February 12, 2017 ZA Board Meeting Minutes

February 12, 2017 Zimfest Association Board Meeting Synopsis

Members in Attendance: Jacqueline Fallon, Chris Halaska, Claire Jones, Dana Moffett, Daniel Lockley, Evelyn Mukwedeya, Alex Weeks, Janis Weeks
Members Absent: Rujeko Dumbutshena, Tapiwa Kapurura, David Simon

Review/Modify Agenda

Done by email

Meeting Time and Day

Is there a better time or day that works for board members?

Update on Zimfest 2018 Booking @ WOU (Claire)

We are on the schedule for August 9-12th. There are no other possible weekends. They are raising their facility rates. 2.5% for 2017 and another 1% for 2018, so no more than 5% more than 2016. The housing representative will be different but the current representative will probably reserve housing similar to what we had. The first year, the deposit was $5000 and due two months in advance. The second year, we didn’t get the contract until we were at the festival. Out of curiosity, what does it take to become a legacy client? The board approves this booking.

Update on Booking @ PLU (Claire)

Labor charges will be higher if we chose July 4th because of holiday pay. Deposit is due a year in advance and 25% of total – were these the correct figures? We can’t afford that size of deposit. Claire to follow up with PLU to see if there is any flexibility in reducing the required deposit amount and/or changing the deposit due date to closer to the festival.

Discussion on Evergreen State College as Potential Zimfest Site for 2019 (All)

Bryce Winkelman is the new Conference Services Manager at The Evergreen State College. He contacted us about the possibility of hosting Zimfest. He had indirectly worked with us at South Puget Sound Community College. Two major concerns that Claire inquired about after looking over their website that Bryce promptly answered: 1. Evergreen set fees at $10 per participant. After explaining that Zimfest will have festival attendees who do not fit the regular definition of participant e.g. concert attendees, it was confirmed that when there are groups that have non-participants, they can switch to a facilities fee. 2. The concert space that Claire was aware of is the 4th floor library, largest all purpose room. He did name a concert hall, Longhouse (300 cap.),and a portion of the gym, so there are a few other concert alternatives. We sent him our preferred dates. Claire has heard that they do have good food. She will work on a site visit.

Future Festival Schedule

What information do we need to make a decision on whether Zimfest will be run a) in 2019 (short-term view), b) every other 2 years (long-term view). How soon do we need to make these decisions?

1. Running Zimfest in 2019 – We will time this decision for before we have to make a financial commitment to the site. Response from Evergreen on the deposit deadline will help determine the deadline for the board to make decision on whether to run Zimfest in 2019
2. Moving Zimfest to every other year: There are are pros and cons to this. Will discuss this topic regularly during the board meetings. A document will be set up to capture pros and cons and other elements key to this discussion. Questions to consider include:
   • Are we remaining with a single festival coordinator/centralized model for running Zimfest or can we return to the local community model?
   • If we return to the local community model, are there communities willing to sign up 2-3 years in advance?
   • If we decide to stay with an every year model, how can we ensure there is more volunteer participation and engagement than in the past? We will need to ensure that the festival schedule is sustainable and that we are not burning out our core group of volunteers.

Ideas on How to Streamline the Membership Renewal Process (All)

We are currently doing a one time charge with Paypal, but they do have a recurring payment. There should be a spreadsheet of members. Let’s try to get this auto renewal figured out. Daniel will coordinate with John.

Zimfest Association Filing and Reporting Obligations as a 501(c)(3) Non-profit Corporation (Claire)

Claire is informing us on these paperwork obligations for:

• Washington State Annual Report
• Charity registration annual reporting
• WA State tax return
• Labor and Industries quarterly reporting (when we hire an employee i.e. Festival Coordinator)
• Federal taxes (filed by Treasurer)

Alternative to Skype (Alex)

Alex has had success with Google hangouts, everyone needs to have a gmail account. There should be fewer technology problems.

Discussion on 2017 Priorities and Rough Milestone/Task Calendar (All)

Maybe discuss some of these at the beginning of the meeting.

Festival Structure (Daniel)

Jacqueline is researching a few conferences and workshops related to music teachers. Compare the different parts of each event.

Financial Sustainability (David)

Claire – David put a fundraising calendar together, Rujeko working on the grant with budget, narrative, performances, Deadline is April 3rd.

Volunteer Engagement/Marketing (Evelyn/Tapiwa)

Volunteer recognition – current gifts, should look at sponsors like for t-shirts, what can be outsourced? What are the costs involved?

Tech (Janis/Alex)

Nora, Janis, Alex, Paul N., Gretel, Larry, John H., Erin Middleton – the committee will meet this month

Next Meeting

March 12th – 6-8pm PST