WASFAA Executive Council Meeting
June 25-26, 2014
Wednesday June 25, 2014
9-9:50
Strategic Planning Committee
See separate minutes
10-11:45
Fiscal Planning Committee
See separate minutes
1-5
Executive Council
Call to Order – 1:09 by President, Kevin Jensen.
 Welcome, Housekeeping, Announcements, Introductions – Kevin’s agenda saves
some time for group work. Dinner will be at the Summer Institute on UN, Reno
campus. Introductions. New electronic travel planning form has been helpful.
We are trying to get more detail about costs of travel to help with planning.
 Review of Minutes from April 2014 Meeting. An update to paragraph under
Strategic Planning where it mentions the training manual was provided. It was
distributed to Kevin that weekend. Kevin will put it in the drop box. It will need
to be discussed and confirmed soon.
 Outstanding To-Do Items: Items were reviewed. Here are the remaining inprogress items:
 Kevin will make recommendation for where advocacy section
should reside in P & P’s.
 John and Ashley S. need to check with ATAC about the
treatment of life time members rolling membership status.
MOTION:
1:20
Review/Approval of Consent Agenda Items: We must officially approve or modify the
consent agenda. Frank requested that we pull PacFAA out of consent agenda and add it
to the agenda for today.
Motion to approve modified consent agenda by Sun Ow, Barbara Bickett seconded it.
Motion carried.
Report from Strategic Planning, Nominations & Elections – The time frame is being
moved up for the nominations process. On September 8 nominations will be open and
last until October 17. Strategic Planning is focusing on the membership survey. It will go
out October 6 and stay open until December 1. Lots of reminders will be sent to
members. By doing so early we can push the survey at the state conferences. The last
time it was done was 2008. We use this survey to form our strategic plan. In 2015 we
will be rewriting our strategic plan for implementation in 2016. The survey draft will be
sent out via email to collect input from EC. There are two surveys – one for school-type
members, and one for vender/lender members. It is only being sent to active members.
We are able to have more than two surveys out at once so it won’t be any difficulty to
have other surveys during this time. We have two survey accounts. One is reserved for
sensitive data like elections. The other can be used for numerous surveys that various
committees may have going. All surveys should be through Survey Monkey. Surveys
should be submitted and approved by the Executive Committee. Discussion took place
regarding using Qualtrics for surveys. We may look into using Qualtrics in the future, but
will need to investigate to see if it will meet our needs. Steve recommended that we talk
with Gayle Northrop, a strategic planning consultant, first before we make any survey
decisions. TO DO: Mindy is going to contact Gayle to see if she will assist us with our
survey review and so will ask about survey software.
PacFAA is worried because USA Funds has reduced their in-person training and USA
Funds provided much of their training in fall and at PacFAA’s conference. PacFAA is
turning to WASFAA for help with meeting their training needs. PacFAA is probably the
hardest hit by this. USA Funds will be doing on line training. Perhaps the Training
Committee could provide training opportunities information for WASFAA members. This
lines up with our Strategic Plan. The Training Committee may also serve as a clearing
house of trainers in the WASFAA region. Kevin would like to see that later today we
cover this topic during our breakout time with the state presidents meeting with the
Training Committee chairs.
1:30
Report from Fiscal Planning
 Budget Update –Diana Mateer moved to accept proposed changes to our 2014
budget (see changes in Fiscal Planning Minutes), and Frank seconded the
motion. The motion carried.
 A motion to move $150,000 from our liquid assets to the Charles Schwab
account at the appropriate time, was made by Frank Green and Sun Ow
seconded it. To Do Jack and Mindy will review with NASFAA when is best for us
to send money to them. Motion passed.
 MLI rates will be set at $680 single residence, $460 commuter, $730 single
residence for non-members, $510 commuter for non-members. Helen moved to
approved these rates and Dayna seconded. Motion approved.
 Treasurer’s Report – An updated report was provided through June 23. Mindy is
up to date on everything. It will be helpful to have initial investment values on
the Treasurer’s report. Kevin thanked Mindy and Wendy for their excellent
work. Steve also expressed gratitude to Mindy for moving the role of Treasurer
to a higher level of service for WASFAA.
2:00
Report from Bylaws, Policies & Procedures – The updated Policies and Procedures will
be sent out to everyone. Policies and procedures will include some changes related to
advocacy and the secretary’s duties, The training committee information included an
incorrect reference to NASFAA’s training and needs to be corrected as NASFAA no
longer has a training committee. Susan Shogren will forward the suggested changes to
Barbara Bickett. The job descriptions and timelines will be reviewed and updated by
committee chairs.
The ATAC presentation will not take place as planned this afternoon, so this item will be
removed from our agenda today and a webinar will be used to present the information.
TO DO: Ashley will contact Paula at ATAC to schedule the webinar.
2:15
Report from Membership – See handout, “Member Engagement Strategies.” We need
to increase connections and support to our members. The committee’s goals are: 1)
build trust and member engagement, 2) build member identity, 3) increase membership
support. Lots of new ideas were shared.
2:30
Group Breakouts – Groups reviewed the Member Engagement Strategies. They will
report back tomorrow. (see notes below)
4:30
ATAC Presentation, Discussion- This was canceled.
Helen Faith moved that we recess and Sun Ow seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Thursday 6/26/14
Call back to order 9:09am
Only 8 voting members, so quorum is not met. Voting for action items will be done via email.
Break Out session reports:
State Presidents/TrainingIdentify the needs that state associations have for training. Pres, Sun, Nichole M, Jack, Sue. Needs:
federal update, USA Funds had previously been a reporter for ED when they aren’t available, partner
with federal relations committee for them to offer; pipeline for effective speakers and trainers, need for
conference speakers, Train the Trainer to develop presenters, partner with volunteer development,
creation of a library of materials; fall workshops continue with strong attendance, partner with state
presidents to advertise, choose timeframe for workshops and ask if we need to supplement materials;
professional development topics; ability to use video for webcasting or video conference (table until
technology would be better); states feel that they need a resource point for materials and trainers. Sun
has been collecting training events from various organizations onto a central calendar, one email per
month is sent out. Could WASFAA look at a similar model? Can we look at having past presentations
available for conferences in states? 2 ideas: 1. Increase collaboration with various committees,
Committees chairs need to reach out to state presidents and other committee chairs and work together
2. Most pressing needs- fall workshop collaboration (easy), serve as a resource for states or other
committees for materials and speakers (database). TO DO: Lakia and Diana write a half-page discussion
on membership/volunteer/training needs for this database
Member Engagement TeamRe-invent the list-serve and blog, blog not being interactive, no one commenting on posts, creation of a
team to post questions, perhaps work with the Training Committee to post questions and answers, Start
with a focus on systems- to create using set on resources, stage a discussion to get this started.
Advertise- a topic of the month. Task committees with a month. Ashley C and Ashley S to check to see if
blog snip- can it be made longer in email notifications? Instructions for how to blog, because the
seasoned people will be needed to answer the questions, but may not know how to respond. Need to
organize topics- Lakia will run point and make a plan and provide recommendation, but entire EC will be
needed. Simpler is better. Fewer communication channels, but better more organized communication.
Discussion on LinkedIn vs Blog.
Executive Committee GroupLooking at Lakia’s membership proposal (see emailed proposal)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Do it.
Do it
Do it
Discount membership fee- do in EC, hold off
Do it
Work with Diana on it
Do it, surveys- check with EC before doing it.
Hold off
Have a conversation with Wendy, then ATAC
Do it. Work with Sandi- scholarships
Do it. Work with Ashley S for FAQ.
Training Committee Report
Training Manual- it is in the drop box folder for review. Comments- need a mechanism to evaluate and
access trainers. This is being done, but being kept with the training chairs, but needs to be shared with
EC for Strategic Planning purposes. Steve to review the document and see if what is in there meets his
needs. Kevin to announce availability to EC and ask for comments. After a few weeks, EC will need to
approve via email.
Training Proposals1. Nominations for Excellence in Training (NExT) Program. Ask for nominations from states, this would
help identity future trainers. Timeline: nominations open in Feb, close prior to conference, recognize at
Conference, then invited to join TC for the next year.
2. Change in Timeline. To fit more with the timeline for committee chairs.
Both of the proposals will go out to EC via email for discussion and voting.
President’s GroupReiterated commitment for silent auction at conference, conference calls to begin in September,
common themes for all states- interested in member engagement and member participation &
involvement, need a greater number of members, various levels of funding at each state, so wise use of
resources is necessary.
Consent Agenda:
AZ- moving to memberclicks from ATAC. Transition meeting was last week, requesting the Awards &
Scholarships committee to offer scholarships. Pushing for more AZ at SI, offer scholarships. Large part of
Asset reserves going into Schwab account with NASFAA.
NV- excitement build up, met with FA directors in state asking for buy-in, willing to send people to
conference and offer sessions
OR- nothing to add to report
BREAK 10:43 Called back to order 11am
Communications report- reached 500 people. Largest reach from SI banquet. Newsletter- need articles
for summer issue from membership.
Electronic Services- nothing to add
Fund Development- fiscal planning approved for blog advertisement for vendors. $200. Maybe
something to consider for LinkedIn.
Research- developing of questions for membership surveys. Will go out to council. Timeline is to get that
out in October. TO DO- Leonard to email to Steve a potential question about location of SI. Is it more
important to move it around or to be economical?
Site Selection- updated list in drop box, take a look at locations and dates. TO DO Tracey needs to
update and get that on calendar.
Volunteer- working with membership. Will send out information to chairs about committees, please
update and send back to Diana.
President’s report- drop box, need a sustainable way to store documents. Reports need to go to ATAC
website. Contact Ashley if you have questions. Executive Committee- meet regularly via GoToMeeting,
it’s a standing committee in by-laws, to manage affairs of the association, balance that with maintaining
with transparency, “steward of the first draft”. Then bring to EC for comments and approvals. This will
not reduce the authority or decisions made by EC.
New Business:
Advanced Track of Summer Institute- or MLI? Discussion on pros and con? Something to discuss further.
Do we have a hole in training? Is this an event, or a support system? Or both. Potential Model- Lane
Community College Aspiring Leaders Program.
Tawny moved to adjourn 11:42am. Helen seconded. Motion carries.
To Do Review:
 Mindy is going to contact Gayle to see if she will assist us with our survey review and so will ask
about survey software.
 Jack and Mindy will review with NASFAA when is best for us to send additional $150,000 to
them for investment.
 Ashley S. will contact Paula at ATAC to schedule the webinar.
 Lakia and Diana write a half-page discussion on membership/volunteer/training needs for future
database
 Ashley C and Ashley S to check to see if blog snip- can it be made longer in email notifications
 Lakia will make a plan for monthly topics for communication for EC to review.
 Kevin will send out Training Manual to EC and ask for a vote of approval.
 Kevin to send out both Training Committee proposals separately, and call for a vote.
 Leonard to email to Steve a potential question about location of SI. Is it more important to move
it around or to be economical?
 Tracey needs to update meetings and events on calendar.
 ALL- need to post reports online or send to Ashley S for assistance.
Tracey Lehman reviewed Treasure’s Report and financial records in July and reported to EC via email
that everything looks well.
Email Motions:
Thursday July 31st- Barbara Bickett moves to accept the S546 comments prepared by the Federal
Relations Committee. Tracey Lehman seconded. Vote conducted via email. Motion carries.
Wednesday August 20th- Sun Ow moves to approve the budget revision put forth from Awards and
Scholarship Committee to Fiscal Planning Committee:
1. Increase the Awards & Scholarships budget by $2,550 to $13,753.
2. In order to make this increase and maintain a balanced budget, make the following additional
adjustments:
a. Reduce our planned asset reserve deposit for the year from $1,402 to $0.
b. Increase our revenue by drawing $1,148 from existing asset reserves.
Oscar Verduzco seconded. Vote conducted via email. Motion carries.
Friday September 5th- Oscar Verduzco moves to approve the PLUS NPRM comments provided by the
Federal Relations committee. Laura Hughes seconded. Vote conducted via email. Motion carries.
Thursday September 18th- Adam Hatch moves to approve the fee proposals proposed by the Training
Committee as follows:
1. Offering 3/4-day (9:00am - 3:00pm) live workshops at one location in every member state, and
two in California, during October and November, with the following registration fees (same rate
as Fall 2013):
 Members: $55
 Non-members: $105 (includes annual membership fee)
2. Offer this training as a series of live webcasts, which will be recorded, to be presented during
December. Registration will be handled separately, once we have begun delivering this training,
so we can develop the best possible training webcasts. The registration fees would be:
 Members: $55
 Non-members: $105 (includes annual membership fee)
Frank Green seconded. Vote conducted via email. Motion carries.