UMass Amherst Alumni Association
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Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Memorial Hall
UMass Amherst Campus
Saturday, May 12, 2007
8:30 a.m.
In attendance: Elaine Barker, Mary Custard, Hal Lane, Sean LeBlanc, Kathleen Mitchell, Kim Sherman, Anna Symington; Mike Fiorentino
Absent: Marc Rossen, Christine Lopes
Guests: None
Staff: Deb Masloski and Kevin Fleming
Call to Order
The meeting convened at 8:32 a.m.
Approval of Meeting Minutes
Motion: By Sean, seconded by Kathleen, to approve the minutes from 4-11-07 Executive Committee Meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
President’s Report
Hal noted that he enjoyed the evening at the Pops, and that they honored a Nobel Prize Laureate from UMass Medical. Graduation and Commencement Ball are coming up quickly, and he urged the Committee members to attend these events if possible. Deb also interjected that the Student Alumni Association won both the Spirit Award and the Outstanding Event award at the First Annual Student Affairs Awards (called the “SAMMIES”).
Hal also relayed that he and Mary participated in interviews of candidates for the vacant Vice Chancellor position. He and Mary thought that all the candidates are very good, and that he had conveyed to the candidates that the Board has classically received a lack of cooperation from Development and the Annual Fund. He anticipates that the position may be filled in the next month or so, and the Executive Director of Alumni Relations search would begin after the Vice Chancellor position had been filled.
Hal’s final note was that it had been a pleasure to work with the Executive Committee in his tenure. He noted that the Alumni Association has begun the process of getting the respect on campus that they deserve, and urged the group to continue to work towards greater achievements.
Executive Director’s Report
Online Community: Deb relayed to the Committee that the staff had completed a review of request for proposals for a new online vendor, and they are recommending Harris Connect. With Harris Connect, there will be an expansion of functionality for staff and volunteers, a social networking component for the end user, and that Harris will be a 30% reduction in vendor fees from what we are currently supposed to be paying PCI. She also noted that Harris Connect is the same vendor that Bob Goodhue and the President’s Office will likely be using, but we are contracting independently with Harris. Additionally, if both the President’s Office and the UMass Amherst Alumni Association contract with Harris by a given deadline in June, we will receive an additional 10% off the price.
FY 2008 Budget: Deb discussed a potential shortfall of $100,000 in the upcoming fiscal year’s budget that she asked the Executive Committee to fund. She noted that, 4 years ago, the Alumni Association had to cut several staff members due to a $400,000 budget cut from state funding. We are currently operating near our prior staffing levels, but have not received the accompanying increase in funding from the University. She also made the Board aware that, if Cristina had stayed on as the Executive Director, the Alumni Association would be facing a $125,000 shortfall in the budget. Deb noted that she had approached the University to fund this request at the beginning of FY 2007 and that it was denied.
Additionally, Deb told the Executive Committee that Board approval of funding the $100,000 shortfall does not preclude the Alumni Association from asking the next Vice Chancellor of Advancement for this money down the road. She noted that, with approval of this proposal, the Alumni Association would be funding approximately 75% of all alumni relations operating costs, which might provide the Alumni Association with some leverage to request these funds from the next Vice Chancellor. Sean thought that the fact that we are digging deep into our own pockets to fund initiatives that we believe will enhance our programs and services will display a need for this funding from the Vice Chancellor. Hal supports the idea of approving Deb’s proposal, but does not believe that its approval will incline the University or the Vice Chancellor’s office to increase their funding. Kathleen noted that the Alumni Association needed to make monetary requests in advance to optimize our chance of receiving funding.
System Alumni Relations Plan
Deb discussed that the Alumni Directors of the UMass Campuses met with Bob Goodhue. He provided a number of ideas for potential avenues alumni relations could take, but she had the sense that there was no concrete plan in place. The other campus Alumni Directors also echoed the fact that their alumni have affinity with the campus and not with the system, and Deb did not see any issues of concern arise from that meeting. She also liked the idea of a President’s Advisory Council where top volunteers from each campus meet semi-annually to share best practices and discuss joint initiatives.
Kathleen noted that Chairman Tocco spoke at the Boston Pops about the synergy he believed would occur with cross-collaboration between campuses. She noted that she was nervous about the “catch 22” that centralization would create. On one side, if the Alumni Association becomes more independent, the system can deem that we are on our own to fund our initiatives. On the other hand, if we do not become more independent, the system can say that we are all one UMass system, and we lose our identity, autonomy and potentially some funding. Deb suggested that the Committee might want to compose a letter of understanding to the President’s office, and the Committee members seemed to think this would be a good idea.
The group also discussed if they wanted to approve Bob Goodhue as the CAAE representative for UMass. Deb noted that sources at CAAE indicated that there was no guarantee that Bob, nor the next Executive Director of the UMass Amherst Alumni Association, would be accepted into CAAE, and also that CAAE does not typically accept system-based members. There was some concern with both approving and not approving Bob as CAAE representative. Sean suggested that the group should have something in writing that expresses their conditional approval, or write a statement that endorses Bob as a system representative, but that he does not represent the UMass Amherst campus specifically. Hal expressed his belief that The President’s Office is not trying to create a centralized alumni relations program; rather, they are focused on centralizing development. Deb noted that Bob is a good person who loves the UMass Amherst campus, and would be a good ally to have on our side.
Overview of Board Meeting Agenda
Officer Elections: Anna provided an overview of the election process. Results are based on a majority of votes of the Board members in attendance at the Board meeting. For instance, if 22 Board members attend the meeting, a candidate only needs 12 votes to be elected. Any name can be written onto the ballot. Hal asked if those individuals nominated from the floor were able to make a statement. Anna responded that they are not allowing it unless the Board votes to approve that. She also noted that, if the Board were to approve candidate statements they would have to allow all candidates to make a statement if they chose in order to be fair to all candidates. Deb noted that there has never been verbal statements from candidates at prior Elections. Anna also noted that questions about the nomination and election process would be welcomed by Board members at the meeting, but questions regarding individual candidates and their placement on the ballot would not be acceptable.
Bylaw Amendments: Deb expressed her belief that the proposed bylaw amendments should not be controversial, but noted that there may be some questions regarding the restructuring of committees. Hal noted that the group can vote upon individual components of the amendments if there are any specific areas of concern.
FY 2008 Operating Budget: Elaine will present the budget to the Board, and Deb will highlight any significant changes to the budget. She noted that they may need to revisit the expenses appropriated to each committee due to the restructuring of committees. Elaine told the committee members that the Alumni Association’s investments have been doing well, because of this, it would not be problematic to operate at the $100,000 budget shortfall proposed by the staff. Deb also discussed that a large component of the shortfall is apportioned to an aggressive marketing campaign put together by Norma Heim, and reiterated Marc Rossen’s statement that the Alumni Association needed to take some risks to increase membership.
Motion: Elaine made a motion, seconded by Sean, to recommend approval of the FY 2008 operating budget to the Board of Directors. The motion carried unanimously.
Committee Reports
Alumni Career Services: Kim noted that the committee has not been as active as they had previously been, because obtaining approval from development officers to use their prospects as speakers for the events has been difficult. It seems to be a bit of a cycle, as the development officers won’t approve contacting prospects until they know that the events will be well attended, and we can’t get well attended events until we have speakers that will be a draw. She noted that Alumni Association staff will be meeting with development officers over the summer, but that it will be an uphill battle. She and the Career Services Committee will ask the Board of Directors and Bob Goodhue for names of potential speakers.
Alumni Clubs: None
Audit: None
Communications, Marketing, and Membership: None
Finance and Investments: None
Grants Review: None
Governance: None
Nominating: None
Programs and Services: None
Student Programs and Services: None
Volunteer Advocacy & Public Affairs: None
Old Business: None
New Business
Anna asked about the potential of having a member or members of the Executive Committee hear disciplinary and grievance cases prior to them being presented to the whole Executive Committee. Her hope would be that many of the issues might be resolved at a lower level, without needing to come before the Executive Committee. If the lower level of arbitration did not mollify the situation, it could then be brought before the Executive Committee. She wants people outside the Committee to be more aware that the Executive Committee listens to concerns, and she is aware that there is a small group of individuals with the perception that the Executive Committee does whatever they want. The group believed that this would be a good idea because issues would be out in the open and the resolution documented, and believed the idea should be introduced in future to the new Board. Kim thought that it would be good to have an Ombudsmen from the Executive committee hear these cases, rather than forming a new committee that does not do much.
General Announcements - None
Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 9:50 a.m.
