BOARD MEETING January 18, 2017 Planning & Budget Meeting
The conference call was commenced at 7:40pm.
In attendance were Gay Adams, Karen Breckenridge, Sharon Harper, Carol Dombrowsky, Nancy Eidam, Anne Margaret Korver and John Shaver.
Absent were Dallas Bolen, Kathy Christensen, Kathy DeFazio, Anna Lowden, David Silver and Diane Pixlee.
Quorum present.
Gay brought to everyone’s attention the fact that we have two open board positions that we can fill by appointment if we want to. If anyone knows of someone who might be interested, please contact Gay. Functionally we are still in need of an editor for the Stable Sheet and someone to act as an event planner for our two General Membership meetings.
Gay encouraged everyone to sign up for the Board’s Yahoo group. This will make correspondence between the board members much easier for everyone.
Due to scheduling conflicts for some of the board members, we will look at having meetings on the 3rd Wednesday of the month rather than the 2nd one. Gay will redo the Board Meeting Schedule and get it out to the Board. Let Gay know of any conflicts. Once approved we will get it out to MHAO members.
The secretary’s report from the general membership meeting was sent to all board members. Our Secretary for 2016 was not available to take the minutes so Gay created the minutes. No one had any additions or corrections. Motion to accept by Karen, seconded by Carol. Approved.
The Treasurer’s report was given by Karen.
General Fund $ 2,861.98
OMC $ 4,800.00
Futurity $ 2,671.10
Savings $ 25,480.18
Total $ 35,813.26
Motion made to accept by John, seconded by Margaret. Approved.
BUDGET DISCUSSION:
Show Committee: Nancy made an extensive report on the show committee. Many new and interesting classes are scheduled to improve and enlarge the OMC show for 2017. She stressed a need for the club to be able to accept credit cards over the phone for sponsors and at the show for attendees. Our drive for sponsors will start soon, so we need to make sure we are ready right away. Karen to work with Dallas for instruction on how to do it and then get back to Nancy & Marli so the pursuit of sponsors can begin February 1. We do have the ability thru our club systems to do it. This was generally agreed upon.
2017 will be the last year that we will have a Regional Show as we know it so we want to make it special and to stay as an all Morgan show this year. AMHA is looking at different options for how it supports shows. Once we know how that turns out we will reconsider our “all Morgan” decision again next year.
See clarification on this recently received from Carol Fletcher-Churchill & Marli Perry below.
Last year the show had a loss of $4,391 and was the primary cause of the decline in our cash flow and of our posted loss for the year. Everything the show does this year must pay for itself. The committee is working hard to make OMC a show that pulls all the Morgan community together.
We will mail out a premium book this year that will pay for itself with ads. We currently have sold 10 ads, may get to 12. These will be full page ads featuring local professionals.
There will be no show program printed, but we will have a hand out sheet with Morgan info and a class list for spectators and there will be a separate class list for exhibitors. There will also be Day sheets throughout the show. We are contemplating a sponsorship type area such as the Far West show has had (Pony Club). It will have a bar, and perhaps a big TV screen for Morgan advertising. We plan on having Hall of Fame banners hung on the big white wall across from the audience seating. Rollie will help & train others on how to do it going forward. Carol and Gay are in charge of a Wednesday noon welcome exhibitors lunch.
There will also be an exhibitor’s celebration dinner on Friday before the evening session. We plan to include some fun classes. The show needs 25 to 30 more horses than last year to break even. It is estimated that expenses will run $40-45,000. Last year there were 70 horses entered and 65 horses shown. Budget is for show to at least break even.
The carriage people are sponsoring their division. It looks like Dressage will start Wednesday morning. It has been requested that most of the in hand division (futurity qualifier classes, regular halter classes, sport halter, Get of Sire, Produce of Dam) be held on Wednesday night. Futurity Sweepstakes classes will be later in the show. Nancy will run the completed schedule by several people including several trainers before it becomes final.
The show committee plans an extensive phone campaign to get sponsors. Group A of phone callers will contact corporate, professional trainers and large group exhibitors. Group B will handle the smaller breeders, owners, exhibitors, & members. The goal is to have all classes sponsored. We will need volunteers to help with the dressage and trail classes – especially the set up and tear down. Nancy hopes to get 4-H people to help with the gates.
The stalls fees must stay at $140 per stall and class fees at $30 or $35 per class with championship classes at $45-$65 depending on the size of the payout. We tried to hold fees down but the budget was too tight to do what we wanted.
Year End Awards: Always posts one year behind. The 2017 budget is approved for $1500 but it is requested we come in closer to $1,000 if at all possible. In 2016 we spent $937 & that is what will show as expense on our 2017 financial. Many of the 2016 awards, prizes and certificates were donated.
Spring Clinic and the Awards Banquet: Budget to remain a total of $1500 for both together. Our expense is more than that, but we charge attendees at the door to help keep us on budget.
Youth: The 2016 amount spent was $775 against a budget of $1,450. It included the $400 scholarship we offer at OMC & costs for Youth of the Year. Gay stressed the need to pull in more youth and various ideas were discussed on how to do this. The youth committee was not present. Budget set at $775 for now. If new programs are presented by the committee they can come back to the Board to present a different financing plan to and request an increase in the Youth budget.
Stallion Auction: Gay has 17 stallions already donated and hopes to have 20 by January 31st . She would like to get 24 stallions so if anyone can help achieve this goal please contact her. Other items will also be added to the auction thru March 11. Proceeds from other items go direct to the Futurity. So far we have bids on 2 stallions as well as donations of a full page color ad in the Morgan magazine and various pieces of artwork. We are hoping for $8,000 in Stallion Service bids against expenses of $2500 which is mostly for advertising. 60% of the net proceeds from the stallion portion of the auction go to the general fund 40% goes to the futurity for prize money. Distant stallion owners won’t donate to the auction unless their donation is used to support a Futurity. Gay tells them that funds are used to cover SSA expenses & for the costs of Futurity classes being included at OMC, with the rest going to prize money for the Futurity. Net income for the General Fund is budgeted for $3,300 with $2,200 going to the Futurity. Note: SSA income is not posted as income for OMC. There are no stipulations on how SSA funds are used by the club.
Futurity: The $500 loss shown on the P&L in 2016 was because of the printing of the stallion calendars being expensed in 2016 but not sold until 2017. Last year those expenses were not taken until the year we sold them. The Futurity is budgeted to breakeven and not impact the General fund. Funds are kept separate from the General Fund with a goal they not be intermingled. We show the Futurity budget as $0.
Nomination & class fees cover expenses. Fundraising efforts are what provide the prize money for participants. The value of the Futurity booklet was discussed. It was mentioned that people have been observed throwing them away at the show, while Gay is receiving requests from other people who want more copies than we have to give them. The booklet is one of our most important promotion tools for our Stallion Service Auction and Futurity and has helped us garner support for both programs. Many people use them as a reference tool and keep them. Also, we only print as many as we have received ads for. Printing it does not impact Futurity funds raised from futurity fees or other fund raising.
It was decided to continue providing it, but to announce at the show that any copies that people do not want should be returned to the office. The more copies we retain, the more places we can distribute them to those interested – including at Nationals.
NOTE: The Spring Clinic Silent Auction last year was all “other items” developed by the Futurity committee. However, that does not mean that someone else couldn’t put together silent auction items not listed on the Futurity website that could be put out and bid on at the Spring Clinic for the benefit of the club’s general fund.
Directory: It was discussed whether or not to put out a new directory in 2017 before OMC or if we should wait until just after year end. The 2015-2016 directory came out just before the Award Banquet and those expenses will hit our 2017 P&L as receipts were not turned in prior to year end. This discussion was tabled for the moment. Currently we will budget $800 each year for 2015-2016 & 2017 editions with offsetting ads expected at $300 or a net of $1,300. More discussion to follow.
Membership: The club needs more members. Everyone was encouraged to contact any non-member Morgan owners they know to get them to join. Anyone purchasing a Morgan from a club member is given one year free membership for the year of purchase. If a member sells a horse to a non-member, they should have the purchaser fill out a membership form and at the bottom of the form put “Purchased horse from …….” To explain why no payment for dues is included. We all need to do what we can to make others aware of this program. It is posted on our website and in any newsletters that go out.
The actual amount received for membership dues in 2016 was $2,857. We had no one available to follow-up with those not renewing. 124 members were listed in our directory which included those paying dues in 2015 & 2016. Obviously, not everyone renewed. Per Gay we had about 30 new members. This year we will have follow-up in place, but it is important that Margaret & Kathy Christensen stay in tight communication. Gay & any Stable Sheet Editor that might emerge also need to know so we can be sure to include new members for any club communication. The membership database needs to be kept current on an ongoing basis. Margaret needs training on the database software and on guidelines for entries.
The membership budget is set at $3,000 net income for now. We mailed out ballots and renewal forms with the 2015-2016 Directory in October so no expenses were posted to Membership. Normally that would have been 3 different mailings. Postage is expensive. We need to look for ways to save on postage & supplies (bulk mailing when needed, email instead of mail when we can) yet still provide everyone with what they need as members.
Stable Sheet: We need to find an editor. In 2015 the Stable Sheet brought in about $850. In 2016 the Stable Sheet brought in enough income to cover all but $94 of its expense for one edition. Shelley did this by putting out the front and back covers for bid. Most newsletters go out via email. 12-20 copies should be mailed because a member has requested it or the member does not have an email address. Only one edition went out in 2016 (Winter edition, last one by Shelley). We have to find a way to get it back in place.
Gay just sent an email version of a Stable Sheet out. She does not like it because it is not able to be converted to a print version, so not a good solution – but it will get news out to most of our membership. No ads were included in this new edition. Those who have paid for an ad in the Stable Sheet for 2016 will retain a credit for an ad in future issues. Since the Stable Sheet is currently dormant and any newsletter created by Gay will only go out via email, there is no budget for it.
Promotion: A great deal of discussion was held on whether or not to participate in the NW Horse expo in Albany and the High Desert horse expo in Redmond. Along with having an information booth there, breed demos were discussed. The cost is considerable and there were various opinions on the value of both the booths and the demos. However, part of the club’s mission statement is to promote the breed. Kathy Christensen was not able to attend the meeting. We will ask her to look into this and come back to the board with proposals.
The Budget is currently set for a net of $500 in expense which is what it was last year. We have applied for an AMHA Promotion Grant but have no idea what we might receive. Far West is interested in helping us as they did last year, amount yet to be determined. We will need to make a proposal once we know what we will receive from AMHA. MHCWS partnered with us last year, but we are not sure they will this year.
MHCWS will take care of the Washington Horse Expo in Clark County and we can send flyers to them to put out to represent MHAO.
One idea discussed was to create a flyer listing those who give lessons, training, or offer other services that we could handout at the various booths. We could charge a modest fee for the listing like $25 per listing to help offset our booth costs.
Open Incentive fund: A budget of $300 was proposed. In 2016 we paid out $225. Carol will come back to the Board if she needs more.
President’s fund: A budget of $150 was proposed as it has been in the past.
Nancy made a motion to accept the proposed budget, seconded by Margaret. No one was opposed so approved as stated above with the agreement for everyone to come to the next meeting with ideas for other fund raisers or ways to cut expenses. Board members are asked to contact Gay anytime with their ideas.
As currently set, the budget shows a loss for the year of $2,225. At next meeting we will discuss solutions to bring it back in line.
Gay made a motion for adjournment, seconded by Karen. Adjourned at 9:55pm.
Respectfully submitted. Sharon Harper .
