Send me your content for 2023  or years gone by so I can include you in the Unirondack Archives    send YouTube link or files to:  DevinHollands@gmail.com

2023 Photos - Stories - Events - Memories - Videos - Songs

Adult week 2023 - Shayne Hollands saves camps smallest frog and goes on to pull several Kayakers through the rough current on the river.

2023 Adult Camp - Rescue on the river

Audio File  THE LAST OF US    - 2023 Directors Report - THE LAST OF US - evening program - snapshot of a great summer -  Kristen Fiore - creating Core Memories

Photos from THE LAST OF US 

 - listen to Audio file above.    This Teenage camp evening program was produced by Katie Malloy the Large Program Specialist on staff.  The entire staff was involved in the production.  Katie wrote a 125+? page script of the event and she called it "My Magnum Opus".    Not very many photos were taken as every staff was wrapped up in the event.

Kitchen Highlights - 2023

Program Highlighes - Leadership Team

Unirondack Board Meeting, January 11 2023

This was an on-line meeting.

Proposed agenda:

• Eric Hoover - offer for fundraising assistance

• Approval of Oct 23 2022 Minutes

• Committee Reports

• Action Items

• Board discussion items

• New Business

• "Bike Rack" Items

Attendees:

Jeff, Shane, David, Lauren, Joy, Emily, Lynne, Kevin, Douglas, Jesse, Sonja, Lucia, Kris, Eliz, Sam, Caleb, Erik Hoover

Start time ~7:05pm

Introductions & Check-ins

Eric Hoover joined at beginning of meeting to offer aid with fundraising

He has been involved with Unirondack for 10+ years.

He did some work recently for fundraising local initiative non-profit, enjoyed work to do with maintaining & fixing lists associated with donors. Speculating that Unirondack could use help in this regard; reaching out to Unirondack to help with fundraising

[continued with introductions/check-ins]

Professional background is in industrial research, digging into public records.

Research work on public records, this skill set translated well to digging up phone records for fundraising campaign and research on likely donors.

Eric is offering to help create/expand donor lists.

David suggested Eric join the fundraising committee.

Q: When is the next fundraising meeting?

No meeting cadence established yet, Shane will reach out.

Q: What is the most important time of year?

We don’t currently have an emphasized time of year; previous focussed on Giving Tuesday, end-of-year campaigns, membership drives and individual campaigns

Re: lists

We have several Excel-style lists outlining memberships & donors, but no consolidated place.

Hesitant to invest in commercial software due to small membership size.

Shane/Lauren volunteered to bring Eric in on fundraising work.

Emily offered to help as well for this task, she has experience with helping non-profit organizations adopt CRMs.

[Eric left]

Minutes & Email discussion

Oct 23 minutes

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tj1hSJIOgjmY7l6khPeIbI-yfHx5vJYhEpmp1Jczm4k/edit?usp=sharing 

Motion to approve minutes

Jeff forwarded, Lynne seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Re:Financial review vs audit email chain

Summary: Change in non-profit law doesn’t require our organization to perform a full audit

Lauren proposing review of our books, then file taxes for us.

Emily has experience in this area: filing a 990 and CHAR500 are required - in order to do that they review finances. Familiar with 2 tiers of operation -  990 and CHAR500, or audit (with 990 and CHAR500). Usually for first option accounting firms include a management report with 990 and CHAR500 which is likely what this is.

Motion to do review 2023, and perform audit in 2024

Joy forwarded, Jeff seconded

Emily suggested amendment: review 2023, and revisit need for audit in 2024

Motion to do review 2023, revisit need for audit in 2024 (add to members meeting agenda)

Joy forwarded, Jeff seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Action:

Finance committee research review vs audit

Research different auditors

Budget update  (Lauren)

Sent out budget earlier, little change from prior budgets given this is a slow time of year

Q: Comparison from 2021-2022 to 2022-2023, looks like we have significantly less revenue coming in at this time.

A: True. More about this later, fewer deposits have been made.

Review of ‘Tickler List’

• Many items already addressed

• Contracts for leadership staff: done last year

  • Lauren has no official contract

• Address reviews for camp manager & director in Feb

• Vehicles taken off the road expect for Prius

• Workers comp has been paid

• Auto insurance has been paid

• Audit/review has been scheduled

• Federal 941 and NYS45 tax filing now on auto-payment, checked that they are still on auto

Reminder: Lauren has given her 2-3 yr notice (given last spring)

Lauren will give official notice in writing

• We can start search for new ED

Update from Kris

Registration update:

Registration tracking for 2022-0223

• Down by 14%   (188->160)

• Only recently started push for registrations (previous push had started in December)

• Large uptick recently: Last week has seen 23 registrations

• Not concerned at this point

• Compare: 428 campers registered last year, historic high

• Tiered pricing is new this year

  • 33% / 38% / 29%   coming in at tier 1/2/3 (3 is highest)

  • Higher % than anticipated for upper tiers

  • $23K higher income w/ same number of campers with added tiers

• Email regarding staff pay got a good response (appreciated transparency)

Transfer of hiring to Caleb

Q: Any leads for kitchen manager, other higher level positions?

• No, not yet. Got a crew chief, need a medical director, head cook

Other facilities have the same issues, i.e. retaining long term positions.

Jesse offered to help with staff recruitment, recruitment is his line of work

Update from Eliz

Finalizing spring calendar, changing calendar dates

Spring

• Opening May 5-7

• QYAR moved back to May date, taking point on recruiting

  • GLSEN has disbanded but Caleb is seeking new sponsors

  • Many members are still supporting fundraising

• Writer/creative retreat, weekday session w/ option to expand over the weekend (Beth King)

  • Will overlap with young adult retreat, have discussed with young adult retreat planners

• Paddling trip

• Young adult week

• June not settled

• Men’s retreat at some point in June

• Camp ‘Cleetus’ may take June rental

Fall

• Messaging that weekends are not set in stone

• Ithaca will take long weekend, working with new folks

• UUACCC in-person meeting - were intending to meet at camp but had schedule conflict, will likely meet at ROE in the winter instead

  • Typically Eliz/Kris/Lauren, open to interested board members

Committee Meetings

No meetings to date

Each committee should meet before next board meeting

Action Items Review

Confirm committee membership

Governance

• Joy [chair], Doug, Emily, David, Lauren

Building & Grounds

• Jeff [chair], Kevin, Eliz

• Devin, Dale, Eric, Marc

Fundraising

• Shane [chair], Lauren, David, Kevin, Jesse

• Eric

Community Engagement

• Lynne [potential chair], Eliz, Sonja, Lucia, Kris, Jesse

• Amanda

Finance

• Emily [chair], Jeff, Lauren

Lucia had concern about campership/registration process, seems overly complicated

• Will reach out to Kris directly about the registration interface

Add discussion point next board meeting agenda

• How tiered fees impact camperships

Lynne suggesting having a joint meeting between fundraising & community engagement

• Perhaps email between committee

Shane agrees, perhaps share minutes as well

Joy to send out updated committees listings with purviews

Winter Camp Report (Caleb)

Winter camp experiment hasn't worked out so far

Registration is down from expected for February session

Set deadline to maintain relationship with renters

Hit deadline without achieving desired registration

In hindsight:

• We couldn’t advertise this during summer session

• New experience, no idea what attendance would be

We will instead just run one session

• Offer to transfer registrations to April session

• Research done on necessary target numbers

• A lot of costs shift with number of campers

• Bring in an organization that does social/racial justice workshops for targeted age groups

Do some research during recruitment to uncover challenges

• E.g. price point, competing sessions, lack of info

Q: What was potential profit that won’t be realized from the budget?

Too early to make call on impact given early registration, and potential for larger winter session

Potential loss of ~$16K if outright canceled

Add as discussion point to next meeting

• Update on winter session

Q: What advertisements were done for winter session?

• Postcard mailer, part of regular emails

Will probably be bigger next year with winter photos from this year.

This is part of the reason why we could/should run it this year even if it isn’t profitable; it gives promotional material for future years.

This is a good example of why youth board members can be involved in promotion. We tend to advertise to adults of campers rather than campers directly. Campers could help publicize.

Aside: we had talked previously about collecting cell numbers for campers, maybe a ‘text blast’ to campers.

Board Discussion Items

Motion to go in closed session (including board & leadership staff)

Joy forwarded, Jeff seconded

=> Approved unanimously

[Closed session]

Motion to come out of closed session & adjourn

Joy forwarded, Doug seconded

=> Approved unanimously

End time 9:46pm

Future discussions (bike rack)

• Shane/Lauren to bring Eric in on fundraising work

• Finance committee research review vs audit

  • Research different auditors

• Lauren will give official notice in writing

• Each committee should meet before next board meeting

• Next board meeting discussion point: How tiered fees impact camperships

• Joy to send out updated committee listings with purviews

• Next board meeting discussion point: Winter camp update

Unirondack Board Meeting, February 4 2023

This was an in person meeting.

• Introduction / Previous minutes

• Reports

  • Executive Director

  • Camp Director

  • Camp Manager

  • Committees

• Succession

• Consent Agenda

• POC Retreat

• CRM

• Mission

• "Bike Rack" Items

Attendees:

Lauren, Lynne, Kristen, Emily, Douglas, Jesse, Joy, Sonja, Eliz, David, Shane, Jeff, Caleb, Kevin

Start time ~10am

Introductory

Motion to approve Jan 4 minutes with revised title to reflect proper date

Jeff motioned, Emily seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Reports

Walkthrough & discussion of Executive Director report, highlights

• Not much has changed financially

• Emily needs to be added to have signing authority

• Succession planning discussion

• Walkthrough of general reminder items list (‘tickler’)

• Current P&L reviewed (note that the reporting period for year to date only covers to Dec 30 2022)

  • Finance committee to review whether Camp Docs entry (6441) should remain under Health Care & can discuss reporting period to consider for board meetings

Walkthrough & discussion of Camp Director report, highlights

• 90 registrants in the last month, 214 presently (compared with ~220 last year)

• Bulk of registration is in Tier 2 (Tier 1 - 3, lowest $$ to highest)

• New advertising channel

• Staff hiring started, 40 applications for counselors/kitchen/crew

• Looking for head cook, medical director - roundtable brainstorming

• Expansion of reports, planning docs, etc.

Walkthrough & discussion of Camp Manager report, highlights

• Spring dates set, spring retreat groups happy with their assigned weekends

• Spring staff hired

• Website design update

• Review documentation for 2023 maintenance planning

Committees

Walkthrough of committee reports, highlights

• Building & Grounds would like to set aside funds ($20K) from surplus revenue for future building/grounds work

• Finance is looking at higher-yield savings accounts for non-profit, discussion regarding financial dashboard

Motion to allow Emily to sign on behalf of board of directors

Lynne motioned, Shane seconded

=> Approved, Emily abstained

Governance to explore best practices for document storage, standard operating procedures & information access.

Succession discussion

Brainstorming on executive director job description, future organization structure, external vs internal candidate. Discussion for definition of organization chart doc(s) by spring retreat to help with search criteria.

Group for org chart doc caused some committee reshuffling and discussion about committees

• Jeff will resign from finance to help Lauren/Jesse

• David will move from fundraising to finance

Motion to combine community engagement committee with fundraising committee

Emily motioned, Jesse seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Motion to task community engagement / fundraising committee to raise $40K this year

Joy motioned, Emily seconded

Discussion: this is to fulfill the budget fundraising difference (budget vs actual to date)

=> Approved unanimously

Consent agenda discussion

General consensus to adopt the practice of a consent agenda, i.e. activities, reports & questions prior to board meetings such that meetings themselves can focus on discussions. Governance can add this new practice to the board manual once adopted.

POC Retreat

Interest in developing POC retreat, stems from prior discussions offering Unirondack as a space for POC retreat. QYAR model for fundraising & resources may be good template to use for POC. Discussion about age brackets, staff involvement, involvement in planning committee. Plan for update in May retreat.

CRM Systems discussion

Discussion in adopting a CRM to replace various lists/contacts we use, potentially campdoc & planning center. Typically low cost associated. Community engagement task to develop business requirements.

Discussion regarding donor platform service, tools for donor campaigns & gauging support. System cost is high and may take a while to recover. General sentiment is CRM should come first, table for future discussion.

Mission discussion

Discussion about the evolution of the association with the UUA. Discussion of factors contributing to declining UU recruitment source: no promotion available through the UUA, fewer youth at conferences & church events, covid restricted church visits. Discussion of camp as a queer friendly space.

Round table expression of personal thoughts on camp culture, community communication, queer youth & queer support.

Discussion regarding how queer/pride is a priority for many UU congregations & how UU value commitment and queer support can coexist. Interested in ways we can uplift UU values during programming. Ideas forwarded proposing “cottage model” for bringing community into evolution of mission, questionnaire to gather data, bring ideas together, split into groups This could help drive mission/values definition

Motion to go in closed session [board only]

Emily forwarded, Shane seconded

=> Approved unanimously

[Closed session, closes out meeting]

End time ~6pm

Future discussions (bike rack)

• Governance committee review best practices for doc storage etc.

• Follow-up on non-binary option for disability insurance

• Adopt consent agenda 

• Org chart definition (Lauren, Jesse, Jeff)

• Reminder: earmarking $20K for buildings/grounds

• Community engagement committee to outline CRM needs w/ recommendation

• Mission: continued discussion

Unirondack Board Meeting, April 2 2023

This was an on-line meeting.

• Introduction / Previous minutes

• Reports

  • Executive Director

  • Camp Director

  • Camp Manager

  • Committees

• New Business

• "Bike Rack" Items

Attendees:

Board/Exec: Lauren, Lynne, Emily, Douglas, Jesse, Joy, Sonja, Lucia, David, Shane, Jeff, Kevin

Other: Dan Gottfried, Caryn Hadley, Allison Lattin, Dorothy Sheckler, Lois Bailey, Sara Palmer

Start time ~6:07pm

Introductory

Motion to approve Feb 4 minutes as distributed

Emily motioned, Douglas seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Reports

Walkthrough & discussion of Executive Director report, highlights

• Financial dashboard

• Registration dashboard shows tier distribution to be relatively even

  • 326 registrations to date

• Winter camp canceled due to numbers, 9 registrations

  • Budget reflects cancelation

• Auditor report done, no recommendations

• Char500 filed, needs board approval

• Review of board reminders lists (i.e. ‘Tickler’ list)

• Disability insurance cost higher as paid family leave had gone into effect

• Disability insurance audit completed

Walkthrough & discussion of Camp Director report, highlights

• All staff positions have been filled

  • Except: still looking for camp nurse, trade services for camp attendance

• More tasks allocated to Caleb

Walkthrough & discussion of Camp Manager report, highlights

• Attending UUACCC meetings (camp coalition)

• Promising meeting with UUA moving forward

• Spring registration update, review of attendance numbers

• Fall leasing - first year of resumption of full leasing

• Staff interviews, good group of applicants - kitchen/crew/drivers

• Start-up activities have been scheduled, full septic cleaning scheduled

Financial Budget vs actual, comments/highlights

• Winter camp cancellation resulted in $6K loss (Caleb’s salary)

• Will do surveys for next year to get more info, start advertising earlier to raise interest & awareness during summer camp sessions

• Disability insurance higher this year, was lower previous years due to reduced number of staff when camp was closed

• Policy coming regarding reimbursements - outlining documentation & deadlines

• Plan to cancel phone service with Frontier, get Google phones instead to reduce expenses

  • Ask to document risk assessment & decision for switch (related to phone loss last summer)

  • Q: What backup to phone service if there was a power outage?

    • A: cell phone would be charged for emergency services standby

    • A: plan to research satellite phone system with battery backup, keeps alternate phone system up in case of catastrophic events

  • Q: Ham radio license possible? Suggestion as alternative, needs license

• Switch to Planning center, more convenient

• Giving Tuesday lower than anticipated, need to make up in other ways

• Current net revenue assessment is $102K

Proposed budget modification outline, comments/highlights

• Winter camp revenue removed, most expenses removed (only Caleb’s salary unchanged)

• Disability insurance value (and other line items) updated to reflect actual

• Summer office expenses decreased based on computer donation

• Cut back on various expenses

• Push out accessibility expenses, can include as lower priority if extra $$

Jeff: instead of budget modification vote, make a note and let the actuals continue as is (budget represents original plan, FYI)

• Agreed, no vote on budget modifications

Motion to accept Char500 & 990 as presented

Emily motioned, Jeff seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Committees

Governance

• Looking at update to board manual

  • No major changes, only to grammar/syntax

• Will be reviewing for changes by members weekend

B&G

• List created outlining results of fall walkthrough

• Looking at reporting system for anyone to report deficiencies

• Q&A regarding specific B&G items

• Q: Water purification system previously donated, was it installed?

  • A: Water filtration system was installed for Gilman, but it was removing chlorine. Not 100% sure if this was the same system, but will follow-up.

Community Engagement & Fundraising

• Investigation into CRM needs for contact & donor management

  • Considerations: low-cost, campaign tracking, monthly/one-time donation tracking

  • We average approx 3000 contacts

• Several potential CRMs identified, Donor Doc is current front-runner

• Discussion regarding adoption challenges, Dan offered to help support with his experience with other non-profits

Motion for community engagement & fundraising committee to sign up for Donor Doc as initial free CRM, coordinating with staff for communal login

Emily motioned, Joy seconded

No budget change

=> Approved unanimously

Finance

• Dashboard up to date

• Campdocs quickbooks API, potential for cross-communication between applications

• Need to start campership committee, meet by mid-April

• Looking into high-yield savings account by next board meeting

New business

(Caryn)

Expressed concerns she had regarding camp’s operation & philosophy

• What is camp’s philosophy

• Trust in leadership

• Safety

• Teachings

Comment (Dan)

• Need to ensure balance between responsiveness to community and responsibility for the safety of camp leadership

• Camp is evolving, accepting change is difficult

Review/discussion during closed session

Motion to adjourn for a initial free CRM, coordinating with staff for communal login

Emily motioned, Jesse seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Motion to move to closed session [board only]

Joy motioned, Jeff seconded

=> Approved unanimously

[Closed session]

Motion to adjourn

Douglas motioned, Jeff seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Unirondack Board Meeting, June 11 2023

This was an on-line meeting.

• Introduction / Previous minutes

• Reports

  • Executive Director

  • Camp Director

  • Camp Manager

• Committees

• New Business

• "Bike Rack" Items

Attendees:

Board/Exec: Lauren, Lynne, Emily, Douglas, Jesse, Joy, Sam, Caleb, David, Kristen, Eliz, Jeff, Kevin

Start time ~6:07pm

Introductory

Motion to approve Apr 2 minutes as distributed

Jeff motioned, Douglas seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Reports

Financial Walkthrough

• Doing well overall, met budget for campers

• Q: Comment on discrepancy between Actual & Statement of Activity

  • Actual captures money that had allocated via registrations, statement of activity shows money captured

• Q: Comment on campership donations

  • We are lower than in previous years

• Taxes paid on time

• Set up for staff to start coming in

Camp Director Report

• Adult paddling trip went well

  • Current max is 5, maybe can increase in future years

• Health inspection set up for next Wednesday

• Setup for staff week next week, staff modules ready

• Office person not available for full summer, but have coverage

• $10K over budget, hit registration numbers (421 registrants)

Camp Manager Report

• Spring retreat going well

  • Young adult weekend is on, a lot of late registrations

  • Friends & family low-ish in attendance, many newcomers

• Fall rentals, good outlook

  • thaca is coming back for the first time in years, 85 registrations so far

  • Kingston can’t do their weekend, merged with Syracuse

• Fire extinguisher inspections have happened

• All registrations update to date, legal

  • Jeep getting inspected, replace vs repair

  • Planned repairs: Prius needs part, ~$800+labor

  • Van OK

  • Current vehicle budget $5K

• Spring cook left, got fill-in cooks

Committees

No meetings, minor updates only

Governance

• Passing bylaw changes by lawyer

• Lauren spoke with Lauren M last Friday

  • Better system on removing members

  • Additional thoughts on bylaws, waiting to hear back

B&G

• Meet later on in the year to see how best to support staff exec

• Q: Update on showers?

  • Eliz: no final verdict on showers

  • We have 2 working showers on one side, 3 on other, others marked out-of-order

  • We should likely apply eventual solution to all showers

  • Dave Cushing’s name was mentioned as a potential person to try a shower solution

  • Jeff to reach out to Eliz directly this week

Community Engagement & Fundraising

• Town hall suggestion - staff reunion

Finance

• Researched options on high-yield savings account

• Resolution upcoming later in meeting

New business

High-yield account

• $20K originally taken out of endowment & set aside for capital expense, wasn’t used

• Decided to place in high-yield savings account for time being

• CIT Bank platinum account, 4.75% interest rate, FDIC insured

  • Needs $5K minimum, OK for us

Motion to open high-yield savings account (CIT Bank platinum), deposit $20K, empower Emily to open & act as signer

Emily motioned, Jesse seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Addition to previous minutes

• Minutes entry from July 23 2022 has raised question from at least one parent, could use additional context

Motion to accept proposed wording addition to July 23 2022 minutes

“Additional context required:

For clarity, there was no incident to provoke the suggestion of a restraining order - the Millers hadn't been on camp property in years. The recent complaint provoked discussion of preceding interactions over past decades. A member had voiced they'd be supportive of a restraining order if one were ever needed, but this suggestion was quickly dismissed by camp leadership as unnecessary.  [added June 11 2023 by board vote]”

Jeff motioned, Jesse seconded

=> Approved, 1 abstention

Motion to allocate out-of-budget expense of up to $7.5K for lawyer fees

David motioned, Emily seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Motion to move to closed session [board/leadership only]

Joy motioned, Jeff seconded

=> Approved unanimously

[Closed session]

Motion to adjourn

Jeff motioned, Emily seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Bike rack

• Update on donor doc

• Update on org chart

• Finance to look into policy for transfers from chequing vs savings for higher interest yield

  • E.g. chequing balance exceeding threshold triggers a transfer

• Inclusion of professional fees on budget going forward

• Potential board member nominations

• Discuss potential bylaw changes

• Suggest 2 town halls a year, plan for fall

• Prev:

  • Governance committee review best practices for doc storage etc.

  • Mission: continued discussion

Unirondack Board Meeting, July 22 2023

This was an in person meeting.

• Introduction / Previous minutes

• Reports

  • Executive Director

  • Camp Director

  • Camp Manager

• Committees

• Organization Sturcutre 

• "Bike Rack" Items

Attendees:

Board/Exec: Lauren, Lynne, Emily, Douglas, Jesse, Joy, David, Kristen, Eliz, Jeff, Lucia, Kevin

Start time ~9:30am

Introductory

Motion to approve Jun 11 minutes as distributed

Douglas motioned, Jesse seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Reports

Exec Check-in & Financial Walkthrough

• Budget vs Actuals notes

  • Just about everything is over budget, good

  • Minor points regarding specific line entries

  • Men’s weekend revenue is very low compared to other weekends (future discussion)

  • Unexpected insurance fee, to be investigated

• Reminder list

  • Board slate, bylaw changes need to be sent out Aug 8

  • Will have in-person annual meeting

  • Tax filings confirmed

Camp Director Report

• Staff week less stressful than usual, many trainers involved

• Strong leadership teams this year, discussion highlighting efforts of staff

• No single medical directory, many individuals taking shifts throughout summer

• Good crew chief, interested in next summer

• Health inspection has happened already; OK, only a couple minor notices

• A couple campers sent home; had plans, corrective action, didn’t work out

• Volunteer coordinator left in first week, backfilled

• Rumpus: fire safety plan developed, cleared with Ranger already

• Incident reports ongoing, one orange report, handled well

• Vehicles aren’t doing great, probably need large investment in the next few years

  • Prius available for pickup this week

• Water system is acting up, leak on lower camp

• Camper registration is stable, no attrition 

Camp Manager Report

• Spring program finished out strong, good turnouts in general

  • Friends/family weekend had low turnout (49 instead of ~100)

• No training ramp up for kitchen staff due to staff shortage, high stress level in kitchen

• Chlorinator continues to be an issue, uses more chlorine that it should

  • Suspect that leaks are causing higher water usage, hence chlorine usage

• Discussion of various camp equipment, fixed and still outstanding

• Need inspection of fire suppression system, still to come

• Fall leasing update

  • All weekends booked, many week rentals

Committees

Governance

• Board manual updates

  • Many typos, logical rewording

  • Rewording to do with values

  • Added exec staff job description

• Bylaw changes in progress, bring into compliance with Revitalization Act

• Looking forward: social media policy

B&G

• Compiled list of projects for informational purposes

  • Existing infrastructure maintenance

  • New projects

• Some discussion regarding specific fundraising for projects

• Q: Winterization? Interest, but parked for now

Community Engagement & Fundraising

• Focus on fundraising for camperships

  • Work on campaign page

  • Reach out to previous campers who had received camperships

  • Reach out to staff

  • Received $14K last year, next year’s goal should be same or slightly higher

  • Looking for previous metrics on camperships, how many people helped, etc.

• Touch base with B&G fundraising interest

• Discussion regarding potential of art auction, other

• Suggestions for other donation ideas in off-season

Finance

• High-rate savings account not opened yet as the one in mind was for a personal account

  • Will open an equivalent account this week

Motion to move to closed session

David motioned, Emily seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Motion to move out of closed session

Douglas motioned, Lynne seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Discussion regarding organization structure

Initial presentation / background [Lauren]

• Exec director created to have a separation between camp staff, and a financial check distinct from staff

• Limitations to hiring someone new are financial

• Relies a lot on volunteer & underpayment

  • Present salaries prevent living wage

• In principle, camp director & exec director position could be combined

• Lauren is thinking original date of Oct 2024 should be pushed back

  • Unlikely to find good candidate

• Alternatively, transition could be composed as

  • External bookkeeping company

  • Transfer over time of remaining responsibility to Camp Director

Round-table discussion

• Positions should include considerations for medical & retirement for adults with career aspirations

• Leadership staff has always had more than one job for financial support

• Support for moving accounting bookkeeping to external company

• Possible to join with other organizations to make health care provision possible & sustainable

Takeaways

• Look into PEOs, pay per employee fee

  • Consortium to potentially allowable healthcare provision for small not-for-profit

  • Compare fees to existing insurance, will allow judgment call as to whether to pursue further

• Look into external bookkeeping 

  • Fees associated with doing this

Board Membership

Renewals:

• Lynne, David

New members (potential)

• Sujata

  • Should know soon

Discussion regarding fundraising ideas

Art fundraiser

• Folks from community submit artistic project

• Solicit bids in auction

Other fundraising, start with something simple, develop expectation of fundraising drives

• E.g. raise funds to develop tattoo & hair dying

Phone tree regarding membership renewals & recurring donation

• E.g. late August

Discussion regarding UUA update

Discussion/presentation regarding state of UUA bylaws [Douglas]

• UUA bylaws define 7 principles, defined by committee in the 80s

• Supposed to be revisited & updated periodically

• Attempt to rewrite lately, push to include 8th principle (focus on anti-racism, multiculturalism)

• Never went to a vote, feeling was it was not enough to tack on another principle but to revisit all the principles for more complete update

• Lots of research & feedback done by UUA, created new document of rewritten principles

• Impact is many people resist as they feel 7 principles are being removed, which is inaccurate

Proposal is 7 principles to be replaced by values & covenant statements

• Other amendments included this summer

• To be voted on 2024

Follow-on discussion on application to camp, ties into next discussion topic

Discussion regarding membership ‘cottage’ meetings

High value process for community to listen to one another [Jeff]

• Take 100s of people’s ideas and distill down to a common understanding

• Collection of data - can start with questionnaire

• Next step can be cottage meetings with notetakers, trends identified

• Compile all thoughts into mission

Can start the process in October, can get temperature read on moving forward

• Various discussions of history at board level, but should be broadcast to membership

• Can initiate this at member’s weekend, e.g. presentations

  • Archive letter

  • Kristen’s recent history capture

  • UUA changes

  • Caleb’s message about changes at camp

New business

Planning out next meeting for review & vote regarding bylaw changes, early August

Next virtual board meeting on Sep 18 @ 7pm

Camp Walkthrough

Videos captures for B&G committee review

Start time ~6pm

Bike rack

• Men’s spring weekend revenue is much lower than other weekend

  • Future discussion on potential for combining weekend, moving weekend, help with registration, etc.

• Investigate fee for liability insurance lapse (no real lapse - insurance admin error?)

• Suggestion to increase overhire rate to account for staff attrition & reduce high volunteer expenses

• Phone tree for membership renewals & recurring donation

• Look into PEOs (health care)

• Look into external bookkeeping (accounting)

• Prev:

  • Governance committee review best practices for doc storage etc.

  • Mission: continued discussion

  • Finance to look into policy for transfers from chequing vs savings for higher interest yield

Unirondack Board Meeting, Oct 7-8 2023

This was an in person meeting.

Attendees:

Board/Exec: Lauren, Douglas, Joy, Kristen, Eliz, Lucia, Kevin, Caleb, Lynne

Virtual: Jeff, Jesse, Emily

Devin, Jon, Dan, Vaishali, Liana, [other]

Start time ~10:00am

Introductory

Motion to approve Jul 22 minutes as read

Douglas motioned, Lucia seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Reports

Exec Check-in & Financial Walkthrough

• Financials reports distributed, year end was Sept 30

• Still waiting on some revenue

  • Loss is smaller than it looks right now

• Net revenue includes foundation & endowment gains

  • Foundation & endowment gains ~ $88K 

  • Removing those represents loss of ~ $13K

  • Remaining cheques & leasing, loss is more like ~ $2K

• Was anticipating risk with winter camp

• Foundation currently at $623, endowment $157K

• Thinking about how best to account for camperships in quickbook given move to individual pledges

  • ~$14K in camperships

• Donations are down this year 

• Overspent on food, propane, janitorial supplies (costs went up)

• Q: Are we using cash basis instead of accrual basis? (with regard to recognizing anticipated revenue)

  • Moved to finance committee meet-up

• Q: What was annual spending on maintenance? A: $7K

• Walkthrough of ‘Tick’ list

  • Taxes paid

  • Set up audit review

  • Plan to find a new auditor

  • Yet to do research PEO (professional employer organization)

    • Context - potential health insurance advantage

Camp Director Report

• Excited about this past summer, easiest summer 

• Registration a bit under last year, $$ over what we expected in revenue due to sliding fee scale

  • 419 campers total, last year 428

• Goal of capping session at 65 (9 below max)

  • Lower number allowed an empty cabin, not burning out counselors

  • This was an important part of a successful summer

• Start up hiccups, volunteer coordinator left, assistant program director missed staff week

• Head cook was new, potential for upcoming years

• Rumpus successful and safely run

• Health inspection, small violation due to buddy board

• Summer program went well, Caleb as program leader

  • Elena was supporting mental health & wellness

• No covid outbreaks or scares

• Volunteer onboarding is cumbersome, may reduce number next year

• Race/racism discussions led at camp:went well

• Feel is camp is striking a better balance of fun & justice

• Job description developed for Caleb

• Staff pay up to $2300 which was goal

• Q: How many staff? A: 38

Camp Manager Report

• Recap: Spring program strong, good turnouts in general

  • High turnout for work weekend

  • Friends/family weekend had low turnout (49 instead of ~100)

• Bears are becoming an issue, tearing up trash

  • Service roll away bins far cheaper than metal dumpster

• Sewage issue due to the amount of rain, leach field impacted

  • Extra $4K septic pumpage fee

  • Q: diagnosis done?  A: couldn’t find distribution boxes, during pumping, water backfilled

• Lots of plumbing done, replaced waste line

  • Invasive roots in septic system

• Behind on maintenance

  • Showers continue to be an issue

  • Physical objects (e.g. boats, dining tables, etc) replacement schedule will be set up

• Fall rental numbers are great

  • Ithaca back, $9.5K weekend

  • Gottfried, $4K weekend

  • Camp Cleetus, $9K over 9 days

  • 2 churches merged for a weekend, $4K

  • Rochester, $4K

  • Many new folks

• Losing work weekends with this many rentals

  • Explore work week in the fall

• Dave Cushing available for now as local contractor

  • Roof, lodge doors, showers, Leining bathroom

• [Dan] Perspective on maintenance

  • Biggest challenge is the facilities

  • Tends to be the lowest priority year over year

  • E.g. $750K spent over a few years (~10years ago) due to accumulated neglect

  • Needs to be a plan to be looking forward

  • Suggest a commitment of spending $50K/yr on maintenance

  • Suggestion to involve Farmer’s coop as resource

• Sam & Arson will be involved in succession of Eliz’s position

• [Jon] Suggestion that Caleb/Sam/Arson be more publicly visible

Committees

Archives [Devin]

• Documentation needed for recent events for capturing history

• Suggestion for youth reps to capture current history/culture

Governance

• No updates

B&G

• Consider a motion for immediate funding, $20K on reserve

• Q: Possible to spend $$ to hire local contractor? A: Yes, but it would cost more than allocation, looking

Community Engagement & Fundraising

• Focus on camperships, DonorDoc

• Kellen, Hannah, Luke joined

• Asking for help with creation of new campaign link in DonorDoc

• Asking for current/former camper testimonials

  • Suggest inclusion of parent testimonials

  • Article in UU world about past camper experience

• Asking for history of campership financials

• Getting quotes for fundraiser dinner

Finance

• Looking into bookkeeper, need to follow up on fees

• High-yield saving now holding $20K reserved for B&G

Diversitalk Recap

Some notes on diversitalk walkthrough from this past summer

• Talk about diversity - not presentation but discussion

• First meeting during Ballou I during flex time (morning program)

• Optional discussion, initial low turnout

• Changed camp covenance, split into smaller group discussions about list

• Changing culture around vocabulary used

• Q: Offer to younger campers? A: Parker, unsure of Channing

• Ideas for diversity increase

• Shuttle provision (e.g. NYC)

• Campership specific to POC

• POC retreat

• Food diversity

• Other items of discussion for future (not necessarily related)

  • Accessibility

  • Justice

  • Disability considerations

  • Opt-out spaces

  • Easing planning & sign-ups for camp (family situations)

[Sunday - various discussions]

Attendees:

Board/Exec: Lauren, Douglas, Sujata, Kristen, Eliz, Vaishali, Liana, Caleb, Lynne

Virtual: Jeff, Jesse, Emily, Kevin

Admin

Jeff resigned due to personal commitments 

[Jeff drops]

Officer Elections

[Much discussion about officer selection]

Motion to re-appoint Emily as Treasurer &  Kevin as Secretary

Doug forwarded, Lynne seconded

=> Approved

Motion to accept Douglas as President

Emily forwarded, Lynne seconded

=> Approved

Motion to accept Jesse as Interim Vice-President

Kevin forwarded, Sujata seconded

=> Approved

Committee Selections

[Discussion regarding committee make-up]

Governance

• Doug

B&G

• Kevin

Community Engagement & Fundraising

• Lynne

• Jesse (Fundraising interim)

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) to be part of this committee for now

Finance

• Emily

Archives

• Devin

Succession

• Transfer of ~50yrs of institutional knowledge to next exec team requires a lot of time & effort

• Reasonable to expect a loss during leadership transition

• Grant-writing part of next phase for Kristen

• Going forward for Kristen/Caleb

  • Kristen would start grant writing, taking course

  • Caleb assuming more responsibilities

• Going forward for Eliz

  • Arson/Sam have been present already from camp open to close

  • Transition has been ongoing, increased salary for Arson & Sam already in budget

• Executive position, any candidates? The challenge is the pay involved

  • Present camp exec feels keeping a distinct executive director position is good practice to allow separation between board and exec in case relationship is unhealthy

Budget 2024

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UXA-_rpytqHFX_jj2tLv9JwHMavBwBUs/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=113632222376695903251&rtpof=true&sd=true 

Summary of proposed budget $56K loss

Withdrawal of $27K would result in loss of $29K

Operational notes & discussion

• Opt-in credit card fees

• Raising intersession fee

• QYAR weekend funding

• Camp store, high inventory to carry forward to next year

• Increase exec salary up by 5%  ($1.5K)

• Arson/Sam moved to different line

• Capital Expenditures allowance

• Add $2K allowance for professional fees going forward

Motion to accept Budget as proposed with above changes

Sujata forwarded, Jesse seconded

=> Approved

Motion to move $7K from endowment to high-yield savings account

Emily forwarded, Lynne seconded

=> Approved

[break]

Board Position

New board member proposal

Kelly Jennings proposed for board addition, met with the board

Motion to appoint Kelly to fill out the remainder (1 yr remaining) of Shane Hilman’s term

Lynne forwarded, Jesse seconded

=> Approved unanimously

New meeting planning

Doodle poll to be sent for future meetings

Devin’s suggestion for community engagement

• Community engagement to follow up with Devin directly

Town Hall

Town hall planned for 1st week of Dec, poll needs to be finalized

• Jesse will resend poll

• Board will have a meeting prior to town hall, town hall planning will form part of agenda

The town hall is to be staff led

General feeling was the moderation would be similar to last time  (Lauren to moderate)

Physical Accessibility

Eliz will bring the findings of the accessibility audit to buildings & grounds

Fundraising Phone Tree

Split up expired memberships list to try to sign up for recurring memberships

Idea is to send out email first to ask about follow-up phone/text regarding membership renewal (both one-shot and recurring - different pricing)

Kevin to create email text for Lauren to send out to members

POC Related Items (carryover from Saturday)

Shuttle

Idea was to implement a shuttle from NYC to camp for ease-of-access

Perhaps a Hudson valley church could donate a van/shuttle use 

Lauren to ask Jon G to see how this was left off, this is next step

Campership Application

Idea is to have camperships specific to POC

Campership application could include opt-in questions about race & ethnicity demographics

• Legal question? Lauren to ask (lawyer) Lauren

The board should spend time considering how race & ethnicity demographics should weigh into campership decisions

Covid Policy

Suggestion for Covid policy:

‘Campers should be fully vaccinated per definition of the CDC. This means a camper has received all recommended doses of a COVID-19 vaccine including the vaccine which has been released as of October 2023.

Campers are permitted to attend camp if they have a medical exemption or with a letter from their doctor stating they are not recommending a vaccine.’

Motion to confirm Covid policy wording as stated

Youth reps Vaishali/Liana forwarded, Kelly seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Motion to adjourn

Lynne forwarded, Jesse seconded

=> Approved unanimously

Bike Rack

• PEO investigation

• Jesse to resend town hall poll

• Kevin to create email text for Lauren to send out to members

• Lauren to ask Jon G to see how shuttle funding was left off

• Lauren to reach out to lawyer to ask about implications of asking race & ethnicity information on registration/campership forms for DEI effort, compliance with non-discrimination laws

• Board to discuss how race & ethnicity demographics should weigh into campership decisions

• Eliz to send accessibility report to B&G group

Unirondack Annual Meeting 2023

October 8, 2023 1:47 PM EST

Participants in-person and joined by Zoom online meeting

Introductory items

• Call to order – 2:20 PM

• Attendance of participants

• Reading of 2021 Annual Meeting minutes

Motion: Kellen: To approve minutes from the 2022 Annual Meeting as read.

Second: Stephanie 

Vote:  Yes: Unanimous     No: 0 Abstain:  0 Ineligible: 0

Motion passes.

Bylaws (Lauren) 

Lawyer recommended renewing bylaws to be in compliance with

The board had previously approved many of these items as policies

Motion: Stephanie : Amendment to Article VII section 2  i   “ Chair may not be the Treasurer”, also change Chairman to Chair throughout bylaw

Second: Lynne

Motion: Dan: Amendment of Article VII section 2 

Second: Devon

Joy accept

The board of directors shall appoint an audit committee by majority vote

Motion: Stephanie : Accept changes as amended

Second: Lynne

Vote by roll call:  Yes: Unanimous     No: 0 Abstain:  0 Ineligible: 0

Motion passes.

Suggestion only:  (Jon) Article IV section 4 

Replace mentions of SLUUD with something appropriate

Ballou 2 should be defined

Good standing should be defined

Table until next year

Nominate board members for open positions

Positions are available for 3 yrs.

Introductions:

David Pynchon

• Returning board member

• Former councilor, helped with text/graphs/data

Lynne Theophanis

• Returning board member

• Finishing 3 year term

• Advocating for social work skills

Sujata

• Been coming since she was 11, has brought family

• Interested in diversity expansion

Motion: (Stephanie Cross): Nominate full slate of nominees

Second: Dennis Hursh

Vote:  Yes: Unanimous consent

Motion passes.

Introduction of youth reps:

Liana

Vashali

Camp Director’s Report (Kris) 

• Report:

  • link

• Summary

  • One of most successful, handled issues well

• Camper recruitment - online, newsletters, postcards

  • No church visit, covid holdover, fewer youth programs to draw from

• Similar number to last year, 9 fewer campers (419 instead of 428)

  • Removed target goal due to introduction of sliding fee scale

  • Average fee $943 (up by ~$100)

• Legal max number of is 74, capped this year at 65

  • Doesn’t feel packed

  • Available cabin free for counselors apart from kids

  • Helped enormously with preventing burnout

• Pre-season changes

  • Caleb resumed staff hiring

  • Lots of effort towards staff week planning, procedures & systems

  • Expanded staff week training (20+ modules over 13 days)

  • More outside presenters (anti-racism, autism spectrum disorder, etc)

• Staff changes

  • Elena: Mental health specialist

    • Camper care plans

    • Discussion with parents

  • Hannah: Human resources

  • Katie: Large scale program specialist (evening programs)

• Covid

  • Policy: at-home testing, needed vaccination

  • No cases or issues

  • Q: pushback on vaccination? A: some, 2 dropouts this summer

• Program highlights

  • Workshops: spy school, Lewis county fair

  • Artists in residence: dyeing, music appreciation

  • Camp silification

  • One shots

    • On-the-spot oneshots, floating fortress

  • Evening programs

    • The last of us, evil dead, discovery channel, uni-market

• Rumpus: single bonfire

• Increased staff pay, $2800

• Cookbook creation, 1st draft

• More trips

• Lowlights

  • No major issues

  • Lots of rain, flooding at boathouse & campfire

  • Maintenance falling behind

  • No winter camp, no plans for 2024

  • Giving Tuesday & campership donations are down

• Looking forward

  • Hiring consultant for staff diversification

  • Buildings & grounds

  • Kristen retiring in the next few years

  • Grant writing

  • Capture/update of manuals & systems

Comment: (Phil)  Perhaps community college may recognize this training for credit

Q: Do you anticipate being able to continue to offer expanded staff training?  A: year-to-year decision

Camp Manager’s Report (Eliz) 

• Report: 

  • link

• Spring programs walkthrough

  • Good turnout overall

  • Large work weekend turnout - 52

  • Higher revenue than expected

  • Work weekend, a number of projects completed

  • QYAR retreat successful, lots of fundraising

    • Free so far, moving to sliding scale next year

    • Many workshop presenters

• Fall season

  • Resurgence of church participation: Ithaca, Syracuse, Kingston, Rochester

  • Private rentals

• Maintenance

  • A number of improvements: accessibility, plumbing, painting

• Preventative Maintenance

  • Falling behind, e.g. last roof replacement was a few years ago

  • Plumbing & septic need attention; partly due to growth, invasive vegetation

  • Suggestion: possible on-call volunteers?

  • Q: cost of roofing? Approx $9/sqft for contractor, sometimes only materials

  • Q: what does beaver camp do for maintenance? A: don’t know, had emailed

• Needed replacements

  • E.g. tables, chairs, boats, mattresses, etc.

  • Impacts quality of time at camp

  • Restart yearly replacement or select items that have wear and tear

  • Many vehicle repairs

• Environmental impacts

  • Bears! Getting into trash - have temporary measure, need longer term solution

  • Flooding, raised water table, much septic backup

    • Pumping up to 2x a year, additional pump needed this year

• Archive & historical website

  • Devin has create site housing historical photos & notes

• New programs

  • Outdoor adventure trip

  • Looking for folks to help with POC retreat

• Succession

  • Sam & Arson to become co-managers

Executive Director’s Report (Lauren) 

• Report: link

• Revenue overview

  • $505K revenue this year

  • $540K expenditures

  • => -$5K revenue

• Q: Any explanation for $35K on program differences?  A: winter camp cancelation was a major driver

• Total donations $30K  (down significantly from last year)

• Campership etc. spent $K

• Foundation balance at present ~$589, Endowment $146K

  • Down - no withdrawals, just market changes

• 
  

Board president report

• Goal was to return to regular issues & schedules rather than adhoc meetings

• Investment in terms of increased wages for summer staff

• Conversations about succession planning

• Revisiting mission: internal discussion but would like to involvement membership

  • Propose cottage meetings

• Difficult year, struggle with member relations over this year, took priority over fundraising

  • Putting in systems to mitigate future incurrences

• Updated website, marketing

  • Involved communication consultant

• First time for town hall

• 
  

Comment: fundraising opportunity to include corporation

Donations by inclusion in will

Suggestion: development of toolkit for volunteers

Suggestion: favorite photo upload, usage for promotion

Motion: Stephanie : to close out meeting

Second: Lynne

Meeting end: 5:24

Unirondack Board Meeting, Nov 13 2023

This was a virtual meeting.

Attendees:

Board/Exec: Lauren, Douglas, Eliz, Kristen, Kevin, Lynne, Jesse, Emily, Kelly, Sam, Arson, Sujata, Vaishali, Liana, David

Other: Luke

Start time ~7:00pm

Introductory

Motion to approve Oct 7-8 minutes as distributed

Jesse motioned, Kelly seconded

=> Approved, 1 abstention

Exec Reports

Exec Director

• Withdrew $7K from chequing to high-yield

• Reached out to prior contact regarding shuttle from city, they can’t do to personal situation

• Updated bylaws, uploaded to website

• Will be looking for auditor to do review

• No major expenses

Camp Director

• Updating website & calendar

• Onboarding Caleb

  • In charge of registration, Nov 15 launch

  • Recruitment consulting, OARRRS

• Grant writing

  • Prospecting, writing, applying

  • Meeting with grant maker in NY

    • They were optimistic QYAR is good fit

  • Local “cloud-splitter” foundation

• Planning for grant progress reporting

Camp Manager

• Lots of committee meetings

  • Marketing & messaging meeting

• POC retreat planned for the spring

• Moved QYAR to the fall

• Updating website, programs will have different pages

• Working with Dave Cushing for off season work

Committees Reports

Governance

• Updated bylaws now on website

• Looking into social media policy

• Will be searching for old policies, find impactful votes

• Documentation, looking into better cataloging

B&G

• Budget of $32K

• Task list for Dave Cushing

• Tracing planned for septic field, revisit in spring

• Container solution for garbage

• Work party for Manwell

• Plan to prepurchase material for showerhouse fix in spring

• Outdoor lighting solution in the works

• Future $$ ask would be to hire skilled tradesperson(s) to be on staff (or equivalent)

Committee & Fundraising

• Luke/Hanna/Kellen approached the group with fundraising ideas

• Campership drive planned, but was sidelined with new idea

• Luke representing special projects fundraising

  • ‘Had a great summer’ fundraiser targeting past staff members, shooting for $5.6K

  • Donations go to foundation

  • Halfway through campaign

  • Speaking with fundraising consultant

  • Add recent alumni, compiling info on donors

  • Annual dinner

  • Thank you Luke!

Finance Committee

• No update, good financial state

Town Hall Planning

• Planned date of Dec 6

• Format similar to previous version

• Potential theme of ‘welcome to camp’, what information would new families like to know

• Email reminder coming out

Admin

Next Meetings

• Winter in-person meeting, Jan 27 2024

• March planning meeting, Mar 12 2024

• Spring retreat, typically at camp during work weekend

  • Not ideal, staff has split responsibilities

  • Many other options suggested

  • Apr 19-21 2024

• June 3 2024, Zoom check-in

• Suggest summer retreat planned for July 20 2024

• September planning meeting, Sep 10 2024

• Next members meeting Oct 11-14 2024

Messaging for Giving Tuesday to come out soon

Meeting adjourned, ~8:30pm

Bike Rack

(carry forward)

• PEO investigation

• Lauren to reach out to lawyer to ask about implications of asking race & ethnicity information on registration/campership forms for DEI effort, compliance with non-discrimination laws

• Board to discuss how race & ethnicity demographics should weigh into campership decisions

• Eliz to send accessibility report to B&G group