"Promoting Humanist Values and Critical Thinking on the South Coast"

 

Humanist Society of Santa Barbara

Minutes of the Board Meeting March 10th, 2020

Home of Mary Wilk      Host:  Clover

 

Board members present:  Mary Wilk, David Echols, Judy Flattery, Diane Krohn, Wayne Beckman, Clover Brodhead Gowing, Nan Cisney and Neal Faught.

 

Board members absent: None.

Visitors: None.

 

  1. Welcome/Call to Order: Judy Flattery
    • Judy called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
    • Open Action Items to be covered in specific sections.
    • Roundtable share: Who were your top 2 main speakers for the past year?  There was some discussion about the speakers for the past year.  Speakers Kalman, Chatelaine, Gragg, Wu and Chambers seemed to be the ones more favored. 

 

  1. Secretary’s Report: Diane Krohn
    • The February 2020 meeting minutes were approved.
    • Action Item follow up: Speakers Packet and Ops Manual: Diane sent out updated draft of the Speakers Packet for review and comments.  The Ops Manual is essentially completed and needs a final review by Judy and Diane.  

 

  1. Treasurer’s Report: Neal Faught
    • Nonprofit status update: Roger has not contacted either Judy or Neal about updates, so we will proceed as follows:
      • Action Item: Judy Flattery will forward her copy of Application for 501(c)(3) long form to Neal for submission to the IRS. Judy had previously filled this out to assist Roger.
      • Judy has contacted a local accountant, Mark Pasternak, re: our nonprofit status. He said that we need to be filing Form 990-N every year that we have not filed. However, due to the busy tax season, we will delay trying to meet with any accountants until the tax season is ended, and then we can look into meeting with the accountant if necessary.  
      • Neal will also look into filing Form 1023-EZ as suggested by Mary.
    • Action Item: Neal to reconcile GnuCash file with bank statements. Not completed yet.
    • GnuCash software features: Graphic display of the financials. Not completed yet.
    • Treasurer report: Neal presented the cash flow charts and update of the budget evaluation YTD.

 

  1. Programs: Board
    • February meeting: Topic was interesting but speaker got a bit repetitious.
    • March meeting venue: There was lengthy discussion about whether we should have the March speaker cancelled or not. We had to consider alternate venues, potential loss of normal revenue and lack of attendees. After discussion, Wayne moved to cancel the March meeting; Mary seconded the vote and all voted in favor.  Motion passed that the March meeting will be cancelled. David will contact Nancy Wahl to send out emails to all members.
    • This would be a good opportunity to research alternate venues.
      • Diane to research St. Andrews and Presidio Springs.
      • Judy will check on Live Oak in Goleta and the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara.
    • Future speakers: Refer to Agenda.
    • David reported that Nancy Wahl is having some difficulty with Google Groups because it cannot be set to send out messages at a pre-determined date, or time which could be done with Constant Contact. Judy wanted to look into a way to schedule email to go out at certain times using Google groups.  We would prefer not to have two email lists to maintain, so this is a topic to be re-visited.

 

  1. Publicity: David Echols
    • David will contact Nancy about Saturday’s meeting being cancelled so she can send notices to members and non-members.
    • Action Item follow up: Roger: Status of the Freethinkers Meetup group that he adopted. No update from Roger. Judy recommended that we drop this. All agreed.

 

  1. Activities: Clover Brodhead Gowing and Nan Cisney
    • JPL tour: Date is confirmed as Tuesday, May 26. David has reserved a coach for about 45-46 people. David thought that transportation could be around $50 instead of $60.  The tip is built in to the cost. David said that we would need a minimum of 35 attendees. He thought a catered lunch on board would be better, and then a restaurant dinner after the tour. The meal costs would be about $12 for lunch and about $20 for dinner (fixed price dinner; alcohol optional).  Judy will check to see if there is a minimum age requirement.
      • Non-members will pay more and we will offer to members first.
    • Summer Solstice picnic: Picnic site reservation for June 13 for Area 2. Anne Rojas will coordinate food and games. Cody’s will be the caterer. We will charge $15 for members and guests. 

 

  1. Membership: Mary Wilk
    • Current membership: 131.
    • Dues are usually due in July (1/3 of the membership), so it’s a slow time for dues collection.
    • Communication of changes in dues and meeting donations: July 1st will be the change in dues for Members.

 

  1. Newsletter: Judy Flattery
    • Refer to Agenda.

 

  1. Webmaster: Wayne Beckman
    • Judy asked if Wayne could check into WebEx Webinars for future remote speaker meetings.

 

  1. President: Judy Flattery
    • See Agenda. Judy reviewed what she learned at the Southern California Secular Leader’s Summit.

 

  1. Old Business:
    • Action Items covered in specific relevant sections.

 

  1. New Business:
    • Board members need to start thinking about replacement Board members and who will be serving on the Board next year.

 

  1. Adjournment
    • The meeting was adjourned at 6:59 p.m.
    • The host will be Neal.  

 

Respectfully submitted,

Diane Krohn, April 14, 2020