout for the newsletter. The board agreed that the next newsletter will be significantly reduced.
     
• Who Does What At Deep Spring
  • Peg will check with Sandy about what needs to be done with this. Perhaps he could send out an email to the committee chairs to update who is on their committee and whether they need additional members. For the retreat committee, Suzan Matero and Kathleen Sheridan are no longer on the committee. Regarding DSC Teachers, Martha Zingo?s name needs to be removed and Susan Klimist is on sabbatical. There was no further information about the rest of the teachers or other committees
     
• Report on Guiding Teachers Advisory Group
  • Barbara reported that as Deep Spring has continued to grow she has seen the need to have an advisory group. There is a need to train a group of teachers about the responsibilities a guiding teacher has. She, as Guiding Teacher, also needs a way to receive information, which will help her to make appropriate recommendations regarding classes, teaching and other matters that impact the organization. The advisory group will help brainstorm ways to look at the big picture. How do we bring all the pieces (the board, classes, social activities, committees, etc.) together to create Sangha. The group will meet approximately once a month
     
• Treasurer?s report.
  • We have taken in more than was budgeted. Our budget was for $2,314.87 and our actual net income was $4,509.68. This was primarily a result of our receiving more than expected in general donations. Additionally the ?Practice Intensive Week? which Lou and Susan Weir facilitated generated $900.
  • A CD has been purchased at an interest rate of 4.61% and another has been rolled over with a 4.91 %.
  • Linda gave board members a mini budget/accounting lesson to help us understand the bookkeeping system Deep Spring is using. She will continue this in the next several months.
     
• Sangha meeting
  • The board read and discussed the Sangha meeting proposal that George and Linda generated after last months board discussion. The date is May 6th, 2007. The times were changed to 3:30-6:30 to allow a transition time from Susan?s Sunday afternoon class and set up for the meeting. George and Linda both wanted to emphasize that they intend for the time-line activity to be something that feels fun and alive—generating connections and not just being an exercise. The majority of the meeting would be an exercise in deep listening and dialog (modeled after the format of the August 2006 board retreat). We want to hear about what people want to celebrate and what are the dreams and concerns people have. It was emphasized that we need to allow enough time for each person to have their voice heard. We talked about sitting in the beginning, middle and at the end. There was a suggestion to have a raffle for a free book and maybe music during the opening activity. During the next board meeting time should be allotted for deciding who will do what in preparation for the May meeting.
     
• The 2006 Year-End Fundraising Report and Financial Summary
  • The report was shared with the board. It was noted that donations netted $3,290.27 more than in 2005.
     
• Dates for future board meetings o March 26, April 30, May 21, June 18, July 23, August 27 (if needed).

NEXT BOARD MEETING: March 26, 2007 at 7:00 pm.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 9:25 pm

Respectfully submitted,
Peg Tappe