From Robert Mays – RSB-NC Board President.
I want to look back on the past year in the Branch at how the Board has assisted the life of the community and how we will carry forward into 2016.
The new Board took office in May 2015 with a challenge to restore confidence in the Branch. The task was several-fold – to improve communications and sharing among our members, to encourage, sponsor and support Branch festivals and events, to provide more openness and transparency in Branch governance and to restore order and clarity to the Branch’s finances. We accomplished much of this through the following:
- Bringing order to the Branch’s finances by transferring accounting for the Branch to Quickbooks, adjusting bank accounts to reflect the specific restricted fund balances, and providing additional support for the Branch through free-will donations from each Board member.
- Providing community outreach by volunteering at the Emerson Waldorf School Holiday Faire
Another major challenge was to address issues and concerns among a number of members that resulted from events occurring prior to and at the 2015 Annual General Meeting (AGM). The new Board held four meetings open to the community. The Board concluded that although the process was problematic, the major concerns were heard to the best of our ability.
We also addressed another area of concern, about the Board’s role in the Branch and in the cultural and spiritual sphere. We held conversations with several individuals about this question and concluded that Board has a central role in all of the cultural activities of the Branch and so has a central role in the cultural life of the Branch.
Our Annual Membership Drive Starts Now!
In carrying forward into 2016, there are several items that the Board wants to emphasize. First, it’s time to renew, reactivate or start up your membership in the Branch!
How do your dues help the Branch? They provide the funds to rent meeting spaces and provide refreshments for festivals, events and Branch meetings, and to meet other costs such as speaker travel and honoraria. Your dues also fund scholarships for members to attend Anthroposophical conferences and report back to the membership what they learned. Finally, your dues provide money for the overhead of providing the various services to the Branch — web site costs, liability insurance, post office box rental, copying, supplies, etc.
Among the benefits of being a member of the Branch, you get access to the members’ listserv and members’ section of the web site, and you can vote at the Annual General Meeting. In the future we will also grant discounts to members for selected events.
There are several ways to join or renew your membership:
Nominations for New Board Members are Now Open!
There are several vacancies on the Board, due to terms ending and personal reasons. Therefore, we are seeking individuals who would wish to serve on the Board and help shape the Branch for the future.
Self nominations are welcome! Nominations should be communicated to the President by the nominee sending a short (200 word) biography that will allow voting members to get to better know you and the gifts you bring, including, for example, your vision for the future of the Board, your relationship to Anthroposophy, and the skills that can help with work on the Board.
All nominations and nominee statements are due by Saturday, April 2, so sufficient notice can be given to the members of the people standing for the Board and their statements to the members.
RSB-NC Annual General Meeting – Save the Date!
Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday, April 23, 2:30 – 5:00 PM at the EWS Brown Room. The agenda will include reports from the Board, committees and the various anthroposophical initiatives in our community. We will also have elections for new Board members.
Current (dues-paid) members who wish to bring an item forward for discussion or a motion for a vote at the AGM need to get at least four other current members to agree to having the item or motion added to the AGM agenda.
If you wish to add an item to the AGM agenda, please send the proposal, in writing with the sponsors’ names, to the President by Saturday, April 2, so sufficient notice can be given to the members that the proposal is going to be included in the meeting.
