BOARD of DIRECTORS MEETING
NEW WAVE CORPORATION, KOPN
915 East Broadway, Columbia, Mo.
17 June 2008
Approved July 19, 2008
CALL TO ORDER
A meeting of the Board of Directors of the New Wave Corporation was held in the Ashlock Room at the KOPN offices and studio on Tuesday, June 17, 2008. Board President Cheryl Clapton called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. In attendance were Board members Thomas Sobieck, Ryan Kind, Randi Bishop, Ann Mehr, Thomas Verdot, Iman Labadia, Bridget Early, and Jim Baker. Also in attendance were General Manager David Owens, Holly Maness (Development Coordinator for Promotions and Special Events), Brian Davis (Development Coordinator for Underwriting), and John Betz (volunteer and keeper of the minutes). President Clapton and David Owens introduced Holly and Brian to the Board and welcomed them to the meeting.
President Clapton asked for any changes to the submitted draft minutes of the May 20 Board meeting. David Owens asked that the minutes be corrected to reflect that he had said Mark Haim had offered to help the staff organize the June Lapsed Member phone drive and that he had not offered to assume responsibility for being in charge of the effort. John Clark said the spring drive total in the draft should be changed to show a total of $28,555 for operations and $1,325 for capital improvements. Ryan Kind asked that the minutes be changed to say that he had asked David to see that thank you letters were sent to all those who had been interviewed for the two staff positions. Jim Baker made a motion to accept the corrected minutes; Ryan Kind seconded the motion. The corrected minutes were approved by the Board.
OFFICER REPORTS
Thomas Sobieck reported that at the May Board meeting there had been concerns expressed about Pay-Pal’s being compatible with Quick Books, which might present problems if the station decided to use it for on-line pledging and other activities. He said he had investigated the issue and had found that the two were compatible. Tom said he would come in to help set the system up if the Board wanted to move ahead with using Pay-Pal.
John Clark gave a financial report. He said that the Spring Drive had raised a total of $29,879 ($28,55 for operations and $1,325 for capital improvements). This compares with a total of $31,303 for everything for the 2007 Spring Drive. Listener pledges since May 31 had added an additional $855 to these totals. John reminded the Board that the respective budgeted revenue goals for this drive cycle were $175,00 and $14,999. He said the station would need to raise $29,854 and $8,691 more for operations and capital to meet these goals. We are short $15,400 short of the budgeted revenue goal for paid underwriting. Ryan asked John if the projected expenditure numbers in his report reflected where we were as of the date of the report (June 16). John said that the projected numbers were good until September 30. The difference between the projected revenue shortfall and the projected expenditures was $12,300. John told the Board that the June Lapsed Donor Off-Air Drive might help make-up some of the short- fall. He had identified about 440 lapsed donors who have not pledged in at least ten months and about 360 lapses donors who have not pledged in twenty-two months. John said he anticipated a possible $8,000 to $20,000 from this drive. Ryan asked John how the fall drive would affect John’s budget numbers. John said it wouldn’t; the fall drive numbers will be part of next year’s budget.
STAFF REPORTS
David Owens presented his General Manager’s Report to the Board. He said that the Renewal Phone Drive for lapsed members was beginning the following night, June 18. Mark Haim and John Clark had worked on scripts and forms for the volunteers. David reminded the Board that help was needed for making the phone calls.
David said that Larry Dickerson’s next Organization Development Workshop session would be on Saturday; the topic would be “Community Partnerships.” All New Wave Corporation Board Members were invited to attend.
Other activities included KOPN’s participation in the Twilight Festival on Thursday evenings during June. David told the Board that there were two remaining nights, on the 19th and the 26th. He said that assistance in setting up the sidewalk booth and helping with meeting and greeting visitors would be appreciated. Help at the upcoming “Solabration” event at the courthouse square on June 20th was also needed.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
David passed out to the Board the minutes of the June 4 Programming Committee meeting. He and the Board talked about the need to proceed with the Board’s appointing someone to fill a slot in the programming committee. David expressed to the Board that the person selected should add to KOPN’s commitment to providing diversity. John Clark asked David about the current status of the Community Advisory Committee. David said that the committee had not met for some time now and that Royda Crouse was still involved with organizing the meetings. John told the Board that there was still time to advertise the need for volunteers for these two committees in the upcoming newsletter.
The Board discussed whether there was a need yet to replace Lindsey White, who is leaving Columbia this summer for a job in Texas. Ryan Kind told the Board that Lindsey was in one of the “appointed” slots and that the by-laws allowed the Board to fill the opening after she departed. There was an agreement that there was no immediate need to find a replacement. David felt that this was another good time to give consideration to ensuring that the Board was being well-represented by a diverse selection of volunteers. Since Larry Dickerson had already sponsored several classes on subjects dealing with successful organizational management, David thought it would be a good idea to invite him to the next KOPN Board meeting to go over with everyone how to find good volunteers. The Board thought this was an excellent idea.
Tom Verdot asked John Clark to go over the report he had received from radio station KDHX concerning their recent success in receiving a CPB grant. Tom was interested in knowing if the material John had received had any good hints for helping KOPN to be equally successful in attempting to get financial support. John said there were a number of great ideas in the report that could be of benefit to KOPN. In particular he found useful the “tips” on how to do successful pitching during pledge drives. John said KDHX had discovered the key to successful pitching involved stressing to listeners the station’s “core values.” He said that KDHX was very involved with training for those doing the “pitching” during pledge drives. Tomt asked Holly if a training program for pitching volunteers was something the she was hoping to take responsibility for. Holly said that this was something she was researching and that she planned to be very involved in future training. David told the Board that he would talk with Charlie Turner to see if the KDHX report could be added to the KOPN website for everyone to look at. John also expressed to the Board his belief that the amounts for donations needed during the drive should be something that those pledging should constantly be reminding listeners of. He said that would be an incentive to both “pitchers” and the listeners to keep the momentum for pledging moving forward.
David told the Board that the staff was working very hard to come with ideas on how to make up this year for the budget short-falls. He encouraged Board members to assist him and the staff by offering assistance in the budget preparation, recruitment programs, pledge drives, and other station activities. Tom Sobieck asked whether there were any volunteers yet to help out with the work on committees devoted to the budget, recruitment, and pledge drives. Tom Verdot volunteered to work with the pledge drive committee; Ryan said the Executive Committee would assist the General Manger and the staff in the preparation of the budget; Iman said she had an interest in helping out with recruitment. Sheryl said that she thought programmers should also be involved in the Pledge Drive committee.
The next Board meeting was scheduled for July 15.
Ryan Kind made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Jim Baker seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.