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2009/07/11 Summer Board Retreat

Posted September 13th, 2009 by Andy Stanton
On July 11, 2009, the NoVES Board of Directors met at the home of Mary Ellen and Andy Stanton for their daylong summer retreat. Those present were Mary Bellamy, Hank Gassner, Marianne Moerman, Karen Raymond-Hart, Carole Rubin, Sven Sinclair, Andy Stanton, Mary Ellen Stanton, Leader Jone Lewis and Leader-intern Hugh Taft-Morales.
After a candle lighting and go round, the Board approved the minutes of the previous Board meeting (in May), and reviewed the To Do list to see what had been done since the last meeting.
Jone then gave her Leader’s report, reviewing her plans for the summer. The Board had approved Jone’s compensation distribution by email prior to the meeting.
Andy then gave his President’s report, noting that the Board had committed to making a survey a priority and that a Board in Brief column would be in each newsletter. Andy reported that Iris Woodard had expressed her intention to resign as bookkeeper but offered to continue through December and that Sven had volunteered to do the bookkeeping. Sven requested that the turnover be made during the summer to make it easier for him because of the reduced summer workload. Andy and the Board expressed their great appreciation to both Iris, for overcoming the challenge of computerizing the bookkeeping system, and Sven for taking on the duties of the bookkeeper in addition to his duties as Treasurer. Andy and Mary Ellen agreed to continue to pick up the NoVES mail. Mary Ellen agreed to make the bank deposits. The President will continue to review the monthly bank statements.
The Board enthusiastically approved Phyllis Duncan’s renewal application, by a unanimous vote, to the AEU as an Ethical Culture Officiant.

The Board then discussed goal setting – what should receive priority attention during the forthcoming year? We decided to focus on five areas – outreach/visibility, quality of the Sunday morning experience, governance, communication/transparency, ethical action and appreciation.

After a delicious lunch (prepared by Mary Ellen), the Board prepared to vote for officers. Before voting, Andy asked each current officer to discuss the functions of the position. Voting then took place and the Board elected Hank as President, Mary Ellen as Vice President, Sven as Treasurer and Andy as Secretary. The Board voted to give Hank the authority to sign checks.

Hugh then presented the draft of a report he had been working on for several months on the committee structure of NoVES. The bulk of the report consists of “committee definitions” which is an effort to identify the job functions of each NoVES committee so that newer members will know what the committees do. The Board thanked Hugh for the tremendous amount of time and effort he put into this endeavor. Hank asked Hugh, Marianne and Andy to work on the committee definitions.

The Board agreed that it would conduct a survey this year. The results of this survey will assist the Board in setting its priorities and in setting priorities for Jone. The Board discussed ways to increase participation and to ensure that the survey questions are objective and cover the most important issues. The Board agreed to explore the possibility of getting advice and assistance from outside sources, such as the Alban Institute and the AEU. The Board recognized that it would take time to ensure the survey is done well. The Board is committed to giving members the opportunity to provide input as to what should be included in the survey and to making a summary of the results available to members.

The Board supported Mary Bellamy’s request to work with the Secular Student Alliance and appointed Mary to be the Society’s liaison to that organization.

Sven discussed the Society’s financial situation and the status of our pledge campaign. Thus far, only about three quarters of our pledge units have submitted their pledges for 2009/10. This makes financial projections difficult. Sven, Andy and Hank will follow up with those who have not yet submitted their pledges. The Board agreed to continue to meet, when possible, on the third Saturday of the month.

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