WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
WFHB BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
Monday September 25, 2017, 6:06 pm
Hooker Conference Room #245, City Hall
201 North Morton Street, Bloomington IN
I. START RECORDING MEETING 6:00pm
II. CALL TO ORDER, ATTENDANCE OF BOARD MEMBERS
Present: Emily Jackson, Jerry Stern, Jean Hollinger, Sarah Ryterband, Jar Turner, Pam Davidson, Tom Henderson, Julie Thomas
Absent: Sheryl Mitchell
Guests: none
III. OPEN FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
V. REVIEW / APPROVAL OF MINUTES —
Emily made an amendment to the minutes as did Jerry (posted on Slack)
Jerry – the melding between actual and budget figures will happen when Quickbooks has been updated
Sarah moved to approve, Julie seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
VI. REPORTS
A. Board President Report
Board Member Outreach
Emily: Ensure you are engaged in outreach at public / community events;
Jar: I didn’t bring the media kits, it’s at the station
Pam: Asked about Tomcat Pawn – she will approach them
Jerry : also regarding underwriting, what was the value of the food on Saturday?
Jean: $800
Jerry: How many mentions?
Jean: Doug was speaking with him about this.
Jerry & Jar will work together to capture the information
Pam: This was expensive
Jean: Juanita’s was $800
Jerry: This is considered an in-kind donation. The value of the food should count toward the threshold.
Slack Communications
Emily: Tom mentioned that he is going to upgrade Slack. It would be worthwhile to solidify our use of Slack. All Committee and Board Communications and reports should be on Slack. Not for the Community Advisory Board.
Jerry: Who has access to Slack?
Emily: Anyone can have access, there is a Board member “channel”
Jar: Open to hear why it’s difficult to use Slack
Jerry: I write lengthy e-mails, should they be on slack?
Sarah: suggests shorter notes for Slack
Tom: Some folks don’t go to Slack regularly. There are apps for iphone and android. A not-for-profit version doesn’t limit archive space and calendar option is good. If we do change to SalesForce, we will have to spend time cleaning up data. We should have usage policy basics – to protect privacy. The Board Channel and Finance Committee channels are protected. We can isolate access. To make Slack work, we need 170 people using it, there are 81. We can have up to 250 on Slack.
Jar: non-profit function – increases storage, archives older files.
Tom: You can use a search box that will help locate files, minutes, forms, etc. Nominating and Personnel Committee has forms housed on a Google Drive. Some of the forms could be added to Slack, pooled in the application for easier access.
Emily: Slack is a way to communicate that functions as an archive. Asked if there are other downsides?
Jar: It’s another thing to check
Emily: Is everyone willing to try this?
Pam: I don’t read Slack, but I do read email.
Julie: Meeting reminders?
Tom: Reminders can be created easily. Slack doesn’t need to be open. Will draft information to download appointment app – will send it via email.
Action Plan Update
Emily: Moving forward with anniversary committee
Pam: It may be useful to create $25 increments
Jar: There should be some overlap between Anniversary Committee and Development Committee. Maybe the two Committees should share minutes and agendas.
B. General Manager Report
Jar: Quarterly Report – Doug is not doing as much with Underwriting. To overcome this, trying to use the Cox Scholar intern to take on some of the tasks. In general, the structure isn’t working. Someone needs to be on staff to work on Underwriting, full- or part-time. To put someone in charge of fundraising on staff may be what’s needed.
Emily: Ideally someone with a part-time job who can take on another part-time job.
Jerry: a 20% commission rate is a healthy rate
Tom: We don’t charge much on the contracts, so the rate is not that good.
Pam: It may be great to have a full-time person who spends half of their time fundraising and the other half of underwriting.
Pam: Kelsey working on underwriting will be difficult because she doesn’t know Bloomington.
Jar: We are using SalesForce to leave notes about potential clients
Jerry: Where will Fall fund drive training sessions be held?
Jar: Library, Room 2A
Jerry: when is the post fund-drive wrap up and skee ball tournament?
Jar: on the 1st or the 3rd
Jar: I would like to establish goals or metrics for each committee – what does the Board want to know from each committee?
Jerry: I can include in the Finance Report the underwriting numbers from Quickbooks
Jean: From the Volunteer Committee, it would be nice to know what events are planned
Tom: Any action items from the committee that should be brought to the Board? We could add General Manager as an additional consideration
Jean: Each Committee – how they are helping to raise funds?
Emily: We don’t want the full story from each committee meeting. Focus on the outcome, goals.
Jar: On Slack today, I posted for the Volunteer Committee – how many showed up at X event.
Sarah: I would add how many more volunteers are needed for each event? What do we need to do to support the organized (volunteers, fundraising, etc.).
Emily: Technology Committee – what equipment is needed and when is it needed?
Pam: Development Committee – is our Fund Drive goal monetary or the # of days?
Jar: we’ve traditionally done 10 days. It’s close to the start of fall fund drive
Jerry: we have underwriting announcements, encouraging people to visit the website.
Pam: Concerned that there isn’t a sense of urgency in the last few days of fund drive.
Jar: A video has been posted.
Jar: Goals for NPAC?
Jean: can they report about new shows?
Sarah: if it is ready to air.
Emily: For the 25th Anniversary – we would like all the NPAC programs to participate. The Committee would like to bring someone to town from Counterspin, etc.
Pam: During Democracy Now! Amy Goodman has a 2-3 min short segment – can we use that?
Tom: We wait for the pause and can insert a message.
C. Finance Report
Jerry: We have $16k in the bank, $24k owed. Our fund drive moved, so we are borrowing September’s income.
If CPB $50k does not come in December, we will have $25k line of credit to draw on and can get us to March. The April Fund drive can be moved to March if CPB money is not received.
Bank Reconciliation – Jar has finished reconciling Quickbooks with the bank through May.
If the CPB remains, we have until 2021 before CPB money runs out. We have 4 years to work on finding new revenue sources. We shouldn’t squander the time.
In-kind donations count at fair-market value
Indiana Public Broadcasting System – they draw TV and Radio shows from non-profit stations and collect them on their website. We will find out if there is any interest in working with them (will speak with them). What can WFHB offer that WFIU has to offer? Send Jerry a note if you have suggestions.
Jar: there is a $9k / year fee to join
Tom: and they in turn raise money which can come back to us and would count toward our CPB threshold
Jerry: we are simply gathering information at this point, there won’t be a commitment made.
Pam: Is this the same group that collaborates on news?
Tom: Indiana Public Media is the news gathering organization, a consortium run out of WFIU and WFYI
Jerry: distributed monthly budget. August and September are our worst months, financially.
Pam: Fund drive is assumed to bring in $47k in October and April.
Pam: Emily’s birthday party raised $2k !
Emily: we discussed people hosting house concerts as a fundraiser, but consider turning an event you are already planning into a fundraiser.
D. Committee Comments
NPAC Report from Tom
We need a new producer and direction for BloomingOut. Two shows pending and a third likely. One of them involves additional board scrutiny (next month)
Personnel Nominating Committee
Tom: We did not meet because we could not get a meeting together.
Next meeting – Wes’ probation and Jar’s 6-month check-in.
Jerry, Emily, Sarah and Tom – will meet to review goals and make a recommendation to the Board.
VII. OLD BUSINESS –
NPAC Handbook for board members to read
Emily: did everyone read the handbook?
VIII. NEW BUSINESS
Committee Report format – Committee Goal Setting
Actions: End Meeting With Outline of Actions to Complete
Emily – Question about Newsletter – is it going to all donors? It’s great!
Jar: Yes!
Emily: Between now and next Board meeting – contact a potential underwriter – pick up media kit at the station.
Jar – need one more board member.
Pam – is there an underwriter candidate?
Tom – we need to find someone who can make the same time commitment-
Leadership Bloomington? Bloomington Volunteer Network?
CAB – Jar would like to hold it sooner rather than later…
Meeting adjourned at 7:35 pm
Upcoming Events
FALL FUND DRIVE October 6-15
Brown County Day October 6 1-5pm
Saturday’s Child featuring Ron Kadish October 14 @ MCHC
LOCAL FEST Saturday, Oct 14
Post fund Drive wrap up Wed November 1 (check date and location)
Upcoming Board Meetings
Monday October 23, 6pm
Monday November 20, 6pm
Monday December 18, 6pm (4th Monday is 25th)
Every Tuesday in December – Lenny’s – Coupon for Dine and Donate (20%)
