Quarterly Meeting
Thursday, January 22, 2009
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
ATTENDEES:
Rick Althaus
Melody Anderson
Debbie Atchison
Wade Bartels
Beth Boehm
Nicolette Brennan
Tony Buehrle
Mary Burton-Hitt
Sandra Cabot
Ellen Carlson
Charles DiStefano
Ruth Dockins
Sam Duncan
Larry Essner
Michelle Fayette
Matt Feldt
Linda Garner
Sharon Hileman
Eva Hillis
Laura Hinkebein
Bill Holland
Lana Johnson
Trudy Lee
Amanda Lincoln
Holly Lintner
Barbara Lohr
Betty Martin
Marla Mills
Jennifer Orban
Lisa Quick
Tammy Samuel
Jack Smart
Bonnie Stahlman
Laura Sternborg
Molly Strickland
Regina Tucker
Penelope Vogel
Angie Wilson
SECOP’s first quarterly meeting of 2009 was held at the Wehking Alumni Center on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. President Amanda Lincoln called the meeting to order and thanked Southeast Missouri University Foundation for providing lunch. Southeast’s representative Bill Holland welcomed the members to Kem Statuary Hall and provided background on the facility and statuary.
After a round robin introduction of all members, minutes from the October 23, 2008 annual meeting were approved as submitted. Also, Larry Essner provided the treasurer’s report which showed income of $1,300 and expenses of $1,004.94 since the last meeting and a current balance of $3,132.30. The report was approved as presented.
Due to an oversight in the elections at the annual meeting, a new Member At Large position on the board was not filled at that time. Ruth Dockins was presented as the nominee for this position and was approved unanimously to fill the position of Member At Large.
Ellen Carlson provided the Membership report, noting that January is the month for all nonprofits to renew membership for the new calendar year. Ellen encouraged all in attendance to rejoin in
2009 and asked all members to give a brochure to another charity to encourage colleagues to join the organization and benefit from the networking and education provided.
Penelope Vogel provided the Community Outreach report, stating that an ad has been placed in the Estate Planning edition of the SE Missourian’s TBY publication due out on February 2 nd .
Furthermore, any nonprofits wishing to submit stories for the Leave A Legacy Make It Matter campaign should fill out the form and give it to Penelope for inclusion in this series.
Linda Garner gave the Program report, asking that all members and guests providing feedback on the survey provided and the evaluation from this meeting. Also, in response to requests from the membership, a Certificate of Attendance will be provided at all educational sessions so individuals can track their attendance for certification purposes. Lastly, the next opportunity will be a lunch and webinar on February 26 at a location to be determined.

In other business, Abby Petzoldt, who designed the new SECOP logo, provided information on an opportunity that Tri-State Advertising and Marketing Professionals is providing called the
“Advertising for a Cause” award. All nonprofits and special interest organizations are encouraged to file an application for this award and one group/organization will be selected to receive a marketing package valued at $40,000.
Beth Boehm introduced the media panel, including Gina Rafferty from the Cash Book Journal,
Dan Woods from KRCU Public Radio, Faune Riggin from KZIM Radio, Bob Miller, Southeast
Missourian Editor, and Chris Harris, Southeast Missourian Assistant Editor (The focus of the panel discussion was to hear from media personnel, how our agencies could best be represented in the media. A few key points were as follow:
Per Bob Miller, online submissions are sorted for the website and for paper printing. Stories can also be submitted to news@semissourian.com
, bmiller@semissourian.com
or charris@semissourian.com
. Submitting on the web is usually a sure way to get the story on the internet and possibly picked for the print newspaper. The story will be online almost immediately, and more than 15,000 individuals view the SE Missourian online. However, print is still more popular than on-line, and reaches the largest audience.
According to Faune Riggin, a story must be compelling to get on the air. Human interest stories are best, and she recommended that interesting details be included. Stories can be submitted to the KZIM website as well. No story will be posted if the individual does not give out their own name and contact information, but confidentiality on the air can be kept, if necessary.
Bob Miller added that, in order to get a story picked up for the paper, you must consider how the story would impact the community. He suggested to find a connection between the story and how it ties into the community. If you are concerned that information may not be properly represented in the story, start with the most important aspect you want to communicate and make the message clear. You can also ask to review and approve the quotes.
Chris Harris talked about blogs being important and easy to set up on line. They noted that the community calendar that is soon to be revamped on SE Missourian will provide a lot of information and be a good way to get information out about events. Also, special publications such as She, TBY, and the Kids special news papers may be the perfect avenue to tie in your story.
Faune Riggin noted that KZIM radio waves reach St. Louis, Arkansas, and Memphis, starting at 7am. Options for KZIM include PSAs and the 7:20-7:25 live Coffee Break interview. The
8:40 time slot is most often used for a story with national connections, but it could be used for an important local/regional interview. Contact Faune at 335-5512 or fauner@riverradio.net
at least 3 weeks in advance.
Dan Woods added that KRCU will provide PSAs and community announcements with 3 weeks advance notice as well. Another option with KRCU is a taped interview program on Sundays at 3pm that will provide great exposure. Questions can be directed to dwoods@semo.edu
or stories submitted to Jacob McCleland at jmccleland@semo.edu
.
Gina Rafferty indicated that stories for the Cash Book Journal can be submitted on the website and her email contact is badergina@jacksonmo.com
or cashbook@jacksonmo.com
. They need
2-3 weeks notice to put events on the monthly calendar, which is published on Fridays.

Lastly, Chris Harris requested a list of contacts for each agency. It is helpful to have one expert per agency listed, so they know who to contact for specific story topics. SECOP will compile the information and consider how to include a contact list for media use on the SECOP website.
The next quarterly meeting will be held on April 23, 2009, at the new location of Lutheran
Family and Children’s Services located at 3178 Blattner Drive, Cape Girardeau. More information on the 2009 calendar will be posted on the website at www.secoponline.org
.
Respectfully submitted,
Trudy Lee, Acting Secretary