From Robert Mays – President.
I want to introduce the new RSB-NC Board to you and give you an idea of how we have decided to organize and work. In our first Board meeting, we took a number of steps to clarify our work, to set various policies and to plan the next steps to build the Branch. The detailed minutes are here.
Work in the Cultural Sphere
The mission of the Board includes working in and supporting others in the cultural and spiritual sphere. We recognize the good work of the Cultural Initiative Group and look forward to having them continue to organize festivals and other events. We appointed Board member Judy Frey to act as liaison from the Board to this Group.
That being said, we want to encourage initiatives from any members who wish to undertake them — be it to give a workshop, arrange for a speaker to give a lecture, start a new Foundation Studies course, sponsor a eurythmy performance, begin a new study group, celebrate a holiday, etc. The Board can assist by helping to coordinate the Branch calendar with the other organizations in the area (EWS, Christian Community) and with other on-going Branch initiatives (First Class, upcoming festivals, etc.) We can also assist with financial backing and with advertising the initiatives both within the Branch, in the wider ASNC list, on the Branch website and in the wider communities.
Bringing order to the affairs of the Branch
At the Board meeting, we took immediate steps to bring order to the affairs of the Branch by arranging:
- to secure the finances of the Branch via signature control on our bank accounts
- to implement better controls and tracking of the finances
- to institute more transparency and openness in the Branch by publishing the minutes of AGMs and the minutes of Board meetings
- to establish better communications with members via this separate listserv for members
- to encourage more members to join the Branch or renew their membership (starting with this communication),
- and finally to address the concerns that have been voiced over the events of the past several weeks, with one or more meetings planned for June (more details later).
New Officers Elected
We elected the officers of the Corporation as follows:
- President – Robert Mays
- Vice President – Will Hicks
- Treasurer – Robin Haynes
- Recording Secretary – Diana Haynes
- Correspondence Secretary – Judy Frey
The other Board members elected at the AGM are: Ron Evans, Kathleen Wright and Tatiana Zybin.
New Committees Formed
The Committees of the Board and the Board representative(s) will be as follows:
- Bylaws – to review and make recommendations for improvements – Robert, Ron and Robin
- PR and Outreach – Kathleen and Will
- Budgets – Robin
- Events – Diana
- Website – Robin and Kathleen
- Newsletter – Kathleen and Robin (the plan is to put out a newsletter to members and friends on a regular basis)
- Listserv(s) – Will and Robin
- Library – Kathleen and Judy
- Membership – Kathleen, Robin and Ron
- Heart Fund – Will and Diana
- CIC Liaison – Judy Frey
Bringing about greater harmony and inclusiveness in the Branch
We acknowledge that there are a number of members of the Branch who are unhappy with events that occurred in the several weeks leading up to and including the AGM. Allen Barenholtz has asked to have a meeting with the Board, and others have made similar requests, so that concerns can be brought out and responded to by all the principals who were involved during that time. We will shortly put out a request for all members who have concerns to send them to the Board in writing so that this meeting can be organized and scheduled – hopefully in June. All interested members and friends of the Branch will be invited to attend.
Interim Branch Website
We agreed to set up an interim website for the Branch that will be more modern (e.g., support mobile devices), easier to navigate, have more useful functions, be easier to maintain and expand, and be more attractive than our current website. In the meantime, Lynn Jericho and Allen Barenholtz will continue to work on a new website which can replace the interim site when completed.
Membership Renewal — reaching out to lapsed members
A number of people have let their annual membership in the Branch lapse. There are a number of reasons for this — probably unique reasons for each former member. Other members who were current in 2014 have not yet renewed for this year.
So I would like to appeal to all former members to consider that the current Board is putting new focus on serving our members by taking steps (1) to strengthen the Branch, (2) to re-establish trust among the members and (3) to provide more value for becoming a member. We still need to prove all three of these points to you, but over the next several months our intention is to convince you to come back.
In case your are interested in joining the Branch or renewing your membership now, please go to this page.
