Subud PNW Conference Call Board Meeting July 7, 2017 1:03:49 (pdf)

Members Present: Aaron Mann, Chairman PNW; Sherwin O’Bar, Treasurer; Oswald Norton, Elizabeth Flanders, Isadora Roth, Regional Helper Liaisons; Camille Hofvendahl, Chairperson Subud Portland; Michael DuBois, Chairperson Subud Skagit Valley.

Reading of minutes of last meeting:

There were no changes to the minutes from the last two meetings, June 14th and May 10th so a motion was made to approve those minutes, and seconded and the minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s Report:

(actual financial activities through June available from Aaron)

Income: Expenses:

Balance:

$ 12,702.00 11,892.00 810.00

The primary reason was the prepayment to Menucha in February of $1500. Hopefully, Menucha will be successful and we will recoup that in November.

Bank Balances:

Sherwin stated we will probably have to dip into the Capital 1 General Fund, which has been built up over the years from the excess of revenues over expenses for Menucha Family Camp, to the tune of several thousand dollars over the next couple of months for operating funds. We need to reimburse expenses to the National Congress and there is likely to be an increase in the insurance we have to pay in September. House insurance and car insurance have gone up. And we have not increased tithing levels by the Centers in a couple of years so he expects this to go up and the contributions from the Centers have been fairly constant over the last couple of years. Nothing to panic about but something to keep in mind. That is over and above the second payment for Menucha here in early August and that is probably in the $ 9,000 to $ 10,000 range.

The new property tax annual year began on July 1st and so far Sherwin has not seen the details. It is a very long document, over 100 pages, and the insurance people didn’t have the capability to send such a lengthy document via email so they were going to send it to the Seattle Subud House. He wants the assessment for each one of the facilities as he then can tell them how much each will be assessed.

Apparently, each of the Centers has paid its share of insurance to date.

Center Reports:
Seattle
There was no report on Seattle as Honora Hildreth did not attend the meeting.

Portland

Capital 1 House Fund: Capital 1 General Fund: US Bank General Fund: US Bank Event Fund:

$ 75,000.00 28,000.00 2,300.00 162.00 Available Cash: $ 106,000.00

Camille reported that Portland’s house has been painted. Marius Harold and Latham Stack are discussing rebuilding the trusses for the roof above the women’s latihan hall. The women’s latihan hall will probably not be in be in use for a month, while the work is being done. In August, they will switch latihan halls because the men’s hall is bigger as, on Sunday, a lot more women than men are doing the latihan and the women’s hall can be crowded. Gabriella Lu has been doing a lot of painting and fixing up the bathrooms.

Camille reported that Leonard Dixon stopped doing the list serve in January so Lucy Babbitt has volunteered to do it. The new members have apparently not been signed up to the list serve.

Menucha has asked Subud to donate. They need to improve the roads going in and out of Menucha. Portland has approved donating $250 and wanted the Region to match that so that we can give them $500 and ask them to let us have our snack bar area back this coming year as the snack bar is a fund raiser for SD. Camille is asking if the Region can donate the matching funds to Menucha.

Camille asked about the Great Create. She said it would be helpful to have a schedule of classes as she will not be able to come to the whole thing. She thought people would be more likely to register if they could see the schedule.

Camille, who is on the SICA Board, asked how much money the Region gives to Subud USA because the SICA Treasurer stated it was better to give money to the National Committee and earmark the money for SICA and the National will dispense to the wings. In her mind, when she makes a donation, that goes to the Region, some then goes to the National. She knows the National is hurting for money and SICA gets no money coming in other than private donations and calendars. SD has a fund raising campaign that is separate and they raise quite a bit of money. She is just bringing this up because Sherwin has mentioned tithing and, if the Region could increase its donation to National and earmark SES and SICA to get some of that money. This is not a new idea.

People ask SICA for money and SICA gives little grants as best they can but not much money is flowing into it. She brought this up for discussion. Aaron reported that the money to National was increased to match the amount they had to increase their budget – he thought 10%. The Region increased its amount 10% but it wasn’t earmarked.

Apparently, according to Sherwin, in Seattle, tithing, actually contributing, is not only done by individuals but also by the airbnb. Contributions from the Centers to Subud Pacific NorthWest (“SPNW”) has not changed and, as Aaron mentioned, SPNW increased its monthly contribution to Subud U.S.A. by $130, the 10% mentioned. That is another reason they are skating around the edge in terms of needing to dip into the general fund savings account.

Aaron asked Sherwin what percentage of the money from the Seattle group comes from the airbnb to the Region as Aaron had heard that donations from members had fallen off so that was why he wanted to know about the percentage from the airbnb. He wanted to know, because the airbnb is quite successful, and was it possible people thought they no longer had to donate? That is creating a shortfall and the Region is feeling pinched. He thought maybe there should be a push to ask people to start donating again, maybe at the Center level. In theory, the 10% should come from the Centers so it can go to the Region and then the National.

Camille reported that, in Portland, for quite a while, the rental income and the donations from people have been pretty equal, but they have lost some of the wealthiest members as they have moved away. Rentals were down this summer as well. They raised their rates a little and lost one of their renters. She just wanted to comment about that but she thinks Portland can afford whatever their share of the 10% would be – like $40 a month. They can increase their donation. Portland has a business meeting every other month so she will bring it up.

Skagit Valley

Michael reported Skagit Valley had a wonderful kejiwaan weekend at Marius Hibbard’s house last Sunday. People did a lot of latihan and testing and there was good food. They are progressing on getting bids for repairing the windows on the south side of the House. They will try to borrow the money from the Region and pay it back as part of their monthly amount. Meanwhile, Paul Woodcock and Michael will take care of putting the person door in the garage and repairing the siding that is falling apart. They found they could save a substantial amount by doing it as a home project than trying to hire a contractor because of the asbestos on the side of the building. Apparently, a Subud member is moving into their area so their group will actually gain a member in the next couple of months when he moves up here out of New Mexico.

Skagit Valley’s next business meeting will be in August.

Regional Helpers Report:

Elizabeth reported that she and Isadora would drive together to Ashland, spend a couple of days, come back and spend the night in Roseberg on Sunday. Margarite Charney will be inviting the people in the area for latihan; a lot of people were opened but are not active so it is not known whether or not they will come. There are at least two active women so they will go for Margarite and Helene and perhaps some others will come as well.

In August, Oswald and Elizabeth will be serving the Great Create as helpers and, in September, the helpers will meet to plan for Menucha. The Regional helpers have been supporting the Great Create and they helped with the selection of a program manager, Malama MacNeil. Oswald visited the Pilgrim Firs facility, talked to the manager out there, and went over the site with Malama to assess the capabilities for that facility and they talked a little about latihans, etc., to make sure things are being taken care of.

New Business:

Camille moved that the Region match Portland’s $250 donation to Menucha for the Road Construction -and perhaps Maria could negotiate with them about the snack bar. The motion was seconded by Michael. When asked if there was any discussion, Sherwin said he was inclined not to favor that because we already pay Menucha for the use of the facility and they should include applicable . . . and, also, he is not sure who owns Menucha, if they are affiliated with the Presbyterian church or how that works, but it seems that, because they own the facility, they should be responsible for maintaining it and he does not support the motion.

Oswald had a comment about Menucha. One of the movements that occurred at the last Menucha and the Menucha before was a question of how important is Menucha to the Pacific NorthWest as a facility for us to use. What came out of that conversation, from what he remembers, was that we felt we should support it not only by coming there but they should also do fund raising in order to be able to help the facility to survive and thrive. That included financial donations or even donations in kind, for example, going up and working with the community on one of their work weekends. So far, we haven’t been able to do any of that and Oswald felt like the donation of $500 for the road met the intent that had been expressed by other Subud members, and particularly for the Pacific NorthWest, that we should support Menucha with our own funds as well, not just having conferences there and renting their facility but through our own funds.

He felt that Camille’s request, and Menucha’s request to us, was a part of what they had talked about wanting to fulfill and he thinks that $250 matching Portland from the Region, is a very small contribution to this idea that was supported by a majority of the people attending Menucha in the last two sessions.

Also, if Menucha allowed them to have the snack bar back, which is a lucrative SD fundraiser, they might make up that amount. The purpose of the snack bar is to support the non-profit part of our organization that does good works and that could definitely be a part of the negotiating with Menucha so that they could understand how vitally important it is for us to support those groups and that this is an opportunity to raise those funds. It was felt it might actually open their hearts to the idea of finding a way to help us have a fund raiser that is not out in a hallway.

Sherwin stated that if the motion carried, he would prefer that the check be written directly to Menucha rather than filter it through Portland. He felt the checks should be separate.

Aaron asked for a vote and, except for Sherwin, all were in favor of the Region sending a check to Menucha for road improvement. The motion was carried and the Region will send a check for $250 directly to Menucha for road improvement. Camille will talk to Maria and they will arrange to send Portland’s and the Region’s checks around the same time.

Aaron reported that there is now an organizing committee for the Great Create in the persons of Malama McNeil, who is the program director, and Halimah Taylor. Margarite is also part of the organizing committee. Aaron made a poster that same day which was sent out on Mail Chimp by Paul Nelson. The poster contains a list of all presenters and what they are going to be doing. Information about it will be coming out on E-blast at least once a week and perhaps twice a week. Presenters were asked to write a little bio so people know who they are and what they are going to be doing to try to get people interested in coming to the Great Create. The organizers are trying to make the event family oriented and, hopefully, it will attract families with kids. It was felt the Regional committee should work with the organizing team to help meet the request for a schedule as it might help to get people to register.

Ending the Meeting:

There was no other business so a motion was made to adjourn. It was seconded and all were in favor. The motion was carried. The meeting was adjourned.

Signed by the Recording Secretary, Lydia Tedrow.