Storymakers Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, 5 October 2021
Present:
Shelly Brown — Chair
Crystal Liechty — Chair-Elect
Lindzee Armstrong — Secretary
Emily Huey — Whitney Awards President
Rebecca Carlson — Membership Chair
Cassie Cook — Conference Chair
Cindy Whitney — Communications Chair
Paige Edwards — At Large Representative
Absent:
Lori Parker — Guild Finance Chair
Gina Denny – Conference Finance Chair
Wendy Jessen — Conference Co-Chair
Traci Abramson — SMIAH Conference Chair/At Large Representative
Chelsea Hale – At Large Representative
1—OPENING
Shelly started the recording. Paige made a motion to approve the minutes from
last meeting and Emily seconded it.
2—CHAIRMAN, Shelly Brown
We are still not ready for the membership vote. It has been difficult to fix the
bylaws to everyone’s liking and we want to do it right.
The nonprofit consultant asked if the volunteers in the BOD and elsewhere felt
like they’re valued, and if there’s a way to add value to the position so that others know
they’re valued. The same thing goes for the Whitney committee.
Suggestions were made that their names could be on the website. We could do
nametags or ribbons. They could have slides at the conference. Help people know that
it’s a good way to get to know each other. Maybe a conference meal. Maybe a “ask me
a question” ribbon/button to get people talking about the guild.
3—CHAIRMAN ELECT, Crystal Liechty
Crystal had nothing to report.
4—SECRETARY, Lindzee Armstrong
Lindzee had nothing to report.
5—FINANCE CHAIRS, Lori Parker
New checking and savings accounts were opened and Chair/Co-Chairs (Guild,
Conference, Whitney) and Finance need to be added with their signatures and given
debit cards. Chase will let us do this remotely for those who don’t live close by.
Lori was not present, but Lindzee read what she sent for the agenda. Lori said the
following.
Storymakers.org–New domain still shows as transferring.
At the attorney’s advice we will have one account as the new SM. This may be a
paradigm shift for all of us as we are so use to talking about your money and their
money. It is now all our money.
The lawyer is the one who said we need to have one account. Part of the reason
for that is it makes it very difficult to embezzle if there are many people on one account
who can keep track of what is going on. Also the consultant said it was important that
we have two signatures deep on all finances for the same embezzling concerns.
It was brought up that you can have one account and several sub accounts at
most banks, and asked if that’s something we can do or if it’s discouraged. Both guild
and conference finance argued that one account is best for bookkeeping.
6—WHITNEY CHAIR, Emily Huey
Whitney’s is requesting that Membership passes along the email addresses of
any new members so they can be added to the academy. They also said the one book
per category rule has been going well.
7—MEMBERSHIP CHAIR, Rebecca Carlson
They are working to make sure the membership page on the website is good and
trying to figure out the best way to transition the membership names and gather fees to
the new website.
8—CONFERENCE CHAIR & CO-CHAIR, Cassie Cook & Wendy Jessen
There is a concern about moving to one financial account to share. That has
been done in the past with disastrous results. There is a question about what two deep
signatures means and it is clarified that two chairs or a chair and a financial person,
even the financial person for the conference would count. Just two people who have
access and signatures on the account.
The instruction team had a record number of pitches. It’s closed now and the
team will be selecting instructors.
We have been holding committee meetings and everyone is super on top of
things. There are lots of new people and everyone’s stepped up to the plate and done
everything.
It’s been a super busy September and will continue to be building. The newsletter
is being streamlined with an announcement under each different category. We pay for
the credits needed to send it out once a month. If that’s going to change to someone
like Mailerlite or Mailchimp in the near future, it would be good to know. Would love to
have the newsletter a little more user-friendly.
Everyone agreed that it’s best to keep the guild and conference newsletters on
separate accounts.
9—COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR, Cindy Whitney
Cindy will send out a newsletter next week, so let her know if you want anything
included.
She sent out a newsletter and posted in the guild group about applying for the
upcoming positions. We have 4 applications so far. We will keep posting and hopefully
we get more. Next month we can vote on an At-Large so they can take over for Paige in
December.
We’re still waiting on the website.
10—SMIAH CONFERENCE CHAIR/AT LARGE CHAIR, Traci Abramson
Traci was not present.
11—AT LARGE CHAIRS, Paige Edwards
Jenny Moore did Storymakers U and it went well. Esther Hatch has agreed to do
it this month on Oct 26th and will help us teach a beginning class on doing reels. It’ll be
a beginner-level class. She’ll do a video or maybe live. She may have to give Esther
administration to the Facebook page for the day in order to do live.
12—AT LARGE CHAIRS, Chelsea Hale
The lawyer said we can use Crystal’s information for the legal stuff instead of
Chelsea’s, so Chelsea has officially been released from her term on the BOD.
13—MOTION TO ADJOURN
Shelly made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Rebecca seconded it.