GPUS Steering Committee MINUTES – 13 May 2018
SUMMARY FOR DISTRIBUTION TO STATES AND LOCAL CHAPTERS:
1. New Business: Resignation of Mike Dennis from the SC and vacancy election schedule; Technology expense of approximately $350 for software Hot Jar; Merchandise contract with fulfillment house FII
1. Standing Business: Treasurer’s Report, Fundraising Report, Liaison Reports
3. Voting Queue – https://secure.gpus.org/cgi-bin/vote/login
In the queue: Amendment to GPUS RPPs Article IX NC Listserve Protocols and Policies
Received for the queue: Endorsement of October 20-21 Women’s March on the Pentagon; Platform Amendment Proposals – Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration, UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Foreign Policy – Peace and Disarmament
Online SC Proposals approved since last call: Fundraising Committee liaison and supervision of Starlene Rankin will shift from Michael Dennis to Gloria Mattera
4. Old Business:
a) Forum Manager nominations for NC confirmation – Sid Smith VA, Charles Sherrouse PA, Holly Hart IA with Frank Young as alternate
b) Updates on pending agenda items – Strategic Planning Retreats update, ETC Final Report follow up
5. Executive Session: None
The minutes are available at http://gpus.org/committees/steering/minutes/may-13-2018/
The call recording is available at 712-451-0309, 926334#, reference 22
Online recording available at https://secure.gpus.org/secure/SC-Recordings/2018-05-14-22.mp3
Jody Grage, Secretary
GPUS Steering Committee Minutes – 13 May 2018
AGENDA:
I. CALL SETUP & BACKGROUND – 15 min.
a) Facilitator: Charles Sherrouse
b) Roll call – Chris Blankenhorn, Jody Grage, Hillary Kane, Mike Dennis. Darryl! Moch, Gloria Mattera (9:30)
Absent: Andrea Merida, Tony Ndege, Darlene Elias
Observer – David Gerry MA, Starlene Rankin OR, Tamar Yager VA, Holly Hart IA
c) Agenda revision suggestions – New Business: Mike – $350 expense for Hot Jar software (Technology budget); New Business: Chris – Merch contract (Merchandise budget)
II. NEW BUSINESS – 20 min.
a) Discussion of the split within Our Revolution over taking corporate money – Cheri Honkala /Hillary – withdrawn until or unless raised again
b) Resignation of Mike Dennis from the SC as of Sunday 11:58 pm Eastern – vacancy election schedule: nominations 21 May – 10 June,
discussion 11 – 24 June, voting 25 June – 1 July
c} Technology expense – Mike – approximately $350 for software Hot Jar – to allow web manager to monitor statistics on people’s navigation of our website; will pair with Google Analytics to see what parts of our website resonate so we can intentionally adjust our website to guide people to the most important content and actions – useful for directing website efforts, adding to email and volunteer lists – consensus to approve
d) Merchandise contract – Chris – FII contract for fulfillment – Hillary will sign; merch shipped by Darryl! with fairly accurate inventory except Green Pages; $3.60 per order, customer service $.50 per order, no charge for storage or data uploads; sample report received; use Green Party of the United State aka Green Party; will become hybrid with print-as-you-go option; will be able to have donation slip go out with each order as well as extras such as Green Pages; FII will be able to do fulfillment of Green Pages – consensus to approve
III. STANDING BUSINESS – 30 min.
a) Treasurer’s report – Hillary Kane, 10 min.
including Treasurer’s Reports to the GNC – March report went out, David Doonan working on website location for reports
Balance in all accounts $102,831.63 – Savings/Reserves $99.480.56, Checking #1 – $7,739.37, Checking #2 $611.70; no longer using reserve funds and have paid some back, $8500 Red Sun bill to pay this coming week; payroll winding down – Adrian and Cynthia severance paid though not 6 mo of healthcare, Adrian to be paid after end of year, Cynthia and Scott have not requested health care reimbursements for Jan-April, will pay at end of year with info on hand, Darryl! will contact them
b) Fundraising report – Mike Dennis – 10 min.
May $8400 so far which is above last couple months – May Day $200, Trump/war $425, resent NC ballot access $300; slowed down on emphasizing fundraising, working on petitions now; last month 256 unsubs at least and 141 emailable additions; ANM email soon, Memorial Day, operations sustainer eblast, resend Joy and Hillary testimony email – which got mostly sustainers last time; direct mail arriving in inboxes, next direct mail in the works – perhaps small batch and handwritten; finalizing caring cents to round up to the closest dollar – fincom considering; volunteers working on dedups so need more vols; Starlene contacting probable sustainers, major donors spreadsheet being updated – Gloria overseeing as Starlene’s supervisor now; donate links being tweeted out occasionally, updated fundraising calendar to organize output and scheduling; Darryl! – updates on Stein and state lists for prospects, Stein fully onboarded in fall – tracking unknown, direct mail in fall broke even or less; other lists – Starlene still working on list exchanges – 3 emails for followup and tracked – once a month emailing to states to remind them to do the exchange; direct mail going first class which is faster and gets address corrections; Darryl! will pick up mail and do deposit once a week starting this coming week; Memorial Day will use Claudia’s story with donate button at the bottom
Fundraising hire update – 4 RFP responses, Hillary will respond this week.
c) Liaison reports – 20 min.
Annual National Meeting – Hillary – SC needs to plan Sat/Sun agenda, sent draft to SC subcommittee; discussion of SC meeting Sunday afternoon; Darryl! – caucuses want time to talk to SC about reaching those communities perhaps during open time Sat 1-4
Media – Gloria – co-chair election completed – Ann Link for 2 years and Justin McCarthy for 1 year; task list and process information developing
Merchandise – Chris – see above under New Business – updates on the new systems will be coming soon
DRC – Darryl! – requests have been received – many confrontational and problematic, many not within DRC purview, the “other sides” have tended to refuse or insist on preconditions, committee discussing putting our more info to give the NC more info; reviewing bylaws which were never completed; Truth and Reconciliation Commission being discussed as probably as autonomous body that reports to the DRC; working on new process for incoming requests with spreadsheets to increase awareness of DRC work while still providing privacy
IV. VOTING QUEUE – Jody – 5 min.
(https://secure.gpus.org/cgi-bin/vote/login)
In the queue: Amendment to GPUS RPPs Article IX NC Listserve Protocols and Policies
Received for the queue:
Endorsement of October 20-21 Women’s March on the Pentagon
2018 Platform Amendment Proposal – Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration – expedited
2018 Platform Amendment Proposal – UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – expedited
2018 Platform Amendment Proposal – Foreign Policy – Peace and Disarmament – expedited
Online SC Proposals approved since last call and sent to the NC:
Fundraising Committee liaison and supervision of Starlene Rankin will shift from Michael Dennis to Gloria
Mattera – 10 May
V. OLD BUSINESS – 30 min.
a) Forum Manager nominations for NC confirmation – 3 with 2-year terms and 1 Alternate Forum Manager
For job description see http://gpus.org/rules-procedures/#09 and Updated Listserv Directives to Forum Managers and Delegates sent
to the listserv on 16 April 2018
Sid Smith VA, Charles Sherrouse PA, Holly Hart IA with Frank Young as alternate – consensus
b) Updates on pending agenda items
1. Strategic Planning Retreats update – discussion of Friday night/Sunday afternoon and meet-and-greet/SC meeting options with SC candidates
included; virtual retreat to be scheduled soon after ANM
2. Election database Phase II and III update – Hillary – nothing new to report
3. Voting page maintenance/Tech issues update – Chris – need to fund more work if it is to happen
4. ETC Final Report follow up– Darryl! – proposals for software will be from the SC and proposals for rule changes from BRPP – secretary to contact committee liaisons to follow up
End recording of call – 10:05 pm Eastern
VI. EXECUTIVE SESSION – none
TOTAL TIME: 2 hours 5 minutes
Jody Grage, Secretary