Minutes from Board Meeting Jan. 30 2017

Board of Directors meeting

Monday January 30, 2017

Telluride Arts Office

5:10 pm meeting call to order

present:

Julya

Bob

Todd

Warren

Meaghann

Penelope

Kate

Good News

$100,000 earnest money payment made

RFQ – some responses. Kate gives examples of connections made by the Board member resulting in connections to potential donors. Next steps –

Small grants underway

Moving out of stronghouse tomorrow

TOT has done great job getting YouthLInk ready

Marshall has done great job

Some artists are experiencing stress

Change is difficult

Press release about YouthLink, gratitude to Zolines, Elaine, TOT

Review and approve minutes

M Todd Warren 2 unan

Financials

 Overview

About to move Deep Creek to their own account

“Overdue” probably is artwalk partners

5:32 pm Kelly Sudderth joins meeting via Skype

Congrats for success so far for project

Early stage

How can Board members get involved?

Shares slide

4 main activities in any type of fundraising

identification >cultivation>solicitation>stewardship

1.     identification – identify people or organizations that might contribte

2.     Cultivation – get to know them better

3.     Solicitation

4.     stewardship – taking care of that relationship

1.     how much time do you spend o each of these activities? Most orgs spend a great deal of time just asking for gifts, but cultivation and stewardship are the most important segments.

2.     What are the best practices within each of these activities?

3.     What is the one change you can make tomorrow?

Most important = optimizing the amount of time

Donor identification

Start with current and past donors, your board and volunteers

Identify donors who are likely to feel a connection to your mission

Get your board involved - who do they know?

3 criteria:

1.     Linkage (connection)

2.     Affinity

3.     Ability

Cultivation

Main mistake – don’t give enough time to cuktivation; second mistake is to only talk about self and organization, not asking potential donor about them

·      Educate donors

·      Learn as much about them as you can – ask questions!

·      Give donors a chance to be personally involved

·      Ask for feedback/advise from donors

·      Larger gifts require more personal cultivation efforts

·      Assign potential donors to a staff member or board member

·      Record (track) your contacts

Solicitation

·      Be clear and concise

·      Make your case!

·      Ask in person whenever possible

·      Give donors alternative methods for giving (mail, online, etc.)

·      Peer-to-peer asks are most effective

Get ready for meeting, think through it, role play.

Stewardship

·      Thank donors often! Phone calls, meetings

·      Let them know how their gift was used and the impact it had

·      Thank donors quickly – within 48 hours to one week

·      Personalize your Thank You notes

·      Thank them more than once

·      Stay in touch with them

·      DO NOT make a “soft ask” (e.g., “looking forward to getting you more involved in the future.”)

Final tips

·      Time is valuable – make sure you are spending it wisely

·      Takes time – don’t expect immediate results

·      Your systems are important – what gets measured gets managed

·      Prepare a fundraising plan which articulates: goals, responsibilities, tactics and strategies.

Upcoming parties – donor events

2 goals

1 - opportunity to educate people about your project; combat misinformation

2 – Engage one-one-one with folks. have Board members fan out in room to listen to potentials – what part of project is most interesting to the different people?

Make list of people you speak with and what you learned. Knowing who is not interested in the project is just as important as knowing who is interested.

How to relate to people of different economic capacities and knowledge and interest?

People are looking for meaningful interactions.

People respond to a sincere interaction.

You are not just asking someone for money; you are inviting them to be part of something exciting and important to them.

Looking for the best match – These folks will be giving away money anyway; just matching them with a project they feel passionate about.

5:57 pm Financial reports

Balance Sheet

Discussion about line items

We are in very healthy financial situation on the baleance sheet

P&L shows us where we are in actual spending and receiving funds

Discussion re P&L

Comparison of 2014-2017

Note: thanks for 81435 donation to Eversoll

6:15 pm Discussion about ArtX

7:18 pm

Fundraising Events + Strategy

Upcoming Parties, Warner, Julya

February 16, 20, 22

Transfer Warehouse