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League of Women Voters of Butte County Board Meeting Minutes December 8, 2020 5:30 pm, via Zoom
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Members Present: Mahalley Allen, Debra Barger, Roxanne Ferry, Sandra Flake, Lori Fuentes, Claire Greene, Patty Haley, Maureen Kirk, Toni Reid, and Satsie Veith
- 1. Call to Order
Meeting called to order at 5:31 pm.
2. Approve November Meeting Minutes
The November 10th meeting minutes were approved.
3. Fundraising North Valley Community Foundation Week of Giving Update
Debra and Sandra updated board members on the 2020 North Valley Community Foundation Week of Giving fundraising event, which ran from December 1st to 7th.
The LWVBC broke a new record with its week of giving fundraising, raising a total of $4,604.71 for the LWVBC education fund. The LWVBC was the recipient of two incentive awards from the North Valley Community Foundation, a $500 award and a $2000 award for the most number of unique donors, for a total of $4,604.71.
Board members discussed how well the NVCF week of giving fundraising went and tips for participating again in the future.
Debra and Sandra are waiting on NVCF to send the list of donors who contributed to the LWVBC education fund. Board members discussed sending hand-written thank you notes to donors who gave sizeable donations. Lori, Roxanne, Maureen, and Sandra volunteered to help write thank you notes.
4. Rest of Fiscal Year Activities Planning and Scheduling
The LWVBC bylaws requires three membership meetings per fiscal year. We already had a fall membership meeting, and we end the year with an annual business meeting. We normally have another program or meeting sometime in January or February.
Debra encouraged interested board members to register for the upcoming League of Women Voters of California program planning webinar on December 15th.
Board members discussed what the LWVBC should focus on for the rest of this fiscal year. Debra encouraged board members to review the LWVBC policy positions and also review other local leagues’ positions for possible concurrences without a policy study.
Board members discussed several possible topics for a spring program:
Impact of social media on voter education and truth in news
Local campaign financing, such as for county board of supervisor races
National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
Observer reports and information about how to participate as an observer, perhaps in connection with Sunshine Week
Forest management and water resource management
The health of the democratic process, with a special focus on news (journalism, public radio, social media, etc.) as preserving the democratic process
Board members agreed to go forward with a program on the health of the democratic process in early February. Claire will work on a description of the panel. Lori and Mahalley will help Claire recruit speakers from Chico State. Patty also volunteered to help assist with planning the program.
Sandra suggested an informal debriefing meeting on Thursday, December 17th at 7 pm to discuss tips and ideas learned from the LWVC program planning webinar.
Board members discussed the value and benefits of a policy study, such as continuing the Biomass study, but agreed the board does not have the bandwidth to take on a policy study at this time. Toni and Satsie agreed to work on a program for April to update the county about biomass. Debra is happy to work on a program about the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
Board members discussed training league members on legislative interviews, which involves interviewing members of the California Assembly and Senate on their policy views. Legislative interviews tend to work best for people with flexible schedules who have the opportunity to travel to Sacramento (in non-pandemic times) or time to participate during regular business hours. Debra will promote the upcoming January training in an e-bulletin to the membership.
5. Other Business/Adjourn
We need to focus on getting members to renew their membership. Roxanne, Sandra, and Debra will work on reaching members who have not renewed yet.
Meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm.