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From our Community Blog:

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes: August 18, 2023

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Meeting date/time: Friday, August 18, 2023 at 3:30pm Eastern
Attendees: L. Danielle Baldwin, Rachel Cherry, Reed Piernock, Eric Sembrat
Guests: Shanta Nathwani
Invited: L. Danielle Baldwin, Ed Beck, Rachel Cherry, Phil Crumm, Dash Kees, Kiera Howe, Reed Piernock, Eric Sembrat

Goals

  • Designate a WPCampus representative for HighEdWeb 2023 in Buffalo.
  • Discuss the best method for recording action items, assigning tasks, and setting deadlines.

Agenda

Roll Call

  • Note attendees of this meeting (in the Details section above), and list any absences.

Approval of Minutes

Old Business

  • Designate WPCampus representative for HighEdWeb 2023 in Buffalo.
  • Discuss unresolved action items from the previous meeting.

Reports or Presentations

  • There are no presentations scheduled for this meeting.

New Business

  • Discuss the best method for recording action items, assigning tasks, and setting deadlines.

Private Session

  • A private session may be held here if there are matters that only members of the Board of Directors need to discuss at this time.

Action Items

  • A list of action items as a result of this meeting

Closing

  • Confirm September 15, 2023 for the next meeting.
  • Final thoughts, reminders, or general chit-chat.

Minutes

Call to order.

Eric called to order the monthly meeting of the WPCampus Board of Directors at 3:37pm (Eastern) on 18 August 2023, virtually in Zoom.

Danielle, Rachel, Reed, and Eric were in attendance.

Guests included Shanta Nathwani.

With only three (3) voting members of the Board present, the Board opted to review both the July and August minutes for the next monthly meeting in September.

Designate a WPCampus representative for HighEdWeb 2023 in Buffalo.

The Board discussed which members, if any, were going to be in attendance at the upcoming HighEdWeb conference. Eric is on the HighEdWeb Board of Directors and is a conference track chair, and both Rachel and Reed are presenters. Previously, Danielle and Ed stated that they would request assistance from WPCampus if they were to attend.

Rachel suggested reaching out to the community for volunteers to assist tabling at the event; she also mentioned that she would document the processes for running the table, to help with anyone volunteering this year or for future conferences.

Danielle volunteered to lead the tasks required for HighEdWeb 2024, regarding selecting a representative and running the table.

Report on the WPCampus 2024 location selection committee.

Currently, Jason Woodward is the lead for the location selection committee. He provided Ed with a draft email to send to the committee as an introduction. Both Ed and Jason have manager access to the WPCampus 2024 folder in the organization’s Google Drive. The drive will hold a copy of the committee charter and documentation for how to select a location; this includes a matrix of requirements with a weighted scale. The Board will review the documentation and provide to the committee within the next week.

Report on the progress for purchasing a Zoom license.

The organization was officially approved as a qualified nonprofit in TechSoup on 10 August 2023, allowing the organization to request nonprofit discounts on software; this request was initially petitioned in order to purchase Zoom licenses for the organization. The estimated cost for Zoom One Pro is $600 per year, plus an additional $18 to TechSoup.

Danielle suggested the Board assigns licenses per Board member position, not per individual Board member personally. Rachel confirmed that Zoom licenses can be transferred between accounts in the organization.

With only three (3) voting members of the Board present, the Board opted to vote on the purchase via Slack. Reed will put forth the vote, and record the final outcome in the decisions document.

Rachel inquired about any other software the organization could purchase through TechSoup, that would be helpful for its productivity. As the organization already uses Quickbooks for its financial information, Rachel reviewed the TechSoup offerings and verified that Quickbooks is on their list. She further stated that she would review the organization’s current setup and clean up the documentation.

The Board then discussed the possibility of acquiring a workspace with Google Suite for Nonprofits. Rachel suggested we would need to estimate how many users would have access in the organization’s account, and that the workspace would need to be configured so that it is not dependent on any one person.

Shanta suggested that the accounts be created per position, which would be beneficial for archival purposes. Danielle mentioned her experience with setting up Google Suite, and offered to research the steps for purchasing and configuring the workspace according to the organization’s needs.

Discuss the best method for recording action items, assigning tasks, and setting deadlines.

Rachel created a ClickUp instance for the organization, and emailed ClickUp regarding any nonprofit discounts they offered; she invited, or will invite, all Board members to be part of the instance.

Reed stated that in the free plan, all members of the instance are considered administrators and have access to all administrative functionality, and there is a limit on certain functionality, including automations and custom fields on tasks. Danielle agreed that a paid plan would offer features beneficial to the Board, especially for project management; this could include planning for future events, such as the 2024 conference.

Eric mentioned that he has already begun testing some of the software’s features. Shanta mentioned that she has used ClickUp and likes the features it offers. Danielle mostly uses Asana but is willing to work in ClickUp.

The Board discussed the features for notifications, including email and push. Danielle noted that due to work, she is not regularly available in Slack, and doesn’t always get notifications.

Further follow-up on the 2023 conference.

The videos from the conference are not all processed yet; Rachel would like to prioritize the community chat in order for the Board to review. She confirmed the budget is in good shape; Tulane University has yet to bill us for the venue rental or for lodging. A full report on the budget will be presented at the next meeting.

Action items.

Rachel will update the website processes and create a migration plan. She will also document notes on the possibility of an organizational member directory and research customer relationship management (CRM) software. Danielle mentioned that a decent CRM that would suit the needs of the organization could cost a good amount of money, yet would be extremely beneficial to the organization, especially for the Board with regard to board member transitions.

Closing.

The Board confirmed Friday 15 September 2023 at 3:30pm (Eastern) as the date and time for the next meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 4:41pm.

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