June Board Meeting

This board meeting is open to the public. We're excited to have guests this month, because there are some exciting things to share and discuss. Attend virtually via https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86367462738

Announcements

• Chief Izzy's visit to Eureka Springs with the Board was amazing. The biggest two takeaways for the board members who came to the board retreat in mid-May at our mountaintop retreat The Refuge at More Mountain were that 1.) everyone has something to offer their fellow humans for our combined task of surviving climate change, and that 2.) land stewardship is so important that it should be considered a human right. The board members who attended the board retreat felt compelled for Clement Waters to support Chief Izzy's organization in its pursuit of nonprofit land ownership of lands that were originally Lakota sacred ground. Next May's trail/ride will endeavor to help his organization and select others like it to acquire demonstration lands for survival and community strengthening.
• The plans for a Cottage Community and Sheltered Workshop are picking up steam. A Kansas City official is going to bat for the cottage community and sheltered workshop idea announced to the city via our RebuildKC grant application. The program is intended to help families with children to transition out of homelessness. He would like to introduce more city officials to the forest and its site plans so as to connect the project to more funding.
• Kicking off our Land Stewardship Rights movement with one Kansas Citian passionate about nature immersion. A Swope Park born-and-raised local with a literal PhD in awesomeness has gained the support of her family in planning to acquire and help steward the 4-acre urban food forest trail property now called The Retreat at Gregory Ridge. She excels professionally at building B2B partnerships and is hoping to coordinate and lead retreat events there for groups serving people who have not felt welcomed in nature before.
• We have a summer intern! An inspiring young high school student is joining our efforts as a ProX Intern through the Kauffman Foundation's Real World Learning Network. She will be working with a longtime volunteer and digital media expert to revive the Clement Waters Retreat social presence and mission-related messaging. Their efforts will be able to continue beyond her internship if we pursue funding from sources like the Missouri Humanities Council.
• We have a graduate intern! A woman with a professional background in social work and VISTA service has decided to help a board member and an advisor in coordinating the hoped-for May 23rd, 2023 fundraising event for land healing and sovereignty in Kansas City and beyond. She is applying this work to a graduate-level capstone project.
• Someone wants to fund us! Our organization needs to apply for a grant from a specific foundation who also asked us to apply in 2019.  It's a really good mission fit, and they'd enjoy being able to say they funded our work. Problem is, they need us to be well known for being responsible, for us to have our books up-to-date, and for us to be well insured. So...

Needs for Action: Bookkeeping, Budget Passage & Monthly Liability Payment

• We need to find some bookkeeping help. Just 3 hours of assistance per month should do the trick. This is a $150 monthly value that we need to inspire someone to give for free, given our extremely tight cash flow situation. Fortunately there are tax write-offs for businesses for in-kind contributions.
• We need to pass an organization budget, even if we have no confidence that we'll hit the target amounts. It's a prerequisite to applying for liability insurance coverage.
• We need to apply for and pay for liability insurance coverage. The paperwork I can do, but we don't have the guaranteed income to pay for said liability insurance coverage. In the past we had a very generous board member who donated monthly the exact amount needed to cover it. It would be nice to find someone currently on the board willing to do something similar now, since liability insurance is one of the essentials to being in operation.
• We need a VISTA for grant-writing and fundraising help. This is something that I've been in talks with LiteracyKC about for a couple of years. It would be awesome to afford $4,800 at once (or $480 per month for 10 months) for an annual VISTA contract (a full-time fundraising and organizing helper paid full-time wages by AmeriCorps.) The service would be a game changer for solidifying our community-supported, community-supporting programs. We even have a 105-page guide for regular staff and board actions for raising money year-round. A VISTA would help us behave as recommended, and we'd have way fewer cash panics.

That all being said and considered... Here's the actual agenda for the meeting:

MEETING AGENDA for June 14, 2022 @ 6:00pm, HJ's Community Center in Brookside

A. Call to Order & Roll Call (updating contact info and position interest as well, 10 minutes) B. Consent Agenda (questions/discussion on the above contents of this email, 10 minutes) C. Old Business (20 minutes)

        1.     Budget planning status

        2.     100% board giving task update

        3.     Nominating Committee in the age of needing able-bodied evangelists D. New Business (and planning of committee meetings to move ideas forward, 10 minutes)

        1.     Next year's big fundraising event (Trail of Mending, Ride for Reweaving, etc.)

        2.     Real estate law topics with The Refuge at More Mountain and the Contract for Deed

E. Top Secrets of Nonprofit Moneys (10 minutes) F. Adjournment