The meeting was called to order at 8:17 PM on August 6 by President Elizabeth Lachowicz. This meeting was held via Zoom.

ROLL CALL

Present: Mike Agranoff, Loretta Brooks, Jeff Canter, Sam Edelston, Paul Fisher, Doug Heacock, Peggy Karr, Elizabeth Lachowicz, John Mahon, Bob McNally, George Otto, Gary Pratt, Sandie Reilly, Chris Riemer, Mark Schaffer, Robin Schaffer and Jean Scully

Absent: Todd Dennison, Allan Kugel, Tina Ross and Pamela Zave

MOTIONS MADE

• The minutes of the July meeting were approved as amended. 

• The board also approved a corporate resolution naming Margaret Karr, Treasurer, as the manager of all financial transactions made on The Folk Project’s behalf, including its soon-to-be-opened banking and credit card accounts at TD Bank. 

ADMINISTRATIVE OVERVIEW 

Secretary

Chris reports that everything is under control. 

Treasurer

Peggy said the chronic communication and process problems at Wells Fargo have pushed her to the point of moving our business to a new bank. As detailed in her written report (below), she’s heard good things about TD Bank and that will be our home in the future. She thinks it’s the most intelligent choice, has an adequate local branch network and offers the richest set of features. To move this forward, she needs another board resolution that identifies her as the person responsible for managing The Folk Project’s accounts.

There was some discussion of the details on this change (relating to which directors should have check-signing authority and which would need credit cards) but the board was happy leaving those details to Peggy’s discretion. Chris mentioned that whatever logical access rights are granted within the bank accounts, those people should have the same kinds of access rights in QuickBooks Online.

Peggy also circulated an Expense Reimbursement form, which will ultimately be turned into an editable PDF. People can use it as a cover document for submitted receipts and departmental expense assignment information. She hopes it will make the whole reimbursement process faster and less error prone.

BUSINESS ITEMS

The Nominations Process

Elizabeth reminded the group that in July, Chris gave us a collective heads up that he would like to step down as Secretary at the end of the year. The search for new officers and trustees has been managed by a Nominations Committee, and Gary has served as its chairman for the past few years. Traditionally, this committee did its work in the Fall, with the Festival/Getaway event in October as a rallying point. The committee then submitted a slate to the board in November; that slate would be discussed, possibly modified and voted on at the annual meeting in December. New directors start their terms on January 1.

Gary is not interested in serving as the chair in 2024, although he’d be happy to provide advice and guidance to whomever will be taking on the job. He also thinks it would be better if he were not on the committee, since it’s often awkward for a former chair to participate as a regular member. In that spirit, and at Elizabeth’s request, he gave a brief overview of how he sees this process going forward.

The first task is to reach out to all the current directors (who are not term-limited), to determine if they’d like to re-up for another year. Some will say yes. Some may want to stay on the board, but would be interested in trying a different position. That gives the committee a list of positions that need to be filled.

Filling those positions is task number two, and that’s executed with interviews and recommendations, as well as newsletter articles and music alert emails to solicit interest from the membership at large. After that, task number three is to prepare the slate of recommendations and present it to the board in November.

There was a little back and forth about possible new blood, with Mike recommending a Troubadour volunteer named Jeff Jonas. Gary felt that kind of discussion wasn’t appropriate for the full board, so we should leave it to the Nominations Committee. 

Chris added that there’s also a strategic layer to this process. We want to imagine the board we’d like to have in the future and perhaps take this opportunity to create new positions or rearrange responsibilities. We should take a longer-term view of the organization, and consider how best to address succession planning. Gary added that he’s served in this NomCom role on other non-profit boards, and in his experience, the Nominations Committee is generally not an annual, ad-hoc exercise. It's usually a standing committee that addresses things like job descriptions, organization configuration, and volunteer outreach. The Folk Project’s Nominations Committee had very little interest in this broader role. At the Project, it was all about filling openings left by resignations and retirements.

Robin added that succession planning is on the Future Planning Committee’s “long list” even if it’s not a current priority. And in a somewhat surprising move, Jean Scully said she’d be willing to take a crack at the Nominations chair. Chris is interested in how we define roles and responsibilities, and might like to work on job descriptions in support of same. Jeff thinks a standing nominations committee is a good idea, but points out that under our by-laws, that would mean Elizabeth couldn’t just appoint a chair. The board would need to elect the chair and other changes to the by-laws might be necessary as well. He’d he honored to participate on the Nominations Committee, himself.

Elizabeth thanked all those who agreed to take part, with a special thanks to Jean for being ready to jump into the deep end of the pool. She asked everyone to put their feelers out, and start building a good bench of organizational talent.

Closing out this discussion of roles and responsibilities, Gary said we need to do a better job on managing member events, because the people who are charged with producing them are not always clear on which committees need to be kept in the loop. Having a more clearly defined process would be helpful, since the member event managers are often new to the job. 

Mike has a timeline for what needs to happen to produce Troubadour member shows, and he thinks that would be a good model if we adapted it for member events. Coming up next is the Halloween show, and we have not yet identified a producer. Jean may be willing to pick up that responsibility, but some off-line conversations need to happen first. Last year Bob McNally and Todd produced this show, and everyone agrees they did a bang-up job.

COMMITTEE REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

Sound Reinforcement

John stands on his written report.

Newsletter

George stands on his written report, with an additional thanks to Liz Pagan, who supplied updated Folk Project logos for the newsletter this month. She did a fantastic job.

Swingin’ Tern

Doug stands on his written report. Sam asked if Doug might like some Facebook advertising for the dance that’s set for September. He was already planning on that, and will work with Sam to make it happen.

Streaming

No report from Gary this period, because there’s not much new to report. He did say they’ve gotten very efficient at supporting streaming shows from the Troubadour.  A “really good system” is in place, and they have it “down to a science.” 

Doug mentioned that the pre-show banners we’ve been streaming before the music starts haven’t included a slide for Swingin’ Tern. It takes some time to prepare that slide, so if we’re not going to keep using them he’s going to stop creating them. Robin said they will be part of the experience going forward, so Doug will produce them for upcoming shows.

Future Planning

Robin stands on her report. The committee is planning a meeting this month, because they’ve reached the point where they need to revisit everything and assign new priorities. Jeff was interested in the tiered membership idea mentioned in Robin’s report, but she wasn’t ready to go into any more detail at this point. Stay tuned.

Open Stage / Membership

No report from Todd this month.

Horses Sing None of It

Sandie may have a lead on a new space that could be shared with another organization in northern Jersey. It could be a fantastic opportunity for “cross pollination,” but is still preliminary at this point. Chris remembered that in July, we talked about promoting the HSNOI archives on YouTube, and felt that a first step in that direction would be looking at the current pages at folkproject.org and bringing them up to date as appropriate. Sandie agreed.

Publicity

Sam stands on his written report. Thanks to Mark and Amy for covering for him at the Birthday show, when he was isolating because of Covid.

Gary feels that we have more work to do at establishing the Folk Project brand in the minds of our local (potential) audience. He had a streaming audience member tonight who was from New Providence, and tuned in because they knew the performer. But they knew nothing about the Project. They’d never seen us in their local newspaper (for example), and we may be missing some demographics entirely. Gary supports the expanded use of social media, but thinks we might need to consider press releases and more traditional forms of media as well. Robin said the Future Planning Committee definitely has that on its radar – they are not focusing solely on social media.

Sam said he’s still learning to walk before he’s ready to run with social media. He thinks that if our early decisions pay off, the board won’t hesitate to approve larger budgets for advertising. Once we get Facebook working for us, we could expand to Instagram or other platforms. Sam’s vision is certainly to get beyond spending only $200 per month. Bob made the point that social media advertising (in particular) is very iterative. You try something, you look at the result, you do it again and look at that result. It’s like using SONAR to probe for submarines. There’s much that we don’t know, but we’re learning about it.

Troubadour / Special Events

Mark delivered a blended report, because the details are "all mushed up in my brain at the moment.” He’s convinced that social media will be an important part of rebuilding our audience. The recent Gorka concert was proof positive that name recognition, supported by social media, is something that works. We had about 75 newbies that evening, and the show was sold out.

There was some discussion about budgeting. Sam has a social media ad budget of $1,000 between now and year end (as agreed to last month). If Mark opts to spend $500 on a Troubadour campaign, is that $500 gone from Sam's ledger? That is, if Mark expands his social media ad spending, is Publicity paying for it out of the Publicity budget or is the Troubadour funding it as a venue expense? Mark's view is that the two budgets are separate. That is, whatever amount the Publicity Committee opts to spend on an event, the venue chair would be able spend additional money out of its own funds. It’s a question that wasn’t fully answered at this meeting. Another question that was discussed if not answered had to do with the Vanguard account (a.k.a. the Agranoff endowment), where we have a large chunk of money that we never consider spending on current activities. Chris thinks our reluctance to spend that money may be undermining our potential.

Chris also felt Mark’s commentary, that “social media is the key” to coming back from Covid, would make a very interesting article for all kinds of audiences. Something we could publish on line, including footnotes that would link back to folkproject.org. Maybe something written in the humorous style of the Music Alerts. With the right treatment, it would be like planting an intellectual flag in cyberspace. Something that might be picked up by other music venues. Unlikely that it would go viral, but it would be a good bit of content for us. It could also be the kind of content that might appeal to local papers, like the Daily Record.

Mike Paul asked for clarification on something in Mark’s report, regarding complaints at the Gorka show about the amount of light on the audience. The Troubadour lighting re-design is almost ready, so it’s ironic that we’ve only gotten these complaints recently.  Mike would also like to send his usual Troubadour metrics to the board, since Mark opted not to include them in his official report. Mark is fine with that.

Jeff wondered if there might be value in creating a short video cut from one of our concerts. We’re recording them anyway, and if we packaged something for social media distribution, it might be a win-win. We’re then a content provider, and TikTok costs us nothing. He’d be willing to dip deeper into this idea in the weeks ahead. Chris thinks this is could be a terrific idea: a TikTok rendering of a Troubadour concert.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting  proper was adjourned at  10:03  PM. Next month’s meeting is September 3 at 8:15 PM, via Zoom. 

Submitted by Chris Riemer

WRITTEN COMMITTEE REPORTS

FUTURE PLANNING

From: boardplus@folkproject.org <boardplus@folkproject.org> On Behalf Of Robin Schaffer
Sent: Sunday, August 4, 2024 2:30 PM
To: BoardPlus - Current board, select alumni, key volunteers <boardplus@folkproject.org>
Subject: Future Planning committee report

FP Future Planning Committee
August Board Report
August 6, 2024

July Accomplishments

• Grants and funding

• Pam Dabah volunteered to help with identifying new donors.  Mark and Robin held a brainstorming session with her. 

• We are exploring a new tiered membership program, based on ideas from Patreon,

• Presentation Sub Committee  

• The lighting solution is almost complete.  We are waiting on Alex from MUUF to finish

• Social Media and publicity

• Sam ran social media ads for John Gorka and Swing’nTern

• We conducted a survey of Gorka ticket buyers.  Observations:

  • The majority of first timers learned about the show through Social Media. 

  • Performers’ websites and email lists are effective

  • Many cited radio stations as sources for content information.

• Robin volunteered to help update the contacts and processes for distributing FP event info. 

• Branding

• Implemented new logo on website, newsletter and flyers. 

• Volunteerism 

We’ve gotten a few new volunteers.  We are assessing their interest and matching with jobs.

August Plans

• Presentation Sub Committee

  • Reprinting the banner with a darker background.

  • Improving the hanging mechanism on the banner to make it less wrinkly

  • Ordering a tablecloth for the desk

  • Finish the lighting

• Social media and publicity

• Robin will be helping update media lists and processes

Volunteers

• Robin will be talking to two new volunteers and get them involved.

Additional projects

• Organized outstanding projects into buckets of activities to achieve four objectives:

• Draw new attendees

• Raise additional funds

• Improve the experience/product

• Improve our image

• Team is meeting August 12 to prioritize projects and identify owners. 

As always, the Future Planning Committee is open to all suggestions and feedback. If you want to learn more about longer term ideas, please reach out to Robin.Schaffer@folkproject.org.

Thanks!

Robin Schaffer
Bob McNally

NEWSLETTER

From: 'George Otto' via BoardPlus - Current board, select alumni, key volunteers <boardplus@folkproject.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 4, 2024 4:09 PM
To: boardplus@folkproject.org
Cc: George Otto <GeorgeOtto@mac.com>
Subject: Newsletter Committee Report 2024-09

Newsletter Committee Report 2024-09 

Things are proceeding as usual with the invaluable help of Kathi Caccavale, Pat Brangs, Bill Henderson, Gary Pratt, Paul Fisher, and Todd Dennison. 

The newsletter updated its front page and masthead graphics to use the new FP logo artwork. This followed a similar updating last month of the logos on the Troubadour and Streaming Tuesday flyers. Many thanks to Liz Pagan for making this happen. 

George Otto
Folk Project Newsletter Editor
newsletter@folkproject.org

SWINGIN' TERN

From: 'Doug Heacock' via BoardPlus - Current board, select alumni, key volunteers <boardplus@folkproject.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 4, 2024 6:13 PM
To: BoardPlus - Current Board Select Alumni Key Volunteers <boardplus@folkproject.org>
Subject: Swingin' Tern Dances July 2024 Report for the Folk Project Board Meeting on 8/6/24

Swingin' Tern Dances July 2024 Report for the Folk Project Board Meeting on 8/6/24

In June Swingin’ Tern held two regular evening dances:

7/6       Sue Gola & Midnight on the Water           61 attendees [49 paid/10 staff/2 free]       Profit   $133

7/20     Michael Karcher & Hot Wasabi                 42 attendees [35 paid/6 staff/1 free]         Loss    -$55          

July profit $78

2024 cumulative total -$34 loss

We did a big publicity push for the July 6th dance with Midnight on the Water & Sue Gola.  This included Swingin’ Tern’s first sponsored Facebook ad along with multiple postings on various Facebook dance sites.  It’s unclear if the attendance was directly affected by the paid ad but we had 10-15 more dancers than usual with several coming from other communities.  It was an amazing dance despite the fact the air-conditioning wasn’t functioning well leaving the hall at 82 degrees. 

Our next sponsored ad campaign will be for our double dance on September 6th. 

Yours in dance,

Doug Heacock 

NEWSLETTER

From: boardplus@folkproject.org <boardplus@folkproject.org> On Behalf Of George Otto
Sent: Tuesday, July 2, 2024 2:15 PM
To: boardplus@folkproject.org
Cc: George Otto <GeorgeOtto@mac.com>
Subject: Newsletter Committee Report 2024-07

Things are proceeding as usual with the invaluable help of Kathi Caccavale, Pat Brangs, Bill Henderson, Gary Pratt, Paul Fisher, and Todd Dennison. 

George Otto
Folk Project Newsletter Editor
newsletter@folkproject.org

PUBLICITY

From: sam.edelston@folkproject.org <sam.edelston@folkproject.org>
Sent: Monday, August 5, 2024 7:44 PM
To: boardplus@folkproject.org
Cc: publicitycomm@folkproject.org
Subject: RE: Publicity Report for 2024-07-02 Board meeting

Hi, all –

Here are the August Publicity Report and John Lamb’s Web spreadsheet.

Let me know if there are any questions.

See you tomorrow evening.

Sam

TREASURER

From: secretary@folkproject.org <secretary@folkproject.org> On Behalf Of timpeg@optonline.net
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2024 10:59 AM
To: board@folkproject.org
Subject: Treasurer Report August 2024

Hello Board,

Attached is the current up to date Profit & Loss by class as well as the current up to date Balance sheet. Things have been a little scrambled as we try to improve processing things for Troubadour. Its hard for me to assess the numbers currently. 

In an effort to streamline reimbursements and reduce busy work and errors, I have created a New PDF Reimbursement / Expense Form. I have attached a copy here. I have sent a copy to Karen to go over. I will ask John to turn it into an editable PDF. People will be able to either down load and print or fill it out online. Then attach photo's of receipts and email directly to Karen. Bookkeeper@folkproject.org  It will cut out my need to find, sort, and process reimbursements only to send the gathered data to Karen. This cuts all the busy work and worry and gets all the information to Karen in one concise place so she can enter the data and issue the proper payment, and update QuickBooks in a more timely fashion. 

 I have had it with Wells Fargo. 

They are impossible to work with. I have been jumping through hoops for 2 months for 3 credit cards and still no luck. Wells Fargo is antiquated confusing and even its employees can't navigate its rules and regulations. I am changing to TD Bank. Glowing reviews from several Folk Project members. Reputable, knowledgeable staff, plenty of branches, nonprofit friendly, business Zelle & Checking & Credit Cards plus more.

Now I need to make another request to be posted in the Board Minutes

For a new “Board Resolution” for TD bank giving me the authority to act on the behalf of The Folk Project as treasurer. I want to start the ball rolling and open a new account and get us back on track for new signatories and Credit Cards. I need your direction as to who should be a signatory. Myself, Mark and there should be a 3rd person, I'm thinking Paul. I also need a realistic list of who should have a credit card. Me, Mark, Jean... who else? Doug for Swingin Tern?  Todd for Open Stage? I need some direction here.

 Respectfully Submitted

 Peggy Karr / Treasusrer

SOUND REINFORCEMENT

From: 'John Mahon' via BoardPlus - Current board, select alumni, key volunteers <boardplus@folkproject.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2024 7:33 PM
To: BoardPlus - Current board, select alumni, key volunteers <boardplus@folkproject.org>; Elizabeth Lachowicz <elizabeth.lachowicz@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Sound Reinforcement Committee Report August 2024

Sound Reinforcement Committee Report August 2024

In July we provided live and broadcast sound for 3 Friday night shows due to closing July 5, the day after Independence Day. This included 2 regular shows for The Black Feathers with the Maledictorians  on July 19 and John Gorka with Meg Bettie Patrick on July 26. and the Open Stage on July 12.

All the shows proceeded with no technical issues for sound in the House or the mix for the broadcast. There were a few short intermittent problems with the video cameras which quickly overcome by selecting different cameras. This is attributed to the ongoing work being done in the Sanctuary as part of the current renovation. 

John Mahon
Committee Chairman

SPECIAL EVENTS / TROUBADOUR

From: Mark Schaffer <mark.schaffer@folkproject.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2024 7:55 PM
To: Board <Board@folkproject.org>
Subject: Special Events and Troubadour Report to Board - August 2024

Special Events & Troubadour August 2024 Report to Board:

The John Gorka with Meg Beattie Patrick concert was sold out, a great show and made about a thousand dollars. We had about 75 first-timers. The attendee survey reenforces what we already know: Known acts with social media advertising draws newcomers.

The Music Alert draws the majority of community members who show up for known acts.

 Note: We received our first complaints about the audience being fully lit, and it happened weeks before Todd and Alex from MUUF will finish the lighting project.

NJ Uke Fest was replaced by NJ Uke Night at the Troubadour this year.

The Troubadour is almost booked through the end of 2024, which is an accomplishment considering how little I’ve mastered the current processes. Michael has been helpful with the data flow. Todd and I have tried organizing the data flow and that’s in process.   

Troubadour is around breaking even for the year financially. The number of new regulars is growing very slowly. We still attract small numbers for unknown acts. The Black Feathers is an example of a superior show with inferior attendance.

An attendance of 50 people does not support the quality of musician we’re accustomed to. I enlisted Robin and the Future Planning Committee to find grants and donors for the Troubadour. The goal is to hire better-known acts while maintaining the "community pricing" that encourages regular attendance.

The outdoor Evening of Music at Ted and Veronica’s in Denville was lovely.

We started making offers for the upscale concert series in the new 300-seat theatre at MUUF. The plan is six to nine Sundays a year at 4pm. The current operating name is Closeup Concerts, but suggestions are still being sought.

Submitted by Mark Schaffer, Special Concerts and Troubadour Chair.

TROUBADOUR (Financial Postscript)

From: The Troubadour <mike.agranoff@folkproject.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2024 9:51 PM
To: 'Board' <board@folkproject.org>
Subject: Financial and attendance data for Troubadour

The Troubadour report did not include the following data I had forwarded to Mark.  Please add this to the monthly report:

The financial and Attendance report for this meeting is a little unusual.  Firstly there was no such report for the July meeting, because the June data had not been finalized in time for that meeting due to the change in attendance and performer pay calculations.  That has been mostly rectified.  So what are usually given as monthly figures actually cover the time period from May 31 through July 26, which corresponds to the period when admission prices and performer pay calculations changed to their current values.  The data for the May 31 show (Joe Jencks) and the June 7 show (Aztek Two-step) may be slightly inaccurate, because I’m missing some minor data on kitchen expenses and the like.  But we should be close.

The 12-month figures show an average paid attendance of 69.3 per show, and a net profit of $1,719.  

For the four shows since May 31, the average paid attendance was 58.8 a with a net loss of $557.

Year-to date, the paid attendance was 77.8, with a net profit of $1.274

The last two months have been a lot of work for Mark, John Lamb, and myself getting a new Operations Sheet operational.  It combines the functions of the old Tally Sheet with a lot of the functions of the Admissions Desk, and eventually streamlining the jobs of both the Exchequer and Door volunteers, while now accommodating credit card sales in addition to cash sales.  My everlasting thanks to John for his knowledge, innovative ideas, and cooperation with all of us.  That task is nearing completion, and will make all of our jobs easier when it is complete.

Mike Agranoff
Troubadour Committee
Morristown, NJ. USA
www.Troubadour.FolkProject.org