RIEEA Annual Meeting
RIEEA Annual Meeting
Minutes
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Board Members Present: Kristen Swanberg, Carrie Hawthorne, Paul Dolan, Elisabeth Bux, Denise Poyer, April Alix, Nicole Souza, Andrea Stein, Shareen Knowlton, Reada, Bridgette
Other Participants: Jeanine Silversmith (RIEEA Coordinator), Lauren Parmelee,Elise Huebner (Oliver Hazard Perry), Diane Malleoux, Captain..
Site:Blackstone Valley Explorer
Welcome/IntroductionsCruise on the Blackstone River through Central Falls and Lincoln.
Treasure Report: $11,096 balance,
Carrie Hawthorn announced resignation from Zoo and RIEEA to become Curator of Education at Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford, MA.
EPA Award: RIEEA was awarded an EPA Environmental Merit Award. Kristen, Lauren, Shareen and Elisabeth went to Boston last week to receive the award. We were nominated by DEM Director Coit.
IRS Status: The IRS sent a letter to RIEEA outlining deficiencies in our 401(c)3 application. Kristen received approval from the board to change wording in the application to eliminate the problems. Our case has now been sent up to the next level at the IRS and we should receive approval soon.
Website: Committee has been researching different platforms for the RIEEA Resource Guide. They discussed other options with Lisa Work to clean up the search process. She can do the job for $45 per hour. It will most likely take 2 to 4 hours. The board voted to approve paying Lisa for the extra work.
Jeanine has changed over to the NEEEA Constant Contact account for the RIEEA newsletter. It includes information about meetings and committee updates.When we receive the next newsletter please send Jeanine emails for organization’s staff so that they can receive newsletter.
ProfessionalDevelopment: Committee is in the planning process and hopes to offer programs in the fall.
ELP: Unofficial announcement of groups awarded contractor status for RIDE – ASRI, Apeiron, Downcity Design.
Shareen, Jeanine, and Deanna Duncan plan to meet with Jenny Pereira and Toby Shepherd from RIF regarding the Green School Project.
Flower Show: Downcity Design has agreed to help develop design and provide technical assistance. Due to the timeline, it looks like they won’t be able to be involved in the full design process.
Fundraising ideas- Kickstarter seems to be the best format for our needs and the Flower Show project is a viable project. However, we would need to reach the full goal by predetermined date or we don’t get any funding raised. Jeanine has experience working with Kickstarter and will take the lead. We will need to post a video. We also need to decide if we want to try to raise more than $5000 to give us a buffer.
Great Outdoor Pursuits:For the June 22 event Jeanine will leading a hike which will include other groups who are doing geocaching and gps instruction. RIEEA will put a letter box on the hike that includes a RIEEA stamp. The Zoo will try to align their nature swap program with this event so that RIEEA has a big presence. RIEEA organizations can provide donated items for the raffle and provide self-guided activities for program.
NEEEA Update: In the process of developing a 3 to 5 year plan based on challenges faced by the states. One key question is “do we need a seventh board in the New England region?” NEEA Leadership retreat will be held June 2, in Demens MA, from 10 to 4. RI can bring up to 2 extra people.
State orgs have access to Go-to-meeting and Constant Contact.
RIEEA Services:One service that we could provide to our member organizations is assistance with background checks for employees. Kristen is working with a company to see if we can get a volume discount.
Sustainable School Summit:Next meeting is June 4 at RIC.The summit will be held Friday Nov. 7.