September 2008

MOTIONS THIS MONTH

The board agreed to reimburse Sandie Reilly for expenses associated with her attendance at NERFA, up to a maximum of $250. Ten in favor, three against and six abstentions.

OPENING CEREMONIES

The meeting was called to order at 8:04 PM on September 2nd at Bob & Pam’s home by President Mark Schaffer.

Roll Call

Present were Lois De Ritter, Scooter, Jim Gartner, Jim King, Ed Roffman, Bobbie Rosengarten, Mark Schaffer and Ruth Wolfish, Mike Agranoff, Lori Falco, Andy Koenig, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Brad Pryor, Sandie Reilly, Chris Riemer, Pam Robinson, Pat Rolston, Bob Safranek, Jean Scully, Rick Thomas and Rivka Willick (Other Board Members) and Allan Kugel, Judy Bubar and Nancy Kelner (Guests)

Absent were Connie Crawford, Ken Galipeau, Evelyn Maurer, George Otto, Liz Pagan, Tom Pylant and Jim West.

Secretary’s Report

The August minutes were accepted as corrected to note that the date of the Minstrel brainstorming meeting had not yet been decided upon at the time of the meeting.

Treasurer’s Report

Chris reminded us that it’s easy to get reports from QuickBooks Online with the “extras” (e.g. memberships taken at Minstrel) not included in the totals. He defended the default way (e.g. including memberships taken at Minstrel as Minstrel income) because it captures information that would not otherwise be available (e.g. We can answer the question “How many memberships were taken at Minstrel between January and June?”) It’s also a convenience for the Treasurer to be able to enter the tally sheet for each event as a single transaction.

Chris said that his remarks last time that grants, etc, were approximately equal to the so called “G&A” expenses should not be taken as a statement that venues don’t need to make a profit. We are losing money overall, so somebody has to turn a profit somehow, unless the Board wants to go quietly broke over the next 10-15 years. That’s a Board decision that hasn’t been made yet.

It was suggested that the Finance Committee might be able to come up with a suggestion on how to handle this issue. Andy agreed and pointed out that they were planning a Finance Committee meeting before the next Board meeting. He added that even though this is “just an abstraction,” it makes a profound difference to the way we run our activities. Ed noted that this is not a simple thing; organizations can be torn apart by budget wrangles. Mark spoke for all of us by saying that we don’t want to change the flavor of the Folk Project that we all know and love.

Chris pointed out that, while G&A is a budgeting concept, we’ve never done an annual budget, so it’s not as helpful as it could be. A straw poll was taken, and the sense of the Board was that each committee activity should be encouraged to do an annual budget, possibly with the assistance of the Finance Committee. Several committees already do this. Pat noted that it’s important for budgets to capture the phantom costs and income that are represented by things that are donated to the Project but not vouchered for reimbursement.

BUSINESS ITEMS

Nominating Committee

Scooter, Mike, and Brad volunteered to serve on the committee, with Evelyn as Chair – subject to agreement by Evelyn who was absent.

December Meeting Site

George was absent. Mark will discuss it with him and they will report at next meeting.

Testival

Lori is testing a new approach that she hopes will reduce our expenses for scholarships. The idea is to make most jobs small enough as not to need a scholarship. Currently, scholarships are restricted to only the sound-crew.

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Newsletter

Elizabeth volunteered to handle the labeling, mailing, stamping, through December. We still need a permanent volunteer or group of volunteers to handle this for future Newsletters. If you are interested, talk to Mark.

Storytelling

Rivka distributed flyers for the Storytelling Festival at Grounds for Sculpture. There will be a Folk Project table with publicity flyers and tickets for the Halloween Special Concert. Volunteers are welcome; talk to Rivka.

Special Concerts

Pam reports that the Howard Emerson concert went well and we didn’t loose too much money. Upcoming is a house-concert jam with Barbara Lamb at Mark and Robin’s, a Halloween story concert with Buck P Creacy, and a swing dance/concert jointly with S’n’T.

Membership

They sent out about a dozen electronic newsletters.

Publicity

The web pages to sign up for the electronic newsletter are almost ready.

Internal Affairs

Jean reports that September EoM will be at Leslie Brown’s. Activities will start at 4:00 PM to take advantage of sunlight to enjoy Leslie’s lovely garden. They are planning on having a port-a-john because Leslie’s house’s plumbing is “delicate” – maybe also an awning in case of rain. Expenses will be paid out of the proceeds of the Valentines Day Party, which is an Internal Affairs event. The October EoM is still TBD.

Sound

Bob will pick up Jim West’s equipment for Testival. Somebody from Festival Ops will have to inventory the stuff in Rick’s garage.

Minstrel Staffing

Rick is stepping aside as Head Staff. Volunteers are solicited for the job of Minstrel Head Staff – no experience necessary – mentoring is available for beginners. The much-feared Tally Sheet (aka Minstrel Form 1040) will be revised and greatly simplified.

Minstrel

The creel will be undergoing repair and show up with new leather hinges and strap. Mark will be organizing a Folk Project members song-writers night on November 21st.

Horses Sing None of It

Ralph reports that we have a signed release from the estate of John Jackson. The FP will get credits on whatever Stephen Grossman eventually produces. The Board voted (10 for, 3 against, 6 abstain) to reimburse Sandie for her expenses to attend NERFA up to $250.

GOOD OF THE ORDER

Brad went to his 9th bluegrass festival for the year. He reports that the FP has friends all over. Jim King’s grand-daughter got her driver’s license. Thomas Lachowicz is at boarding school in Mexico, Missouri. Mike attended the Avalon Festival (clothing optional); see his web site for a report and a photograph. Pam got a new refrigerator. Mark injured his knee on a trip to Grand Canyon and Vegas, but he’s recovering OK. Connie dropped off son Brian off at William & Mary to start college, and then decided to console herself by spending a week in Paris with daughter Cody (they returned today). Cody attended Hip-Hop dance camp each day while Connie walked all over the city. Helene and Jim, along with big brothers Robby and Lemmy, joyfully announce the birth of their third and final boy: Leander Yitro Speer-Zisook, Born, August 19, 2008, 9:21 am, 7 lbs, 9 oz (3.43 kilos), 20-1/4 inches long (51.4 cm). Mother and baby doing well, no complications! Leander is named in memory of two very dear, departed people: Jim's brother, Andrew Speer (Andy) and Jim's mother's mother's brother, Andreas Suter (Uncle Andres). Rick & Cathy will be attending his Dad’s 90th birthday party in Ithaca, NY on the 7th. Family members from all over the country will be in attendance.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 10:25 PM.

Next meeting will be at George Otto’s house on October 7th.

– Rick