GPUS SC Conference Call
Sunday, November 7, 2010
8:00 p.m. EDT
Co-chairs:
Julie Jacobson, Craig Thorsen, David Strand, Mike Feinstein, Theresa El-Amin, Farheen Hakeem, Jason Nabewaniec (muted).
Craig and Jason both fell off the call afterabout two hours. Jeff had to leave about 15 minutes later.
Secretary: Holly Hart
Treasurer: Jeff Turner
Staff: Brian Bittner, Brent McMillan
Observer: Sanda Everrette
Facilitator: Mike
AGENDA REVIEW
1) Green Pages – Mike said he ran into trouble running the results through the STV program and wrote to Jonathon Lundell, also counted it by hand. There was a winner and then a tie for second seat; if that’s confirmed, we will have to address that. Mike will report by email to the SC what Jonathon Lundell responds.
2) Craig asked to dispense with staff reports and treasurer’s report. Mike asked to add Fiscal policy proposal from FinCom for an expedited timeline.
3) SC Agreed to dispense with staff reports.
4) VOTE on whether to include Treasurer’s report:
Holly – Yes
Mike – Yes
Craig – No
Theresa – Yes
Julie – Yes
Jeff – Yes
David – Yes
Farheen – Yes
APPROVED, 7 Yes, 1 No; Treasurer’s report will be included
5) VOTE on whether to include the Fiscal Policy proposal on tonight’s call agenda:
Mike and Julie were in favor of moving it forward, noting FinCom had approved this. Jeff stated there was still need for others to have input and be heard from, and said that a budget wouldn’t be ready for another two weeks, anyway. Farheen and Holly both stated they would agree to wait to address this next Sunday. Holly had sent several “findings” to the SC regarding the proposal, believes they are likely due to FinCom members’ not realizing some errors, should be easy to deal with.
Holly – No
Mike – Yes
Craig – Yes
Theresa – No
Julie – Yes
Jeff – No
David – No
Farheen – No
Jason (on call, muted) – emailed No
NOT APPROVED, 3 Yes, 6 No; Fiscal policy will not be include don tonight’s agenda
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I. TREASURER’S REPORT – Jeff
Jeff sent a spreadsheet with report to the SC.
We wrote only 5 checks this month We owe Wired for Change and Pair for 2 mos., Insurance for 3 mos., contractors. Brian reported a deposit last week.
Jeff reported that the budget will not be ready in one more week. He has been at a conference in DC, ill and extremely busy with work. He and others on FinCom are working on an income narrative, think they have it mostly finished.
Craig asked if Jeff had priorities to recommend on what bills to pay. Jeff noted we had a policy: contractors would be paid first. Brent states we should see our first returns from mailing this week.
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II. BUDGET – continuing discussion on budget, staffing
A. Extensive Discussion – listen to the recording for good in-depth overview!
Jeff sent the latest spreadsheet to the SC and presented what FinCom has done with the budget, so far. Jeff stated without a good fundraising plan, this is “a cruel joke.” He asks the SC to take the lead in fundraising. Jeff went over section by section.
Income – Jeff will take notes to FundCom, especially fundraising costs, for income narrative.
Staffing – propose a fundraiser for $36,000/yr; at least 3 re-solicitations and some prospect mailings. Brian has proposed to take al the mailings from all campaigns we can get to use for prospecting. Propose to hire a professional phone solicitor.
Governance – update: forthcoming is a proposal for funding international representation to international meetings, separate line item from International Committee. The other IC line item will be deleted, they haven’t requested one. Dispute Resolution Committee line item will also be deleted, they haven’t requested funds.
Electoral Politics – political director budgeted at $18,000, presumably part-time for most of the coming year, or full-time for part of the year. The idea has been to hire a fundraiser first, then a political director.
Organizing and Outreach – goal of hiring field organizers after this year. No increase for media director, but health insurance added.
Green Pages – there is one level of cost to print a copy for the ANM, but in previous years, we sent hard copies to outstanding donors. Mike is working with Green Pages chair David McCorquodale for more information to evaluate.
Support Services – small raise for office manager, no new employees. Jeff believes we will need a second full-time employee, our medical coverage rules stipulate we must have two (although we can go a short while with less).
IT development – both Holly and Mike have contacted Susan Dridi for more information on upgrade of voting page software. Holly will follow up with Susan.
Accounts Payable –
(Craig, Jason went off the call)
Mike suggested one way to “reduce debt” would be to have some International Committee members attend the Annual National Meeting w/out registration fees, in exchange for debt from IC-raised funds two years ago for several IC members’ travel that they were not re-imbursed for. Jeff stated that that’s a money management discussion, not budget discussion. Theresa raised a concern about SC members and others not giving out of a “grievance.” She stated that level of resentment is something that will hurt our ability to fundraise.
(Jeff had to leave the call.)
B. Discussion on Fundraiser Job Description – Mike
Agreed to ask webmaster to more openly highlight job announcement box on our website. Further discussion on whether to add “employment opportunities” as an ongoing item. This will be re-visited.
SC members will also forward job announcement to email lists, contacts, etc.
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III. David raised a question he had posted to the SC about adding gender identity as an EEOC category in our personnel manual, and to find out if our insurance company has a “trans – exclusion” clause, which can mean they don’t cover any health expenses for trans-gendered individuals. SC agreed to put this on the next call agenda.
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IV. Theresa brought up the fact that there is no EEOC statement on the job description. Mike asked for approval to add this to tonight’s agenda. APPROVED, by Consensus, SC APPROVED a statement to add: “The Green Party of the United States is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. Women, people of color, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.”
NEXT CALL – Sunday, November 14, 2010; 8:00 p.m. EST
Farheen is next in line to facilitate, unless we have an outside facilitator.