Met via conference call
Meeting called to order at 7:37pm
Present:
Gay Adams, Margaret Korver, Martha Woodland, Karen Breckenridge, Nancy Eidam, Carol Dombrowsky, Erin Silver, David Silver, Kathy Christensen, and Erica Trager
Not Present:
Leanne Roth, John Shaver, Diane Pixlee
Quorum Present
Purpose of meeting is for committee chairs to share plans for the year with the Board and to set their budget for the year.
Gay announced that Erica Trager is interested in joining the Board and is willing to be the Chair of the Hi-Point Committee. Martha Woodland made a motion to approve adding Erica Trager to the board. Kathy Christensen seconded. Approved. Erica joined the meeting right after the vote.
Minutes for 11/12/17
General Meeting
were previously approved via email & published in the Stable Sheet newsletter. They were provided to the Board for their reference prior to this meeting.
Board Info & changes:
Gay reviewed all Board contact info, discussed meeting dates & committee assignments. Normal meetings appear to work best on the 3
rd
Wednesday of each month with Board Members present. Spring Clinic in March, June meeting follows OMC, and the Award Banquet in November are exceptions. Some meetings are optional. There is normally no meeting in October. Gay will check with Leanne Roth who indicated possible conflict with this meeting schedule. We will discuss the schedule again at our February meeting.
Martha agreed to head up the OMC & Award Banquet Silent Auctions, and offered to help with the OMC show. Nancy will contact her after the meeting. Erin agreed to Chair Education. We still need a Stable Sheet editor and an event planner for the two General membership meetings. Erica will Chair the Hi-Point committee under the tutelage of Margaret. Nancy & Diane will help on awards on Erica’s committee.
Gay asked all Board Members to read & sign a Code of Conduct form and mail or email them to Gay. Gay reviewed the code of conduct form with the board. This is a new procedure that has come out of our new Policy & Procedure manual which was approved last year.
Gay went over how the internal audit works for the club and asked if the internal audit of our finances had been started. An internal review is required each year per our By-Laws. A formal audit by a CPA can be completed as deemed necessary and funds allow. One of the goals of the internal audit needs to be to make sure that funds are in the correct accounts between the general accounts (checking & savings together), the OMC account, the Futurity account, and the Restricted Fund account from the Nancy Falk Trust donation. Karen will contact John Shaver who is chair of that committee and get it going. The internal Audit is needed so we are doing our due diligence to protect club funds.
Financial report as of 12/31/2017 - Karen Breckenridge
$8,603 general checking account
$2,947 futurity account
$15,200 Nancy Falk Trust Donation – Restricted Funds
$10,595 OMC account
$25,485 general savings account
Total after reconciliations $63,197
Net income to date is $385 for the fiscal year
Committee reports:
For this meeting we will follow a slightly different format. Committee Chairs are to talk about their plans for the year and to request the budget they need to accomplish it. Budget will be altered if needed and approved after all committees have made their presentation to the Board.
OMC - Nancy Eidam
Show dates are June 20-23, 2018 at the Oregon Horse Center in Eugene. Adding Saddlebreds, Open Classes, & Opportunity Classes. All officials have been hired. Working on show schedule. We want to get the premium book out as early as possible. Beginning to work with the Saddlebred group now. We want to be good host to the Saddlebred community. We will be asking the Saddlebred community to openly support our show with sponsorships, etc. For our part we want them to feel like they are a part of the show. The committee is working with the Youth Committee on plans for all youth at the show. The committee is also working on creating better signage for OMC.
Current goal is 90 Morgans & 60 Saddlebreds at the show. Morgan numbers are expected to be different from last year since it is not a Regional show and there are again two shows in Oregon. We are looking for ways to offer an incentive for people to come to our show. Effort is being focused on keeping exhibitor costs down as much as we can.
One challenge is that there are a limited number of permanent stalls at the facility. We are looking at charging a lower amount for stalls & entries prior to the close date than we do afterward (going back to post entry fees). Tack stalls may have a higher fee than horse stalls. Goal is for people to be frugal on ordering extra stalls & to get them to get entries in early. We think we will need to add portable stalls this year. Portable stalls cost us twice as much as the permanent stalls. Nancy requests another 30 days to present a more comprehensive budget.
Budget estimate is currently set for breakeven. Nancy will give us a better estimate with the February meeting.
Hi-Point – Awards – Erica Trager, Margaret Korver
Gay questioned what goes into Working Western category and how it is calculated. Per discussion, categories might need to be reviewed. Discussion followed on how placing information is found. Some sources only list the first 4 placings. Suggestion was to work directly with show secretaries so the information is complete. It was also suggested that shows we tally automatically be made more evident in the info we provide on our Hi-Point system, and that in order for other shows to count – we make exhibitors more aware that they need to send in information on their placings, etc.
Margaret brought up the importance of members letting the Hi-Point chair know about any horse leases that are in place. Those leases also need to be on file thru AMHA. She also mentioned that in the past, the state of our membership database has been a hinderance for the Hi-Point tabulation. The state of our Membership base has been a challenge for several years, but we have a good handle on it starting now.
Gay advised life circumstances got in the way of having our awards at the 2017 Award Banquet. All awards have now been sent to the 2017 winners previously announced.
Hi-Point Committee request is to increase Award budget from $1,000 to $1,500.
Education – Erin Silver
Spring Clinic subject is alternative medical care. Erin trying to reach her Vet who specializes in chiropractic, etc. She is working with David Silver & Lorraine Beaumont. Also looking at if should be a hands on training with horses present or if it should be a video presentation. Vet has been ill. If it doesn’t come together we will look at an alternate subject. Gay asked for final info prior to February 1
st
so we can get info out to the members and a large spread in the Stable Sheet.
Goal for the committee is to have subjects lined up over at least a 3 yr period so we can be more prepared with adequate time for more promotion of the events (both for Spring Clinic and the Award Banquet, and any other educational events we want to have). Where possible we would like to interest non-members in coming. Maybe we can make our clinics into fund raisers for the club. Non-members pay more than members to attend. Ranch Pleasure was mentioned as an alternative subject or future subject.
We have a tentative reservation at Hayden’s Grill for the Spring Clinic. Per Karen, location decision needs to be made soon or we will need to make a non-refundable deposit at Hayden’s Grill.
Gay mentioned the Spring Clinic also has a General Membership Meeting and the location needs to accommodate the Stallion Service Auction. Cell phone reception is critical and needs to be kept under consideration when choosing a location. We also need tables to put out auction info. Gay asked Board for volunteers to help with the SSA phone in bidders. Tabled phone assistance until next meeting.
Traditionally, food costs at our Spring Clinic & Award Banquet are subsidized by MHAO with MHAO members paying on average about half of what it costs for food.
Budget for Spring Clinic & Award Banquet together has been $1,500 (to cover facility, food, and speakers). Same amount requested for 2018.
Stallion Service Auction – Gay Adams
Per Gay, running behind at getting stallions in due to a late start. Goal is 24 stallions and we only have 14. Nominations close January 31
st
. Like Nancy, Gay needs another 30 days to make a more reasonable budget estimate.
Current estimate is income to the club general fund of $3,500, up from $3,000 budget last year. That is a net figure after expenses and after the 60% to the club/40% to the Futurity split. It represents the 60% figure. Actual net income for General Fund last year with 20 stallions was $5,142. Looks like we will have fewer stallions this year.
Futurity – Gay Adams
Futurity funds are kept separate from all other MHAO funds. Goal is to payout as much as possible in prize money. Therefore, the budget is always $0 for the club. Goal is to increase the number of nominated horses from 52 to 60 by the end of 2019. Another goal is to increase prize payouts from $4,250 to $5,000. Long term goal for prize payout is $10,000, but to get there we will need to do more fundraising for the Futurity. Our mission is to keep nomination fees low so that more people will participate. We also want to create as many different ways as we can for multiple participants to win money rather than to create one large pot. Payouts are determined by the amount that is brought in. The Futurity has been a successful tool in adding members to our club and to bringing people to OMC to show their futurity horses & enter other classes.
Budget at breakeven.
Promotion – Kathy Christensen
Kathy is looking at a possible membership drive, participation in the NW Horse Expo, helping MHCWS with the Washington State Horse Expo, repeating the Day of the Morgan event which was very successful, and maybe having an open barn day. She is considering other activities as well. People have been very supportive and she hopes that will continue to help subsidize our printing costs, etc. Shelley Bullard is creating a new 2018 sales list that we will have at all MHAO events & promotions. It will also be included in the Stable Sheet and on our website.
Last year’s budget was $500 from the club plus use of the AMHA grant for $300. Kathy has applied for another promotion grant. We are waiting to hear if one will be granted and for what amount.
Budget request is $500 plus whatever amount is received from AMHA Grant. We are projecting a $300 grant, so a total of $800 is earmarked for promotion expense.
Membership & Membership Directory – Kathy Christensen
Much work has been done to learn how to operate the database and to bring it current. Kathy is ready to go. So far we have received 74 renewals providing $1,860 in income for the club. Kathy is getting ready to send out reminders. That has not been done for at least 3 yrs. Several Board members are not current yet and Kathy asks that they get their information & dues in.
Kathy plans to do a membership drive. She will be ready at Expo’s to have people complete a membership form on the spot rather than following up with them later. She will also look to recruit members who used to belong, or who want to support the breed whether they have a Morgan currently or not. As stated earlier, Shelley Bullard is creating a new 2018 sales list which we will hand out at all our promotional & club events.
The 2016-2017 Directory is about to go to press. Estimated printing cost is $700 after the application of a 35% discount from our printer which we can utilize on one publication per year because we are registered with them as a non-profit.
In 2017 we received $2,271 in membership dues, well below our $3,000 goal.
Kathy requests that we stay with a budget of $3,000 income from membership for 2018 and that we keep our budget for the directory at a $700 expense.
Ride/Drive Program – Carol Dombrowsky presented in Leanne Roth’s absence.
Leanne & Carol are working on badges for this program which will be given to participants when they reach different milestones. Initial enrollment is $15. People do not need to pay an enrollment fee again unless they drop their MHAO membership.
Leanne & Carole are requesting a net budget expense of $500 this year for the purchase of badges to get the program going.
Open Incentive Program – Carol Dombrowsky
Use of this reimbursement program in 2017 was $175 against a budgeted expense of $300. Carol plans to promote the program more. She requests that the budget remain at $300. If more is needed she will come back to the Board.
Budget request is an expense of $300.
Website & Stable Sheet – Gay Adams
Both of these funtions are being delivered via the internet or email. Cost of the website should be offset by ads sold for the Stable Sheet.
Budget request is $0
Nancy Falk Restricted Fund Account – Gay Adams reporting
A donation of $15,200 was made from the Nancy Falk Trust with funds to be dedicated to two things.
(1) The $200 amount is to go toward a perpetual award for hi-point color horse at OMC with an additional $500 to be used as prize money. Originally it was to be drawn at $500 each year over a 15 year period (until $7,500 was spent). That has been changed to 14 years as there will likely be some minor expenses each year for engraving, etc.
(2) The other $7,500 is to be drawn at $500 per year and to be used in support of the Youth of the Year program until it is used up. It should last 15 years.
These are restricted funds and cannot be used for anything else.
Budget is $500 prize money for hi-point color horse at OMC, & $500 to be spent on Youth of the Year. Plus this year an expense of whatever it costs us to get the awards for the color horse set up. Funds will be drawn from the restricted fund account offsetting our expense.
Budget is $0.
Youth – Gay Adams for Diane Pixlee
Diane is focusing on better awards for our youth for their participation in Youth of the Year. She wants to give them more of an incentive to be involved. There will be a youth activity table at OMC as well as other activities. She is looking at educational activities thru the year before the show to help prepare our youth for the competition. Activities will follow the YOY outline from AMHA, might include cyber show activities, etc. Diane is still doing a lot of investigation on the possibilities. At OMC we will have activities going on for Morgan youth, for Saddlebred youth, and to bring the two groups together.
Budget needs to cover the $500 from the Nancy Falk Trust donation and $400 to cover the OMC YOY Reimbursement Scholarship we offer to our YOY winner if they go to OKC & represent us there. The club wants to support our youth as well.
Budget request is $1,000 from the club (and Diane will be able to use the $500 contribution from the Nancy Falk Trust).
If everyone gets their budget request and we add in a President’s fund of $150 and fixed costs of $2,000, our
net budget will be a negative $1,650.
We cannot go forward with a negative budget goal. All Board members are to look at their budgets, Nancy & Gay will finalize their budgets for the OMC show and the Stallion Service Auction. We will then adjust the budget so it is positive and then vote on it.
Our 3-5 yr business plan needs to be updated before our next meeting based on the plans presented. Please look at your section and plot it out. Committee Chairs are to send their changes to Gay.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:45pm.
Next meeting Wednesday, February 21, 2018 at 7:30PM via conference call.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha Woodland, MHAO Secretary