B R A N D E I S N A T I O N A L C O M M I T T E E (BNC)
National Executive Committee Meeting
Monday, October 28 - Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Brandeis University - Usdan Student Center, International Lounge
MONDAY, OCTOBER 28
President Barbara Sander called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM and reviewed the upcoming agenda. Attendees then
introduced themselves.
BOARD ORIENTATION/LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Barbara Sander/
Beth Bernstein
Barbara presented a comprehensive overview of the BNC. Slides included BNC’s mission, the three Ws (Who We Are,
What We do, and Why We Are Important), the BNC organization chart, the role of the NEC, and the National
Center staff, whose roles Janice Fineman described. The BNC’s strategic goals and priorities were reviewed.
Beth Bernstein, Director of Communications and Training, followed with a Leadership Development
session focusing on motivation, persuasion, and inspiration. A video titled “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”
featuring Simon Sinek was shown, after which members were assigned to breakouts to discuss Fundraising,
Membership, and Programming. Members were asked to come up with three ideas: two points to ponder and
one action item to take when they leave.
LUNCH & HOODING CEREMONY FOR FORMER PRESIDENT LESLIE PEARLSTEIN
UNIVERSITY UPDATE
Stephen Goldstein, Provost
Steve said BNC plays an essential role in the University. He noted that Brandeis’s Strategic Plan, a two-year
process that created major principles, objectives, and a direction for the university to follow, has started to be
implemented. It is a mission-based budgeting model. Some of the changes include an improved and more
fiscally efficient dining service and a new childcare center. This year Brandeis received the largest number of
student applications, along with the highest percentage of students outside of the northeast corridor.
When a member asked about Brandeis’ current endowment, he said it has increased and added that the
major campaign will focus on scholarships. Steve said he is grateful for the BNC’s energy and resources.
Barbara Sander
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Goals for the coming year
 Strengthen the philanthropic culture of BNC; inspire members to put philanthropy first
 Increase the pride members have in belonging to BNC
 Strengthen chapters
 Make chapters an exciting place to belong
 Build connections at all levels of BNC
Focus of the teams and committees
 Leadership Development - continuing to concentrate on developing strong leaders
 Membership - developing new strategies, working in regions, and focusing on the contest
 Fundraising and campaign - emphasizing BNC’s philanthropic mission
 Learning Opportunities - energizing the commitment to learning
 Region Presidents - looking at ways to build region boards to facilitate communication between
national teams and regions, and regions and chapters, and looking for opportunities to grow BNC
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Communications Advisory Committee - examining how to better communicate with members and
strengthening their BNC and University connections
Leadership Council - starting to work in regions to build connections between the Council and
chapter members
Structure Assessment Task Force - establishing the most tangible way to connect all levels of BNC
and drafting a report containing ideas for clarifying how all parts of BNC can work together
seamlessly to achieve mutual goals
Travel in the regions
 Attended Leadership Development Region Workshops last year in Florida, New Jersey, and MidAtlantic
 Kansas City Chapter
 Plans to attend the Florida Region Conclave in December
 Plans to attend the Western Region Conference and some California chapters in January
 Will visit chapters in Florida, New York, Washington, DC, and Las Vegas
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Janice Fineman
Chapter Status Update
 A decision was made to close 3 chapters – Kings Point/Tamarac, Riverdale, and Kansas City.
 Leslie Pearlstein, Ron Levy, and Cynthia Shapiro, NE Region Liaison, and I met with members of the
Cape Cod Chapter talk more about the chapter’s future and help them plan some year-round activities.
Members formed a program steering committee that has since met. Leslie followed up with an e-mailed
letter suggesting ideas that include a visit to campus.
Chapter Campus Visits
 Over the last few months there have been three very successful day-long visits. Gotham, Hartford and
Boston chapters each brought an average of 15 people who visited major sites. Each
visitor
received a follow-up letter that stressed the importance of our financial support.
Western Region Conference
 The National Center is working closely with Region co-presidents on all aspects of the planning of the
conference, including publicity.
Connecting with our Chapters
 The goal of strengthening our members’ connections to Brandeis is being kept at the forefront of
programming, training, messaging, and in all of our communication efforts.
BNC Challenges presented at June’s NEC meeting:
 Developing new and mentoring more seasoned volunteers;
 Declining membership; and
 Members not feeling connected to Brandeis or the national organization.
Efforts have resulted in:
 A new Membership contest
 Expanded fundraising campaign outreach
 Working more closely with chapters to help in their fundraising efforts
 Planning the rollout of the Leadership Development program into the chapters.
Communication and messaging strategies continue to be refined, with more emphasis on including stories about
people – donors, researchers and students - to make a stronger and more personal connection
between what is happening at Brandeis and how it affects everyone.
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Efforts to connect our members to Brandeis are continuing through UOWs and the ever-growing Student
Ambassador program.
Joel Kamer
BUDGET & FINANCE
Prior to Joel’s report, Janice reported on how FY 13’s $1,445,993 fundraising dollars were allocated.
40% for Sustaining the Mind
36 % for the Library
14% for scholarships & financial aid
10% for other University funds
$581,510
$524,677
$197,516
$142,290
Fiscal Year 2013 Results
Figures for FY13 were slightly less than budget. Membership dues income was higher than expected, and
although chapter revenues were below budget, the revenues minus expenses were higher. Control of national
general administration expenses, 9.8% under budget, helped Net National and Chapter Activities exceed
expected results. Actual gifts exceeded budget, while planned gifts and bequests fell short. FY 13 total actual
was behind what was raised in FY12, due to a shortfall from planned gifts and bequests.
First Quarter FY 14 Financial Results (7/1 - 9/30/13)
Actual Q1 FY14 compared to Q1 FY13 is 19% lower.
National and Chapter Activities
Dues - higher than last year and slightly above 81% of the total FY14 budget item.
Chapter Revenues
Revenues minus expenses are less than last year; outlays for expenses often precede chapter revenues for
programs.
National General Administration Expenses
Higher than last year.
Direct to University Gifts
19% ahead of last year.
Planned Gifts
None to date.
Bequests
Lower than last year.
VICE PRESIDENTS’ REPORTS
FUNDRAISING
Lydia Axelrod
Lydia Axelrod reported in the absence of Carol Rabinovitz, VP of Fundraising
 The team is trying to create a culture that embraces philanthropy, with a move to identify donors.
 Campaign liaisons and assistants are covering the campaign, each has chapters which they are
responsible for.
 The price of Sustaining the Mind Tribute Cards has been reduced from $50 to $25 in response to
input from chapter leaders.
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Mention about the current campaign should be included in chapter bulletins.
As of the NEC meeting, Sustaining the Mind has raised $1,223,506.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT (LD)
Merle Carrus
Training sessions were held in the Mid-Atlantic, New Jersey, New York/So. Connecticut, and Florida Regions.
The sessions were all well received as was evidenced by the evaluation forms. The team hopes to create
another evaluation method to determine how successful the training is long-term and to assess whether there are
new leaders and new people getting involved and being targeted as leader material.
This year, training sessions are planned for the Greater Boston area, Western Region, and again in
Florida. The Mid-Atlantic Region also hopes to schedule a session to bring in more chapter representation.
The immediate goal is to create a survey to assess the needs of chapters before training, so that each
workshop will be geared to best meet their needs. The team hopes to conduct a training workshop in one or two
chapters in each region by the end of the year
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES (LOs)
Stephen Seltzer
The team has set the following goals:
 Ensure that all Learning Opportunities/Study Group chairs are familiar with the LO’s section in
BNC’s website, to ensure they are able to use Brandeis faculty-authored study guides.
 Prepare a short script and request that it be read at chapters’ monthly study group meetings. The
readings will better connect members to Brandeis and the BNC. A script was written for an October
reading.
 Team members were assigned chapters to contact about websites and suggested announcements.
MEMBERSHIP (MT)
Iris Wigal
The team is encouraging every chapter to participate in the new membership contest; the chapter that raises the
greatest percentage over its FY14 membership goal will win a $500 BNC gift card. Iris asked the NEC to help
promote the contest. Both small and large chapters will be able to compete equally. Literature will be e-mailed
periodically from the National Center. Copies of the first mass e-mail sent in August were distributed.
The MT has begun outreach to Chapter Membership Vice Presidents to assist and provide guidance they
might request. Iris asked the NEC to help them realize that in order for chapters to become stronger and remain
strong, there must be a solid link between the local and national organization.
To date, membership is up 1.1 %, 24 chapters surpassed their goals at this time last year. In FY13, 17
chapters reached their goal. At present there are 7,466 Annual members and 15,643 Life members, a total
membership of 23,109.
REGION PRESIDENTS (RPs)
Marilyn Blankman
Establishing Region nominating committees will develop region boards and strengthen all regions. Ideally,
region boards will be structured like chapter boards to place the region board in a position to work with both
chapters and national teams.
By December 1st, there should be a structured nominating committee to present a slate of officers by the
end of February. Uniformity of region slates will result in consistency. Suggested positions are President, four
vice presidents to represent Membership, Learning Opportunities, Leadership Development, and Fundraising,
and consideration for Treasurer and Secretary. Marilyn is working closely with the RPs and liaisons to help
them put together their nominating committees and begin this important process. The Florida and Western
Regions already have a structure in place.
Sue Karp
GOALS AND AWARDS
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Chapters have been notified of their goals. Memos to chapter presidents that describe the criteria for goals and
awards were distributed to the NEC. In the spring, the committee will focus on encouraging chapters to attain
their goals. Sue asked the NEC to explain to the chapters the importance of goals and reminded them that
chapters need to fill out the forms in the spring and return them to the National Center. A reminder letter will
be sent to each chapter.
Beth Bernstein
Director, Communications/Training
UNIVERSITY on WHEELS (UOWs)
Faculty will speak at UOWs in the Western and Florida regions during intersession. Discussions about UOWs
are underway with other chapters and regions. Beth said the events should be open to local communities to
attract new members and raise more funds. Barbara Sander added that only BNC members can participate in
study groups, whereas other events should be open to the public.
The BNC is working closely with the Alumni Association; four alumnae will speak at a special Florida
event in November which is open to all.
M’lissa Brennan
Senior Development Officer
FUNDRAISING WORKSHOP
The NEC viewed a PowerPoint presentation on the solicitation of potential donors that included ideas and
suggested tools. The NEC then broke up into groups for role-playing, using prepared scripts. Within each
group, one took the role of “asker,” and the other acted as “potential donor.”
Barbara Sander said leaders served as models for others, and asked everyone to make BNC a priority by
supporting at their highest possible level.
Meeting recessed at 4:55 pm. The NEC then went to the National Center to call chapter officers and
make a personal connection.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29
Meeting reconvened at 9:10 AM.
STRUCTURE ASSESSMENT TASK FORCE (SATF)
Ron Levy
The Task Force, formed to assess the structure of the BNC and to develop recommendations, submitted a
preliminary report that was distributed to the NEC. A committee will be formed to implement the plan and
report its recommendations in June.
 By a show of hands, there was consensus to approve the SATF’s recommendations and the
rapid development of an implementation plan.
Barbara asked the NEC to e-mail ideas to her, Janice, or Ron.
STUDENT AMBASSADORS SPEAKERS
Beth Bernstein
BNC Student Ambassadors Jasenia Hammond '14, Oluwatomi (Tomi) Jalyesimi '14, and Jacob Abrams '17
introduced themselves and spoke about personal experiences at Brandeis. They all said they loved Brandeis
because of the small classes, their interaction with excellent faculty, and outstanding science and other
programs.
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A Student Ambassador brochure was distributed. Currently there are 29 SA’s in contact with 36 chapters.
SAs send letters to chapters, some visit chapters when they are home for intersession, and some conduct
tours for chapter visitors from their home areas. The Student Ambassadors plan to be involved with the
University’s upcoming ‘Deis Impact program in an intergenerational discussion with the Boston and
Norfolk Sharon Chapters about social justice. This idea will also be introduced as a concept for all chapters
to implement. Ideas and questions for intergenerational discussions will be sent to chapters.
SCIENCE POSSE PROGRAM
Irving Epstein
Senior Advisor to the Provost for Research
The Posse Foundation identifies, recruits, and trains student leaders from urban public high schools to form
multicultural teams called “Posses.” Students are selected for their academic, leadership, and communication
skills. The Posse Program begins with an intensive 8-month pre-collegiate training program to help promote
cross-cultural communication for students while they are on college campuses. Brandeis is the first college in
the nation to have a Science Posse. Founded by Professor Epstein and supported by a Howard Hughes Medical
Institute Grant, this effort encourages students to pursue the sciences. Brandeis Science Posse Scholars
interested in majoring in a science complete a two-week intensive “Science Boot Camp” and enroll in
introductory science and math courses in their first year of study. Throughout the four-year program, students
work in science labs as soon as possible, receive peer support, and are assigned mentors both as a group and
also individually. Their successes have been tangible. Despite many having to cope with personal problems,
struggle and setbacks, the students persevere and stay connected to science in some way.
CHAPTER WEBSITES AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Tamar Vogel
Marketing/Communications Specialist
Chapters are encouraged to like BNC's social media Facebook and Twitter pages in order to share events, build
an online community and partake in BNC's web presence. To date, out of 47 chapters, 7 have their own
websites and six are using Brandeis Wordpress blogs. The Boston Chapter’s website was viewed as a sample.
Tamar designs the sites and trains three people in each chapter who are familiar with using the Web,
Microsoft Word, and basic formatting.
OTHER BUSINESS/COMMENTS
Planned Giving - Janice showed slides of a new Planned Giving ad to insert in chapter bulletins.
Nominating Committee - Barbara said the National Nominating Committee is in place and will begin its work
in January. Nominations are needed, as well as help in identifying future leaders.
Next NEC meeting - June 2 -3, 2014
Meeting adjourned 12:00 noon.
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