Great Falls Public Schools Foundation
Board Meeting
DRAFT Minutes DRAFT
April 18, 2012
DA Davidson, Davidson Conference Center
Attendance:
Excused:
Ex Officio:
Staff:
Bjarne Johnson
Bethann McGregor
Gerry Jennings
Steve Erwin
Brian Halverson
Jerry Lehman
Leslie Oakland
Mick Taleff
Bill Weber
Owen Robinson
Cheryl Crawley
Dave Crum
Kathy Jackson
Linda Caricaburu
Stu Nicholson
Johnny Walker
Anne Martinez
Terry Olinger
Bill Johnstone
Jeff Millhollin
Ashley Repko
I.
Approval of February 22, 2012 Board Minutes – Passed unanimously
II.
Communications – Bill Johnstone
Dave mentioned to the Board that the Great Falls Public Schools Foundation website is up
and running. It can be viewed at www.gfpsfoundation.org and has all of the recent publicity
coverage on there as well.
III.
Open Meeting Statement – Bill Johnstone
Bill read the statement.
IV.
Committee Reports
A. Finance Committee Report – Jerry Lehman
Jerry presented the financial reports. A breakdown of the Profit & Loss by restricted
contributions was provided. The awards/grants report was presented so the Board
could see exactly where money has been distributed. The next report presented was the
Balance Sheet by class. The cash in the bank, restricted and unrestricted is what the
Foundation currently has available to spend. Jerry noted that the committee decided to
make some changes to reflect the true class that some funds were spent from. Ashley
added in a “Transfers in” column as well as a “Transfers out” so that the Board could
keep track of funds transferred between classes. Also, Jerry explained the Committee
believed the Foundation will collect $70,995 in pledges receivable in 2012. The budget
for the next fiscal year is in process as well an endowment and investment policies.
B. Program Committee – Anne Martinez
Anne reported to the board the upcoming process for determining projects for
fundraising. The Fundraising Committee expressed the need to identify significant
projects that could capture the interest of donors to make larger gifts over a period of
years. Dave is organizing a committee of teachers, administrators, and board members
to try to identify these projects. Anne and Linda will chair this committee.
Anne explained that Excellence in Education is also underway. The top 15 students from
GFHS and CMR along with 3 students from Paris will be chosen as outstanding scholars.
They will then choose a teacher to honor that made a significant impact on their
educational career. There will not be an event for this as previously thought; the
keynote speaker was not available.
The Discovery Grants are also getting great coverage in the media. The 2012 Discovery
Grant applications close on April 26, 2012. The new review committee has been
selected and includes Anne Martinez, Kathy Jackson, Joella Bloomgren, Sandy Thares,
Steve Smith, Bob McIntyre, Lacee Shanahan, Tara Rosipal, and Burke Allen. Applications
will be evaluated before June 7 with funding being dispersed starting October 15, 2012.
C. Fundraising Committee – Linda Caricaburu
Linda also discussed the projects for fundraising. The Fundraising committee is hopeful
that some great ideas will come from the brainstorming committee meeting. The areas
of Early Learning Childhood Education, Math/Science, Arts/Music, and Career/Technical
Education were areas of interest for the committee. Linda also discussed that Steve had
organized the potential donors list better by industry. This allows for people to connect
easier.
D. Planned Giving – Bjarne Johnson
Bjarne reported a planned giving seminar jointly sponsored by GFPS and MSU COT
Foundations has been changed to June 11, 2012. The target audience will be
professionals (attorneys, accountants, financial planners, and insurance agents) and
board members. The speakers will be Bjarne and Melanie Shell, JD, MSU Foundation.
The seminar will be held at MSU - COT Heritage Hall with lunch and continuing
education credits offered to participants.
E. Executive Committee – Bill Johnstone
Bill explained that the By-law changes have been submitted. The Executive Committee
will review them and they will be brought to the Board at the June 20, 2012 meeting for
approval.
V.
Great Falls Education Foundation – Anne
Anne explained that Dave presented information about the GFPS Foundation to the
Great Falls Education Foundation (GFEF) Board. They are hopeful to get a close alliance.
Dave and Ashley have taken over their administrative duties. Zander Blewett, GFEF
Board President, announced that the GFEF has officially changed its name to the Great
Falls Scholarship Foundation. They are hopeful this will avoid confusion between the
two Foundations. The idea of sharing some board members was also presented. This
would help build the alliance of the two Foundations.
VI.
Website – www.gfpsfoundation.org – Steve
Steve explained to the Board the format of the new website and passed around an iPad
so members could glance at it. He created the site but Ashley now maintains it. There
was mention that DA Davidson put a link on their website that links to ours and we
would do the same. It was brought up that the more links a website has the easier it is
found in a search engine.
VII.
Public Comment – No public comment.
VIII.
Other Business – Linda expressed excitement about the Hoop House Discovery grant
presented to Roosevelt Elementary School. It will be built on Saturday, April 21, 2012
with the neighborhood Pea Pods helping with construction.
IX.
Next meeting will be held in the Liberty Building at DA Davidson at 4:30 PM on
June 20, 2012.
Respectfully submitted,
Ashley Repko