August 13, 2017 Oregon Poetry Association Board Meeting Minutes
members on SKYPE phone call (Tiel, Joy, Shirley, Lisa, Lynn)
Penina has decided not to go forward as a board member due to family illness.
ADMINISTRATION: The OPA Website now has the ability for members to add photos with their postings. The webmaster must approve all images.
Tiel is researching incorporation for OPA. We were grandfathered in as a non-profit by the state. We are now in a gray zone. Our status in grant requests might be enhanced if we were a corporation. Attorney fees would likely be associated with this undertaking.
ADULT CONTEST: The deadline is September 1. Entries arrive by both Submittable and snail mail.
STUDENT CONTEST: Distribution of information via press release and mailings will occur near October 1. The contest opens on October 15. The Collins Foundation will not fund the student contest this year. Lynn will contact them in January regarding future application timing. The Autzen Foundation’s response may not be known before October 1. Our grant request was for $3500. Cascadia is the most expensive portion of the budget for the student contest. OPA can reduce costs by eliminating cash awards and reducing the number of Cascadia copies printed.
Lisa has offered to carry the initial information mailing costs and be reimbursed in the future. If the Autzen grant does not come through, OPA will ask the general membership to assist with funding the printing and mailing of Cascadia.
The awards ceremony in spring of 2018 could be held downstate. The board discussed Salem and Eugene locations. A date on a May weekend might work better than an April date.
Lynn suggested that based on contingency funding OPA proceed with the student contest as planned. The board agreed.
BEQUEST: The board has not yet established a plan for investment and use of the coming bequest. The board will consider setting up spending guidelines. Board members were requested to research quasi-endowments, CDs, Money Market, etc.
A category in the upcoming spring adult contest will be named in the benefactor’s memory. Recognition will also be given at the annual membership meeting at the October conference.
2017 CONFERENCE PLANS: Projected expenses are for eighty attendees. We need fifty-seven registrants paying the sixty-five dollars full registration fee to balance our budget. Seventeen lunches will be complimentary. Coffee and key note speaker costs are still being factored into the budget. Negotiations to lower food costs are ongoing and detailed cost information will be available at the next meeting. Early bird registration ends on September 10.
Shirley has visited the Hilton on Gateway in Springfield to see if they have the capacity to host our 2018 annual conference. She will check the downtown Eugene Hilton as well. The Valley River Inn will also be investigated. The 2018 conference will be discussed at a future board meeting. The board agreed to consider reducing the 2018 conference agenda from three to one or two days.
The Lane Literary Guild has moved their twice-a-year poetry readings from the Springfield Library to a new location. The library wished to have a local poet or poets for an April reading in conjunction with their winter/spring local writers program. Shirley acted as an OPA contact and arranged for poets for the April 7, 2018 reading. There will also be an open mic opportunity.
BOARD MEMBERS & OFFICERS: Recruitment of a treasurer and additional board members must move forward. Lisa, who is vice-president of OPA, will act as president (with much assistance) for the coming year. Lynn will handle technical issues. Tiel will continue for a year as unofficial treasurer and provide monthly reports, but not attend meetings unless requested. Joy will stay on as secretary. Tiel, Susan and Dick will retire from the board in October.
NEXT MEETING: OPA will hold a brief meeting to discuss conference registrations at 6:30 PM on September 12th. Our next regular board meeting will be September 17 from 1 to 4 PM.
respectfully submitted, Joy McDowell, OPA board secretary