CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by President John Hunziker. Also attending were Dan Berndt, Ken Brown, Don De Keyrel, Ann Farnell, Ed Haskell, Phil Henoch, Frank Iossi, Phil Karsell, Dave Nelson, Barbara Porter, Sue Reinke, Joanne Swenson, Trevor Westrom.
Others Present: Audrey Betcher, Library Director; Tom Dyer, Communications Director; Kathy Olson, Administrative Assistant.
Ken Brown, the newest Board member, was introduced. Ken will represent the Olmsted County Board, and Jean Michaels will remain on the Foundation Board as a general member.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Don De Keyrel moved, Trevor Westrom second, to approve the meeting minutes from October 22, 2003. Motion approved.
LIBRARY BOARD AND DIRECTOR'S ITEMS
Audrey Betcher stated that the library converted to its new data system on November 20th and it went well. Staff and the public have been very positive about the new system.
Audrey has received a 2004 budget figure from the City Administrator. Basically it will be a flat budget that includes contract increases for employees. The cuts from 2003 will carry over to 2004. Library hours will remain the same.
The proposed County portion of the 2004 budget is $7,000 less than the contract amount.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Advocacy Committee: has not met.
Finance Committee: Kathy Olson reviewed the Finance Committee recommendations.
Endowment Account: The Disbursement Procedures state that "in December the Finance Committee will recommend to the Foundation Board the dollar amount of funds that will be available from the Foundation. The determination of the amount available will be based on the Finance Committee's best judgement. The target will be 5% of the market value as of September 30, averaged for the prior three years when possible.
The Library Director, administrative staff, and Library Board will determine funding priorities. At the January or February Library Board meeting, the Board will approve a report to the Foundation on how the funds will be used and how this meets the Foundation's goals."
The Endowment Fund balance as of September 30 was $270,846.51. It is the committee's recommendation to return 5% of the fund balance, or $13,542, to the library. This does not use any of the principal, plus leaves a small amount of the earnings in the fund.
Money Market Account: The amount in this account as of September 30 is $24,776.26; this money is from the initial gift from US Bank. The account is earning less than 1%. It is the committee's recommendation to close this account and put $20,000 into the Endowment Account and the remaining $4,776.26 in the checking account to use for Foundation operating expenses.
Wit, Wisdom & Wine Proceeds: The net proceeds from Wit, Wisdom & Wine 2002 and 2003 are $17,903.62. It is the committee's recommendation to allocate $6,000 of these funds directly to the library, $6,000 to the Endowment Account, and the remaining $5,903.62 to remain in the checking account to use for Foundation operating expenses.
Phil Henoch moved, Ed Haskell second, to approve the recommendations of the Finance Committee. Motion carried.
Development Committee: Frank Iossi updated the Board. The committee has met several times to review a draft of a presentation to potential donors. In October Hilla Cline critiqued the presentation and Tom Dyer revised the presentation based on her recommendations. The committee reviewed the revised presentation and Tom will work on further revisions.
At this time the committee needs Board members to indicate the individuals and businesses they are willing to make the initial contact to. The baseline principle on making the ask is we want as many businesses as possible on the initial contact list to make a donation. The goal will be to establish the relationship and make the case over time for more and continued support.
Each ask should be tailored to the particular business or individual. It was pointed out that it is not wrong to ask for a high amount; it is a cardinal sin to under ask.
It was the consensus of the Board that everyone on the initial prospect list be invited to Wit, Wisdom & Wine.
Phil Henoch suggested that either Metanoia or Laurie Ward be contacted for guidance and training before Board members start making calls. The consensus of the Board was to have Tom contact Laurie Ward and ask for price quotes on reviewing the presentation document and a training session.
Special Events: Tom stated that the speaker list has been finalized and the program descriptions will be finalized by the end of the week. The invitations will be mailed the week after Christmas. Tom has been in contact with Cynthia Daube regarding catering and dramshop insurance.
We have several items for the silent auction but we need more. Board members are encouraged to solicit or donate items for the auction.
At this time, no underwriting has been secured. John Hunziker and Chris Colby are the underwriting committee and they are requesting assistance from Board members in obtaining underwriting funding.
Last year a "save the date" postcard was mailed. Since the number of attendees was not substantially higher than 2002, staff did not feel it was worth the cost. It was the consensus of the Board to mail "save the date" postcards to anyone who attended in 2002 and 2003.
Staff was also directed to send the mailing list to the Board for their review and to add additional names to be invited.
The Board discussed selling groups of tickets to businesses as a party pack. Attendance is limited to 200 since that is the amount of space available. One of the goals is to get people into the library that may not be regular library users. If tickets are sold to a business and there are no shows those are tickets that are not available for others who might want to attend. We could oversell tickets in anticipation there will be no shows, but that could cause problems with seating. No consensus was reached.
Every Board member should be given at least five extra copies of the program that they can give to individuals that might be interested in attending.
OTHER ITEMS
It was felt that another meeting is needed before Wit, Wisdom & Wine. The next meeting is scheduled for January 7, 2004, at 4:45 p.m.
The Executive Committee will have a potential slate of officers for 2004 at the January meeting.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Shimek Olson
Secretary Pro Tem