Virginia Master Gardener Association BOD Meeting, December 12, 2015 Williamsburg, VA The meeting was called to order at 10:00 AM by Christy Brennan, Hanover, and President. She asked all first time attendees to stand up, and welcomed them to their first VMGA meeting. She called upon Marilyn Riddle, JCC/Williamsburg Unit Rep, who welcomed the group to Williamsburg and introduced those MGs who were in attendance helping with food, lunch, and check-in. She introduced Deborah Griesinger, unit president-elect, and Kate Robbins, ANR Agent. They each spoke briefly about the 280 Master Gardeners in their unit and their activities. Christy thanked all MGs from JCC/Williamsburg for hosting the meeting. Then she asked each one present to introduce themselves and the unit represented. Christy introduced special guest, Jo Ursini Krantz, an attorney with a great deal of experience in federal government contracting. Her volunteer work has been with nonprofits. She spoke regarding nonprofits. This was followed by a lively Q&A session. Secretary’s Report Joan Richards, Green Spring, Secretary, announced all had received a copy of the October minutes through email so we will dispense with the reading the minutes. There were no corrections or additions and Pat Reilly moved to accept the minutes as written. Motion was seconded and passed. Treasurer’s Report Pat Reilly, Prince William, Treasurer, read the Treasurer’s Report. The report is attached to these minutes. Standing Committee Reports Communication Members: David Banks, Tom Bolt, Kathryn Debnar, Jan Worthy, Henry Hurricane Thompson and Chair Frank Reilly. 1. Since the October regularly scheduled meeting there have been 2019 unique visitors to VMGA.net and they visited more than 11,864 pages. 2. Since the October regularly scheduled meeting, the web page has been updated on 42 separate occasions. 3. Most all of our visitors come through the front page of our site. Our favorite visitors come from the US but next is Ukraine, followed closely by Romania. 4. Remember that we can help you host your site for awhile, under certain conditions. 5. We need more Calendar entries. The Calendar is routinely one of the top three most visited pages on the website. Listing your activity can definitely help drive participants to your event. 6. Jan Worthy, our Newsletter editor, can use submissions. She published the 10 page, November/December Edition of VMGA Report which was distributed by Tom Bolt. I would like another volunteer to help streamline the reading of our VMGA Report. Qualifications include: proficiency with MS Word or another word processor; the ability to read, and abstract a pithy VMGA December 12, 2015
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statement about each article in the VMGA News; and to convert that into a short lead and a link to the complete article. 7. Our newest committee member, Hurricane Thompson, is currently scouring the webpages dealing with VMGA and membership. There are a few dead links there, and we want him to make certain that what we have makes sense. If you ever notice something wrong with or a way to improve a page, please send me the address of the page with the wording you question cut and pasted into the email. Let us know how it could be different or better. Respectfully Submitted, Frank Reilly, Prince William, Chair, Membership As of December 12th we have: Of those:
561 members 398 are ACTIVE 5 are AUXILIARY 158 are LIFE
I ask the Representatives to encourage folks to send their renewals before May 31st. Any Master Gardeners that wish to be new members of VMGA should do so after January 1st so their Membership will be good till May of 2017. I also ask the Representatives to advise me of any changes in status of any of their VMGA members. Again thank you for supporting our VMGA. Deb Straw, Hill City, Chair Fund Raising Merchandise sales update as reported by team lead, Jody Purches, Appomattox The year-to-date revenue from sales stands at $3,172.06. The cost of those goods sold is $2,128.30, resulting in a profit of $1,043.76 as donation to the VT Foundation for VMGA’s State Coordinator Endowment. We recently purchased additional inventory bringing the value of this asset to $3,529.25. The inventory that was added consists of long-sleeved t-shirts and pocket hoodies, which are now available for sale. Lanyards are not yet here, but we are still planning on having them for sale soon. Endowment update as reported by team lead Pat Reilly, Prince William The balance of cash and pledge payments is $259,294, for a market value of $312,250. Outstanding pledges total $3,600, and deferred commitments are $233,386. Funds were withdrawn from the interest account to help pay for the online modules so the balance of interest earned is $21,637. Betty Villers has passed along a fund raising effort conducted by the North Carolina Master Gardeners. The online shopping site, Amazon, has a charitable activity where buyers log in on “Amazon Smile.” One half of one percent of eligible purchases is then donated to the registered, tax exempt non-profit. VMGA would need to provide basic information to Amazon to register and then send out the link to members so that they enter the shopping site through Amazon Smile. VMGA December 12, 2015
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The Endowment team is looking for interested volunteers to serve initially in an advisory capacity, then to implement strategies. The group would meet with Ben Grove, Associate Development Director for CALS training and brainstorming a fund raising strategy. Please contact Fund Raising Chair Tina Chaleki or Endowment team lead Pat Reilly if you know of anyone who could contribute to this effort. Silent Auction update Several innovations will be implemented at the next Silent Auction in June 2016. Because of the changed dates and “compressed” schedule of College 2016, the auction will open Saturday and close at the end of the afternoon break on Sunday. The auction team would begin close out at the end of the last lecture on Sunday at 4:30pm. Dinner will be provided so the team has time to prepare for close out. The VMGA Annual Meeting will begin at 6:30pm. The evening reception, entertainment and auction item purchase and pick up will begin at 7:30 and continue until 9pm. An idea from the NC Master Gardeners, passed along by Betty Villers is to set a price for which someone can buy an item without going through the bidding process. The price for “buy now” will be set high, but will allow someone to not risk missing out on an item. With a smaller window to prepare for the auction once at College, the team will set out items in the state they are received and not combined to enhance sales. The auction team will solicit specific items from donors who have been so helpful in the past. More emphasis will be placed on items for which a donor will pay in the range of $20-$35. There will be a place for items that are best offered for sale or for a donation rather than bidding. It is hoped that these efforts will make the most of the different College schedule this year. Tina Chaleki, Louisa, Chair Special Committees Nominations and Election Members are Mary Ann Kincaid, Virginia Beach, Marilyn Riddle, JCC/Williamsburg, and Betty Villers, Virginia Beach. The Nominations and Elections Committee presents the slate of officers for 2016-2018. President - Angela Cingale, JCC/Williamsburg Vice President - Joe Kelly, Northern VA Secretary - Wanda Gerard, Suffolk Treasurer - Diane Kean, Northern Neck Betty Villers, Virginia Beach, Chair Christy asked whether there were any names to be added from the floor. There were none. Discussion followed on when and how the voting will take place. VCE Report
VMGA December 12, 2015
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1. Change in dates of MG College – College will begin on Friday, June 24 with check in. Keynote and Concurrent sessions will be on Saturday and Sunday, and tours and workshops on Monday. The VMGA night, with the VMGA annual meeting, silent auction and reception will be Sunday night. Saturday night will be the milestone ceremony. We will be trying something different with the schedule this year: Keynote/concurrent/concurrent/Keynote for Saturday and Sunday. We will only have one catered event this year and it will be on Sunday night. It is our intent to take group to Floyd Country pending transportation and other logistics. 2. Work on modules – Discuss the soils and botany modules that will be ready by the end of January. Two more modules will be complete by late spring 2016. There will also be associated lab exercise with these modules. Part of the support that has made these modules possible is from the Coordinator Endowment. 3. Handbook update – The revision process is complete and we plan to start shipping books before the Holiday break. If you have your orders in by December 15, your training handbooks should arrive in time for the first class during the first week of January. Classes with later start dates will still need 1014 days of lead time right now, so let us know as soon as you can how many Handbooks you need. The price of the Handbook will stay the same for now, at $85.00 per book plus shipping. We will reevaluate this price structure later this year. The Handbook price has not changed in 5+ years, and has only had two increases in the past 12 years. We do not wish to increase the cost any more than necessary, and if there are coming changes, we will provide adequate notice. We are going to be developing a PDF version with active links and images in the coming months, and hope to have that ready by late winter/early spring 2016. Once those are completed, the price structure for new trainees will change to $85.00 for the Handbook in either a digital version or a hard copy format. If someone would like both versions, the price will reflect a significant discount of $125.00 for both. We will make copies of the updated Handbook available to existing EMGs for the discounted price of $50.00. This price is as low as we are able to go while still covering the costs of printing and development. This price will hold for either the print version or the PDF version, once it is completed. We will ask that orders be consolidated at the Unit level and placed once per month if possible. We will still need to utilize the same billing/invoicing process as we utilize with the Handbooks for new trainees. We will be taking comments /edits /corrections for the new Handbook from January 10 to May 1, 2016. These changes will then be made during May 2016, and this will allow us to correct any typo errors or other small changes that may have slipped through the proofreading process (there are a lot of pages in there to read!). 4. Healthy VA Lawns (HVL) training update – This training was hosted in Charlottesville, VA on November 18. We had 34 attendees including agents, local coordinators, and EMG volunteers. During this training we discussed the development of the Healthy Virginia Lawns program. This program has brought 9 lawn care/urban nutrient management programs together from across the state and created forms, guides, and advertising materials to be used statewide by programs who are interested. This oneday training also covered implementing the HVL program and covered the new advertising material which included two promotional videos: one for internal purposes with EMGs, and one for the general public. There were shown and comments were accepted for two weeks following the training. Any revisions to print or video resources should be out by mid-winter for use in Spring 2016.
VMGA December 12, 2015
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5. Share stories – use example from Crystal Tyler-Mackey and the one from Tina Chaleki (Facebook already). We encourage EMG units to share stories they here about the importance and impact of their local programming. 6. Coordinator training has been postponed until February 23. More details will come out soon. 7. Background screening – New enrollment/re-enrollment forms are available on website. These forms have been vetted by the state VCE office and VT Legal Counsel. Everyone’s expected to use them moving forward from Jan 1. The background screening process should be wrapping up and all returning/continuing volunteers should be screened; if any units are just getting started let Jeremy know of extenuating circumstances. The new re-enrollment forms take into consideration the screening process as does the initial enrollment form. 8. Who signs contracts? VCE or Local MG Associations? It depends on the event and whether or not it is a partnership between the local office and the local association or if the association is solely responsible for the event. Dave Close, EMG State Coordinator Dave had a few copies of the VCE Annual Report available to whoever wanted one. New Business Christy announced the February meeting will be hosted by Northern Neck in the Transportation Building in Heathsville. For the Good of the Order Rand Milan, Newport News, asked a question on mapping with trees. He has been unable locate a map that shows trees on a property. Several reps made suggestions. Sam Allaire, Loudoun, asked if units could piggy back on liability insurance with VMGA when signing contracts. The answer was no, that VMGA would not initiate group insurance but would review any proposals from local units. Deb Straw, Hill City, mentioned business liability and suggested he contact an independent insurance agent who handles business insurance-liability. Christy thanked James City-County/Williamsburg for hosting the December meeting at a time when everyone is so busy. She also thanked Betty Villers, MaryAnn Kincaid and Marilyn Riddle for their work on the Nominations and Election Committee. President’s Question 501(c)3 Christy thanked those reps who offered questions before the meeting regarding the 501(c)3 status. She offered the questions to Jo Krantz to facilitate her talk pertinent to units. The meeting adjourned at 1:30 PM with Christy thanking everyone for attending the meeting. Respectfully submitted, Joan Richards, Green Spring VMGA Secretary VMGA December 12, 2015
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Attendance at the VMGA Bimonthly Board Meeting, December 12, 2015 Williamsburg, VA Alexandra/Arlington Amherst, Campbell, city of Lynchburg Appomattox Augusta, Rockingham, cities of Harrisonburg, Staunton, Waynesboro Bedford Chesapeake Chesterfield Cumberland, Prince Edward, Buckingham Fairfax Franklin Gloucester Green Spring Hanover Isle of Wight, Southampton, Surry James City County, Williamsburg
Loudoun Louisa NewportNews Norfolk Northumberland, Lancaster, Richmond, Westmoreland, Essex Prince William Rockbridge, Bath Suffolk Virginia Beach VCE Western Tidewater
VMGA December 12, 2015
Joe Kelly Deb Straw, Dianne Childress Jody Purches Robyn Puffenbarger Pat Waring Kandy Keith Lynn Foote George Graine Nelda Purcell Hurricane Thompson Cyndi Bishop, Joan Richards Christy Brennan Betty Jo Hendrix Amy Higgins, Kendra Swann, Dee Arbegast, Marilyn Riddle, Liz Favre, Kathy Bush, Wilma Sharp, Cathy Johnson, Ann Nielson, Deborah Griesinger, Jo Krantz, Frances Knight, Jeanne Millin Sam Allaire Jerry Giaccai Rand Milan Harriet Frost, Tom Bolt, Michele Fuller, Linda Aklgrim Diane Kean Frank Reilly Lynn Jones Wanda Gerard Betty Villers Dave Close Carolyn Baugher, Lynn Hamm
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Virginia Master Gardener Association Board of Directors Meeting, December 12, 2015 Financial Reports Statement of Financial Position (as of December 11, 2015) Assets Cash - gross sales of merchandise Cash - all other sources PayPal Balance Petty Cash Fund CD #1 Balance CD #2 Balance Fundraising Inventory
Total to Date $ 3,172.06 $ 2,756.14 Cash total $ 5,928.20 $ 293.49 $ 40.00 $ 14,509.82 $ 5,028.40 $ 3,529.25 Total Assets $ 29,329.16
Liabilities Unearned Income – Future Dues Board Designated Coordinator Endowment Funds Payable MG College Scholarships MG College Sponsorship Coordinators Manuals
$
2,936.58
$ $ $ $ Membership Recruitment Displays $ Total Liabilities $
1,043.76 1,788.56 500.00 500.00 200.00 6,268.90
Net Assets Unrestricted (Current FY Dues, Merchandise Sales) Temporarily Restricted (Reserve CDs, Future Dues, Board Designated scholarships, sponsorships) Total Net Assets Total Liabilities and Net Assets
VMGA December 12, 2015
$
5,567.63
$ $ $
17,492.63 23,060.26 29,329.16
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Statement of Financial Activities
REVENUE
FY15 Actual FY16 Budget Temporarily Restricted MG College Scholarship Donations
VMGA December 12, 2015
902.57
n/a $
% of budget
588.56
n/a
MG College Scholarship Donations FY16
$ 588.56
MG College Scholarship Donations FY17
$
State Coordinator Endowment Donations Fundraising (Merchandise Gross Sales) Membership Dues FY17-24 Total Temporarily Restricted Unrestricted Membership Dues Current FY Interest Income Programs (Education Events) Total Unrestricted Total Income
$
FY 16 YTD
$ 97.60 n/a $ 3,724.96 $ 3,600.00 $ 1,389.36 $ 550.00 $ 6,114.49 $ 4,150.00
$ $ 3,172.06 $ 856.17 $ 4,616.79
$ $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $ $
3,729.05 $ 4,000.00 21.27 n/a 1,252.33 $ 3,000.00 5,002.65 $ 7,000.00 11,117.14 $ 11,150.00
2,395.57 12.29 1,738.71 4,146.57 8,763.36
-
n/a 88% 156%
60% 58% 79%
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EXPENSES Unrestricted FY15 Actual $ 274.30 Administration President Vice President $ Secretary $ 25.44 Treasurer $ 35.32 Professional and Legal Fees $ 441.00 Membership $ 627.69 Nominations and Elections $ Subtotal Expenses-Admin $ 1,403.75 Fund Raising Fundraising (Merchandise purchase, shipping) $ 2,771.92 State Coordinator Endowment (incl. auction) $ 1,181.02 Subtotal Expenses-Fundraising $ 3,952.94 State Fair $ 565.85 Programs Education $ 1,952.47 MG College Scholarships $ 2,500.00 MG College Sponsorship $ 500.00 Merchandise Profits to VT Foundation $ 1,327.91 Printing MG Coordinators' Manuals $ 115.13 VMGA Recruitment Kits - 5 n/a Communications $ 142.80 Coordinator Endowment (pass-thru) $ 97.60 Subtotal Expenses-Programs $ 7,201.76 Total Expenses $ 12,558.45 Unbudgeted donation to State Coordinator Endowment
VMGA December 12, 2015
FY16 Budget $ 250.00 $ 25.00 $ 50.00 $ 100.00 $ 25.00 $ 100.00 $ 50.00 $ 600.00 $ 2,100.00 $ 1,200.00 $ 3,300.00 $ 500.00 $ 3,000.00 $ 1,200.00 $ 500.00 $ 1,200.00 $ 500.00 $ 200.00 $ 150.00 $ $ 7,250.00 $ 11,150.00
FY 16 YTD $ $ $ 10.76 $ $ $ 105.15 $ $ 115.91 $ 1,980.47 $ 129.86 $ 2,110.33 $ 409.91 $ 3,072.35 $ $ $ $ $ $ 142.80 $ 100.00 $ 3,725.06 $ 5,951.30 $ 7,993.43
% of budget 0% 0% 22% 0% 0% 105% 0% 19% 94% 11% 64% 82% 102% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 95% 51% 53%
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