5/19/24 Leadership Team Meeting Minutes

*approved: (TBD)

Key action items bolded and underlined.

Meeting convened: 6:38 pm

Attendance: Janet Mckeehan-Medina (Chair); Samantha Fenner (Executive Director), Jon Fenner (Communications); Jane E. Nevins (Finance), Julie Hay (Board), Monte Mann (Treasurer); Fabian Aruquipa (Secretary); Skip Keith and Suzanne Guess could not attend.

Minutes Reviewed and Approved

• The Minutes for the 04/14/2024 meeting were approved unanimously with a minor edit on the MSR (change ideas to stats: “Impact Report, needs ideas stats from MSR, to be submitted after annual meeting); 
• The Minutes for the 04/28/2024 Annual Meeting were approved unanimously; 
• The Minutes for the 04/28/2024 separate Board Meeting were approved unanimously.  

New Contributing Members—Sam Fenner and Monte Mann (10 min)

• MSR volunteers will be invited to become contributing members;
• MSR volunteers who put in 3 hours should be considered contributing members; our roles as volunteers are those of contributing members; 

Cash Reserve—Sam and Monte (10 min)

• Some concerns and suggestions had been raised on the budget by former Secretary and Member, Millie Eidson; this section addresses those concerns and suggestions;
• Cash reserves are available and provide a 3-year timeframe of stability; 
• Expenses are hard to calculate for this year as former the Treasurer matched income and outcome in the original budget; it is not known where this addition was made to achieve this match; 
• There were 11,000 USD last year; which means that, in three years, 33,000 could be available
• 41 members pay in CD funds;
• There are 9 months’ worth of reserves; the rest is in CDs; 
• All CDs are relatively short term; they take place sometime in November, depending on rate or timing; 
• Millie had the concern that this money should be available; all this money is available before needed;
• We have the funds available; Millie’s point is good, but the money is actually available; there are no interests to gain from in savings accounts; income grows when kept as CDs.

Charity Navigator—Sam and Monte (10 min)

• Charity Navigator states that non-profits should use 70% of their income in programs and no more than 30% in administrative expenses;
•  The current treasurer, Monte, checked this data and confirmed that is not carved in stone: this is relatively true for most charities, but the BWW is a micro nonprofit; so the figures and percentages apply differently; 
• 70% is actually the top rating considered for Charity Navigator;
•  If the BWW wanted to be ranked by Charity Navigator, it would look quite good for at least the next three years if expenses on programs are retained in 70% to 65%; if the three-year window moves, it would still take a while for Charity Navigator to rank BWW lower; 
• But the above projection increases if more programs and Master Classes are offered and implemented; 
• Why is Charity Navigator important to BWW? This navigator rates nonprofits; the higher the Charity Navigator ranking, the better chance of getting donations; people look at their ranking to see if nonprofits and charities are using their money wisely; not just financially, but also in regard to other guiding principles like an ethics committee; the board member number; and others; 
• Charity Navigator was not used to obtain grants for the BWW; although it seems like a marketing tool, the agreement of the LT members was that the spirit and philosophy of Charity Navigator could inform the BWW’s activities; there is an interest in rescuing the philosophy of Charity Navigator; 
• Albeit the spirit and intention are good, for a small nonprofit as BWW, the stipend agreed upon for the Executive Director could make it seem that a big amount is going to administrative expenses; 
• Hence, the agreement was reached by LT members that the stipend and guidelines of Charity Navigator for how money is spent will be considered in each annual meeting. 

Master Class fees—Sam and Monte (10 min)

• Professionals offering Master Classes usually charge 300 USD; we have been paying them 125 USD; the proposal is to raise this figure as it may allow BWW to get more informed talent; paying appropriate market rate feels only appropriate and could ensure quality.
• The rate paid for MCs hasn’t changed since 2017; 
• It would be good to see how this increase would be seen in the budget’s numbers; 
• The proposal is made to increase member contribution from 10 to 15 USD as this could both cover the MC expenses and allow an income; 
• Most members waive the discount and pay the whole fee for the MCs; and members can make bigger contributions if they want to; 
• The increase to 15 USD for contributing members seems reasonable by LT meeting members; 
• Albeit this increase for MCs can be done right away, the coming MC, by Vermont playwright, Ryan Mangan, will incur an expenditure of only 125 USD;
• The LT members have agreed to increase the contributing member fee to 15 USD to test how the increase is welcomed; 
• There is a list of tentative 60 people who could offer further MCs with the BWW.

MSR Update—Suzanne Guess (10 min)

• Suzanne is unfortunately unable to attend today due to the passing of a family member;
• She informed (Sam) that MSR reached the free submission number with Submittable;
• The Senior editor positions are still open; 
• The Copy editor has been found; looking to hopefully announce this person soon;
• Regarding Submittable, the treasurer, Monte, has informed that 500 free submissions have been purchased from Submittable for this year and the next one; these didn’t cost anything for this year; and cost a bit for next year; Publishes online bimonthly

Communications Update/Eventbrite—Jon (5 min)

• A new website is underway; interviews and exchanges are being held with other nonprofits that use platforms for hosting and conversions and all stuff Eventbrite does for BWW; we will be testing them; they may incur a cost, however;  
• No problems have been reported regarding our websites; the BWW has renewed its site license for a new year; 
• The Poetry path has been and will continue to be announced; submissions have been received already; more submissions are encouraged; 
• Seven Days (Vermont media) reached out to the BWW and said they would like to interview BWW; this would help to get free publicity.

AI Submissions—Jon and Gloria (10 min)

• There is a concern as to participants using AI. LT members would like to find a suitable and creative formulation to warn participants that AI work is not accepted; 
• The Secretary, Fabian, proposed to base ourselves in formulations from akin poetry magazines like Rattle: Rattle does not accept work that has been predominantly generated by artificial intelligence. Poetry is a tool for expanding the human spirit, which means poems should be written by humans. It is possible to use A.I. toward that aim in some cases, so if used A.I. to assist in the writing process, please explain in the notes to your submission. He promised to share some other similar formulations via email to help draft our own; 
• This formulation would be applicable to MSR also;
• An LT member, Julie, would like Jamie Attenber’s 1,000 words of summer to be shared on the BWW website; as this is a feeless activity, it is possible to do so; an email will be sent to the Executive Director to consolidate this request.

Adjourned at 7:45 pm

Pending Date for next LT meeting: Date for next LT meeting: June 23rd at 7:00 pm (social greetings at 6:45)