AAUW of North Carolina » 2008 NC Fall Meeting

Minutes from the fall board meeting

Mary Stephens — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:45:13 +0000

The reading committee has approved the minutes of the fall 2008 board meeting.

Minutes of AAUW NC Board, Oct. 31, 2008

AAUW NC’s newest branch applies for its charter

Nancy — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:14:54 +0000

The AAUW Tar Heel branch was approved at the AAUW NC fall board meeting and has applied for its charter. It is already linking members from across the state, connecting members-at-large to the state activities, and connecting members in communities without a branch to each other. When Doris Bernlohr, president of the new branch, moved from near Chapel Hill to Burlington in Alamance County she knew she wanted AAUW friends and she wanted AAUW as a force in the community — but she didn’t want the overhead involved in forming a community-based branch. There are now six members from the county in the new branch. If they recruit many more and spin off as yet another branch, great! If not, they are now connected to each other and can be part of the AAUW community breaking through barriers at events like the Alamance County Women’s Agenda Assembly last month.

The 25 charter members represent nine of North Carolina’s 100 counties and three other states. There are two men, former members of two disbanded branches, seven at-large members choosing to connect to AAUW NC, four former members who had let their membership lapse, and nine members of other AAUW NC branches who are interested in helping this new model get started.

For more information, see http://tarheel.aauwnc.org for the online membership signup form, contact info@bwob.aauwnc.org or call Doris Bernlohr at 336-586-7001.

Standing: Branch members Nancy Shoemaker, Sheila Bassoppo-Moyo, Mary Stephens, Mary Fran Schickedantz, Queen Thompson
Seated: Branch president Doris Bernlohr, AAUW NC president Millie Hoffler-Foushee

AAUW NC 2008-2009 Executive Committee

Nancy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:56:51 +0000

L to R: Sheila Bassoppo-Moyo (Membership VP), Etta Alston (Program VP), Millie Hoffler-Foushee (President), Mary Fran Schickedantz (Treasurer), Mary Stephens (Secretary).

Picture taken Nov. 1, 2008 at the 2008 AAUW NC fall meeting in Chapel Hill

Notes from the fall membership workshop

sheila — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:44:49 +0000

Membership Vice President Sheila Bassoppo-Moyo presented information from two sources at the AAUW NC fall meeting on November 1.

First, she gave highlights of a booklet produced by AAUW Fremont (CA): From Near Disbandment to Success: The Fremont AAUW Story.

Learn how Fremont, California AAUW devised and implemented a business model to reverse the trend of declining membership. Within two years of applying their model, branch membership increased from 77 to 162.

AAUW NC purchased a copy that you can borrow from Sheila (see contacts) or you can send for your own copy. $20 includes cost of shipping and handling. Make check payable to Fremont AAUW and mail to PO Box 8254, Fremont, CA 94537-8254. Please include your name, branch, address, phone number & e-mail.

Then she covered the highlights of the AAUW Membership VP Toolkit. That was sent in late summer to all branch Membeship VPs and includes the 2008 Leadership DVD and accompanying CD of resources. It also includes a special membership vp CD of resources. The documents and information are, of course, almost all on www.aauw.org, but if you’d like to see their arrangement as presented to the memership vps, they’ve been uploaded to the AAUW NC member center. Start at this table of contents page (login as you would to view the AAUW NC branch state rosters).

Here are the slides:

Again, if you have questions, please contact Sheila (contacts)

Panel discussion on NCCWSL

Nancy — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:05:00 +0000

Elmira Mangum, AAUW NC College/University chair and College/University representative for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill introduced a panel of three women who participated in the 2008 National Conference of College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL).

Two were members of NASPA (National organization for Student Affairs Administrators) who were presenters at the conference. One was a student from UNC-Chapel Hill who attended the conference. All three found the experience valuable.

Only a handful of students from North Carolina attended the conference. Branches are encouraged to publicize the conference and to use some of their fundraising to help students defray the expenses.

For more information on the 2008 conference and to watch for information as the 2009 information is posted see nccwsl.org. [The 2009 conference will be June 4-6 at the Univ. of Maryland at College Park.]

Getting access to member only resources

Nancy — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:48:25 +0000

At the board meeting on Friday evening, Oct. 31, and at the leadership meeting, Nov. 1, the communications team handed out wallet cards on which members are encouraged to write down the login information for the

www.aauw.org member center - forms, officer resources, governance information, member-only publications, …
www.aauw.org Member Services Database (the MSD) - online records access where you can update your record, check your branch roster, make a donation, contact officers, …
www.aauwnc.org member center - branch/state officer directory, member-only resources
www.aauwnc.org login to add content — add your messages to this site

The business card-sized handout also included the web addresses and the toll-free numbers for both AAUW and AAUW NC. Conntact Connie Gamble Ochse or Nancy Shoemaker (contact info) if you want more cards to hand out in your branch.

A version of the card that you can print, cut out and save
More information about using member-only web resources

NOTE: If you do write the user name/password on the card (rather than using it as just a reminder of the web addresses and the options) you may want to keep it in a secure place (i.e. not in a wallet that might be lost).

Notes from the fall finance workshop

Nancy — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:15:26 +0000

On Saturday, November 1, AAUW NC board members led informational sessions for the attendees at the fall leadership meeting.

Mary Fran Schickedantz, treasurer, gave information about filing the IRS 990N (the e-postcard). It is recommended that every branch file this by November 15 in order to comply with IRS requirements for small nonprofit orgainzations. [Branches with an income of more than $25,000 or other factors that may complicate their tax status are, of course, encouraged to discuss requirements with a tax professional.] If the branch’s employee identification number (EIN) has been listed on AAUW’s earlier reports to the IRS, this should be a simple process:

Check the IRS page on the 990N to see the information you need (EIN, contact address, other names, etc.)
Go to the e-postcard site, epostcard.form990.org, (there’s a link on the IRS page) and follow the simple registration process.

If there’s a problem with your EIN, do try to get it resolved this year to preserve your branch’s nonprofit site. Mary Fran and president Millie Hoffler-Foushee (contact info) as well as the AAUW helpline (connect@aauw.org) are available to help you work through the issues. Branch presidents and treasurers are especially encouraged to ensure that the branch form is filed correctly.

Mary Fran then showed the AAUW Leadership DVD module for the branch finance officers. This video and the accompanying slides are both available at the www.aauw.org Member Center:

Key messages from the board meeting

Nancy — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:43:31 +0000

At the October 31 AAUW NC board meeting, two motions were approved:

Equality North Carolina will be asked to add AAUW NC’s name to the list of organizations that support the renewed efforts to pass the “school violence prevention act.” Board members filled out postcards that will be forwarded to Equality NC to forward to the legislature expressing support on this issue. For more postcards for your branch, contact Seth at seth@equalitync.org or call him at 919-829-0343.
A resolution approving the formation of the Tar Heel Branch (the North Carolina branch without borders).

Financial report from 2008 Convention

Mary Fran — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:30:53 +0000

Greensboro branch report on AAUW NC 2008 Convention financials

Nominating Committee Report

Nancy — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:01:21 +0000

The nominating committee is recruiting the following officers to be elected at the 2009 annual meeting:

President-elect (to serve as president 2010-2012)
Treasurer (2009-2011)
Program vice president (2009-2011)
Five members of the 2009-2010 nominating committee

Full job descriptions and additional information were posted in the Fall 2009 Tar Heel News

At the end of September, additional information about the recruiting was included in a mailing to all branch presidents. The mailing included the nomination form for the elected positions (PDF, Word) and a copy of the talent bank form that those who would like to contribute as committee members are encouraged to complete. [The committee is working with teambuilding chair Judy Atkinson to encourage other paths to AAUW NC leadership.]

As of October 31, 2008, the committee has started active recruiting, but does not have any candidates to report. No one has filled out the talent bank form.

Key issue for the board: Recruiting new leaders (both for the executive committee, for the vacant positions on the board — particularly fundraising, and for other committee positions) is critical to the health of the organization, and is a responsibility of all board members.