GPUS Steering Committee Minutes – 12 May 2019
SUMMARY FOR DISTRIBUTION TO STATES AND LOCAL CHAPTERS:
1. New Business:
a) Request for $500 funding for Latinx Caucus to bring film maker and his Puerto Rico documentary to ANM by Anita
b) Request for eblast – Action Alert to TX on ballot access by Andrea
c) Request for $600 for Cheri Honkala’s trip to Venezuelan Embassy by Hillary
2. Standing Business: Treasurer’s Report (Treasurer’s Reports to the GNC available at https://gpus.org/treasurers-reports/;
Fundraising Report; Fundraising Consultant update, Liaison reports
3. Voting Queue – https://secure.gpus.org/cgi-bin/vote/login
Received for the queue: None
In the queue: Amend Accreditation Committee Policies & Procedures; Minimum Age for Steering Committee Membership; Amend Rules & Procedures Article 10 – Recognition of Declared Candidates for President, Amend PNC Rules to Prohibit Registrants of Non-Green Parties as Delegates
Online SC Proposals approved since last call and sent to the NC: None
4. Old Business: Operations Manager hiring, 2019 Annual National Meeting, Strategic Planning Meeting. FreshDesk update, Tech update, Response to FVPA letter
5. Executive Session: Personnel
The full minutes are available at https://gpus.org/committees/steering/minutes/may-12-2019/,
The call recording will be available at 712-451-0309, 926334#, reference 5 and
https://gpus.org/steering-committee-recordings/
Jody Grage, Secretary
GPUS Steering Committee Minutes – 12 May 2019
AGENDA:
I. CALL SETUP & BACKGROUND – 15 min
a) Facilitator: Charles Sherrouse
b) Roll call: Jody Grage, Anita Rios, Tony Ndege, Violet Rose Zitola, Justin Beth, Hillary Kane, Andrea Merida, Gloria Mattera
Absent: Margaret Flowers
Observers, – Holly Hart IA, Starlene Rankin OR, Tamar Yager NWC
c) Agenda revision suggestions – Funding request Latinx Caucus for Puerto Rico documentary at ANM, Funding request for Cheri Honkala’s trip to Venezuelan Embassy, Eblast request to GPTX on ballot access legislation – all approved for New Business
II. NEW BUSINESS
a) Request for $500 funding for Latinx Caucus to bring film maker and his Puerto Rico documentary on colonialism, etc. to ANM by Anita – Hillary $78 in Latinx reserve funds + $400 from $2000 budgeted for all 5 caucuses – consensus to approve
c) Request for $600 for Cheri Honkala’s trip to Venezuelan Embassy – rental car and supplies by Hillary – reimbursement to Hillary, receipts forthcoming – $300 possible from PA state and local, up to $500 to come from NationBuilder Line 120 (or from Outreach) – consensus to approve; suggestion to use Kickstarter next time
b) Request for eblast – Action Alert to TX – by Andrea
HB-2504 is a bill to lower the signature requirements for independent candidates to get on the ballot and that 2018 election returns will qualify GPTX for ballot status – consensus to approve – Andrea will get it out, suggested changes to text sent due by Monday morning ET; 2400 Texans in NationBuilder – consensus to approve
III. STANDING BUSINESS – 40 min
a) Treasurer’s report – Hillary Kane – 5 min.
Treasurer’s Reports to the GNC available at https://gpus.org/treasurers-reports/
Total in all accounts – $128,076.02; Savings and reserves – $112,942.48; Checking – $15,133.54′
plus PayPal $652
checking balance steady, reserves have increased with ANM funds
internal audit halfway to completion – 20 random transactions being reviewed
Funding request from David Doonan – upgrade our plan on Flickr – new limit on number of images on free accounts which we are exceeding – $50/yr from online services line 118 – consensus to approve
b) Fundraising report including consultant update – Gloria – 10 min.
YTD Income – May 12: $69,467.26 (without ANM); Income May 1 – 12: $5,384.50 (without ANM)
YTD Donations from website – May 12: $2,419.52; Donations from website May 1 – 12: $10
YTD Donations from checks (not from Direct Mail Letter) – $1,262.00
Donations from Eblasts May 1 – 12 – $188 plus $18 from GreenLine
2019 ANM: $14,823.00
February 2019 Direct Mail Letter: Income: $11,197.00 (2/22 – 5/12); Cost: $4,933.58; Sent to: 3998
Eblasts: 5/1/19: May Day $125 (David Doonan wrote); 5/12/19: Mother’s Day $63 (so far) (Gloria wrote)
Series of donation channels set up, first time donors tracked now; Income report will be sent to supplement the graph
Appeal content discussion – tax eblast written by committee rather than consultant – need to balance between party values and encouraging increased donations, need to be aware of the broad range of donors; committee needs more writer
c) Liaison reports – 25 min – for next agenda
IV. VOTING QUEUE – Jody – 5 min
https://secure.gpus.org/cgi-bin/vote/login
Received for the queue: None
In the queue: Amend Accreditation Committee Policies & Procedures; Minimum Age for Steering Committee Membership; Amend Rules & Procedures Article 10 – Recognition of Declared Candidates for President; Amend Presidential Nomination Convention Rules to Prohibit Registrants of Non-Green Parties as Delegates
Online SC Proposals approved since last call and sent to the NC: None
V. OLD BUSINESS – 70 min
a) Operations Manager hiring – discussion and decision – Hillary – 20 min
desire to hire before ANM; suggestion to hire part-time fundraiser to raise money for other
positions, BAC, etc. rather than generalist; salary line in 2019 budget – $50k/yr; vote – Justin – yes,
Gloria – yes, Andrea – no, Tony – no, Anita – yes, Violet – yes, Jody – yes, Hillary – yes – approved
b) 2019 Annual National Meeting – Margaret – 20 min
update on workshops, speakers, plenary agenda, travel reservations, etc.
record number of workshop proposals reviewed – breakouts on Saturday afternoon suggested – especially for important committees like BAC, PCSC, and CCC; concern about anti-oppression workshop given the discussion on the list recently; challenge – so many important things to do and discussion to have; ANM committee working on TH and FR – need SC plans for ST and SN – SC will
make decisions online using ANM: on subject line, Justin reposted ST-SN spreadsheet
c) Strategic Planning #5 follow up – Gloria – 10 min
Discussed job description, case for support, and vision and mission statements
d) Freshdesk update – Justin – 10 min
Will talk to Starlene and David Doonan soon; need to work on how are volunteers are handled including metrics; need to know backlog size now; Starlene only handles fundraising concerns that come in and sends new sustainer contacts to states for followup
e) Tech updates – Violet – 5 min – no update
f) Potential response to FVPA letter regarding Venezuela trip update – Andrea – 5
waiting to see what happens at the Venezuelan embassy
For future agendas:
a) Committee actions and statements within their mission statement – suggestion that if in name of GPUS public statements go through Media Committee and letters go through SC
VI. EXECUTIVE SESSION – 20 min
Personnel issues – next agenda
TOTAL TIME: 2 hours 15 min
Jody Grage, Secretary