Minutes 12/8/09

Attending:
Virginia Winn (hostess)
John Wetzel
Dianne Britton
Fred Druseikis
Marguerite Frongillo
Lucy Gordon
Stephanie and Scott McCravy

Previous minutes approved.

Treasurer's Report:
We had 66 dancers in attendance at November's dance. We have $343 from that dance, and combined with what is already in the bank, we now have $1001 total. Scott has not yet deposited the $343 into the bank as of yet (12/8/09). Much discussion ensued when Lucy brought up the idea of creating what is essentially a savings or emergency fund for either unforeseen costs (i.e. hall rental increases) and/or projects that would benefit the organization. Everyone agreed that we should have such a fund, but we have not decided how such a situation would be managed. One idea is that we would put a percentage from each dance in which we are in the black. Another idea is that we would put a percentage of our yearly profits after the current dance season is over. After much discussion, Fred volunteered to compile data from the previous two dance seasons and come up with percentages that reflect our financial situation, so that we can address this issue more fully. Treasurer's Report is approved.

Form 990
John is going to call CDSS to see if we need to coordinate our fiscal year to theirs, which runs January to January. He can't submit the electronic form until after January 1st. There is a possibility we may need to change our bylaws.

Reunion Dance List
John, Dianne, and Connie have compiled their respective lists, so all that needs to be done is to incorporate Lucy's information and trim down the information to exclude people who will probably not be able to come, i.e. those who live too far away.


Email + Reply To
Dianne will separate the reply functions so that we can respond to either the individual or the entire group. Note that if you only reply to the individual, your response will not be archived. You must Reply All for the information to be archived.

Musician Outreach + New Caller Outreach/Community Development
John, Fred, and Dianne decided to come up with individual ways to garner new musicians. Fred suggested creating opportunities for musicians by having one or two dances a year where "guest" musicians can play, so that they can get experience playing music in a dance setting. Lucy brought some information on CDSS about the grants, etc. that they offer for callers and musicians.

Virginia reports that we do have one person who is interested in learning to call, but the person has not been contacted. We decided to put this person in contact with Kenny and/or Patrick to see what develops. Although Kenny lives out of town and Patrick has not officially called any dances there is potential there for developing a new caller. We could also invite the person(s) interested in calling to one of the dances where Kenny will be calling, so that he might begin showing/mentoring them. Fred and Lucy suggested having more active New Dancer's Workshops, where experienced dancers explain and teach the various dance moves. This could also become the first step in training new callers, so that they would not feel as if they were going in "cold", so to speak.

Lucy proposed that we get a more concrete organization of volunteers to do such things as helping new dancers. We could put some defining mark on the name tags, or create a special button so that experienced dancers who volunteer are easy to identify. Virginia suggested that we add the requests for volunteers on Connie's Facebook and Twitter accounts. Virginia also mentioned that she knows a freelance writer who may come and do a writeup of the dance for one of several publications.

Next meeting is scheduled for February 9, 2010.

Meeting adjourned at 9:37PM.