WOMEN'S NATIONAL BOOK ASSOCIATION
Annual Board Meeting, June 4-6, 2010
Detroit, Michigan
Minutes of the Meeting
Friday, June 4, 2010
Embassy Suites Hotel
Attendees:
Joan Gelfand---San Francisco Chapter, National President
Mary Grey James---Nashville Chapter, National Vice President
Margaret Auer---Detroit Chapter, National Treasurer
Ruth Light---Los Angeles Chapter, National Secretary
Valerie Tomaselli---New York Chapter, National Vice President/President Elect, WNBA Pannell
Award Chairperson
Annette Haley--Detroit Chapter President
Lynn Henriksen--San Francisco Chapter President
Katherine Dibble--Long Range Planning/Boston Chapter Representative
Ginna Foster Cannon--Nashville Chapter President
Michelle Gilstrap--Los Angeles Chapter President
Shannon Janeczek--Detroit Chapter, The Bookwoman Managing Editor
Bebe Brechner--Nashville Chapter, Web Site Manager
Carin Seigfried--Charlotte Chapter President
Emily Sachs--Washington D.C. Chapter President
Karen Livecchia--New York City Chapter President
Cathy Rustagi--Seattle Chapter President
Lee Fairbend---Nashville Chapter, WNBA Award
Jill Tardiff---New York City, NRGM/GGR Chairperson
Welcome and Introduction
The meeting began at 9:10
Joan welcomed the executive board and thanked Annette Haley and the Detroit chapter for
organizing and hosting the national meeting.
Joan then introduced Mary Grey, who asked everyone to describe her favorite book in the last
year.
Joan asked that the chapter presidents share information about their most exciting chapter event
from the past year. Detailed information about those events can be accessed in the annual
1
chapter reports which were sent to the executive board members via email during the latter part
of May.
THE BOOKWOMAN DISCUSSION
Last year's action item of developing guidelines and submission schedules has been completed
by Shannon.
The most recent issue of The Bookwoman is electronic only, and this was decided last year
because there is usually not very much WNBA activity in the summer.
WNBA’s official policy now is that the third issue will be electronic. It's approximately sixteen
pages long. Sustaining members get free ads, and Shannon wants feature articles and book
reviews. She also said that members can "pitch" just about anything. Shannon asked about the
privacy issue in terms of putting the board's personal contact information on the back page.
Everybody seemed to be in favor of keeping the contact information on the back page, and
Shannon will email people individually to confirm this.
ACTION ITEM – Shannon will provide quotes to the executive committee for printing The
Bookwoman.
ACTION ITEM – Shannon will contact the members of the board on what information (e.g.,
name, position, email, phone number) each wishes to have in The Bookwoman
ACTION ITEM—Chapter presidents will make sure that their chapter contact lists are updated.
ACTION ITEM—Chapter presidents will inform their chapter members about The Bookwoman
listserv, and encourage its use.
The submissions schedule guidelines are on the Web site, and also there were printed copies at
the meeting. Shannon is in the process of deciding whether to use recycled paper for The
Bookwoman.
ACTION ITEM--Annette volunteered to help with tasks involved with The Bookwoman.
ACTION ITEM--- Shannon will prepare a jobs resources article for the fall issue.
There was a discussion about chapter member benefits regarding The Bookwoman. Members
who have published should be in every issue, and if we do 3 issues every year, at least one issue
and maybe two should have a member book review The third issue could have a review of a
book written by a non-member author.
Margaret said we need to focus on our members first and then think about promoting others. Jill
talked about how there can be a balance between promoting our own, and embracing the outside
world, saying that an organization needs to have a point of view in today's world. Katherine
2
mentioned that we have a benefits list for our sustaining members. One of those benefits is that
they can have their books reviewed in The Bookwoman. Valerie said we should have an
experienced "reviewer" that would do that for us.
ACTION ITEM - Shannon indicated every issue should include a review of a member’s book or a
sponsor’s book; one issue may include a review of a book outside this realm; the fall issue will
note that The Bookwoman will begin in January to have reviews.
ACTION ITEM—Shannon will put an article in the fall issue of The Bookwoman about how
members can get their books reviewed.
ACTION ITEM—Shannon will work out the details of how to find the person who will do the
book reviews.
Shannon needs each chapter’s current email lists sent before every issue. In September The
Bookwoman will be sent to the chapters early so we can hand it out for our October events.
Sometimes the visual quality of the pictures is not very good. The board agreed it would look
better to use black and white, with a spot of green for our logo.
Margaret checks to see if the books mentioned by members are on the Web site and that the
submitting author is indeed a chapter member. Our job is not to promote non-members;
however, it is appropriate to promote the related activities of members, such as the editing of a
book, or the illustrating of a book.
Only books written by member authors can be in the Boston Public Library collection, but there
is a difference between that and the articles in The Bookwoman.
For the particulars on the guidelines for submitting to The Bookwoman, go to the Web site.
ACTION ITEM - Shannon will change The Bookwoman to primarily black & white.
ACTION ITEM---Shannon will notify each chapter Bookwoman contact that the third issue will
only be available electronically and will be placed in the members only section of the Web site;
contact will notify their chapter’s membership.
ACTION ITEM---Chapter presidents must make sure their membership person is contacting
Shannon with updates to the membership roll.
ACTION ITEM---Shannon will send to each chapter president and chapter membership person
the excel template needed for mailing The Bookwoman including the deadlines for submissions.
Shannon will separate out the membership information for each respective chapter.
If an issue of The Bookwoman is deemed undeliverable, it goes back to NY. Then NY pays for
the postage. National is committed to continue reimbursing NY for this postage.
3
ACTION ITEM---Shannon will include in the fall issue the national and chapter blog addresses.
ACTION ITEM---There should be an interim communication committee to develop a cohesive
communication packet for the chapters to use: chapter development, marketing, what has
national done for me, that type of information. Carin, Michelle and Shannon volunteered to
develop this packet.
ACTION ITEM---Both communication and development job descriptions should be sent in for
the fall issue of The Bookwoman.
Joan reminded everyone that The Bookwoman is an underused member benefit.
10:30—Valerie Tomaselli arrived.
WEB SITE DISCUSSION
Work on the new Web site started last September. Bebe, NC, Joan, and Valerie are on the Web
site committee. Bebe presented a review of the proposed Web site. One of the new features is a
rotating book cover on the left navigation panel. There are links to blog posts, and there will be
a button for donating through PayPal.
Bebe suggested an optional additional price might be added to membership dues that would have
national Web site benefits. This solicitation would come from national. It would have nothing
to do with chapter dues.
Mary Grey said one reason we started a new Web site is so that chapters can have some
uniformity for their own Web sites.
11:30--Lee Fairbend arrived.
12:45---lunch break
The meeting began again at 1:45.
Joan talked about the fundraising for the Web site. We raised about 2/3 of the needed funds.
Now is the time to ask our chapters for additional donations for the remaining $500.00 that is
needed to complete the Web site set-up.
The Bookwoman had the fundraising donation request letter in it.
Valerie suggested a link to the beta version of the new Web site be printed in The Bookwoman to
show people what it is so far. There should also be a link to send a donation.
ACTION ITEM--- Valerie will develop verbiage to include with the Web site funding request.
4
There was a discussion about the picture for the header on the Web site home page. Several
pictures were submitted for consideration.
The board kept one of the pictures for consideration, but rejected the rest.
ACTION ITEM---Presidents will put out a call to their chapters for an artist/photographer to
submit photos for the front page of the Web site. This will not be a paid project. June 14th will
be the deadline for submission. There will be photo credit for the photographer.
The new slogan will be embedded on the photo in the header.
The board discussed words like community, value, etc. People said using 1917 was important
because WNBA was begun in that year. We are approaching 100 years as an organization. We
are one of the oldest literary organizations in the country.
ACTION ITEM---The board agreed that if WNBA has to pay 2-3 hundred dollars to get a
licensed photo or the right professional looking photo it would be worth the investment.
Several slogans were submitted for consideration.
MOTION—Valerie moved that the slogan on the new Web site be “promoting the community of
the book since 1917". Lynn seconded. Motion passed with 16 yes, 1 no, and one abstention.
Mary Grey said our goal should be to get the Web site up and running by the end of June.
We have an ad running in Poets and Writers magazine in July or August, and this ad should
include notification of our new Web site.
ACTION ITEM--Margaret will change and update the officer information on the current Web
site.
ACTION ITEM---Mary Grey will do a press release about the WNBA Pannell Award, and will
include an announcement of our new chairperson, which is Valerie.
Annette said we should encourage the chapter presidents and members to become interested in
the new Web site, but there will not be a press release. An important part of our Web site can be
a blog spot. Our publicity has been disparate, and we need a communication person.
Will the current stat counter be moved over to the new Web site? Bebe said the hosting site will
provide that. We have transferred Bebe's name to the LunarPages account. Transferring the
Network Solutions account will come in the future.
TWITTER DISCUSSION
Last year's goal for Twitter was basic positioning, and now we need social media and more
electronic connections. Jill wants every chapter member to be aware of WNBA’s Twitter
5
presence. WNBA has a Facebook page which is dormant. Carin strongly recommends doing a
page and not a group. Jill said members should create a Twitter page for themselves, plus every
chapter should make a Twitter page. Twitter is a big promotional bonus for members. Three
chapters now have Twitter accounts.
Chapter members should be encouraged to be followers of WNBA national Twitter accounts,
and then when Twitter messages come up they are automatically sent to Jill, who monitors them
and re-tweets them if appropriate.
Blogs will be listed on the left panel of the new Web site.
MENTORING/CHAPTER BREAK-OUT SESSIONS/WHERE ARE YOUR
CONCERNS/WHERE ARE YOUR EXCITEMENTS DISCUSSION…this became a discussion
of the whole board rather than break-outs.
Margaret talked about the responsibility of chapter presidents to the national, and to the chapters.
Another issue is bylaws, and whether they are being followed by the chapters. Margaret has a
copy of chapter bylaws which have been written and sent to her where the official file is
maintained. On the existing Web site there is a template for bylaws.
ACTION ITEM – Margaret will check her files to determine what chapter by-laws are on record.
.
Joan asked what are your chapter issues? Membership terms, succession planning, meeting
space issues, attendance at meetings, member retention, making national relevant, teaching the
members about our history, attracting members.
ATTRACTING MEMBERS—
Have raffles and give-aways.
Give complimentary memberships.
Respond to current events (the recession).
When new person joins, try to put her/him into some position of authority.
IDEA---The membership chair, at every board meeting, could prepare a list of new members
which mentions their committee interests. This information is then discussed by the board.
IDEA---At renewal time, Charlotte adds to the renewal request these two questions; "Do you
need to update your contact information? Where is your current committee interest?"
When renewal request goes out, should include “what's coming up.”
Have an all-day planning meeting.
6
Send out a hard-copy of the meeting results.
Have president introduce herself to every new face, and connect them to someone else.
Charge less for a guest at an event to encourage "newbies."
Break up terms to encourage people to be officers.
Help people to understand their roles…training…teaching.
Manuals need to be developed/written.
Joan posed the question; Are we asking too much of our officers? Could that be the problem with
succession planning?
Do surveys to find out what people want.
Is the way we do things viable? We don't want to do programs that are too much work…that
wear people out.
Have people take ownership of an event, other than the few big events that the chapter organizes.
Do other chapters have insurance for their events? A bookstore required it for one of the SF
events. Perhaps someone in the group would have a lawyer friend that could advise us. Lee said
that board liability varies from state to state.
Most condominiums have rental space.
Public libraries are a good venue, but they often need to close right on the dot.
Chambers of commerce sometimes have rooms that are available.
Community colleges might have rooms on weekends.
HOW DO YOU TRACK YOUR MEMBERS' SUCCESSES?
Literary calendar that has member events.
Have member news flow right to the newsletter.
LEE FAIRBEND AND WNBA AWARD—Lee encouraged everybody to read over the
nominations.
The meeting adjourned at 4:45.
SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 2010---9 am
Same location
7
Same attendees as Friday
Charlotte was chosen as the chapter that will receive $500.00 for the WNBA Eastman Award.
The Charlotte chapter will select a library association in their state to receive the funds. The
national president will prepare a letter to accompany the donation. This is done by putting the
names of the chapters into a hat, and then one name is drawn out. The winning chapter will not
be eligible again until each chapter has been chosen to receive the $500.00.
THE WNBA PANNELL AWARD—This award consists of two gifts of $1,000.00 each given to
two bookstores that offer children’s programming; the Pannell fund is more stable financially
than it has been in previous years. The Penguin Young Readers Group underwrites it.
Penguin has assured Mary Grey that they are committed to supporting the WNBA Pannell
Award for the foreseeable future.
THE GENERAL ACCOUNT
Margaret is concerned about the general account. Expenses for the officers has increased
dramatically. The fact that the allowance is not enough to cover travel expenses is a large
concern.
Giving the WNBA Award could be used for transitioning into a fundraising event to subsidize
the ceremony itself.
At the 2007 board meeting it was decided that the per capita would go to $14.00 on January 1,
2010. At next year's board meeting it will be decided how much the per capita will again be
raised. This gives the chapters time to adjust their dues to accommodate the increase in per
capita.
There was a discussion about what happens to the IRS status and reporting if a chapter brings in
more than $25,000.00/year.
Joan talked about fundraising. It took a long time to get out our fundraising letter. We have a
huge membership but the chapters are not doing enough to publicize our monetary needs.
Chapter presidents should take this issue seriously. Membership is down by over 200 members
since it's been tracked.
Mary Grey asked everyone to communicate to the chapter members what national has done for
them. Members are often unaware of what the national benefits are.
Jill talked about the person-to-person value of this organization. Margaret spoke about Jill's
fundraising efforts. Jill is pivotal in putting NRGM together. That's one big program that
national coordinates for chapter members.
8
Carin talked about how she feels that the chapters need to raise money for their own chapter.
She would like to see grant writing and sustaining members increase. She would like to see a
board member at the national level who is dedicated to fundraising.
Mary Grey encouraged everyone to go to the Web site and see everything that is available there
for presidents and chapter members. At every Nashville board meeting someone talks about
national.
Lynn says that she puts out eblasts and blogs, etc. as soon as she gets them from national.
Bebe talked about marketing our benefits more. We're increasing our communication. We can
start to incorporate a “mindset” about WNBA that includes fundraising.
There was a discussion about adding a chair on the board for fundraising and development and
possibly grant writing.
Jill said we need to recognize how to “tap” other organizations to get help on this issue.
Michelle said she has a contact in LA within SCORE that might be a possibility.
ACTION ITEM -- Lee will send Michelle sample job descriptions and Michelle will draft a job
description for a development chairperson. By August the job description will be sent to the
chapter presidents for recommending individuals to fill this position.
Shannon spoke about the need for a publicity person to work with the development person.
There was a discussion about branding and media tool kits. There is a media tool kit that should
be on the Web site. Chapters also need a media tool kit.
ACTION ITEM--- Carin, Michelle and Shannon volunteered to be an interim communication
committee to develop a cohesive communication packet for chapters: (chapter development,
marketing, membership kit, what has national done for me, etc.).
MOTION---Margaret moved that the per capita late fee (one month after January 7, and one
month after April 7) of 2 percent (2%) be continued. Katherine seconded. Motion passed
unanimously
There was discussion about sustaining membership.
MOTION---Margaret moved that until the WNBA general account becomes stabilized, the
twenty five percent (25%) sustaining member incentive for chapters be suspended for FY
2010/2011. Any chapter reimbursement will be determined by the Executive Committee.
Katherine seconded. Motion approved unanimously.
Margaret talked about the shift away from companies or chapters to be supportive financially in
order for people to attend the national meeting has caused WNBA expenses to go up.
9
MOTION---Margaret moved that the paying of expenses of officers and committee chairpersons
to attend the national meeting be reduced by twenty five percent (25%) for FY 2010/2011 since
WNBA's general account has not been stabilized. N.B. This should include the WNBA Pannell
chairperson even though the chairperson is reimbursed out of a separate account. Motion
defeated.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY DISCUSSION
Columbia University has kept WNBA’s archives for more than 20 years. They have sent 2 letters
to us asking for $500.00 per year to support their work..
Valerie said she is aware that the materials are not being well taken care of. Jill said we don't
really have many options.
MOTION---Margaret moved that a $500.00 contribution be sent to Columbia University to
support the university's maintenance of the WNBA archives. Motion approved unanimously.
NRGM DISCUSSION
National Reading Group (NRGM) started in 2006. A New Jersey chapter member had the
original idea. Publishers are very interested in Great Group Reads (GGR). The guidelines are
fluid, but in 2011 Roz Reisner and Jill will develop firmer guidelines. They know a lot more
about strategy now. Jill now can describe NRGM in 15 seconds.
Jill made the point that we are all on her committee for NRGM. She doesn't do this alone. It's
the "reading group program" that goes in between summer and the holiday season.
Joan reminded people that NRGM and GGR are classic ways that national helps the chapters.
When we go to publishers, they assign local authors to our NRGM events, but some of them
have national reputations.
The ALA also helps us.
Libraries have really taken off on the NRGM idea. Independent bookstores are hard to get on
board.
Regional directors of independent bookstores are hard to reach and get on board.
Book activities always need to have a sticker, AND…Jill passed out the GGR sticker. What
could we do to get chapters more involved with NRGM and GGR? On the NRGM Web site we
have a GGR page.
The chapter members who have volunteered to be GGR "readers" started reading in March and
the winning books will be announced in August.
10
Announcements are sooner this year than last year.
Chapters need to tell Jill their dates and venues for NRGM asap.
Harper Collins is generous and supportive with NRGM, however, HarperCollins can't support us
as much as usual. There needs to be a book-selling component in all of our NRGM events.
Bookselling is the number one thing to keep in mind.
HarperCollins has been donating $5,000/year but will be reducing the contribution for this next
year. Random House made a contribution for the first two years of the program but nothing for
2009. Ingram supported the signature event in Nashville.
Chapters need to be sensitive about having authors from publishers that are giving us money.
Publishers give us names of authors and then Jill checks with the chapters about whether that
author is okay. Shannon asked if chapters can search for their own authors. Jill said yes.
This year Jill tried to describe a donation level that had different perks, but it backfired by giving
publishers an "out". HarperCollins opted for the lower level.
Nashville has been chosen for the 2010 signature NRGM event, but Anita Shreve has said she
will not sit on the dais with anyone else, and so far she would be the featured author. However, a
signature event needs to be a multi-author event, so this might fall apart.
Great Group Reads---this program has about 14 readers and about 21 books.
If anyone knows of a local bookstore that would like to participate in GGR you can contact Jill,
and also go to the Web site. People can be proactive. They don't need Jill's permission.
CHAPTERS WORKING TOGETHER DISCUSSION
Seattle will be mentored by Jill. Margaret will mentor Seattle in regard to financial issues.
Margaret will also mentor Detroit and Dallas. Carin is Ginna's liaison and Nashville will m entor
Charlotte. Valerie is mentoring Boston. Mary Grey will mentor DC. Ruth will mentor LA. Joan
will mentor SF.
DALLAS-------will have one-year terms for their officers. The Dallas chapter will participate
with NRGM. They have organized a BookTalk radio show, and will be interviewing authors.
They will participate with the Dallas Book Fair, and will have an event with the UN. Margaret
thinks Dallas may be back on track. They want the chapter to be called North Texas, however,
the executive board didn't agree with that name change.
MOTION---Margaret moved that the Dallas chapter, as part of its rebuilding process, be
renamed either Dallas/Ft Worth Chapter, or Ft Worth/Dallas Chapter. The final choice between
these two names will be decided on by the chapter members. Motion approved unanimously.
11
1:10—the meeting resumed after lunch
Katherine spoke about the WNBA author collection at the Boston Public Library. Guidelines for
submitting a book are not on the Web site.
The guidelines, for the time being, will be under member benefits, in the members’ only section,
on the new Web site.
ACTION ITEM---Chapter presidents should describe this collection as a member benefit.
The guidelines for submission to this collection will be in the members’ only section of the Web
site, and the fact that we have this collection will be in the public section of the Web site.
ACTION ITEM---Katherine will draft guidelines for including WNBA author books into the
Boston Public Library; these draft guidelines will then be sent to the executive board for
approval.
WNBA PANNELL AWARD DISCUSSION
Mary Grey notified us that the Bremer Trust will remain. There were 10 submissions. Green
Toad Bookstore in Oneonta, NY, won in the general bookstore category, and Little Shop of
Stories in Decatur, GA, won in the children's specialty store category. A jury of five industry
professionals deliberated for four weeks. Penguin Young Readers Group donated $3,000.00 to
support the Pannell. Each winning store receives a check for $1,000.00, plus a piece of framed
original art, donated this year by David Diaz and Gianna Marino. Presentation of the awards
took place on May 26, 2010, at the Children's Book and Author Breakfast at BEA. Of the five
jurors, two will remain, and three will be new.
Mary Grey receives about 16 to 18 nominations, which she forwards to the five jurors, who
determine the winner. She feels like she gets enough nominations to make this viable.
NOTE---The WNBA logo should be shown on the screen behind our representative at the
Children's Book and Author Breakfast.
The Association of Booksellers for Children membership list is available from Carin for the
chapters to use. Last year Carin got their list from their director, Kristen McLean, and sent it out
to the chapters. All ABC members are potential WNBA members, so Carin will be glad to send
this out again.
Jill talked about LinkedIn. wnbalinkedinnational is becoming a source for info about what city
might be interested in creating a chapter. Austin and Minneapolis might be interested.
Indianapolis is a small press and author center in the country.
There have been two inquiries from Chicago.
12
Denver is a possibility also, and NC is interested in working on that.
Michelle would like to see Oklahoma City for a new chapter.
Carin suggested Iowa City.
ACTION ITEM---Carin volunteered to be the chairperson of the new-chapter initiative: Austin
and Minneapolis/St Paul should be addressed first. Michelle, Jill, Joan and Carin will serve on
the committee. Carin will contact Carolyn Wilson about being on the committee. The
application process needs to be more descriptive.
10 people must be committed in order to start a chapter.
Carin said there should be a contact person on the web page for people who want to start a
chapter.
National bylaws are on the Web site for new chapters to see, but the templates and forms for
chapters are not available to the public.
Santa Fe is not committed to doing all the legwork to begin a chapter, so Joan encouraged them
to join LA as network members, which is what happened.
Toronto is not active yet.
There was a discussion about establishing a new board chair to handle WNBA's visibility to the
outside world. This person would handle press releases, the Web, social networking, LinkedIn,
Facebook, Twitter, blogging, etc. This person would also manage The Bookwoman, and
Michelle suggested the title of "communications manager".
ACTION ITEM-----Jill will draft a communications chairperson job description and send it to
the executive board for approval.
MOTION---Margaret moved that a communications chairperson position be created. Valerie
seconded. Motion approved unanimously.
MOTION---Margaret moved that a development chairperson position be created. Michelle
seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
ACTION ITEM---Valerie will forward the development chairperson job description to the
chapter presidents once it is approved so they can make recommendations of individuals to fill
this position.
Carin requested that there be more lead time when national sends out requests to the chapter
presidents.
13
Joan talked about Sunday's schedule. She said the meeting will begin at 8:45. She suggested
that we reschedule several topics in order to allow time to spend Saturday afternoon at the
Detroit Institute of Art. There was a vote about whether to change the schedule to accommodate
this trip. The majority voted yes.
The meeting adjourned for the day at 2:00 pm
Sunday, June 6
Same location, same attendees
UN REPORT
Jill talked about the history of our association with the United Nations.
We do not have an official "voice" there. We are there to observe and report. Our role right now
is appropriate. A larger role would be difficult if not impossible to carry out.
Publicity and public relations…those are our roles. WNBA must periodically provide
documentation that we do provide visibility and support to the UN. We need to do things that
show a physical presentation of the UN. It is the UN’s goal is to eliminate NGOs, so we need to
continue to be supportive and have ready materials to show that we do in fact promote them.
Chapters need to be sensitive to our affiliation with the UN.
ACTION ITEM---Chapter presidents should inform their chapters about the UN and our
involvement with it.
ACTION ITEM---Jill will send out something to the newsletter editors every month about the
UN and WNBA.
Joan asked Jill if there should be a mentoring process for her role with the UN. Jill said it doesn't
take any amount of time that would indicate needing a mentor.
September is the meeting in Australia for the UN. It's not worth the long trip for WNBA.
ACTION ITEM---Chapters should be archiving any and all events that have anything to do with
the UN.
We did celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UN.
We also get involved with CTAUN-----teachers spreading the word about the UN. Globallyliterate students is a goal. The Best Practices Award is a project that is a result of CTAUN.
Kelly Sullivan Walden put together a presentation for this award. Her presentation was rejected
because Jill attended the CTAUN activities instead of Kelly. The award was not presented to
anyone that year.
14
Jill attended social networking and social media in May at the CTUAN.
Fusion Strategy was the title.
ACTION ITEM---Jill will send out a memo about our UN relations.
Kate Weber is our UNICEF contact. Jill handed out materials about UNICEF.
The care and education of the "girl child" is very important to UNICEF, which directly
coordinates with the Pannell.
Claire Freidland, former WNBA member, now deceased, was one of the founders of the
International Year of the Child.
Our relationship with the UN began at the same time as our forced relationship with Afghanistan.
There are UNICEF "runathons" which are fundraisers. We can participate in 2011.
The TOT program is one of the US programs that UNICEF offers.
October is NRGM and UN and UNICEF month. Kate might do a UN reading list.
Jill will consider whether WNBA and its program, NRGM, could pursue a joint marketing
initiative fund with UNICEF. Just in October.
Jill will provide materials to anyone that wants to do any project about UN.
March is World Water Month. Water is the number one crisis in the world. The TAP project is
an effort to get restaurants to conserve water.
In Afghanistan Masha Hamilton began the Women's Writing Project. Masha says that any
published writer may become a mentor to a woman in Afghanistan who is part of the Women's
Writing Project. Any member of WNBA is invited to serve as a mentor/to be connected to
Afghanistan women writers who must write under assumed names. This is an opportunity for our
members to get involved. We can send names to Masha for this consideration. The standards
are strict and there is training for this program.
ACTION ITEM---Jill will distribute the guidelines, training program, etc. on this program to the
board members.
THE WNBA AWARD--Katherine requested there be an exception to the rule that only the executive board be present for
the discussion about the WNBA Award.
Lee suggested that there be a review of the bylaws, especially in regard to the rules about who is
included in the discussion about the winner of the WNBA Award.
15
ACTION ITEM---Lee will spearhead a committee to examine the bylaws during the course of
this year.
Lee said that right now the award is given to a living American woman and Lee asked us to think
about whether we should consider giving the award to a woman or a man.
Margaret opposed this idea as did Katherine, as did several other board members. The board
agreed that we are not giving this award to a member, but to a woman anywhere.
Lee talked about the timing of the award. We might get more publicity from this presentation if
it were given in the early spring. Jill said she thought the recipient dictates the month. Margaret
noted that it should be given in the year it is awarded. This was decided at the 2008 national
meeting. Margaret checked the 2008 minutes, which say that September is a good month, but
there was a lot of reaction that September is not a good month due to summer, work load, etc.
Kathy suggested giving the recipient a few months from which to choose. Perhaps we could
withhold the announcement of the winner so that we can more clearly find a reasonable date.
Holding off the press release would be to our benefit.
ACTION ITEM—Lee will send thank you notes to everyone who submitted nominations. She
will not send these until we have an acceptance from our choice.
Future conference dates and the passing of the gavel were discussed.
Jill brought up that the WNBA's 100th anniversary is 2017. She wants to have a conversation at
the 2011 board meeting to form a committee to plan the anniversary.
Bebe presented the idea of a premium membership for the Web site, separate from chapter dues.
This premium membership would provide more publicity opportunities. People who sign up for
this would have their book image on the home page, which would link to their Web site. Blogs
can be listed separately with a description. These features would warrant an extra charge. A flat
charge would be easier. We could showcase member authors for a trial period…or we could
charge right away…or not at all. It's a concern about who monitors blogs to be sure there is no
inappropriate material. This would fall under the duties of the new communications chair. We
would need to write a disclaimer that will protect WNBA.
This process could be staged. We could start the Web site, and then add extras later. We need to
draft what the benefits are, and then vote on them.
ACTION ITEM---The Web site committee will include links from authors' blogs, under a
premium membership; premium membership and inclusion of a blog would need to have criteria,
policy/procedures developed and sent to the executive committee for approval; there need to be
words used besides "premium membership" e.g., promotional opportunities. This is to be
completed by the end of June.
16
WRITING CONTEST DISCUSSION
Valerie talked about how two NYC chapter members want to sponsor a writing contest at the
local level. Valerie suggested they help out at the national level instead of doing a competing
one at the local level.
Margaret said we should somehow get a proposal about this. We need to know more before we
know if we want to do this.
ACTION ITEM---Joan will create an exploratory committee to investigate WNBA establishing a
writing contest. A detailed proposal should be delivered by May 2011 (Emily volunteered to
serve on this committee). Valerie will ask the two women in the NYC chapter if they are willing
to serve and/or be a chairperson.
Katherine suggested that the two NY members might go ahead and move forward on this, and
perhaps their work could be a model for us as national.
CHAPTER WRAP-UP---Joan suggested we go around the room and state what chapter
presidents need to focus on.
Retention.
Motivating people to help and follow through.
Drawing in younger people.
Line up programs early, hand out bookmarks, mail flyers.
Have meetings in libraries.
Differentiate ourselves.
Recruitment and growth.
Succession planning.
Showcasing members.
Work on accounting.
Valerie pointed out that it's easy to leave the meeting and "get lost". At the next board meeting
we should raise the issues that were discussed.
Mary Grey said there will be a conference call every quarter.
Joan passed the gavel to Mary Grey. The board presented Joan with a clock as a token of our
appreciation.
17
The 2011 board meeting will be June 3-5, 2011, in New York.
BEA is May 23,24,25,26, 2011.
Los Angeles will host the 2012 board meeting.
Washington DC will host the 2013 board meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:55pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Ruth Light
WNBA National Secretary
[date]
N.B.------The results of the 2010 election did not get reported at the annual meeting, but for the record
there were 74 ballots returned. All votes received unanimously supported the slate as presented.
This report was received from Ginna Foster Cannon, Nashville Chapter, who served as the
Election Chairperson.
Signed and Accepted ________________________________________
National President [date]
18