Board of Directors Meeting
About the Event
Board Minutes
The purpose of this off-Wednesday open meeting was to discuss the future and growth of our group. Growth itself, has presented increased opportunities as well as new considerations and challenges. The following is the general outline of the meeting with some pertinent agreed upon decisions.
Organizational paperwork: We reviewed the paperwork for incorporation, to become an Educational Non-profit group and looked over the bank forms to be granted tax-exempt status. We discussed the terms of this 501©3 agreement, what is necessitated for it and other matters as to “formalizing” our incorporated status. Recently we have received checks made out to the Freethought Assoc. as donations but as it stood, we had no way of cashing these. It was deemed the best way to keep things simple and facilitate growth by running on a directorship basis. We discussed the terms of this. We already have members filling the required slots, though it was not formalized before. Jeff Seaver, Don Hansen, Rob Adamczyk and Charles LaRue will continue to function, though now officially, in the capacities of chairpersons, treasurer and secretary. These individuals signed off on the paperwork accordingly. The by-laws are close to the 501©3 guidelines but in IRS language and terms for officials are 2 years. 75% of board membership in attendance constitutes a quorum. Two of the 4 bd. members must sign any check paid out by FAOWM. The board is to meet at least once yearly at an agreed upon time and place; though we decided quarterly bd. meetings to be best.
Our new status makes us officially a group, the purpose of which is ”(t)o conduct public discussion group, lectures, panels, forums or other similar programs, from a non-theistic point of view.” Our incorporated status says that our organization is exclusively for charitable, educational, scientific or religious purposes.
Space: Our expanding membership may one day push us out of our current location, but we agreed that we wanted to stay where we are as long as possible and that a lecture hall set-up was not desirable as it is less conducive to intimacy and free discussion. We explored other possibilities at the Calkins Science Center and will see what options, if any, Greg Forbes deems likely in the future. We thank Dr. Forbes for his work in initially arranging for us our attractive, and so-far, accommodating meeting place on the downtown GRCC campus.
Format: Our last meeting was conducted in the manner where one person took the role of presenter and another officiated as moderator. We agreed that this worked well, with many benefits to attendees and the flow of the presentation itself. Forty-five minutes was considered to be the time to shoot for in the actual presentation, with remaining time for discussion. Topics that are more data-rich, with more rarefied information may exceed this time frame. Each upcoming presenter will receive a standard request that will include the format guidelines. Topics: Jeff will continue to facilitate topics and getting volunteers for presentations. Assistance is required from other group members to volunteer, to send information on other candidates and topic ideas and to give names and addresses of institutions that may have people within them, who are willing to lead discussions in their areas of expertise. We would like very much to get more out-of-town, well-known guests to speak to our group. Some names mentioned included Tom Flynn, Jared Diamond, Roger Greeley, Paul Kurtz, and Joe Nickell. We also mentioned the desire to have representatives from Womens or Minority groups both for the innate interest their presentations would contain and to possibly see greater attendance by females and minorities.
Small Groups of Special Interests, Etc.: With our larger group size, we are looking into having sub-groups composed of people of like-interests, age, sex, or expertise begin to form from out of our general membership base. Meeting days, times and location could be set to accommodate those who are not currently able to attend our regular meetings and these sub-groups may have a more intimate, social component. If you have any interest in heading one of these special groups up, we can assist in getting contacts from our membership of those who may be potentially interested. Jeff will e-mail an invitation to the group at large with any ideas you have for one of these smaller gatherings. Ideas for specific groups arose this evening and Jill Pinkerton will investigate among female members where interests lie.
Community Involvement: Any ideas for ways to put our group identity out in the community in a positive light, via involvement in volunteer activities, assistance, etc. is welcome. We will try again this year for highway clean-up with the M-dot adopt-a- highway program. Other thoughts were to help with Habitat for Humanity’s dwelling construction, Food Drive donations, having members as part of a Speaker’s Bureau, and seizing opportunities presented in the Volunteers Needed section of the newspaper. If you have time or ideas for this, take the initiative. Again, we will help facilitate in getting the word out to our membership for any worthy project or involvement.
Speaker Resources: Suggestions were made regarding colleges and organizations to check, and individuals who can be contacted to present topics in their field or specific type of work. Again-all ideas are welcome in seeking out presentations of interest to the group. Some could be officially open to the public that would be larger draws.
Survey of Members: Dennis Murphy volunteered to collect data from our group culled from a questionnaire he will put together. The purpose would be assemble the data to see what percentage of our membership would fall into various categories and may suggest future topics and identify potential interest groups. It could also present information on what skills are out there to be tapped from within our membership.
Pamphlets: We discussed ways to modify our current pamphlet and how to better utilize it efficiently and cost-effectively. Targeting groups, especially by having them included in mailings from the Council for Secular Humanism, or sent to other sympathetic populations was seen as a good idea. We can continue to place a modified version of the pamphlet (that will include upcoming topics) in bookstores and other appropriate venues.
Publicity: Closely related to the above, this portion of our meeting had to do with being cautious in identifying ourselves with the group in published articles, etc. from individual members, until it is reviewed by the board. We discussed untapped newspaper venues for getting the word out on our group. The secretary has placed the ads in a number of print media sources. However, he would like assistance in contact information for papers in outlying areas (Holland Sentinel, Muskegon Chronical, etc.) or any other papers that members may be aware of. Contact us through our website or e-mail, or Charles LaRue directly: . Finally as to publishing views (under the FAOWM identity) that are political or otherwise controversial/divisive- we thought it best not to mix causes or advocate special interest opinion that would be associated with the group at large. We wish to avoid fragmentation as well from any tensions that may occur as small pockets from within splinter along various lines. Related to publicity: the idea of having a Food Booth at the downtown Festival was brought up.
Planned Group Events: Anyone with interest in heading up events for social and/or recreational purposes, please get in contact with us. Provide date and other pertinent info. to Jeff and he will incorporate this into the calendar. The secretary will include information in the minutes as well. Charles agreed to coordinate a park activity this summer. We had gone to Hagar Park in the past but there are other ideas as well for location.
Media: A start-up Media Committee was formed with Dennis, Dave and Charles. We discussed doing public access television presentations, but this would entail a great amount of commitment from those who would undertake it as a special pet project. One has to take into account the expenditure of effort relative to the market share. Radio was seen as a less intensive approach, however, to have the freethought perspective aired, or just provide information on our group and its nature. WGVU was mentioned as a prime candidate for this, during its morning show. Fred Stella’s Interfaith Dialogue was mentioned; we had done a couple of shows in the past with Lanette Grate and the late Howard Foster, talking about FAOWM and their personal journeys to freethought. Tim VanHaitsma is already involved in getting “The Humanist Perspective” series into public access tv in the Hudsonville/Georgetown area. Assistance in doing the same in other local markets is desired.
Our next scheduled business meeting is tentatively set for June 20 (the 3rd Wednesday of the month). Now more than ever your input and involvement is important in creating and maintaining our robust presence in the community and making a welcoming place for intellectual seekers. Send ideas, suggestions or any offer to volunteer or take the lead in any activity to us. http://www.cfimichigan.org , or .
Secretary: Charles LaRue.
