In Attendance: Maggie Wolf (President, Southern Co-chair and Newsletter Editor), Ray Cramer (Northern Chair-Elect), Dan Webster (Northern Newsletter Editor), Michael Charnofsky (Public Relations Coordinator), John Conant (Scholarship Coordinator, Northern Co-chair), Savannah Brown (Northern Treasurer), Julie Lancaster (Southern Past-Chair), Molly Willis (Northern Secretary), Tim Borgerdine (Northern Co-chair)

Members not in attendance who submitted written input/proposals: Debbie Carraway (Past Coordinating Secretary), Zayanne Gardner (Southern Treasurer), Dan Allison (Past President).

Meeting called to order at 10:05 am by Maggie. Decided that Molly will take the minutes.

Maggie thanked the Foothill Horizons people for hosting and apologized that more southern people were not able to attend the meeting.

Agenda – 1. Fundanas, 2. Green Teacher Magazine, 3. AEOE Restructuring, 4. Public Relations, 5. Permanent Address, 6. E-mail, 7. Website, 8. Membership, 9. Treasurer Report, 10. ROSS Guide, 11. 2002 Statewide Conference Update, 12. 2003 Statewide Conference, 13. Next Northern Meeting, 14. Membership Benefits, 15. Howard Bell Award, 16. Wrap Up, 17. Lawyer

1. Fundanas – Maggie - approached about whether our organization wants to buy these bandanas to sell at our conferences. Wholesale cost is $3.50. Referred them to Acorn Naturalists and told them that we are not in the business of selling stuff.
Tim– could act as a vendor at the conference? Agreed that we don’t have the energy to sell stuff.
Maggie – consensus is to offer vendor space at the current price - will e-mail. In talking with Acorn Naturalist they are OK to have the one main booth at spring conference. They do it to support AEOE and for outreach.
Michael – against AEOE selling lots of stuff. Maggie – If someone is into the work OK with her to sell some merchandise. Michael – OK with AEOE merchandise.

2. Green Teacher Magazine– Maggie – they are offering a free issue for new members with a $1/$2 off coupon inside. Three ways to do this 1)send quantity for us to include in new member packets. We don’t do that, so not a good option. Tim – at conference we asked if they were a new member to had out, worked OK if set up well. Maggie - 2)e-mail them names and addresses of new members every few months and they would do the mailings. 3)Send them the pre-made mailing labels once or twice a year. Wondered if there was enough new members to do that.
Tim – file-pro is not set up to pull out new members right now, would have to set up a new spreadsheet to get that information. Talk to membership and see what they want to do.
Maggie – concerned about extras if we did it by boxes. The company does not save or trade names and this is at no cost to us. $2 off subscription coupon to put in the newsletter. Could either be done as a small insert (like they have put in the magazine for new members) or as an electronic add. All agreed that the electronic add sounds simpler.

3. AEOE Restructuring – Maggie – for AEOE to work better as a non-profit we need key positions to be created and filled.
A. Chief Financial Officer – Maggie - A State Treasurer or Chief Financial Officer (CFO) position needs to be created to have someone accountable and to keep track of the 2 separate state treasuries from the top-down. Savvy – didn’t the SCS do this? Maggie – came from the bottom up. Maggie read Debbie’s ideas for restructuring, in favor of a statewide president, secretary, and CFO position. The 3 people involved in these positions will need to understand non-profit laws. Debbie – treasurer handles all the money. Savvy – was wondering whether this meant sending the money or a statement to CFO. Debbie – sent out spreadsheets and found that we are all bad at keeping records and that it would help to keep track of money from the top.
B. State Board - Debbie - The state board needs an odd number for voting purposes – the president, secretary, CFO, and 2 section chairs were suggested possibly change the by-laws to give them state powers. Debbie – small state board to make decisions simpler. Maggie – wants to have her vote count. John – more votes are OK since we all seem to have similar thoughts. Savvy – it hasn’t always been that way.
C. Section Boards - Debbie – as standing committees, keep record in the same format. Savvy – keep books in the same format for treasurers and submit to the CFO to keeps the state books. Michael – there are things we are going to have to do, have to move toward more of a top-down approach. Maggie – wants to keep having 2 treasuries to make it easier on the CFO. Molly – CFO position could be a check over the section treasurers. If they aren’t doing their job properly the CFO could take over. Debbie – hire a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) to help set up the books and audit them each year. In order for AEOE to have non-profit status we need to keep better records and everyone must buy-in to the process and be involved. Zayanne - like to have the 2 sections still controlling finances. Maggie – to summarize we need to get someone into the CFO position, she nominates Zayanne (Savvy doesn’t want the position). Debbie – is willing to help out and share info as needed.
D. State Board – John – 5 voting members, the three state board positions plus the two section chairs. Maggie – sees the section chair as being a representative, getting people votes on issues. Ray – set it up in the by-laws. John – wants to get the legal definition of “proxy” from lawyer.
E. CPA - Tim – does the CFO have to be a member of AEOE or could we pay a CPA to keep records since they have more knowledge? Savvy – agreed that would not bog us down. Maggie - the CFO would be the liason with the CPA. Dan - cost estimate? Tim and Savvy – might save us money in the long run. Maggie – there are things we need to work on to get the specifics. John and Ray – want to look into the legality and cost of having a CPA do our books. Savvy – has the CFO be the liason with the CPA. Maggie – asked Savvy to call Yosemite Association to see what there deal is, how much it costs, what software they use etc. Michael – agreed to investigate into CPA working with non-profits.
F. CFO Position - Maggie – wants to put in the by-laws that the board hires a CPA we are not doing all the work. Michael – put the word out to see if we can find someone who would volunteer for the CFO position. Maggie – motion: to create the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) who would work with the CPA to set up a state treasury and work with the section treasurer. 2nd by Tim. The motion passed, all in favor. Maggie agreed to contact Zayanne to see if she was interested in this position.
Savvy - plans to have a treasury meeting to figure out details. Maggie – motion: to follow whatever system the treasurers come up with. 2nd by John. The motion passed, all in favor.
G. Software – Maggie – wants to look into the cost of getting institutional financial software so that everyone can have a copy. Tim – we only have 3 people who need it, separate copies might be cheaper. Tim agreed to go to Staples and investigate prices. Maggie – asked about liscensing and how many copies we will need, make sure that it is sharable for mac and pc users.

Break for lunch at 11:55am.
Meeting resumed at 1:40pm.

G. Computers cont. – for word processing purposes, Maggie made a list to find which common programs board members had. Maggie agreed to send letterhead in a format that all can use on their computer for AEOE business.
H. Coordinating Secretary Position – Debbie – idea of changing it more to recording secretary and public relations (PR), not financial stuff. Savvy – PR is a totally different job, maybe not include in duties. Maggie – change some of the responsibilities of the position. Michael – sees the responsibility as communcation between the sections. Tim – sees the secretary as leader of a committee and put the PR underneath the secretary. Maggie – create a standing sub-committee of PR with the PR reporting to the secretary.
I. Position lengths – Maggie – now chair for one year then flip sections. Would like to see the new positions volunteer for at least one year – with a maximum of 5 years to maintain consistency and give the chair-elect longer time to figure the position out. Michael – Non-profit laws may limit how long people may stay in these positions. Maggie – asked if anyone was interested in the new positions being created. No one attending was interested. It was suggested that Dan Allison knows the by-laws and how to change them, might be a good choice for SCS.
J. Position Descriptions – Savvy – right now, the CFO is the most important position to help get us non-profit status. We could divide responsibilities into co-jobs, people might be willing to take on small chunks. John – would like people that know what they are doing to help write the position descriptions. Savvy – suggested switching off by sections for secretary. Maggie – the treasurer position needs to be the most consistent.

4. Public Relations – Michael handed out conference flyers and call for presenters sheet. Michael – has been a Southern member and does not want to forget about publicity needs of the Northern section. Needs help in terms of Northern events. Tim – asked Michael what he does. Michael – sends out e-mails to announce activities. Is willing to work on list-serve to make sure it gets done. Northern or Southern section or both. Tim – how updated is the list? Micahel – membership person is in charge of maintaining the lists for the section. Savvy – faxing things to sites worked for spreading information about fall conference. Maggie – BAEER Fair and spring conference good information for both section to know about. Tim – faxes woked to help get people, will give an updated list to Michael. Michael will work on a fax list as time permits.

5. Permanent Address – Michael – membership information and brochures have contact information, currently it is Debbie, need something more general. Maggie – AEOE needs a permanent address for legal purposes it should not be associated with a site. Suggested getting a PO Box in Wrightwood. Dan – PO Box seems the safe way to go. Maggie – agreed to put her name on the waiting list to get a PO box. Tim – suggested getting Jack Sanford involved since he is a member of both sections.

6. E-Mail – Dan – Hoppy was not on the e-mail list. Maggie – asked Dan Allison to be moderator of list, she will check. Dan – do not assume that every gets e-mail messages. Send out snail mail? Maggie – Will check e-mail list to update it. Michael – would like to see listserves used only for official AEOE business. Maggie – suggested using the Bcc (right below the cc) when inserting a list of addresses so that not all of the address with show up on the e-mail sent. Michael – would like all to e-mail him suggestions of where to contact for publicity. * * **Maggie – do we want to keep a State Board list-serve? Savvy – overwhelmed by messages on e-mail, it is making her want to be less involved. Would like to go back to what we are doing before – sending messages to separate people as needed. John – AEOE messages rate as junk mail. Dan – partly a user problem. Tim – members are hitting reply and accidentally sending messages back to everyone. Maggie – would like to see it used judiciously, likes to know about everything that’s going on. Julie – agreed that the amount of e-mail can be overwhelming and she doesn’t want it to push people away from board positions. Michael – minutes from both sections board meetings should be sent on the statewide list-serve. Dan – please lable all messages with an accurate tag line, making it easier to decide if you want to read it. John – please specify in the message if something is attached.

7. Website – Michael – How about $10 to post jobs on website instead of $8. What do we do with that money? Where does it go? Savvy – the website still says $8 and that the money is going to Dan Allison. Michael – Jodi (webmaster) is still updating stuff, is a new board member and doesn’t know all of past decisions. Maggie – Jodi has been having trouble accessing the site to change things. Julie – read the minutes, money is sent to webmaster. Michael – the check is sent to the webmaster and then on to treasurer. Maggie – added that the CFO should get that money when that position is established. Michael - the webmaster will have to get in touch with the membership people to find out who has paid as an institutional member. Maggie – whichever treasurer receives this money now (we think is it Zayanne) will earmark that money toward state funds. Maggie – motion: Posting jobs on website for non-institutional members to cost $10, and those funds will go towards the state budget. 2nd by Tim. Discussion: John – is there a state budget? Savvy and Maggie – Yes, the SCS and Historian have budgets. The motion passed, all in favor.

8. Membership – Maggie – Helen was concerned that there were not enough perks for institutional members. Tim and Savvy – explained how Northern Section gives one free membership. Maggie – wondered if we should change the name to institutional supporter or donor. Tim – showed Maggie a flyer that is sent out to institutional members that was in Dan Allison’s notebook. Maggie – Helen does not know about these benefits, Jodi should know too. Molly – read by-laws explaining that an institutional member can’t vote or hold office. Maggie – the benefit is to the school, people can join individually if they want to get more involved or hold office. Maggie will pass info about benefits on to Helen to be consistent between sections. Group decided not to change the by-laws on institutional member perks at this time. Tim – should we send out a flyer to all schools to let them know about institutional membership? Maggie – we should let the membership person take over that job.
**Maggie – Helen requests prompt communication between membership person if Northern and Southern people attend each other’s conferences and programs. Michael – helpful if membership person does conference registration so the information does not need to be typed in twice. Hoppy and Helen have the same program? Tim – yes filemaker-pro, an older edition.

9. Treasurers Report – Michael – asked for a report on the Northern treasury. Savvy – we are doing well, did well at the fall conference. Is still updating, we did get the money from NAAEE. Michael – Southern lent the Northern money to pay some of the state budget last spring. Tim – we need to reimburse the Southern treasury. Savvy – will reimburse Southern and will prepare a Northern treasury report to send out by spring and work with Zayanne to align and continue to organize the budget.

10. ROSS Guides – Michael – ROSS Guides, should we do anything with them? Dan – would like to hold back due to times ahead. Tim – feels they are not as updated as the website. Savvy – COSA could send us an updated copy of their member list so we have that each year.

11. 2002 Statewide Conference Update – Maggie – introduced the spring conference to members and shared informational handout and presentor forms. Theme is “Coming to Our Senses”. Byrd Baylor is one of the keynote speakers, will be holding 2 workshops with a small fee to help subsidize her cost. Also we got a discount on her books from her publisher and will be selling them at regular price to also help offset her cost. Savvy – good thing to put in the manual for conference coordinator. Maggie – Another keynote Mati Waiya, uses Wishtoyo a rainbow legend and the Chumash culture to connect to the environment. Will be helping to open the conference with a ceremony and song. Bill Andrews was contacted by Hoppy and he will do a quick intro possibly on Friday night when COSA is there (not too early though). Mojoi has worldbeat, danceable, fun music and is also involved in peace/environmental movement. Their website is www.mojoi.com. Michael – presenters get 50% off if they respond by February 14th. How did getting presenters go for the Northern conference last year? Savvy – you should ask Tamara, did seem to have many sessions added at the last minute. Dan – we need to go recruit presentors. Savvy – BAEER Fair will be a good place to recruit. Maggie - The presenter flyer will go out in both newsletters, should be before the winter holidays.

12. 2003 Statewide Conference – Ray – Tad at Exploring New Horizons is trying to work out something with Steve Van Zandt and was suppose to send info. May be able to have the conference at SMOE for cheap. They are interest, still haven’t gotten it going. The group had no problems with pursuing that as a site. Michael – would like to see if we could get Jane Goodall as a keynote. She helps with environmental education in California and would help get people rolling in. Suggested not planning for the weekends around Earth Day since there seems to be lots going on.

13. Next Northern Meeting – Dan – BAEER Fair on January 5th. Northern section will have its meeting following the fair.

14. Membership Benefits – Ray – mentioned pro-deals as a possibility to attract members. Molly – was concerned about a pro-deal getting misused. Maggie – pro-deals for board members? Ray – contact companies that are environmentally responsible to get a deal or to give other benefits. Julie - will e-mail info she has on pro-deals at her site to Ray.

15. Howard Bell Award – Nominations were discussed. Savvy – nominate Dr. Seuss for the Lorax. Ray – Bird Baylor? John – would like to see one of our members get it because they know what this award is. Maggie – agreed that it has more importance to our members.

16. Wrap up – Maggie – would like to wrap up where we are on the restructuring decisions. Hoppy said he would be interested in CFO, but too busy. Maybe if we found a new membership chair? Tim – Tracy Fesco possibility for membership chair. Maggie will write up position descriptions of CFO and SCS and send them out for comment from the rest of the board. Maggie – would like to amend the by-laws so that they state if two equally qualified people are nominated for a position they will be voted on by membership. Board can appoint new board members. Right now our goal is to make the non-profit thing happen to get our official status. Later we can talk about AEOE’s vision for the future.

17. Lawyer – Maggie – lawyer said to re-do our articles of incorporation will cost approx $1000. She has a program set up to do this with non-profits. Can we pay Dan Allison to do this? Michael – see if he is willing to do it for less. Maggie – Dan Allison would be an good SCS because he can update bylaws.
**All of the group helped to give input into a list of questions that the lawyer had about our organization to help out getting our non-profit status.

Tim passed Dan Allison’s notebook on to Maggie.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:00pm.

Submitted by Molly Willis, Northern AEOE Secretary, November 3, 2001