Michigan Blind Athletic Association

Board of Directors’ meeting minutes

September 9, 2009

 

Directors present:  John Boes, Tom Vance, Frank Wolf, Tyler Merren, Sue Fluri and Sherry Gordon

 

Chair Boes called the meeting to order.  Minutes from the June 2009 Board meeting were approved in content; although we could not vote to approve those minutes since a quorum was not present at this meeting. 

 

It was noted that a cash statement had been received by all Board members from our treasurer.

 

Boes noted he had received a correspondence from the Irving S. Gilmore folks, indicating that they had received our grant application.  Their Board will act on it at their meeting on November 17.  Boes also noted he had received notification from the Michigan Braille Transcriber’s Fund (MBTF); they have received our grant application.  We hope to hear something from them by October 2009.  Wolf noted we had applied for $10,000 from Gilmore; last year we had received $11,175 from Gilmore.  The amount over $10,000 was obtained from our matching grant which Gilmore provided.  We have requested $12,000 from the MBTF; in the past, we have received some money from the MBTF but have never formally submitted a grant request.  We also submitted a $6000 request from the Upjohn Foundation.  Last year we had also received about $6800 from the Ann Arbor Track Club.  In addition, approximately $800 came as personal donations from Track Club members.  Wolf had spoken with Hal Wolf—who indicated this year a possible donation of $4000.

 

Wolf indicated that for last year, Hulsebus had indicated MBAA had about $24,000 from grants, $4000 from participant entry fees, $6000 from contributions and $9 from bank interest—for a total of approximately $34,000.  Expenses for last year were $15,700 for goalball; SEC was $28,600; bowling $2800 plus $372 for administration costs.  Wolf explained that MBAA is on an accrual basis—which means you “book” the money when you receive it or when you spend it.  A larger organization would, most likely, try to time when certain money comes in.  For example, the SEC facilities’ costs were received in July; even though the SEC took place last fiscal year.

 

Discussion was held regarding the “Fund 24” account at WMU.  This account is very important in that the annual $2000 from the Low Incidence Outreach (LIO) program is sent to the Fund 24 account.  This $2000 is intended to be used to off-set expenses related to the SEC.  For some reason, the $2000 for the 2008 SEC came into the Fund 24 account this year after the SEC expenses were paid by the MBAA.  Question was raised as to whether this money should be designated for the 2010 SEC or how this late influx of funds should be handled.

 

Wolf noted that for the 2010 proposed budget which had been submitted with our grant proposals, he put $16,900 for the SEC; $14,000 for goalball; $3000 for adult bowling; $300 for individual athlete; and $450 for administration costs. 

 

Boes asked if it would make sense that since WMU is so slow in invoicing us for SEC facilities’ costs that it might make more sense for us to have our fiscal year begin in January.  Wolf noted that he felt that may not be a good idea since if our fiscal year began in January, that would be right in the middle of goalball and bowling seasons.  Gordon noted that having the fiscal year begin in January would actually be fine as far as goalball and bowling are concerned since the first possible goalball tournament is the end of January and the first bowling tournament is in March.  If we were to consider changing our fiscal year, this may also effect the grants we apply for.  Since we do not have a quorum present, we really need to wait until a quorum is present to discuss this topic any further. 

 

Vance reported he has not yet completed the MBAA Annual Report.  Since the school year is now in progress, Vance indicated he will try to get the Annual Report done within the next few weeks.  Merren indicated he would try to obtain some goalball team pictures of the men’s and women’s teams since Michigan had two athletes in the Paralympics, plus there are several Paralympians who began their goalball careers here in Michigan. 

 

Boes asked Wolf if he were interested in remaining on the MBAA Board—since his term expires in September 2009.  Wolf indicated this would probably be his last year on the MBAA Board.  Wolf indicated he would like to have someone else take the responsibility for submitting the grant requests and he is willing to show that person what needs to be done.  Vance also indicated this would probably need to be his last year on the Board; his work schedule is increasing; Vance indicated he would work to find someone to replace his position on the Board. 

 

Boes also suggested that we consider what we might like to do to honor Sue Ponchillia for all the years of work and dedication she has put into the MBAA and all of its activities.  Sue will be retiring from WMU in December 2009. 

 

As far as MBAA Board members whose terms were expiring, Boes indicated the following members:  Boes, Hulsebus, Fluri and Merren were included.  We need to have a quorum present to vote on this issue; therefore we will plan to vote on this at our October 2009 meeting. 

 

Fluri noted that in July, Kayak for Light was held in Portage at Long Lake.  A great time was had by all who attended; the weather was beautiful on July 11!

 

Vance indicated he would again contact the Portage Lions Club.  They had originally indicated they would donate $200 to the MBAA for the SEC.  We had never received this donation.  Boes asked Vance to inquire as to whether there might be a Portage Lions Club member who might be interested in serving on our MBAA Board.  Vance suggested that if we did receive a grant from the MBTF—we might look into getting some endorsement from Kalamazoo area Lions Clubs—due to the Lions’ affiliation with MBTF.  We might also look into having a Board representative from the Kalamazoo Downtown Lions Club.  This would be great publicity.  Gordon is a member of that club.

 

Gordon brought up a discussion which Wolf had with her earlier this summer—regarding the possibility of handling goalball funding similar to what the bowlers do.  Wolf indicated a possible concern was that when the goalball athletes had sold t-shirts as a fund raiser for the Kazoo goalball tournament, sales tax technically should be collected on these sales.  If there were a separate goalball account then MBAA would not need to be concerned and could separate MBAA from the sales tax issue.  Similarly if the MBAA wrote a check to the SEC committee then it would become the SEC committee’s responsibility to document how they used this money.  Boes suggested to talk further about this in October.

 

Our next MBAA Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 14 at 4:00 pm at the Michigan Commission for the Blind Training Center conference room.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Sherry Gordon, MBAA Secretary