June 25, 2001 Board Minutes

Attending: Jane Grace Bowman, Barbara Brodsky, Dottie Coyne, Kris Kurnit, Aiji Pipho, Pat Shalis, Kalindi Trietley, and Joshua Wong. Joshua, a computer consultant, is an invited guest. He is not present to take part in the board's discussion about DSC computers tonight.

Minutes for May 8, 2001: Read and approved.

Action Items from May:

1. George distributed corrected minutes.
2. Jane Grace contacted Ethel who organized the office nicely.
3. Aiji contacted Joshua and Bob. Joshua is interested in helping us. Bob also helps but is in Florida much of the time.
4. The Board meeting for August 27 will begin with a Vision Meeting at 3:00 to be followed by the evening meeting of business. It will take place at Barbara's cabin and she invites anyone who wishes to come early to swim.
5. Kalindi checked with Susan Weir who sent out a reminder to canvassers, and Kris also sent out a more recent reminder.

Computers:

Progress to date. The email program is now on the laptop, thanks to Bob Bartz. A small printer ($100) has been purchased for use with the laptop at the cabin. Carol Blotter is helping Barbara with the computer at the cabin.

Database question: whether to purchase FileMaker Pro which everyone is familiar with or to use Access which is bundled into the new computer. After considering the point to go with economy and use Access, the Board decided to purchase FileMaker Pro if the cost does not exceed $300. Barbara abstained from the vote. If it does exceed $300, Aiji will contact the Board by email. Pat suggested that in future we use Access to create a more extended database. Future plans: Keeping our tasks simple for now, Deep Spring might use a program such as PCAnywhere for a future interactive application. Joshua can answer questions in the future, reporting to a probable subcommittee of Bob Bartz, George SanFacon, Pat Shalis, Nicholas dePaul, Aiji Pipho and Barbara. These are the ones most connected to the computer discussion. This subcommittee would address the following tasks and report back to the Board:

1. Summarize Deep Spring computer requirements.
2. Identify our known problems.
3. Determine what we need for support.
4. Estimate the costs.

Action Item: Aiji will contact our accountant, Dana Woolsey, for her input; and assemble this subcommittee. Aiji will purchase FileMaker Pro.

Hiring an employee: The subcommittee for employees (Kris, Kalindi, Pat and Barbara) has not met. They will decide hours and duties and pay. They will create a job description. Action Item: Kris will call this meeting. Kalindi will email the sangha when the job is ready to be advertised. Ethel update: Ethel Wallis withdrew her application for consideration for the full-time job.

Donations listed in the newsletter. Kalindi brought it to the Board's attention that some names were overlooked in the list of donors. Discussion followed which included suggestions to have the office person handle thank yous; having a year-end tax letter regarding all donations; making record keeping a priority. Being accurate and business-like in our dealings is a priority. In that vein, we discussed the possibility of having an address separate from the Rothbart/Brodsky household mail. Action Item: The next newsletter will show our apologies for those not included in the original donor listing.

Committee Reports:

Financial: Several handouts were viewed and copies will be distributed at a later date. These represent Kris' final report before Pat takes over as Treasurer. We have $6500 in the bank. Action Item:  Kris will contact Bob Dohrenwend, broker in NYC, to gain his advice regarding gifts of stock to Deep Spring. She will report to the next Board meeting and it will be a Board decision whether or not to liquidate the stock.

Retreat: Kalindi distributed four pages of committee meeting minutes and presented the committee's concerns about the time they spent during retreats solving problems. The Board suggested that we have a Retreat Manager and a Kitchen Manager to ease the responsibility of the committee itself while those members are on retreat. A more difficult problem was noted regarding scholarship retreatants who did not show up for their assigned tasks and, actually, did not show up for all the sittings. Much discussion followed. The consensus of the Board is that the Retreat Master is the best one to work sensitively but firmly with these individuals and help them resolve their relationship with the retreat process. Ideally, the Board feels that no one should be turned away from the retreat experience for financial reasons. In the past, scholarships were given as a thank you for work done. The Board offered several suggestions: scholarships and tasks need not be tied; scholarship retreatants can be asked to take part more fully; we can wait to see how registration is coming before we offer financial aid; we can create a scholarship fund to which sangha members can contribute if they wish. The Board decided to let Hal Rothbart continue his retreat scholarship in gratitude for all the telephone calls that he fields for Deep Spring.

Fundraising: Kris reported that we're close to the end of phase one (ten more to canvass) and soon on to phase two which will be to contact all out of town affiliates. A confidential page listing the donors was distributed.

Newsletter: Written report distributed.

Site Search: Written report distributed.

Archives: Written report distributed.

NEXT BOARD MEETING: PAT SHALIS' HOUSE, 2250 CHAUCER, JULY 23, 7-9 PM. Barbara will be on retreat, driving in from the cabin. Dottie and George will be absent.

Handouts distributed this evening:

1. meeting agenda (1 page)
2. retreat committee (4 pages)
3. fundraising committee (1 page)
4. newsletter and site search (1 page)
5. archives (1 page).