15 minute read
Executive Board Minutes
JUNE 15, 2021
ATTENDING (ZOOM): Joe Eberhardt, President; Aimee Filimoehala, Vice President; Rick Amodeo, Treasurer; Amanda Ryan-Fear, Secretary; Jesse Applegate, Reena Clements, Lori Coyner, Judith Baker, Bob Breivogel, Staff: Sarah Bradham, Active Executive Director; Mathew Brock, Mazama Library & Historical Collections Manager. Members: Robin Wilcox.
WELCOME & CALL TO ORDER
■ The meeting was called to order at 4:02 p.m. by President Joe Eberhardt. ■ Joe noted a quorum was present. Joe began by noting that the focus of the meeting would be on five agenda items outlined in the packet.
BUSINESS AGENDA ■ May Minutes: Approval of the minutes from the May meeting. Rick Amodeo made a motion to approve the minutes,
Aimee Filimoehala seconded. Motion to approve passed by a unanimous voice vote. ■ Membership Report: Secretary Amanda
Ryan-Fear noted 26 new members and 15 reinstated members for a net gain of 41 members over the previous month. To date membership is down 356 members year-over-year. ■ Discussion: Board members and Sarah
Bradham, Acting Executive Director, discussed renewals, reinstatement fees, and membership benefits as inducements to spur renewals. ■ Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Rick
Amodeo updated the board on the current financial situation. Items of note from Rick’s report □ Searching for new bookkeeper □ Overall in a good cash position □ We can apply for forgiveness on our second PPP loan in mid-August. Finally, the organization is roughly four percent larger than it was at the start of the fiscal year. ■ Mazama Lodge Manager: Sarah introduced Kiki Sherard, the recently hired lodge manager. After a brief introduction, Kiki shared some of the work completed during a recent work day at the lodge. Volunteers helped deep clean the kitchen, during which they
pulled everything out, deep cleaned, sorted, and got rid of unneeded items. ■ DEI Committee update: Claire Nelson provided the board a brief update on the committee’s ongoing work: □ The committee’s work is critical to the future organizational goals □ The current focus will be on reviewing
Mazama policies and procedures through a DEI lens. □ The committee will also look at ways to improve the scholarship process. □ The committee welcomed a new chair,
Ebony Hall. □ The committee is exploring changing their name from DEI to JEDI □ Discussion: the board and Claire engaged in a discussion about the implications of changing the name, how to address the justice element, and how the name impacts mental health.
ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT ■ Sarah Bradham provided an update on current and ongoing efforts. Things of note beyond her written report included: □ She is working to identify trailhead or trail stewardship projects for Mazama volunteers that would offset permit fees. □ Central Cascades Permits continue to impact our ability to lead climbs, hikes, and backpacking trips in the new permit area. □ The Mazamas would benefit from a staffed Advocacy & Stewardship position to allow us to engage fully with
Outdoor Alliance and national and regional advocacy efforts. □ The lack of a bridge on the trail to
Ramona Falls continues to be a safety concern, and have reached out to USFS to discuss the issue and see if there are potential solutions being discussed. □ Confidential Records Management and
Risk Management teams are making progress □ She ended by encouraging the board to monitor and engage when necessary on social media.
BYLAWS UPDATE ■ Vice President Amiee Filmoehala gave an update on the recent work done by the working group: □ Compiled a list of lessons learned from the recent Bylaws Informational meeting. □ Another Informational meeting is scheduled for July, potentially with breakout rooms for member discussion. □ Three key takeaways from the meeting are the glaciated peak requirement, the addition of three new EC members, and the removal of the standing committees from the bylaws. □ Discussion: the board engaged in a wide ranging discussion related to the three takeaways from the first informational meeting. Items discussed include how the dissolution of the Foundation prompted one of the bylaws changes, if it doesn’t pass additional measures will need to be taken; the board needs additional insight/knowledge that it’s not getting from the membership (legal and financial background); the removal of the glaciated peak membership requirement has the potential to increase our membership; the prospect of dropping the standing committee and additional members proposed amendments from the October election was discussed, with the intent to stay focus on the the removal of the membership requirement. □ Aimee made a motion to remove the amendment to allow nonmember board members from the October election.
Rick seconded the motion. Motion passed. □ Joe made a motion to remove the amendment regarding the removal of inactive committees from the Bylaws.
Rick seconded. Motion passed. □ Judith Baker made a motion to remove the descriptive language associated with active committees in the Bylaws.
Aimee seconded. Motion passed.
EC POINT PERSON UPDATE ■ Rick and Bob updated the board on the
EC point person proposal. ■ The board, in the May meeting, agreed to assign one board member to the following key committees: Climbing,
Trail Trips, Lodge, and Education.
All other committees will have representation on a rotating basis.
■ Discussion: Joe asked if they had conferred with staff as they’d indicated they’d do at the May meeting. Bob remarked that staff input was not sought nor needed due to the current turnover.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT ■ Barbara Weiss, committee chair, gave an update on the recruitment process for board nominations. Overall it has been a difficult process. They were able to recruit four members to run, but two dropped out. We are at risk of an uncontested election if additional members can not be found to run. ■ The committee continues to advertise in the Bulletin ■ Will redouble efforts to find members with legal and financial background.
MEMBER COMMENT PERIOD ■ Robin Wilcox was on hand to provide comments to the board. ■ Her remarks focused on the proposed
Bylaws Amendments and the DEI
Committee.
MAZAMA WEBSITE AND DATABASE ■ Sarah led the board in a discussion about the current website, and the need to build an advisory team around prioritizing upgrades to the site. The website launched in 2018 and is now three years out from having substantive updates. We will need to continue to invest in the site if we want it to serve our ever changing needs and to be current with today’s expectations for functionality. ■ Joe Eberhardt adjourned the meeting at 6:15 p.m.
JULY 20, 2021
ATTENDING (ZOOM):
Joe Eberhardt, President; Aimee Filimoehala, Vice President; Rick Amodeo, Treasurer; Amanda Ryan-Fear, Secretary; Reena Clements, Judith Baker, Bob Breivogel, Lori Coyner; Sarah Bradham, Acting Executive Director; Laura Burger, Development Coordinator.
WELCOME & CALL TO ORDER
■ The meeting was called to order at 4:04 p.m. by President Joe Eberhardt.
BUSINESS AGENDA ■ June 2021 Meeting Minutes: Joe presented the minutes from the June meeting. Judith Baker made a motion to pass and Bob Breivogel seconded. ■ Membership Report: Joe presented the membership report. There were a large number of new members in June. We are down 11-12 percent from last year. It is too early to identify if this is a permanent shift or not. ■ Sarah Bradham noted she would discuss this a bit more in her Acting
Executive Director’s report. The 2021 membership year concluded on July 11 and we ended the year down 336 over the previous year. Sarah believes that there is an opportunity to offer prorated memberships during April-July. ■ Treasurer’s Report: The Treasurer’s report was presented by Jesse Applegate, who is filling in for Rick Amodeo. Jesse met with the Finance Committee to discuss how to make EC better involved and informed on the budget. Jesse will work on creating a report to highlight the difference month to month and a visual aid to highlight any trends or differences. ■ Sarah also wrote a short narrative about the financial notes and asked for feedback to make sure it is a useful way to deliver that information. ■ Aimee Filimoehala asked if this would be made public to the members, and Sarah noted that it could be but the EC should have a more in depth discussion about what information should be made public.
Jesse clarified that he envisioned more of a narrative than all the data presented in the board packets. Joe asked for Jesse to bring a narrative to the next meeting.
Judith believes that members would like to get a sense about the overall financial health of the organization. ■ Board Vacancy: With Rick Amodeo leaving, there is a vacancy on EC as well as the Treasurer position. ■ The Treasurer also sits on the Finance
Committee and Investment Committee.
Joe nominated Jesse because of his previous experience on the Finance
Committee. Bob seconded his nomination. The motion was passed unanimously. ■ Joe noted they have an ability to appoint someone to fill Rick’s last 15 months left on EC. Joe nominated Aimee to roll over to Rick’s position. Aimee had been appointed to fill another member’s period and has two months remaining. If
Aimee takes Rick’s position, her position would remain vacant for two months when that position would roll off and be filled by the three new candidates at the annual election. Aimee will need to resign from her current position, the board would make a motion to have her fill Rick’s position, and then make a motion for her to resume her Vice
President role. ■ Sarah noted that because the upcoming election is uncontested that this is an appropriate process. ■ Aimee resigned from her current position as Vice President and from the board. Judith moved to appoint Aimee to fill Rick’s seat for his term and as Vice
President for the remainder of this fiscal year. Reena Clements seconded, and the motion was approved unanimously.
ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPORT ■ Ending about $37,000 down from the budget projections from membership.
There are a lot of things that could be contributing to that. Laura Burger has created a renewal plan and timeline for 2022 renewals. The plan includes a mailed piece for all members, incentives for renewing early, a mailed piece for lapsed members, and a survey for lapsed members. This will be followed up with emailed campaigns and reminders. Dues coming in now are being deferred to the next fiscal year. Donations are not deferred. ■ Submitted the 990s for the Foundation and Mazamas last week. It will be quirky this year because Mazamas took in all the Foundation funds. Sarah will create a narrative for it to explain what happened with the Foundation transfers. ■ Fundraising campaign coming up with the renewal campaign. We received a donation of custom YETI mugs as an incentive gift to donors again this year. ■ We hired Katherine Rose as the Finance and Office Manager. Sarah is building out an onboarding plan for her to meet committees and volunteers.
EXECUTIVE BOARD MINUTES CONT. (Executive Council)
■ FM101 is open after a hiatus and is oversubscribed with applications. SSI is having a slow start with applications.
ICS is also having a slow start with applications, likely due to an involved application process. Canyoneering will have a small class size and is aware of keeping costs low with decreased revenue. ■ Sarah is expecting to see mask requirements come back with the increase in COVID cases. She will discuss potential changes for education programming at the next committee chair meeting, specifically limiting class auditing. Joe asked if we would potentially offer more Mazama masks in our merch and Sarah would consider it. ■ Treasurer Follow Up: Joe noted that we need an additional volunteer of the
Finance Committee for the remainder for the fiscal year, and Bob volunteered to fill that position.
BYLAWS UPDATE ■ Aimee presented. The voter guide went to print yesterday, and everyone who submitted a comment was included.
There are two information sessions in
August, one virtual and one at the MMC.
The MMC session will have tables with volunteers having conversations about the proposed changes. Aimee noted that they need two volunteers not from the Bylaws Committee to help at that event on August 25. Joe volunteered and
Aimee will send an email to find another volunteer. The ballot and election will be launched using the same format as last year and Nominating Committee will oversee the election process.
MOUNTAIN EDUCATION ALLIANCE UPDATE ■ Matt Sundling called in to give a brief overview and update on the MEA project.
The next steps for Mazamas is to get some people certified with the standards, and hope to certify four or five people at a certification weekend. They are also planning another training activity and recruiting people who will then use their skills at Mazamas. They are also planning a training and assessment for
Spring 2022. There will be an informal monthly gathering for anyone interested in the national standards through Mazamas, and are picking a date soon. He has had a lot of positive feedback and enthusiasm from potential participants. The first assessment will be top rope and traditional climbing standard. There are two candidates trained for sport climbing who are delaying assessment until this spring.
BUDGET 2021 ■ Sarah gave a high level overview of the budget process so far. Sarah expects the budget to be ready for review. All committees have been contacted and most have been engaged in the process.
Major things of note: □ The Lodge is a large unknown. Kiki just managed a 50 person camp on her own, and it is not sustainable. Will need to invest in staffing to sustain those camps. Kiki is concerned about wear and tear on the Lodge. Sarah will be working with Kiki and Brook from the
Lodge Committee to make a better plan on how to utilize it. We also need to think through if camps are a good use of the Lodge moving forward. □ Mazama WILD got lucky with two very good camp managers who managed to find enough staff to support camp this summer. Sarah believes we need a year round staff member to oversee youth programs. Our managers have found a way to increase the number of kids we can enroll. Next year we will most likely cut before and after care.
One camp manager has some potential ideas to bring Mazama youth programs into schools. Youth programs are also a great grant and donor revenue stream.
Bob pointed out that he would like youth programs to be self financed and not operating on a deficit. Sarah noted that it currently does not run a deficit, but to continue to deliver quality programming we will need to hire a staff person.
REOPENING PLAN ■ The swing shift style is not sustainable, and Sarah suggests we shift open hours to closer to 9 a.m.–5 p.m. This would require committees to be more self managed for meetings and events in the evening. We have made a volunteer position for an evening greeter. Joe requested that we may have someone
on call to help with access issues. Sarah’s recommendation would be to close the MMC on Fridays as well. Keeping full time at 36 hours a week would save money for hourly employees. ■ Looking at a full load of classes for next year. MEA most likely won’t be a revenue source but won’t be a drain either. Looking at being a provider for
AIARE courses, which we will have to do if we want to continue to offer classes.
There is a cost associated with it, but we have been successful with providing the classes for the community. There is a very high demand for these classes and both of ours filled last year. ■ If we continue youth programming, we should investigate transportation options as well as insurance options.
PAF ■ With the uncertainty with COVID, Sarah is hesitant to rent a space. She suggested we could do a modified version at the
MMC which would be lower cost and less risky. Joe asked if there was potential to also use the Lodge. Sarah said we could use it, we would just have to create some programming around it specifically.
Aimee agreed she likes the idea of doing something this year and that people would be excited to interact with their community. ■ The Oregon Outdoors coalition is out for next year. The name usage added to our legal bills are done. Mazamas is not in the position to fiscally sponsor a coalition at the moment. If something like this comes up again, we need better financial projections prior to committing. ■ The goal is to have the budget be zero deficit.
MEMBER COMMENT PERIOD ■ There were no members present for the comment period. ■ Joe Eberhardt adjourned the meeting at 5:38 p.m.
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