Devers Education Foundation

Minutes of Devers Education Foundation Meeting held
Tuesday, February 28, 6:30pm

Directors in attendance included: Cody Abshier, Tina Blake, Heather Butler, Mike Eastman, Cathryn Henderson, Julie Hubley, Roger Jordan, Robin Land, Kim McIntosh, Tommy McIntosh, Mandi Simeon, Eva Slack, Larry Wadzeck, Jason Weatherford, Horace Whittington, Iris Whittington, and Melissa Jordan. Education Foundation consultant, Wayne Adams assisted President Wadzeck in running the meeting. Additionally, from 5:30 to 6:30pm, Mr. Adams walked the Executive Committee through the regular meeting agenda to make sure that those members were all comfortable with what needed to be discussed in the regular meeting. The Executive Committee members who were present for that meeting included President, Larry Wadzeck, Vice President of Development, Kim McIntosh, Treasurer, Julie Hubley, Secretary, Cody Abshier, and Eva Slack.

1. President Wadzeck called the meeting to order at 6:35pm and thanked everyone for coming.

2. President Wadzeck asked for a motion to approve the January 26 meeting minutes and for a motion to approve the corporate minutes for that same meeting. Both sets were approved unanimously.

3. Secretary Abshier gave a brief Superintendent's Report where he reported that the Jr. High students did well in this season's first track meet competition in West Hardin. He also reported that 14 of our 16 7th graders have qualified for The National Junior Honor Society.

4. Mr. Adams spoke on the topic of committees and our need to go ahead and get those going. He also spoke about the effectiveness of various means of soliciting donations. He said that letters, emails, and phone calls have been proven to be ineffective relative to "eye-ball-to-eyeball" interaction where the solicitor has some professionally prepared materials. He reminded Foundation Directors that their number one responsibility is to raise money.

President Wadzeck thanked members for their willingness to serve. He mentioned that we are going to meet with folks from Liberty's Education Foundation as soon as we can reschedule a meeting (we had one set up but some conflicts arose) to learn form some of their

successes and failures along the way. Mr. Wadzeck reminded attendees of how much our funding has been cut and how we should overcome our reluctance to ask others for money.....he said that although none of us like to infringe on others, we get a pass on this because it is for our children and for our very special school.

5. Treasurer Hubley is going to investigate what the foundation needs to do in regard to choosing a bank depository and complying with the rules and procedures that are involved in this matter. She will also further investigate the best way to handle signature cards and the best approach to that.

6. Further discussion on committees was led by Mr. Adams and each attendee took a moment to make first, second, and even third selections on committee selection sheets that included the following choices:

• Development and Fundraising
• Corporations/Foundations/Selected Donors
• Financial Affairs
• Special Events/Donor Recognition
• Marketing and Public Relations
• Grant Applications
• Alumni Relations
• Parent/staff Relations
• Legal Affairs and Planned Giving

President Wadzeck will now lead the Executive Committee through the process of combining some of these committees and then assigning directors to the various resulting committees. This meeting will hopefully take place fairly quickly, in the interest of getting these committees off-and-running as soon as possible.

On the subject of indemnification insurance, Mr. Adams reminded the group that we should check in to this. Secretary Abshier asked Melissa Jordan to call Mr. Tulley (and others if needed) and report back on what we need to do on that.

7. Mr. Wadzeck asked for a motion to approve the by-laws and received one from Mr. Whittington. Mrs. Whittington seconded that motion and the measure was carried unanimously.

8. Next, President Wadzeck asked for approval on the mission statement and goals of the foundation. Mike Eastman made a motion to accept, Tommy Mcintosh seconded, and the measure passed unanimously.

9. Mr. Adams touched on "Process Grant Funding" and suggested that make an attempt to get this going by this spring and if not, then certainly by next fall.

10. In regard to marketing materials, Mr. Adams alluded to the fact that the Marketing and public relations committee will need to jump on this effort asap and that as Dr. Pete send materials to Secretary Abshier, he will pass that on to those who need it.

11. Mr. Adams discussed the "Conflict of Interest Policy" and our need to get that in place. This will be included in our corporate records book, which Dr. Pete mailed out to us this week. It was established that as soon as we get that book, we will begin the process of making it whole and meeting all of our legal requirements.

12. Before adjournment, Mr. Wadzeck polled the board on whether or not the last Tuesday of each month was generally good for them. Everyone seemed to be agreeable to this and the next three meeting dates, for March, April, and may were established as follows:

• March 27, 6:30 pm
• April 24, 6:30 pm
• May 29, 6:30 pm

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:45pm.