November 20, 2016 Zimfest Association Board Meeting Synopsis
Members in Attendance: Rujeko Dumbutshena, Jacqueline Fallon, Tapiwa Kapurura, Daniel Lockley, Dana Moffett, Evelyn Mukwedeya, David Simon, Janis Weeks
Members Absent: Chris Halaska, Alex Weeks
Non-voting member in Attendance: Claire Jones
Review/modify Agenda
Good
Minutes/Synopsis
October approved
Report on WOU Bill (Claire)
Claire shared figures comparing 2015 and 2016 WOU bill. Total amount was greater this year, but so was number of participants, and amount that Zimfest paid per participant was less in 2016. WOU charges by facility usage (and labor costs) which in this case worked out better for us than venues that charge per participant per day.
As there is no festival to organize for in 2017, Claire is taking a leave from the position of Festival Coordinator and moving back to regular board membership.
Treasurer’s Report (Janis)
Final check was cut to Claire and closing the Paychecks account. Still working on 2016 numbers.
Interview Evelyn for President Role
Evelyn realizes there is a steep learning curve, David offered to mentor her. She knew that if we could have a President in place it would help us to continue moving towards looking for a 2018 location. Saw this as an exciting opportunity to help the board move forward. During college years she had a number of board experiences. Top things of focus for her: finding a location for 2018; looking at how we plan the festival and finding areas where we can streamline and improve; and providing great service to our members. Time management is one of her top skills. She acknowledges that sometimes there is a pushback against change. In another club, she had to recruit a board and had a group that was recruited to be mentored. This is an idea that we could possibly use. Taking postings of ideas from Dandemutande from the community and seeing how we can use them. David will continue to be on the board for now at a minimum of 2 years.
Evelyn was approved by the board as president. Following that discussion, David formally handed over the responsibilities of president to Evelyn and she ran the remainder of the meeting. David will be working with Evelyn one-on-one to ensure a smooth transition.
Membership (Claire)
John Hatton has said he would send an email reminder for membership renewal.
Teacher Evaluation (Claire)
Propose to get feedback from Rujeko on evaluations and the process.
Volunteer Recognition (Evelyn)
To improve volunteer engagement, it would be important to make sure proper recognition and thanks is given at the Village Meeting.
Continue Discussion and Status Updates on Focus for Our Off Year (Evelyn)
Top Priorities from ratings that the board voted on:
- Determine Festival Locations and Dates for 2018 and Beyond
- Expand Volunteer Base and Improve Volunteer Engagements
- Determine Festival Structure
- Increase the Financial Sustainability of the Festival, and Establish a Sustainable Software Environment were a tie
Janis proposed putting a call out to the community to see if anyone wants to host and organize Zimfest 2018. A list of sites that have been researched in the past will be included in the communication. A few other possible locations to continue looking into: Port Townsend Fairgrounds, Ellensburg Kittitas Fairgrounds, Fort Flagler State Park. Let’s see if there is a group who would be interested in organizing 2018 Zimfest. Deadline of the beginning of January to hear from community members.
For the remaining focus areas, small groups of board members will be assigned to a given area. Teams should review the 2017 priorities document which compiled in October and see how to expand on the ideas in order to make recommendation to the board. Each team should be prepared to share goals and objectives at the January meeting, as well as preliminary ideas for initiatives the board could undertake to develop in that area.
Fundraising
GoFundMe page for donations set up soon.
Next Meeting
December 11th
Dear Board,
I so appreciate reading the minutes every month so that I (and my Zimfest community) can follow what’s happening between festivals. Thank you!
And I understand why they are always a month or so late: You want to approve them before they go out to the public so that neither erroneous nor confidential information is disseminated causing embarrassment and other problems. But finding out what happened one or two months after it happens doesn’t support an engaged membership.
I believe that getting timely information out that is generally accurate is more valuable than getting completely accurate information out that is no longer timely or relevant. Please consider the following suggestions:
– Have the minutes posted with the disclaimer: “DRAFT MINUTES (These minutes have not yet been approved by the board and thus may contain errors, but are provided so that the membership can have a timely sense of what generally happened at the last board meeting.)” The person taking minutes would need to ensure that any confidential discussion wasn’t published.
– Have minutes taken during the meeting and approved at the end of the meeting. This has the advantage of everyone who was there having the freshest memories.
– Have the minutes emailed out within a day or so of the meeting. The board is responsible for reviewing them and responding within a week. If there are conflicting edits, the conflict will be resolved before the minutes go out.
– There may be other ways to get minutes out sooner while ensuring accuracy. If you can find a better solution than these suggestions, go for it!
Thank you for all that you do for Zimfest.
Hi John,
Thanks for your feedback. Much appreciated. As a board, we have recognized the need to increase the timeliness of minutes in order to effectively inform and engage with the greater Zimfest community. In our January meeting, we discussed and established a shorter timeline for compiling, reviewing and approving minutes. Your suggestions are similar to the process we resolved to implement :). With these changes, we should be able to post the minutes more quickly while maintaining accuracy and confidentiality.
Thanks for your engagement!
Best,
Evelyn