The Rising Tide Society May 2024 Board Meeting Minutes
View the agenda
Download a PDF of the meeting minutes
Thursday, May 9, 2024
Call to order
Board President Taylor called the meeting to order at 8:06 am PST/11:06 am EST [Board members participated via Zoom]
Attendance
Secretary conducted roll call.
The following persons were present:
- Brittany Taylor – President
- Elizabeth Coopersmith – Board Secretary
- Rhiannon Leila – International Representative Board Member
- Christoper Stiles – Board Member/Chapter Liason
- Marvin Flavien – Board Member
- Erin Perkins – Board Member
- Wendy Zook – Ex Officio Executive Director
Not Attending/Excused:
- Natalie Franke – Past President
- Braden Drake – Ex Officio Board Member
- Jaime Thompson – Treasurer
Approval of minutes
Secretary Coopersmith moved to approve the minutes of April’s quorum meeting. Taylor seconded, and the motion was approved at 8:08 am PST/11:08 am EST.
Board Reports
Treasurer’s Report – Jaime Thomspon
- Treasurer Thomspon is absent; her report will be emailed to the Board.
President’s Report – Brittanny Taylor
- Taylor presented two documents regarding potential Fundraising efforts by the Board: a spreadsheet of fundraising ideas and a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis.
- New merchandise has been added to Bonfires – RTS Board of Directors and Individual Chapters.
- The board discussed board-centric fundraising opportunities, both public and board-centric. These will be added to the fundraising spreadsheet and implemented in the next few weeks.
- Fundraising strategies that may require changing the bylaws will be reviewed before the next quorum meeting.
Executive Director’s report – Wendy Zook
- RTS strategies – Zook and Taylor met the previous week to discuss RTS community and fundraising strategies, vision, and goals based on the “Why” of RTS and why supporting this organization is so important. This will be an ongoing discussion over the next few months and include input from Board members and our DEI expert.
- Birthday Bash—Set for June, this event will celebrate the ninth anniversary of the Rising Tide Society and the first anniversary of RTS’s becoming a non-profit. It will be both a marketing and fundraising push. Zook will share the spreadsheet for the RTS Bash in Slack.
- Board nomination process—The installation of two new board members this summer will begin this month. Chapter leaders and lead recommended chapter members are eligible. The announcement will be made to the chapter leaders on May 22nd, followed by Taylor and Zook’s online “State of the Union” meeting on May 29. Nominations will be accepted through June. An anonymous nomination committee will review the applications in July. Zook and Taylor will present the final two recommendations to the Board in mid-July, and new Board Members will be installed at the Q3 August Board meeting. The new board members terms would run from August 2024 – August 2026.
- SOPs -Many SOPs still need to be mapped out. Zook will share the master document in Slack for the board’s review and contribution.
- This month, there will be a co-working retreat in Wisconsin. If you have any requests or questions, please let Wendy know.
Committee Reports Reports – Wendy Zook
- Moderation and Social Media Committee: support needed on Facebook and social media; reach out to Marvin if you’re available to help
- Membership & Leadership Committee: The first three new chapter leaders will be onboarded next week. Application interviews are continuing.
- DEI Committee: Abiola is scheduling Board member interviews over the next few weeks.
- Education Committee: Subcommittees are set. The podcast committee is still seeking a project manager, so the focus is on the blog launch next month. Leader library resources for the third quarter are already up.
- Marketing & Content Committee: Zook and Taylor are restructuring this committee, working with volunteers to create more efficient processes.
- Events Committee: Face-to-face and webinar events are actively being planned for 2024.
- Finance & Fundraising: Ongoing
“For the Good of the Board…”
- Next quorum board meeting: Thursday, June 13th, 2024 @ 8:00 a.m. PST / 11:00 a.m. EST
- Next quarterly executive committee meeting: Friday, July 26th, 2024 @ 8:00 a.m. PST / 11:00 a.m. EST
- Next quarterly board meeting: Thursday, August 8th, 2024 @ 8:00 a.m. PST / 11:00 a.m. EST
Adjournment
Board President Taylor moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Stiles. The motion was approved, and the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 a.m. PST/12:30 p.m. EST.
Action Items:
Secretary Coopersmith submitted these minutes to the board on 5/13/24. The minutes will be voted on at the next quorum Board meeting.
