Minutes of NWSSA BOD Meeting 10-16-2024

NorthWest Stone Sculptors Association
Established 05/27/1988
Board Meeting Minutes

ORGANIZATION NAME: NWSSA 

Date: 10/16/2024
Time: 6:13 P.M. PST
Location:Virtual, Via Zoom

ATTENDANCE

Board Members Present: Tamara Buchanan, Marcos Weiss, Karen Walsh Roe, Ellie Hochman, Oliver Harwood, Aerin Sizelove
Board Members Absent: Michael Yeaman
Quorum: Yes
Staff Present: Renee Roberts
Guests: Constance Jones

CALL TO ORDER
AA meeting of the Board of Directors of NWSSA was duly called to order on 10/16//2024, at 6:32 P.M. PST. Tamara Buchanan (President) called the meeting to order.

Minutes Approval:

9/11/2024 BOD Meeting Minutes 
MOTION: A motion was made to approve the minutes (Markos). The motion was seconded (Ellie). The motion was approved unanimously.

Reports:

Website Report: Aerin reported the current website platforms are being integrated. QuickBooks is the platform where NWSSA’s finances are reported and it will become the main platform going forward. Kathy and Zoe continue to work on the integration. Renee reported she is working on the integration of the membership databases. 

Events: 
Everett Arboretum : Constance 
Constance reported it was a beautiful day for the event and she received many positive comments from attendees. Pedestal set up went well thanks to Pat Barton. The call for ‘artists sign-up’ was the biggest issue with timing, i.e. getting people to sign up in advance, and not last minute. There were 14 artists signed up with 2 last-minute cancellations and 6 pieces were sold. Volunteer turnout was low, especially in the Fresh Paint arboretum tent. The Everett Arboretum Board is requesting assistance from NWSSA to help get more volunteers in the future. Helpful going forward – adding photos of sculptors with their sculptures to the Arboretum newsletter prior to the event with a possible 10% discount for Arboretum members. Commission amounts were in question and will be discussed at the BOD retreat. Conversation going forward included possibly giving incentives to volunteers, perhaps allowing them to sell their art, jewelry, etc. Ellie also suggested providing a map for participants outlining the route from the Fresh Paint tent to the Arboretum, and acknowledging there is free parking. She also suggested the volunteers for the Fresh Paint tent be separate from the Arboretum volunteers and to possibly outsource for a smoother organizational outcome.

Kubota Garden: Markos
Markos reported the event was a rousing success with over 400 people attending, There were over 20 artists represented and  approximately 40 sculptures resulting in 9 sales from 5 artists. The top sale was $1500.00. The event was advertised by Kubota Gardens as well as calendared in the newspaper. This proved extremely helpful for a good turnout. Kubota Gardens would like to discuss dates for next year offering May 17, 2025 or August 9, 2025. Dates will be discussed at BOD Retreat. Markos requested that their Board consider waiving the $300.00 donation from NWSSA, since this was a joint venture and also to consider expanding to a 2-day show in the future. Markos expressed concerns over sculptors initially signing up but later canceling. He also expressed concerns about burnout of the major support people that make these events happen and how we can support them going forward. These issues will be discussed at the BOD retreat.

Tool Time: Ellie
Ellie reports our next Tool Time will be held on Tuesday , Nov 12^th at 6:30pm. Myles will be talking about his experiences in Tuscany and will be discussing Intarsia – a technique for creating patterns by inlaying different materials into a surface. Myles has asked that his clients and students on his mailing list be included in his presentations, as this group asks a lot of questions and adds energy to the meeting. Further discussion of Tool Time topics and possible other hosts will be ongoing at the BOD retreat. Markos mentioned events like Tool Time are valuable to keep people educated and engaged throughout the year. 

Best of the NorthWest Show: Tamara
Tamara stated Pat Barton is the lead and he will report more about this show in the near future when he has gathered more information. Dates for this and other events will be discussed and calendared at the BOD retreat.

Sales at Events: Renee
Renee reported how sales are handled at our events. She stated we use a device called “Zettle” that is associated with PayPal. It accepts credit cards and acts as a cash register onsite. It has worked well at the venues producing a receipt for the buyer, and calculates the appropriate sales tax for the point of sale site. The information, including price, sales tax, commission, etc. is recorded in reports which  are later submitted to the bookkeeper and Treasurer.  NWSSA owns 1 Zettle device but an additional device may be needed if NWSSA runs more than 1 event at a time. Discussion continued about commission percentages at these events. This will be discussed at the BOD retreat.

Old Business

State of the Website: Aerin
Aerin reported the work on the new website continues. Zoe is requesting more content but for now is still rebuilding the site. Tamara stated it’s up to us to provide the content but we need to know how to do that. Markos added that several people made suggestions as to how the content and formatting can be improved. Ellie said they did have a meeting with Zoe who reported that she is working on restructuring several key elements of the site during Phase I of the project. She plans to start work on phase 2 which includes content and formatting in early 2025.

BOD Retreat Agenda: Tamara 
Tamara asked that all attendees review draft 4 of the agenda. Oliver suggested we need a designated Lead for the Saturday afternoon agenda as it is very full and has a lot of topics. It was decided this will be a brainstorming session to outline the BOD’s priorities; set what our goals are and define what needs to be done in the near future. Oliver will do some background research and suggests a discussion on what’s currently being looked at and what has been done over the years. He would like to include ideas on the broader scope of education opportunities and encourages us all to bring ideas to the table. Ellie will  be a resource and support to Oliver. Tamara acknowledges the agenda is ambitious. To free up more time the following items were removed from the retreat agenda:

1.    Board Meeting Norms – The Norms (agreements between board members about behaviors that create the best conditions for governance) have been sent to the members via email. All board members present stated they have reviewed the Norms and agree with the acceptance of the Norms.

MOTION: There was a motion (Karen) that the members present vote to accept the Norms as written. The motion was seconded (Markos). The Motion passed unanimously. This item is now removed from the retreat agenda.

2.     Legal Duties –The retreat agenda includes scheduled time to review the Nonprofit Legal Duties: Duty of Care, Duty of Loyalty, Duty of Obedience. It was decided that Karen will email the Legal Duties information to the board members for their review and remove this item from the retreat agenda.

New Business

Retreat Housing – Ellie reviewed details for housing all of the board members during the retreat. Funds for a housekeeper will be provided to clean the home donated for housing. Meal prep planning, and clean-up was discussed. 

Action Items:

1.        Karen will email information explaining Nonprofit Legal Duties to board members  for their review.
2.        November Retreat: Sign Up Sheet for meals has been set up in Google Docs – everyone should note their sensitivities and/or allergies in the notes section of the form.
3.        New Accountant: The search for a new accountant continues. Board members are asked to contact Michael if they have any recommendations for qualified candidates.
4.        Create refund policy, cancellation fee or formula for symposia events. 
5.        Establish definition for Donation Point Person for  Endowment/Fund Raising 
6.        Define the role, responsibilities and procedures of website liaison (Aerin).

Tabled items: to be revisited in the future: 

1.        Michael: progress on finding auditor 
2.        Aerin: Report of Vancouver Symposium       
3.        Events: Oregon events, member participation, number of events, etc.
4.        Endowment Funds in place: Michael 

Next Board meeting will be on Nov 3, 2024 at 1:00 P.M. –  following BOD Retreat at Ellie’s home.  

Meeting Adjourned at 8:11 P.M. 

Minutes respectfully submitted by Secretary, Karen Walsh Roe