MEETING MINUTES

JUNE 22, 2015

Subject / Board Meeting / DATE / 22 June 15
Facilitator / Dan, Emily / TIME / 6:34 – 9:05
Location / Sheffield Lobby / SCRIBE / Margot
Attendees - BOARD / Greg, Emily, Dan, Margot, Dana / Guests / Carla Kiiskila
Next Meeting / July 27, Dan’s House

AGENDA

Welcoming / Need to develop organizational capacity (board, staff) to do the things we need to do.
Carla: Quilter, knitter, organic gardener, lawyer. 26 years on Vashon. Background in immigration law & legal research; has founded a non-profit and participated in many. Recently retired. Potential board member.
Review Minutes / Reviewed, approved. Note: we don’t use Robert’s Rules most of the time.
Organizational capacity / Financial Reports/Discussion
Books haven’t closed for May. We have about $12K in bank; $4-5K earmarked for Food Access. We’re over-reliant on the book-keeper. Need to sort out the books/budget regarding FAP. Growing our capacity to be a fiscal sponsor for groups (Fibershed). Envision one bank account, one spreadsheet, different columns.
INCOME: Kelly Ann Brown Foundation; we’re encouraged to apply for a grant.
Farm to Table: last year’s netted $3K. This year hope for $5K.
CiderFest, Harvest Festival. Sponsorships: near $7K.
EXPENSES: Advertising: we probably won’t spend $4650. How much have we spent to date?
NEXT STEPS:
Keep lid on expenses until see if the grant funds come in.
Make changes to budget per discussion, change headings per discussion. (“General Donations” not workable category)
QUESTION: What are the state taxes in budget for?
NEED: More eyes on bank account, expenses, income (fiscal oversight). Establish Fiscal oversight committee.
Possible grants/donations
King Conservation District (Megan Horst): working on two letters of interest; one $50K, one $15K. Grown on Vashon label/logo; VashonFresh smartphone app. Grants must be accompanied by names of peer reviewers; Would be available in Oct.
Satterberg Foundation grant (Merrilee) in progress: $15K/2016; $10K/2017; $5K/2018.
Membership Mailer Need to think about follow-up postcard mailer. Dana /Laura work on.
Board Nurturing: Two vacancies (one by end of meeting); Greg leaves end of September. Dan putting a nominating committee together.
Land trust office space: We signed a lease on Sheffield Office; then Tom Dean offered a space at Land Trust Building. Discussion continues: Emily.
Support to Farmers & Producers / USDA grant; Covered
KCD Early action grants: Covered
Island Springs/Luke/Jeanne’s offer 5 hours of Jeanne’s time: she’s working on research project for us. Partnering with for-profit company, help put farmers together with resources.
Saturday/
Wednesday Market / Caleb sent out report; need to review financial/Market records for year to date. There’s an error with spreadsheets, don’t match manually added numbers; not sure why. How verify numbers and prevent from happening again?
How to rectify this issue (Caleb and Kim):
1. Make sure this week & going forward is done correctly.
2. Fix the month of June.
3. Figure out what it will take to rectify April and March.
Statistics: Number of vendors who paid dues: higher. Many one-off or two-off vendors. Number of customers: down. Financial trends: have lost farmer-vendors. Need to raise the average number of farmers per market. Now up to 8. Have more farmers but not produce. Microgreens are coming – Lost Spring farm.
Wednesday Market: First of season: $600. Second: slower. Vendors motivated. Ruby/market assistance. Mike Quall to buy bigger banners. July 1 ferry line coupon. Sent MailChimp blast.
Alley Pothole Repairs – thank-you signs go up this week.
Winter Market, conversation ongoing with King Co. re: permitting issues at site next to Thriftway.
Reimagine the Market: Waiting on rough cost estimates for preferred option. Celina/Joe will offer alternative. Week of July 13 likely for design option review meeting.
ZeroWaste food bins came 6/20, Carla brought recycling bins. Moving ahead; Zero Waste might do everything? we hope.
Education / Fibershed Group: Might write VIGA column, Sept.
Fibershed MOU: Carla will revise to reflect the law, and send it back to us to approve.
Other Business / Strawberry Festival: Discussion in meeting; many tasks. Subsequent discussion by email. Unclear if we are doing this; decision pending 6/25.
Food Access Program: Had ambitious budget for 2015, won’t make it. They want to contact original volunteers; ask for money. Concerns about timing, stepping on VIGA membership / Farm to Table dinner. Our mission statement doesn’t mention equity. People who contribute to FAP should become VIGA members. Follow-up, next meeting. Dana work on coordinating fund raising.
Membership: Need to fill out forms. New members – record keeping passed off to Kim. How do you document the money that goes to the book-keeper? Treasurer needs to note the money coming in, before it goes to Kim. These systems don’t exist – Fiscal Oversight Committee.
Web site: Making headway: Jordan, Bonnie, Dan. Jordan will continue working on: approved up to 25 hours/$500 to pay her to develop web site, WordPress format
New Board Member: Carla Kiiskilla. Yay!
Adjourned / Around 9:05, discussion continued into parking lot.

QUESTIONS/DECISIONS /ACTIONS

How to upgrade a membership? / Feature on web page?
What are the state taxes on budget for? / Answer: state employement taxes, eg. UI, L&I.
How much have we spent on advertising to date?
Keep a lid on expenses / Until we know about grants pending
Web Site, WordPress, / Approved up to $500, Executive Committee, after meeting / Jordan Beck, $20/hr
New Board Member / Carla Kiiskila!
Strawberry Festival Booth? / Decision pending, email discussion / Ultimately decided NOT to do this.

TASKS PENDING

Category / Task / Who? / When?
Budget / Make changes to budget per discussion, change headings per discussion. “General Donations” not workable category. / Greg, Kim. / By next meeting
Budget / Sort out FAP books/budget. / Greg, Kim, Merrilee / By next meeting
Fiscal Oversight / Establish Fiscal Oversight Committee: meet to set priorities / Margot, Greg, Catherine, Carla / Early July
Membership / Decide on follow up to membership mailing, postcard? / Dana, Laura / July
Fibershed MOU / Update MOU per law & discussion, send back to VIF and VIGA for discussion / approval. / Carla / Soon
Grants / Develop KCD grants / Dan w/Megan Horst / Not sure
Grants / Satterberg Foundation / Merrilee / Not sure
Board Nurturing / Develop nominating committee / Dan / Ongoing
Office Space / Discussions with Land Trust / Emily / Ongoing
RESEARCH / Look up Food Hub articles. / Margot / DONE
Market Money - Rectify / Review/Rectify Saturday market income: 1) Make sure this week is correct and what to do going forward. 2) Review/rectify June market info. 3) Review/Rectify May and April. 4)Share results w/board. / Caleb, Kim, supported by Emily. / 1. this Week. 2. Next week?
3. July
Strawberry Festival / Lots to do if we do it. Need to settle. / Emily and ALL / Festival: 7/18-19
Food Access Program / Budget; cash on the books/see above.
Fund-raising: coordinate timing, don’t step on Farm-to-Table.
Contributors/Members- people who contribute to FAP should be listed as VIGA members.
Equity should be in VIGA Strategic priorities and/or Mission statement. / Dana/Merrilee
Who?
Next meeting