Camp Ten Trees Board’s One Day Retreat November 16th, 2013 notes by Shanna Woody, board secretary What: One day board retreat When: November 16th, 2013 Where: Nicole’s house Board Members Present: Brennon Ham, Nicole Browning, Quita St. John, Danny Hanson, Juliana Duso, Jenni Hurner and Shanna Woody Invited Staff Present: Airen Lydick (Executive Director) and Cori Jaeger (Camp Director) Others Present: Jay Heiny (board applicant) Absent: Megan Bokan and Leslie O’Connor Agenda for Today’s One Day Board Retreat: 9:30‐11 a.m. Brunch (Nicole’s – 422 26th AVE E) 11 a.m. ‐ 12 p.m. Morning Group Activity (Walk to Arboretum) 12‐1 p.m. Staff’s Agenda for the 2013‐2014 Year a. Check out the results of Airen and Cori’s October staff retreat to see what’s on the staff’s agenda for Connecting & Collaborating, for supporting Team Pegasus, for Auction Volunteer Work Group, and more for the 2013‐2014 year. 1‐2 p.m. Lunch (Bring a sack lunch to eat at Nicole’s.) 2‐3:15 p.m. Connecting & Collaborating a. Building upon the staff’s work plan for the year in this area, we’ll discuss how the board can lead a complimentary level of making new connections and nurturing collaborations. b. We’ll discuss how the Mission, Values, and Commitment to Social Justice guide both with whom we make connections and pursue collaborations as well as how we do so. c. Finally, we’ll leave this segment with some stated goals for the board (as individuals and as a group) in the realm of Connecting & Collaborating. 3:15‐3:30 p.m. Break 3:30‐5:30 p.m. Fund Development a. During this portion of the day, we’ll sketch out Fund Development ideas for the 2013‐ 2014 fiscal year, with recent years' lessons to guide us. We’ll cover all relevant funding streams, from individual donors to the auction to grants to workplace giving and more. b. We’ll discuss how the Mission, Values, and Commitment to Social Justice guide both what we do in terms of fund development as well as how we do it. c. Finally, we’ll leave this segment with some stated goals for the board (as individuals and as a group) in the realm of Fund Development. 5:30‐6 p.m. “Flag Pole” – evening gathering and closing activity 6 p.m. Time to hang‐out and socialize for those who are interested
Camp Ten Trees Board’s One Day Retreat November 16th, 2013 notes by Shanna Woody, board secretary NOTES 1‐2 p.m. Staff’s Agenda for the 2013‐2014 Year 1. Airen and Cori posted multiple documents up around the room, so that board members could peruse them. These documents are the result of the staff’s recent staff retreat as well as other planning they’ve done to frame their work for the 2013‐2014 fiscal year. Documents included: Executive Director’s workload timeline through the end of January Camp Director’s workload timeline through the end of Janaury Overview of the efforts of Team Pegasus for the fiscal year, including calendaring of each staff person’s support and guidance of Team Pegasus Staff’s plans for outreach work for the fiscal year, framed through Connecting and Collaborating visioning 2. Board members spent the first 10‐15 minutes of this section of the retreat reading over the posted materials listed above. 3. Board members then dove into some conversation/brainstorming on various topics: Camp Ten Trees board business cards ‐ ? Brennon brought up the collaboration with other orgs Julianna is a GSBA member and knows someone who works with Bank of America and has talked about collaborating with Camp Ten Trees; Also, Julianna knows org Out for Sustainability – going to try to get someone at the auction at her table. Airen shared that previous campers have received scholarships from the GSBA, so sometimes GSBA folks know of Camp Ten Trees because of that connection. Airen answers a question to let the board know that yes, Camp Ten Trees has annually been a co‐ presenter for the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival as well as the Translations Film Festival. This has involved hosting a table about our organization at various screenings and sometimes speaking before the screening. Often, we’ve co‐presented the Reel Queer film shorts. Can we get the existing Camp Ten Trees advocacy video out there more? – at Translations Film Festival as a short – or perhaps we need to put some resources into making a new Camp Ten trees video. What’s the database that can help us stay organized in regards to networking? Can we get an online document or program that the board can access and update on a regular basis? Currently donor records are kept in QuickBooks and in Excel. We need to figure out how we are going to use that for the future in relation to our particular goals, the impact of relationships with individuals and organizations, funding, etc. Do we want to invest in donor software? And potentially have a cloud version of it, so that there is online access for the board, etc. There is some software that coordinates better with QuickBooks, so we should choose wisely. The tracking within the software can assign a dollar value, but also a social value or a value in relation to the mission/vision statement/commitment to social justice. How about a donor thank you to businesses who contributed to that year’s auction, to be sent closely after the camp sessions in summer – produce a smaller card with a camper story on it, something personal to thank them for their contribution, their connection and the importance for supporting our vision (and it could potentially get them geared up for the following year) We could each have a group of donors (the same donors) that we could focus on sending energy regarding camp – to maintain and up our connection to our constituency, keep them informed, etc.
Camp Ten Trees Board’s One Day Retreat November 16th, 2013 notes by Shanna Woody, board secretary NOTES 2‐3:15 p.m. Connecting & Collaborating CONNECTING AND COLLABORATING AT THE BOARD LEVEL Representation/Decision‐Making Leadership/Accountability: Networking with other boards and exchanging skills, attendance at events, etc. Keeping donors updated through relationship Proactive reaching out to connect and then problem solving as things arise (Begin relationship building even if you don’t have every bit of information at hand) Maybe have a point person watching for this at board meeting, similar to when someone keeps track of time management Cultivate follow‐through on things because we’re collaborating and that’s a motivator Relationships with skills‐based volunteers to fill holes – connecting them with staff Shepparding connections that are happening through multiple roles (Auction donor, program overlap, etc.) Stewarding Laura Pierce as collaborator in board skills development opportunities (Getting a lead on good opportunities to learn) Connect with more parents to get better representation of camper’s parents on board Strengthening connections with organizations by/for underrepresented demographic groups (volunteer together for something) Out In Front (org.) leadership project (feasibility study on having 3rd session, etc.) Distillation of Connecting and Collaborating at the board level‐‐‐what we plan to focus on first Keeping donors updated through relationship (Remember Danny’s advice about not getting stuck) Relationships with skills based volunteers to fill holes and connecting them with staff to do stuff Stewarding Laura Pierce connection regarding board member development skills Strengthening connections with organizations by/for underrepresented demographic groups (volunteer together for something) Get on Out‐In‐Front’s radar as a potential organization with which they’re doing a project (Sept 2014 – May 2015) Communications plan that accounts for staff work, board efforts, etc. NOTES 3:30‐5:30 p.m. Fund Development FUND DEVELOPMENT AT THE BOARD LEVEL Representation/Decision‐Making Leadership/Accountability: Small events or activities put on by individual board members – one per month Connecting ongoing donation (per month) to a “secret seconds” (but more) auction package Research companies that do matches and add them to our list online More keeping people updated regularly on “how we use our money” to donors Could be e‐card, e‐newsletter, etc. Cultivating monthly or annual (any kind of recurring) donation Educate donor‐advised fund holders Personal giving by board members and how it relates to potential friend giving (“join me,” role modeling) Reviewing what we’re already doing, what do we want to keep doing, how much time/money to invest in them
Camp Ten Trees Board’s One Day Retreat November 16th, 2013 notes by Shanna Woody, board secretary For small events or activities held by board members – capture data on donors and share in accessible place (accessible to the board) Explore free “thermometer” style tracking for each board member Keep up knowledge of our percentage of funding coming from different streams and deciding if it’s working or not Assess auction goals and structure and decide if we wan to change things up or not, does our process align with goals? (Table allocation, etc.) Connect with potential donors at other events Thank you note signing time during board meetings – to people who contribute in all sets of ways fund‐ wise/resource‐wise Talk about resources (fund‐related) that each board member has to contribute and be aware of our success with that organically so far…and how a cultural shift to bring it front and center might change things/be othering/affect people Clarify benchmarks for individual goals for board members Remember board buddies! Do demographic/skills assessment from board orientation packet Don’t undervalue people who only give financially FUND DEVELOPMENT AT THE BOARD LEVEL: BY JANUARY 1ST Calendar of individual board members months for small events/activities Research companies that do matches and add them to our website list Work with your individual connections to encourage recurring gifts Get list of donor‐advised fund organizations Asking friends who attended auction to take on own table captaining Fund development strategic plan (At January retreat) Knowledge of funding streams Auction goals/structure Everybody who’s given anything in last year – to receive post cards – do labels, postmark, sign Retreat content: our culture of different ways of board giving AUCTION GOALS SCV special acknowledgement (or goodie bag or early access or pin of acknowledgement) To talk about ticket price tiers – low/medium/high – to change? (SCV, parents, campers in mind) VIP more special (performance, meatier goodie bag, etc.) Hold seats for board members until __ weeks prior to event Crowd source virtual table NOTE: Approval of minutes from recent meetings September board meeting minutes Danny motioned to pass these as is, Brennon made a motion to second. October board meeting (after Annual Meeting) Nicole made a motion to pass these amended notes ‐ Leslie is remaining the Treasurer, not becoming the President – Brennon made a motion to second. REMINDERS! Auction workgroup meeting Thursday, November 21st at 6:30 – 8:30 at the office
