Call to order - 4:40 by Board President Sarah Priest

In attendance - Sarah Priest,Tanya Jackson,Karen St. George, LeAnn Littlewolf, Kelly Blindauer, Kathryn Nelson, Sheryl Boman, Kym Young, Lyn Clark Peg

Quorum present.

Staff Members Present –Karen TeHennepe, Danielle Norkunas, Melissa Hellerud-Storie

Absent –Nathalie Crowley, Greta Ireland-Klumb, Callie Ronstrom,Elsa Swenson

Mission Moment

Staff Presentation (Melissa Hellerud-Storie)

State of the Agency (Karen TeHennepe)

Marketing and Fund Development Committee –

Gala: The Board would like a policy on talking to partner organizations before publicly releasing information on new events. PAVSA felt our Herstory Gala competes too closely with their Herstory Luncheon. Kym suggested combining needs of partner organizations instead of seeing it as competition. There may be crossover donors and participants, but there has to be a way to create an atmosphere of collaboration. General consensus was that Herstory is a universal theme during the month of March and that there was enough of a difference between our event and PAVSA’s that we should move forward but perhaps add something to the Herstory theme to differentiate a bit more. Perhaps a focus on famous women in Duluth? The gala will have music and auction items. A challenge was proposed for board members to submit baskets for the auction with perhaps an award for the board member whose basket raises the most money. There was also some discussion on working with the Arrowhead Chef’s federation and having female chefs. Finally, it was proposed that perhaps board members or staff who work a certain amount of time for the event can get in for free or reduced-price tickets as cost may be a barrier for them to attend.

LKJ visit was 12/14 – we are submitting an LOI for additional staff time and more programming for the Young Mother’s Program. An 18 month calendar was created with time frames for grants. Also discussed was going back to the Duluth Superior Community Foundation for capacity funding. A meeting with Joe Everett from Ordean will happen on 12/16 to talk about a GP! grant and capacity funding. Other grants in the works are Positive Alternatives, DHS child welfare disparities grant due 1/26, Mardag, and Grotto. Mardag we have received before, Grotto would be a new funder.

Finance Committee (Kelly Blindauer) –

They met two weeks ago and meet again on 12/18. They have gone through the perpetual calendar and picked out every item they believed was their responsibility and put them into their own calendar to make sure things are happening when they need to happen. They also looked at the proposed 2016 budget and Amber and Karen sat down and went through all of the grants. They are hoping to have a better idea of the budget on Friday.

Audit Letter – We received an engagement letter from Wipfli. In the past, we have solicited bids from other organizations, but Jen from Wipfli has been the lead auditor for quite a while and the bid amount is $9500 which is in line with what we have been paying previously. Karen believes they know our organization the best and she recommends we use them again. They usually schedule for March. Note that Sharee does our 990 – that is not included in the audit.

Kathy moves to approve contracting Wipfli again this year, Tanya seconds, approved.

Living the Mission Committee (Sheryl Boman)-

No report. Staff are still working on inclusion change plans.

Personnel Committee -

Written report. They have been reviewing and updating job descriptions. 3 descriptions have been brought for approval – Mentor Duluth Advocate, Development Director, and Administrative Director. Revisions requested by the board include: Each job description should have “Uphold and further the mission of the YWCA” as the first bullet under Duties and Responsibilities, the Development Director description should break up the bullet with donor meetings to explicitly state meet with donors individually, the Mentor Duluth Advocate description should expand PA meetings to Program Advocate meetings and collab to collaborative for clarity, and remove the duplicate background check bullet. Danielle will make these changes and resubmit the descriptions for approval.

Executive Committee–

They did not meet formally this month. Kym asked that we discuss board development, mentorship, staff relationships and transparency. Board development and mentorship has been discussed previously, but there are some concerns about adding another committee. Kym mentioned she has other boards with no hierarchy structure, and perhaps have the development committee meet maybe once or twice a year, but the members should be working within other committees. There should be research, development, and implementation of new board trainings and team trainings. Mentorship teams should be a returning member helping a new member develop for maybe the first 6 months; it is about creating relationships, being a sounding board, helping new members make their voices heard. This would further empowerment and help create transparency.

Karen St. George moves to create a Board Development Committee with a mentorship partnership, seconded by Kathy, approved.

Nominating Committee will meet in January – new board members recruited should start in March. The Executive committee will present a slate for new officers for theJanuary meeting. The bylaws need to be updated and it has been requested that each committee have a job description as well as policies should be in place for how the board is operating. Transparency is important as well as communication being more comfortable. Staff should feel more comfortable talking to board members about what is going on and board members should be more accessible to them. The Executive director in nonprofit organizations usually has a lot to do with recruiting board members and if staff is not comfortable going to them, it can feed into unhealthy power dynamics.

Consent Agenda –

November Minutes for 11/24 Board Meeting

November 10th minutes – Tabled, need to be resent

Northland Grant - $20,000 for GP!

SLC Family Services - $20,000 for childcare center

Rotary - $1,000 for childcare center

US Bank - $3,500 for YMP

AllState - $1,000 from Purple Purse campaign

Tanya moves to approve (with the exception of the Nov. 10th minutes), Kym seconds, approved.

Meeting Closed for Executive Session- 6:11 PM