October 29, 2001 Board Minutes

Attending: Jane Grace Bowman, Barbara Brodsky, Dottie Coyne, Kris Kurnit, Aiji Pipho, George SanFacon, Pat Shalis, Kalindi Trietley.

Minutes for September 17, 2001: The reading of last month's minutes was waved in the interest of time.

Follow-up on September Action Items:

1. Dana Woosley has no specific computer ideas or anything she wanted to report as an issue.
2. Pat to email Nicholas about the Excel file of the date base—done.
3. Barbara will find appropriate work for Ethel. The Board agrees that Ethel gets her scholarships for retreat as payment for the office job she is doing. New Action Item - Barbara will call Ethel tomorrow.
4. Dana advises that no paperwork for contract employees is needed except the tax forms at the end of the year.
5. Nicholas' task on creating lists is not done yet.
6. Camp Sarah Grindley is no longer a consideration.
7. Regarding Volunteer/Contract Help: George explained that there is core administrative office work that the Board needs to have done to support the operation of Deep Spring Center. We are willing to pay with cash or scholarships.

Newsletter: Jane Grace wishes to resign as newsletter editor. She would like to choose the Aaron articles, but not be responsible for the organization and decision making. She is willing to cover until another person steps into this job. At present, three people work on the newsletter. It can be a one-person job as it used to be for seven years. New Action Item - With Jane Grace's input, Kalindi will send the job notice that Barbara will post to the entire email list.

We are spending triple what we used to spend. But, at this point we can afford it and more people are contributing to it. It is our primary notice for retreats. New Action Item - Barbara will pull out old issues of the Deep Spring newsletter for comparison.

Regarding Committees: Does the Board decide committee makeup or does the committee decide? What role does the Board play in committees? In general, we are available for any issues and problems, but the committees should be able to work on their own. Committees should bring status reports to the Board, which can advise. It would be helpful for the Board to set expectations for each committee so that the administrator could check up on them. It would be helpful to have a list of who is doing what on what committee.

Kalindi is volunteer coordinator but she is not told who is volunteering for what. We could get Ethel to write up all the various works of the volunteers. She could keep track of them for us. Ethel could report to Kalindi.

Membership Defined: The Board agrees to put the membership issue on hold with Kalindi abstaining. Kris will put a letter in the next newsletter explaining that we do not have membership definition consensus. Membership will be a spiritual decision. New Action Item - Kris will write a letter for the next newsletter.

Financial: Dana and Pat will meet on November 17th to talk about the financial report format. Pat is interested in suggestions. George wants to see how much money is brought forth from the previous year. We could then know our balance on hand.

Buildings/Facilities: We do have consensus that we want a space. Now a meeting of the fundraising committee can be called.

Rental Issue: Susan Weir and Kris Kurnit reported on where we would stand if we rented or purchased space. Our monthly expenses will have to be covered by reliable monthly income. The trick will be to create additional income items to comfortable exceed our expenses in a new place. New Action Item - Whether we buy or rent, we will need cosigners to get a mortgage or a rental contract. We need information about this aspect of the deal—how many cosigners we need, etc. Kris will ask the New Enterprise at Work about mortgages for not-for-profit organizations. Leslie may be able to help with this.

The Board agrees that the Site Search Committee can begin looking for a rental or a purchase. Kris reported that we have about $20,000 at the present time. This figure included the building fund. New Action Item - Kris is going to talk to Susan Weir who is standing by for a green light from the Board to continue searching for a space for Deep Spring Center.

Fundraising: Barbara read an article from Spirit Rock's newsletter about fundraising by Ajahn Amaro.

Marketing/Information flyer: Regarding a new trifold piece explaining Deep Spring. New Action Item - Kalindi and Dottie will approach Kenny King at Frog Holler Farm about creating a trifold brochure for Deep Spring Center.

Office Assistance: Kalindi needs help with the mailing list in order to email from it. Aiji is unable to open any attachments that have been sent. New Action Item - Barbara can with both of these.

Computers: The Board voted to underwrite Barbara's Mac laptop purchase. She is to get a new one and a warranty and a service contract. She will need some attachments and Microsoft Word. The bill may come to $2400 at the outside. The Dell laptop will be held for the future office manager. New Action Item - Barbara will run the decision on the computer by David Brown.

Ajii suggested that Deep Spring purchase Quark Express ($800) as it is the best program for creating printed items. The Board did not agree to purchase this program at this time. Barbara will consult Nicholas first. He might have some ideas. Ultimately we have to think about how often we would use such a program.

Meeting Adjourned around 9:30 p.m.

Handouts:
Retreat Committee Minutes
Financial Reports (2) for September 2001 and October 2001