Zimfest Association Board Meeting Minutes–Synopsis
6:00-8:00 PM PST, 8 September, 2013
Board Members present: Tsitsi Hantuba, Jennifer Kyker, Claire Jones, Paul Mataruse, Amy Robinson, David Simon, Alex Weeks
Guest during discussion of item 4: Gretel Baumgartner
1) Secretary vote—Amy will assume the position of secretary starting today.
2) 2014 venue selection—Overall, we are leaning toward University of Puget Sound (UPS). We are still evaluating whether the nighttime performance venue provides adequate stage access and storage to transition several marimba bands. Paul will arrange for a final site and provide feedback. Goal is to decide on UPS vs. PLU not later than the end of the next board meeting .
3) Plaque project—Tsitsi—the board is in support. Issues which still need to be addressed include financing, project management, the content and place for the plaques to be displayed, contacting the families of the honorees, and an overall roadmap for the project. Tsitsi will be in contact with Lucky and Cosmas regarding their possible roles in this project. We need a project manager, board liaison and someone to investigate costs.
4) Cleaning up the Google Drive—Gretel—she will schedule a time for the reorganization in consultation w/ David. She will work on the ZA files first and the wiki files later. There will be 3 levels of viewing—access by the board and a few prior board members, core committees and the public.
5) Other village meeting topics—Tsitsi—Zimbabwean Artist Empowerment– Since we are not an accrediting body, Zimfest will offer a Certificate of Appreciation to thank teachers for their service. We can also offer a customized letter acknowledging past years of teaching. Alex has access to past years’ data and can help with drafting certificates and letters and help with printing. Claire is also willing to work on this. Tsitsi will draft a summary of this discussion and David will send it to the Zimbabweans. Lucky raised other issues including VISAs, platform for communication, and Paul offered to serve as a Liason to the Zimbabwean Embassy. We will table further discussion of these issues to a future meeting.
6) Financial report—David—the job of treasurer is transitioning from David to Tsitsi. The 2013 data should be more clear by the next meeting. The goal going forward is to be able to itemize profit and loss by category.
7) Survey data—not available today. This will be presented at the next meeting.
8) Synopsis document—Board minutes will be summarized in a “synopsis” to be shared with the Zimfest Association and community at large. This will be posted on a blog that will create a forum for feedback.
9) Volunteer list and communication w/ Lisa—Mylinda—Lisa McKerlick’s letter will be sent out through the mailing list which also goes to Dandemutande. Replies to her will be routed to and then to her at .
10) Tech team plans—David and Alex received suggestions from Julie re: improvements that need to be made in the registration system which is currently dependent on Alex. Over the next 2-3 years we aim to eliminate that dependency.
11) Fund raising—Claire—fundraising with an annual campaign and opportunity to earmark donations for specific projects is being considered. Change membership from Jan. 1-Dec. 31 of the year to simplify record-keeping.
12) Spending—David—He will survey the (board or membership?) asking for a list of items for which ZA may spend money.
13) ZMF coordinator—Claire Jones will be offered this position if no other applications are received by the Sept. 15 deadline. She has tentatively accepted this one year trial position and will resign from the board as a voting member to avoid conflict of interests.
Next meeting October 13, 2013, 6-8 pm PST
Minutes summary and synopsis by Amy Robinson
Thank you for sharing Board meeting minutes. I’m always curious about what’s happening lately. Good work.