NORTH CAROLINA MASTER GARDENER VOLUNTEER ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
BURKE COUNTY AGRICULTURE CENTER
MORGANTON, NC
AUGUST 17, 2010
ATTENDANCE
OFFICERS: Bob Kellam, President; Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman, Past President;
Aloma Lemasters, President Elect; Carroll Gaissert, Recording Secretary
DELEGATES/ALTERNATES: Anita Lawson, Guilford County, Deborah Blevins,
Gaston County; Kathy Connors, Henderson County; Paulette Kenley, Iredell County;
DeeDee Messinger, Burke County; Randy Lane, Burke County; Chuck Schlein, Burke
County; Marcia Hill, Burke County; Anne Fischer, Burke County; Cynthia WisehartHenry, Henderson County; Marian Donovan, Henderson County; Sheilah Lombardo,
Forsyth County. Attending via Eluminate: Lucy Bradley; Master Gardener Coordinator,
NCSU; Jim Haywood, Nash County; Julie Dayvault, Davidson County; Brian Wheat,
Onslow County
The meeting was called to order at 10:12AM by President, Bob Kellam.
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS: Bob Kellam
Bob introduced the Burke County Master Gardeners in attendance and thanked them for
making today’s meeting possible. He announced that the Burke County Master
Gardeners are preparing lunch with locally-grown produce.
Bob reminded the group that the by-laws require meetings to be conducted by Roberts’
Rules of Order. He distributed a handout of essential information about Roberts’ Rules
MINUTES: Sheilah Lombardo moved to waive reading of the May 18, 2010, minutes.
Her motion was seconded and the minutes were approved.
Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman noted that the minutes say the Association will take over the
Search for Excellence program and that this needs to be placed on the agenda for
discussion at the November board meeting..
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
BUDGET/FINANCE: Bob Kellam for Barbara Walters (Attachments A,B)
Bob reported that the association is in good shape financially. Income since the last
meeting is $12,868.95, mostly from repayment of the bridge loan and proceeds from the
annual conference.
The total proceeds from the 2009 conference were $8,504.61. The current balance in the
treasury is $24,228.54. Bob expressed concerns that a non-profit organization should
not end the year with such a large balance in the treasury. This will be discussed further.
Approximately 65% of funds budgeted for this year have been expended to date.
Shirley suggested that in the future expenses and budget information be posted for the
board members to review prior to the meeting to facilitate discussion.
MEMBERSHIP: Bob Kellam for Barbara Walters
The current membership stands at 570, with 193 being new members this year. A
concern is that there are 180 from 2009 who did not renew in 2010. Barbara would like
to undertake a survey to see why people are not renewing. Bob expressed a belief that a
lot of people who are not planning to attend the next conference don’t renew because
they don’t perceive any benefits other than the conference discount. Others agreed with
this and expressed support for a survey. There was discussion of the best way to conduct
such a survey. One suggestion was to do it via e-mail. However, it was decided that a
survey via regular mail might solicit more honest opinions because of the ability to
remain anonymous. After discussion, a motion was made to authorize the Membership
committee to work with the Executive and Survey committees to collaborate on a survey
to be done by the November board meeting. The motion was passed without objection.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE REPORTS
NCMGVA BROCHURE COMMITTEE: Deb Blevins
Three thousand copies of the new membership brochure have been printed. There was
some confusion in the budget figures because there was an overcharge from the amount
originally quoted due to confusion with another client, resulting in a refund. Bob will
distribute brochures when he does county visits. Copies will be provided to the
conference planning committee to use when approaching donors and sponsors. Copies
will also be provided for annual and regional conferences.
There was discussion of whether or not to provide copies for the Membership committee
for inclusion in welcome letters. Some expressed the opinion that it would be a waste, as
the recipients would have already joined the association. As an alternative, the
information about member benefits could be put into the text of the welcome letter.
Others felt that it would be received positively and suggested that the letter ask the
recipients to share the brochures with others. Other suggestions included distributing
them in new Master Gardener classes, putting them on bulleting boards in the county
extension offices, making the horticulture agents aware of their availability, and using
them at gardening shows other than Master Gardener activities. Then a suggestion was
made that the brochure be put on the website where it could be accessed by everyone as
needed. It was agreed that Bob will post the brochure to the website. Henderson County
will host the Western Regional Symposium on October 20th. Kathy Connors stated that a
lot of Master Gardeners in western NC don’t know about the NCMGVA. The group
agreed to give them 100 brochures to put in conference folders.
NEWSLETTER: Bob Kellam
The Summer issue went out June 4th. There is still a district reporter vacancy in the
Northeast region. We have very few members in some of the counties in this region.
Only 200 hard copies of this issue were printed. 132 were mailed to people who have
opted to receive the newsletter by mail. Bob used the remaining copies for county
meetings he attended. Available statistics regarding the e-mailed newsletter show that
277 people opened the e-mail. Of those, 164 clicked on the link. This was an
improvement from the last issue.
SURVEY COMMITTEE: Carroll Gaissert
Carroll reported that she had not totaled up all the numbers, however the additional
surveys received from the 2010 conference echo the findings of the 2009 survey in that
the majority of the members do not see a benefit to belonging to the association other
than to receive the conference discount. Also, there is a good deal of interest expressed
in having regional conferences and symposia; however, very few of the respondents
indicate a willingness to host or work on producing them.
CONFERENCE REPORTS
2010 CONFERENCE REPORT: Bob Kellam for Barbara Walters
The host counties have completed their report and Bob will post it to the website. The
net proceeds were $16,000.
2011 CONFERENCE: Bob Kellam
Because the last annual conference was at the coast and the 2012 conference will be in
the mountains, the desire is to have the 2011 conference in the Piedmont region. Since
none of the counties have volunteered, plans have been started for hosting the 2011
conference in Raleigh, with a focus on making it very different from the conference held
there in 2007. The NCMGVA will be the principal host, in association with Wake,
Durham, Orange and perhaps Johnston Counties. The conference will be held at the new
Convention Center. Both the Marriot and the Sheraton are adjacent to the Convention
Center, so attendees can walk from their hotels. The pre-convention dinner on Sunday
evening will be held at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. A free bus, the R-Line,
circulates through downtown Raleigh, so attendees can easily access local restaurants and
attractions. Garden tours are being organized and there will be hands-on workshops such
as hypertufa, bonsai, leaf casting, and/or garden art held either as part of the educational
presentations or as an alternative to the Monday tours. One possible tour is the state-ofthe-art research center at NCSU. Bob stated that we will need to raise $10,000-12,000 in
order to hold down the registration fee. He is putting together a packet of information
and will need Board members to assist in seeking donations, silent auction items, etc.
2012 CONFERENCE: Kathy Connors, Chair
Kathy introduced Cynthia Wisehart-Henry, registrar, and Marian Donovan, co-chair of
the educational committee for the 2012 Conference to be held May 20-23 at the
Doubletree Biltmore in Asheville. Henderson County is serving as lead coordinator of
the conference, with Haywood, Polk, Brevard, Transylvania and Buncombe Counties as
co-hosts. They are currently forming committees to work on the various aspects of the
conference and are enjoying the planning process.
MASTER GARDENER COORDINATOR REPORT: Lucy Bradley
The Legislature has agreed to return the money they swept from Master Gardener
accounts. The timetable for return of the funds is not known.
Lucy has just returned from attending the American Community Gardening Association
Conference. North Carolina will possibly host a regional conference next year. If this
works out, she would like for the NCMGVA to be involved. The details of what a state
association of this organization will look like have not been worked out. A committee
has been formed to work on this with involvement of some Master Gardeners from
Guilford and Forsyth Counties. She expressed the feeling that this is a great way to make
a difference by being involved in topics such as childhood obesity and prevention
through gardening. This would be a great way to partner with public health groups.
Lucy is in the process of putting together a state-wide team to help manage the Master
Gardener Endowment. This group is moving forward in making the endowment a viable
tool for the group. She suggested that we might want to look at the funds we have with a
eye toward providing for the future.
Some exciting things are happening in the Extension Service with regard to the “Ask an
Expert” website which is used by extension agents nationwide. Most counties have
created a quick link from their website to the Ask an Expert site. They are currently
working on building a database of frequently asked questions.
In September, a 3-day webinar IPM training will be offered. There will be web-based
training in the mornings and activities in the afternoons. This will be held on
Wednesdays, Sept. 1, 8, 15. Check with county agents.
The Plants, Pests and Pathogens program was recently featured at the American
Horticultural Society as an outstanding example of training for Master Gardeners..
OLD BUSINESS:
MASTER GARDENER LICENSE PLATES: Janie Taylor
The bill to allow the special license plate was not passed by the Legislature during the
short session. Comments heard from legislators reflected concerns regarding the number
of special plates already in use. The bill will be reintroduced in the next session. We
currently have over 400 Master Gardeners who have expressed interest in the plates. In
the event the bill is passed, prepaid orders for 300 license plates must be received before
any can be produced.
NEW BUSINESS
DEBUT OF THE WILD APRICOT SITE: Bob Kellam
Our website is now hosted by Wild Apricot which will enable a much broader variety of
functions and is easier to navigate than the old website. Members will be able to join or
renew on the website. A question was asked about fees for this service, and Bob
explained that it will cost fifty cents for each $10 membership which is paid via the
website.
Bob conducted a brief tour of the new website and explained how to access it. Current
members have been assigned a random password. When entering the site for the first
time, click on “forgot password”, then change your password and set it to remember you.
Only current association members will be able to access the membership information
portion of the website. Members of the public will be able to access newsletters and
information about the association.
Eventually, conference registration can take place on the website. Links will be added to
the various county MG programs. A variety of searches can be performed.
SUPPORT FOR REGIONAL SYMPOSIA: Bob Kellam (Attachment C)
Bob introduced a proposal to establish a grant program to support ongoing and start-up
regional educational programs. There was discussion of the fact that the program would
need to specify that support would be based on available funds. The association is in a
good position financially at present, but in the future this could change.
The association would be acknowledged as a sponsor of each program supported, and
NCMGVA members would receive a discounted registration. The association would
help to publicize events through the newsletter and website.
There was discussion of what the guidelines should be. For example, the district that
receives funding in a given year might be restricted from receiving funds the following
year. The board might require a written report from the district that receives the grant
within a specific time frame after the event is held. Requests for funding would have to
be received in a designated time frame prior to the program. Some felt that it should be
left up to the regional planners to decide whether they can afford to give discounted
registrations. After some discussion, it was decided that any decision made today would
be limited to support for the Western Symposium. This symposium will serve as a pilot
program and the results will be taken into consideration in setting up permanent
guidelines for the program.
Sheilah Lombardo made a motion to approve a pilot grant of $750 for the Western
Symposium with a provision that NCMGVA members receive a $5 registration discount.
The motion was seconded by Carol Holmen and was carried unanimously. The program
will be placed on the agenda of the November board meeting for further discussion of
permanent guidelines.
NOTE CARD FUNDRAISER: Bob Kellam
It has been suggested that a statewide competition be held for the design for the first set
of note cards to be sold as a fundraiser for the association. Also, there was a suggestion
that the Master Gardener program from which the design comes receive a share of the
proceeds from sale of the cards. On the whole, the group felt that having a competition
for the design would be good, but there were reservations about offering to share the
proceeds with the group who sponsors the winning design. Offering a specific amount of
money as the prize would be much simpler to administer.
Deb Blevins has agreed to work with this program to develop a theme for the cards. A
chairperson will be needed to work with the fundraising committee to get cards
developed and printed after the design is selected.
Sheilah Lombardo made a motion for the association to sponsor a competition for the
design for the fundraising note cards at the 2011 conference, with the county Master
Gardener program winning the competition to receive a prize. The motion was seconded
by Aloma Lemasters and was carried unanimously.
DISCUSSION OF MEMBERSHIP QUESTION: Bob Kellam
The discussion of discounts for symposia raised the perennial question “If I join to get the
conference discount or a discount for a symposium, does my membership expire at the
end of December?”. In the past this has created an administrative nightmare. With Wild
Apricot, the website can be programmed to notify members when their membership is
expiring. But to have memberships expiring throughout the year would require a by-laws
change, since the membership year is currently defined as January 1 through December
31. In the meantime, the group is split with some feeling that the current year’s dues
should be waived for those who register for conference and others believing that the
discount should be given but the membership should not begin until the following year.
Bob was questioned about the cost of Wild Apricot. It is $1,080 annually. Subscribing
to Eluminate is an additional $200 annually. If we maintain a membership of 600, the
membership income is $6,000 per year. We have a Fundraising Committee that is
looking at ways to raise money. Sheilah remarked that since we have funds in the
Treasury over and above the amount needed for current expenses, it would seem to make
sense to sock away a year’s operating expenses. Then, if the annual conference does not
make money, or membership revenue is insufficient to support operating expenses, we
could still support the organization. Bob indicated that this topic will need to be
discussed further and decisions made regarding the funds we currently have.
STARTER GRANTS FOR NEW MG PROGRAMS
Because the meeting was running past the scheduled ending time, a discussion of this
agenda item was postponed until the November meeting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Bob Kellam
NEXT MEETING: November 16, 2010 - Bolivia, Brunswick County
Future meetings: January 18, 2011 - Raleigh (2011 Conference venue)
May 10, 2011 - Annual business meeting at conference.
With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at
1:26PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Carroll Gaissert, Recording Secretary
Submitted: October 26, 2010
Attachments:
A. Treasurer’s report, August 1, 2010
B. Budget versus Expenses YTD
C. Regional Symposia
D. Fundraising Notecards