Draft Minutes of the May 18th, 2006 BoD Meeting

[[==Draft Minutes - June 15, 2006 PERC Board Meeting==

3. Approval of Minutes

Joe asked for the first sentence under 6.Reports i Financial to be ammended to read   -Joe will ask the Finance Committee to redo the Balance Sheet to make it easier to read. Joe explained that he does not have the expertise to redo the balance sheet, and must wait upon the priorities of the Finance Committee.Mike also explained that it is most appropriate to revise reporting parameters on the turn of the fiscal year.

4.Business Arising From Minutes

Progress of PERC Fundraising Efforts

Mike reported that there was a pot-luck dinner being planned for June 29. Volunteers would be encouraged to attend and lend support to each other in writing letters to canvass new members. A specific invitation would be sent to those who have not met their quota. The operation plan is to do something new every two weeks.

Review of NGO and Federal anti-harrassment policies

Jason is proceeding with research on this matter.

Search for New Directors

Prospects have been identified. Mike and Steve have not been able to follow up on them because they have been overloaded with other responsibilities. Joe is not available. Mike and Steve will meet in mid-July to plan follow-up.

5. PEN/PEN Editor's Contract

Mike and Steve, as Mike recall, undertook to meet to prepare a proposal for a process to study the PEN. This has not been done. Mike and Steve will meet during mid-July to craft a process for studying the following questions:

What is the function of the PEN within the PERC? How can this function best be fulfilled?

Background Information

i. It takes 14 days of work to do an issue of the PEN, including administration, layout, etc. , as well as editing.

ii. There is an Editorial Committee which writes content and helps with the editing.

iii. The submission of unsolicited articles by good writers shows that the editorial quality is well-regarded.

iv. Margaret is firm on a maximum of seven issues, but some change of scheduling is possible, if justified on the basis of reader impact.

6. Reports i. Financial

Joe presented a cash-flow updated to May 31, and the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Statements for May. He reported that significant progress is being made on building a Finance Committee. The Committee is now in the process of clarifying and documenting its tasks.

The cash-flow shows that the goal for the Membership Canvass/Matching Funds program has been met for May. Thus, the plan for a balanced budget is on course as of May 31. Continued progress will depend on goals for this program being met in the months of June, July, and August.

iiiCommittees- Web-

The PERC website is aiming to produce lively content regularly in order to keep up a constant and regular visitorship.

Special Events

Liz is stepping down as chair of Special Events, but will continue to work on the committee.

Mike reported the availablity of a program called Ironweed, which allows subscribers to purchase progressive movies at $50 a month. PERC enrollment could be used as the basis of discussion events.

Another idea under discussion is to enhance the revenue of the Garage Sale by contributing and promoting vegetarian product for sale at the St. Giles lunch table.

Next Meeting: July 27, 2006]]

Draft Minutes - May 18th, 2006 PERC Board Meeting
Present: Randal, Joe, Jason, Steve, Mike and Margaret

Minutes by: Steve

1. Check in

2. Adoption of Agenda

Joe asked that the issue of "Signing Authorities for PERC Cheques" be added to the Finance report section of the Agenda

Motion to adopt Agenda as amended: Steve. Seconded: Joe. Carried

3. Approval of Minutes of April 13, 2006 Board Meeting

Changes:

Under Item #5: The Board discussed the logistics for the April 20 AGM

Under Committees/Membership Committee: "There is still no committee"

Minutes approved as corrected: Moved: Joe. Seconded: Randal. Carried

4. Business arising from the minutes

* Progress of PERC Fundraising efforts

Mike reported that it is now possible to make donations/payments on the PERC web site using Paypal or a credit card. Approximately $600-700 has already been paid this way - mostly membership renewals.

The special matching fund now stands at $6,500, of which $1000 is really an early donation.

If volunteers come through with a match for this amount, we could possibly reach a total of nearly $14,000 in special fundraising.

Volunteer participation in the challenge: Mike had not checked the level of participation recently, but felt that it had not changed much since last month.

* Confidential Staffing Issue

The Board discussed this matter in camera

The board went on to discuss the implementation of a formal harassment policy. PERC already has a binder with information on the polices used by other NGOs. The Board Secretary agreed to review these policies and to compare them with what exists in the government sector. He will make recommendations to the Board on a suitable policy following this review.

Margaret noted that the PERC looked at a draft harassment policy about 12 years ago and that it should be available in our files.

5. AGM Follow-up

Search for new Directors

Mike reported that there are a couple of people interested in joining the PERC board. He will conduct some preliminary screening. If they are still interested, Steve will arrange to meet each of them to discuss board responsibilities and, if they are still interested after this stage, he will invite one or both of them to attend a Board meeting.

Members' Meeting The Board formally noted that the AGM did not result in the selection of any new Directors. In consequence of being below our minimum number of 5 Directors, we are required to call another Members' Meeting within 60 days. It will be held on July 27th

6. Reports

i. Financial

- Joe will redo the balance sheet to make it easier to read.

- We are in a deficit position for April, but expect to be in a positive balance position for May.

Signing Authorities: PERC needs to update its roster of signing authorities with the result that Board members will need to go to the Credit Union at Bank and Chamberlain with photocopies of 2 pieces of photo identification (passport and driver's license)to sign the bank cards. Joe is to clarify and confirm by email (Not everyone has a driver's license or passport - so what can be used?)

The financial report was accepted as presented. Moved: Steve. Seconded: Joe. Carried.

ii. PEN Editor

The PEN Editor's contract is up for renewal. The current contract specifies that the Editor will produce 7 PEN issues per year and Margaret was asked whether she would be prepared to edit more issues, given that the PEN is so important for PERC's public visibility and membership renewal work.

Margaret does not want to do more than 7 issues per year and noted that the PERC would have to make alternative arrangements if we desired more than 7.

- Mike recommended that, since this was such an important topic, we try to make it the focus of the June Board meeting. This was agreed to.

In consequence, the PEN Editor's current contract will continue until the new one is signed.

There was a suggestion for a new column in the PEN from Martha Sully. This would be a Question and Answer column, directed to the Board. There was a brief discussion on whether we should be putting in our own questions if none are received from PEN readers.

The other option was to continue with a Board column written by various Board members that would present information and invite questions.

The next issue of the PEN will be printed on July 1st. The deadline for submissions is June 15th.

Margaret noted that the PEN committee is a little shaky at the moment.

iii. Committees

Admin:


 * Finance: Assigning areas of responsibility on the committee. There is progress in committee building.


 * IT Admin: Committee building underway. This includes some "culling" of volunteers who have not worked out.

Fundraising:


 * Garage sale happening soon. Lots of stuff being donated.


 * Give a Gnome a Home project: A little problem - the Gnomes have all disappeared.

Membership: Still no chair/committee

Library: One of the chairs was removed. There are new volunteers.

Participation: Needs more people.

PVN: Doing very well. Is considering an on-line "e-Zine". The committee will try to promote the PVN to the membership to increase its readership.

PEN support: Chair of committee removed.

Communications: Committee is picking up again.


 * Video Committee: Not much is happening.


 * Web Committee: Athena project is going well and is almost ready to test.

iv. Coordinator: Nothing else to report.

7. New Business

There was no new business.

8. Date of next Board Meeting: June 15th

9. Check out

The meeting ended at 10:30 pm