UMass Amherst Alumni Association

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Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Saturday, November 10, 2007
Campus Center Rm. 101
8:30 a.m.

Board Members:  Craig Brown, Tom Campbell, Bill Carroll, Shyno Chacko, Sara Coady Howe, Mary Custard,  Mike Fiorentino, Colin Glatzel, Ed Godek, Jackie Govoni, Ron Grasso, Madeline Haynes, Dave Hautanen, Andy Hochberg, Paul Hohenberger, Hal Lane, Sean LeBlanc, Andy MacDougall, Kathleen Mitchell, Dave Richter, Bob Shaughnessey, Kim Sherman,  Paul Sienkewicz, Joel Slovin, Ron Spicer, Anna Symington, Kevin White, and Rick Williams

Absent:  Alex Chan, Kerry Mulcahy, Christine Lopes, Michaella Morzuch, and   Suzanne Morse 

Alumni Association Staff:  Deb Masloski, Kevin Fleming

Guests:  Ed Rubin

Approval of Minutes.  

Motion:  Andy H. made a motion to approve the minutes of the September 8, 2007 meeting.  During discussion, Bill asked that the second motion under “Approval of Minutes” change the date to reflect that it was regarding the June 13, 2007 minutes.  Also, Tom Campbell asked that the minutes reflect that he did not attend the September 8, 2007 meeting. 
Motion:  Andy H. made a motion to approve the minutes as amended, seconded by Ron Spicer.  The motion passed with 24 ayes and 4 abstentions

President’s Update.
The Chancellor’s search committee has been charged with creating a job description for the Chancellor position, as well as selecting a search firm to attract exceptional candidates.  The search committee considered six different firms, and ultimately chose to hire Isaacson Miller, the same search firm that recruited John Lombardi.  The search committee has also met with a large number of campus constituents to gather ideas on the criteria and qualities they consider most important for our next UMass Amherst Chancellor to possess.  There will be approximately one hundred candidates for the Chancellor position, and the committee is not recruiting from any specific profession or background.  Current interim Chancellor Cole will not be a candidate for the position.  She noted that the next full committee meeting is an open meeting on November 26, 2007 at 3:00 p.m., and  encouraged Board members to attend.  She also encouraged them to fill out the “input box” online. 

There was some uncertainty of the hiring process for several of the other vacant leadership positions, particularly the Vice Chancellor for Advancement and the Executive Director of the Alumni Association.  Deb relayed that Toivo Tammerk has committed to serving as the interim Vice Chancellor of Advancement for two years, which will provide some short-term stability to the position. 

Kathleen also noted that she met with a representative with the Board of Trustees, who seemed enthusiastic about helping the Alumni Association achieve the goals outlined in the strategic plan.  She will continue to build upon the relationship between the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Association.

Executive Director’s Report
Several recent events were successful, including the Coach Ford reception and radio show in New York City, Homecoming, and the Volunteer Leadership Conference.  Over 30 club leaders representing about 20 club areas around the nation attended the conference.  Deb also noted that the date for the Distinguished Alumni Awards has been set for April 17, 2008 from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. at the Massachusetts State House.  The Grants and Awards Committee has not selected the Distinguished Alumni Award recipients yet.  Additionally, staff are working hard to implement the new website from Harris, and hope to launch the site in January. 

The Board discussed the recent spirit of collaboration between the Alumni Association and Development.  The script for the Annual Fund phone calls has been re-written to better define the distinction between donating to the University and becoming an Alumni Association member.  The two departments are also collaborating on an ad series in the magazine, enhancing the message on our respective web pages, and are discussing the potential to jointly develop a brochure to help educate the alumni population about the difference between donating and joining the Alumni Association.  Additionally, Development has provided the Alumni Association with access to a top one-thousand donor list to enhance our career services program. 

The Board also discussed other potential ways to help delineate donors from Alumni Association members.  Some suggestions included changing the Alumni Association logo, providing Alumni Association membership sign-ups to annual fund student callers, developing our own limited calling program geared towards renewals or new members, and providing free membership.  However, it was noted by a number of Board members that using the Annual Fund callers to promote Alumni Association membership could further confuse alumni about the distinction between Development and the Alumni Association, and that organizing our own calling program would be both costly and compete with the Annual Fund.  The Board also noted that, though at least two Board members have received erroneous information from an Annual Fund caller at various times in the past year, Development incorporates information about Alumni Association membership into the caller training.  They also discussed that the 150 student-callers are trained on a large amount of information, and that some of this information may not always be retained due to the sheer volume of information in the training. 

The Board also discussed whether to organize another travel package to Chattanooga, Tennessee if the UMass Amherst football team made the national Championship game again. The package would include a seat on a charter flight, hotel accommodations, game ticket, and transportation to and from the airport and hotel.  The package would cost the Alumni Association about $75,000 to organize, and we would need 140 people to fill the flight.  This year, the package would cost about $1,000 for those who wanted a double-occupancy room in the hotel, and $1,200 for those who wanted a single room in the hotel.  Deb noted that the charter last year lost approximately $40,000, but that they had only one week to plan and promote the package.  She also noted that, if they decide to organize the charter package to the national championship game, the Alumni Association would not have any financial responsibility if the team did not make the championship, but would assume all financial responsibility for the charter if the team did make the national championship.  Deb was also investigating a “stop-loss protection policy,” which would ensure that the Alumni Association would lose no more than a specific amount of money.  If the Board chose not to organize the charter package, the Alumni Association would still host a reception in Chattanooga for any fans who travel to the game. 

Several Board members expressed concern with organizing the charter package again.  Many were concerned with the amount of money that was lost last year.  They also noted that a number of alumni chose to purchase combinations of flights and hotels that were less expensive than the charter package offered by the Alumni Association, although they did not include many of the perks of the charter.  Many believed that organizing the charter was an excellent endeavor to try last year, but that they needed to learn from that experience this upcoming year. 

Motion:  Andy made a motion, seconded by Bill, to take a formal vote on three options:  1) to organize the charter even if the Alumni Association is unable to get a stop-loss protection plan, 2) to organize the trip, but only if the Alumni Association can get a stop-loss protection plan, and 3) to not organize the charter.

1. There were 0 ayes, 27 nays, and 1 abstention to organize the charter without a stop-loss protection plan
2. There were 4 ayes, 22 nays, and 1 abstention to organize the charter only if a stop-loss protection plan could be purchased
3. There were 22 ayes, 4 nays, and 1 abstention to not organize the charter.

The motion passed, and the group decided not to organize the charter.

Audit Committee Report
The Audit Committee was formed about a year ago to improve the accounting practices of the Alumni Association.  To do this, the committee underwent a search process for a new auditor, and eventually selected and hired Kostin, Ruffkess & Company, LLC.  The company is based out of Connecticut and Springfield, has a good deal of experience with non-profit accounting, and is also used by the UConn Alumni Association.  The new auditor has undertaken a review of the UMass Amherst Alumni Association accounting and reporting practices.  Andy noted that the Audit Committee is quite pleased with both the performance and recommendations of the new auditor.  During the auditor’s review, they found several areas that the Alumni Association must consider addressing in the future:

• The Alumni Association should refrain from loaning funds to the university or other groups in the future.
• A whistle-blower protection policy needs to be drafted.
• The Alumni Association needs a disaster recovery program.
• A policy and procedures accounting manual should be developed.
• Several of the alumni clubs have their own checking accounts, and the Alumni Association needs to have financial oversight of those accounts. 

Motion:  Andy made a motion to accept the year-end audited financial statements, seconded by Kevin.  The motion passed unanimously. 

Student Service and Philanthropy
Mary discussed the need to establish campus traditions that bring alumni and students together, as well as to establish a student culture of involvement and giving back to the University that continues as students become alumni.  She noted the need for the Alumni Association to initiate these traditions and be a central, visible force in their implementation, but also stressed the need to involve other campus constituents to help ingrain thee traditions into the campus culture.  She noted that there were a number of opportunities to establish traditions based around athletics.  Mary also hopes to create a tradition involving ALANA students and alumni.   The Board then discussed possible ideas for establishing traditions, including using the social networks already established by students in Facebook.  Mary asked the Board to submit any further ideas they had for potential traditions to her. 

Marketing & Branding Initiatives
There are a number of marketing initiatives underway in Western Massachusetts, the Boston area, and for all alumni.  Recently, the Alumni Association has paired with WGBY on a number of endeavors that provide the Alumni Association with a great amount of exposure at a valuable cost.  Some of these partnerships included a recent sponsorship of the two-week long World War II documentary that garnered over one million viewers, and an upcoming pledge drive around an Eric Clapton show to be broadcast in Western Massachusetts which will allow volunteers to promote the Alumni Association in between segments of the concert.  In the spring, the Alumni Association will also be sponsoring a similar pledge drive for the Western Massachusetts area, and the Antiques Road show in the Boston Area.  Sean also noted marketing initiatives on campus that the Membership and Marketing Committee is pursuing, including:

• Plaques for Life members
• Monthly networking breakfasts for students, faculty, and staff
• Giving away flip flops
• Senior open house
• Three “student-only” editions of @UMass
• Advertisements in The Collegian and on the campus channel
• Some promotion on Facebook
• Signage on PVTA buses and utility service vehicles
• Promotion at on-campus events
• The UMass Amherst Magazine and @UMass

Public Relations
Kathleen noted that the campus and the Alumni Association have had some negative press lately due to Chancellor Lombardi’s departure and the recent articles in the Boston Globe and the Collegian about Alumni Association membership levels.  Kathleen sent a follow-up letter to the Globe to educate people on the totality of indicators of alumni participation.  Additionally, Anna spoke to the UMass Amherst Foundation Board of Directors and distributed the Alumni Association’s strategic plan, mission statement, membership brochure, and career services marketing materials.  She also had a frank discussion about Alumni Association membership numbers.  The Foundation Board was impressed with the level of sophistication of Alumni Association initiatives, and seemed supportive of the work the Alumni Association was doing.  The Foundation Board members expressed dismay that the Globe chose to highlight one negative aspect without regard to the many positive happenings occurring at the Alumni Association, and expressed that the Alumni Association was doing fantastic work. 

Old Business - None

New Business
Bill talked to the Board about using personal emails from volunteers to increase membership.  He discussed an email that he had written to alumni in the class of ’57 that employed nostalgia from his UMass Amherst experience during that era to promote membership.  He encouraged other Board members to email other alumni that may connect with their experience.

Adjournment – Dave made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Colin.  The meeting adjourned at 11:29 a.m.