September 2012

The August 2012 Folk Project Board meeting was called to order at 8:12 pm on a rainy September 4, 2012 at the home of Allan Kugel and Cecelia Rowedder in Highland Park. A party down the street presented certain parking challenges, but we persevered and were rewarded with a stimulating meeting.

ROLL CALL

Present were Pat Brangs, Lois DeRitter, Jim Gartner, Allan Kugel, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Bob McNally, Eddie Roffman, and Bobbie Rosengarten, Bob Safranek (Trustees); Mike Agranoff, Lori Falco, Howie Goldman, Joe Graziano, Lindsey Meyer, Pam Robinson, Leigh Walker (Other Board Members); Absent were Carl Croce, Gloria Friedman, Nancy Kelner, Sandie Reilly, Kevin Redden, Scott Ross, Mark Schaffer, Robin Schaffer, Jean Scully, and Rachel Streich.

MOTIONS THIS MONTH

1) The Board voted to accept the resignation of Nancy Dugan as Trustee, due to personal reasons.

2) The Board voted to appoint Bob Safranek as Trustee to complete Nancy’s term, which ends in December 2012.

3) Lori made a motion to accept the privacy policy that the Electronic Communications Committee has submitted and post it on our website. The committee was unable to come to a vote, so Pam moved to table the discussion till the next meeting. The Board approved this second motion.

4) Bob moved that the Board commend the work that has been done by the Electronic Communications Committee on the privacy policy. The Board approved unanimously.

ADMINISTRATION

Secretary’s Report

The August minutes were accepted as written.

Treasurer’s Report

Eddie read Rachel’s report: checking account balance was $8,753.78 as of August 31 and the Money Market balance was $23,575.79 as of July 31.

NEW BUSINESS

Trustee Resignation and Replacement

Eddie read aloud a letter of resignation from Nancy Dugan, who cited personal and family reasons for withdrawing from the Board. Pam moved and Michael seconded to accept Nancy’s resignation, with regret. The Board passed the motion unanimously.

Bob Safranek had already indicated he was willing to take Nancy’s place and there were no other nominees. Bobbie moved and Michael seconded to appoint Bob to complete Nancy’s term, which ends in December 2012. The motion passed unanimously and Bob was installed immediately, so there was no gap in Trusteeship.

Call for Nomination Committee and Annual Meeting

Eddie reminded us that elections will be held in December and that a Nominations Committee will be formed in October. There will be a lot of turnover due to term limitations, so he wants the Board to start thinking about it now and consider joining the committee. He said he’d like to see nominees who are “peacemakers”: people willing and able to work together for the benefit of the organization.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

Festival

In Mark’s and Robin’s absences, Eddie recapped their email report. Fall fest registration is half filled as of Sept. 2 and they’re running PSAs on WNTI’s folk show. Eddie said Mark said the camp doesn’t have a minimum charge and that he’s not worried about losing money. Elizabeth clarified that “half-full” means 80 paying bodies. Pam asked what the festival break-even is, but nobody knew. Jim and Mike noted that there’s not an obvious way to mail in the registration form and Elizabeth said that’s because we encourage online registration.

This led into….. Eddie suggesting computer security checks of all committee members’ computers, due to the amount of confidential FP information contained on them. that all FP info could be and should be backed up from committee members' computers into 'the cloud'. Leigh asked if Constant Contact is backed up and Lori said she does this. Which led into….

Electronic Communications

Referring to her email report, Lori said she checked with everyone who’s on the Fullboard email list who’s not currently on the Board to inquire if they wanted to stay on the list. They all wanted to continue receiving the emails, so she followed up by sending the list to the Board. (This answered the question of who is on the “fullboard” list.) She read aloud an email from Chris Riemer about why he wanted to remain on the list and used this as an example of why we should keep former Board members on the list: they may return to the Board in future and this is a good way to keep them informed.

Membership Expiration Notices:

Lori reported that she sent out notices to everyone whose membership expired in July 2012. She also sent preemptive notices to those expiring in August, September, and October but received feedback that some people thought this was too far in advance. Scott advised her that perhaps only those receiving e-newsletters should get email reminders, since paper newsletters get a “Renew” stamp as a reminder. She asked the Board if we want notices to go out on the extended dates or just the month before. She also asked if she should send email notices to people who only receive the paper newsletter.

Discussion ensued. Pam said she used to send notices to people who hadn’t renewed for the previous two years and she did this quarterly, not monthly. Allan said that if there’s no response to the email, we could send a postcard, as email may be the wrong approach for some people. Eddie said that Mike suggested sending out a welcoming letter to new members and there was general agreement that this is a good idea. Pam suggested doing this by email rather than paper.

Privacy Policy:

Lori made a motion to accept the privacy policy that the Electronic Communications Committee has submitted and post it on our website. Elizabeth seconded. There was much discussion. The purpose of the privacy policy is to clearly state the uses the FP makes of personal information that we collect electronically from members. It states our commitment to confidentiality and security as well as the limits of our ability to control the use of some information, for instance, when it goes to third party service providers. According to Lori, the policy’s legal purpose is protection for the FP from complaints and lawsuits. After months of work with a lawyer, she said this is the simplest and shortest they could come up with and we should be careful if we want to make changes.

Some people thought the policy was too wordy and unfriendly and that an interpretive statement would suffice. should be added. Others thought that since it’s been written with a lawyer and includes legal wording, it should be accepted just the way it is. Lori wanted to keep it the way it’s written and told the Board that this is what privacy policies typically look like. Eddie cautioned about summarizing when a lawyer has vetted the wording and that a summary could blow our legal protection. After a lively discussion, the Board seemed unable to come together, so Eddie took several straw polls. 1: Only a handful were ready to vote. 2: We were split on the introductory statement idea. 3. We were split on whether to table it or vote now. Pam then moved to table the discussion till the next meeting, Mike seconded, and the majority approved.

Bob promptly moved that the Board commend the work that has been done by the Electronic Communications Committee on the privacy policy. Bobbie seconded and the Board approved unanimously.

In other EC news:

Lori attended a Constant Contact workshop on “The Power of Email Marketing” and said she and Pam will attend “Social Media Made Simple” at the end of this month.

Minstrel Booking

Mike reported a slow August in his email report. Average attendance was 71.0 paid admissions for regular shows and 64.8 paid admissions when Birthday Show and Open Stage were added. The Birthday Show brought in 96 paid and 20 performing groups. The past 12 months have been $2,453 in the black although there was a $256 loss in August, probably worsened by the $25/show rent increase. (Rent is now $250/show, up from $225.) The new volunteer database is having “teething problems” and they may go back to Yahoo. The possible concert with Richard Shindell is a no-go, due to a Sanctuary Concert at about the same time, which runs into a “no conflict” clause in their contract with him.

Minstrel Staffing

Jean Scully was absent and there was no report.

Swingin’ Tern

Recapping his email report, Leigh told us a last-minute band cancellation turned into a good thing when many people stepped in to help find a replacement and they snagged the excellent band “Unbowed”. He also reported that the two dances held in August netted $70 and averaged 50 dancers.

Special Concerts

Referring to his email report, Howie told us that there’s a possible House Concert at Schaffers’ on Nov. 3 with Grover Kemble and Naomi Sunshine. Tickets for the Dec. 28 Trout Fishing in America show are available on our website and Jim King and Liz Pagan are working on the flyer. Pam offered to take tickets to the Minstrel and Swingin’ Tern and said that now is a good time to start selling them.

Internal Affairs

Jean was absent and there was no report.

Publicity

Nancy was absent but her email report is here. Everything’s going swimmingly well, as usual.

Membership

Scott was absent so Eddie recapped his email report. He said there's a problem when people join the FP at live events because not all their info is getting recorded. For instance, people who join when registering for festival often only leave an email address. Mike sent an email to all head staff today asking them to rectify this at Minstrel.

Newsletter

Carl was absent. His report is here. Pam pointed out that due to the delay in mailing the print newsletter, the general membership was not notified about tonight’s meeting unless they receive e-newsletters.

Community Services

Referring to his email report, Joe said he received a last minute request from a community group that was staging a Woodie Guthrie tribute but were too shy to ask people to play for free. Hmmmm, what to do, what to do……?

Horses Sing None of It

Sandie was absent but Ralph’s report is here.

Merchandising

Gloria was absent and there was no report.

Sound Reinforcement

Kevin was absent and there was no report. Eddie said that Kevin is working on a grant to improve the sound equipment. Mike says Kevin’s considering installing a permanent (wiring) snake if MUUF agrees.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:52 pm. The next meeting is on October 2 at the home of Lindsey Meyer in Peapack.

Respectfully submitted,

Lindsey Meyer, Secretary