MINUTES
AAUW Elmhurst Area Branch
BOARD MEETING
January 2, 2014
Elmhurst Public Library
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Sarah Caltvedt.
The following were in attendance: Sarah Caltvedt, Carolyn Heiney, Rita Andreuccetti, Sally Schuster,
Perry Doubt, Alice Smith, Elaine Davison, Marcia Lagerwey, Cheri Richards, and Genie Urick. Sandy Burk
joined the meeting via teleconferencing.
Minutes from October 2, 2013 meeting were approved by the board as submitted.
Officers’ Reports: (Written reports attached)
A. President’s report – Sarah Caltvedt
B. Financial report – Sandy Burk
The following was submitted to the Board in advance of the meeting:
Bank Balance as of December 19, 2013
General Account #9787
Book Sale Account #9779
Savings Account #4992
Total all funds:
$3,467.92
$4,545.56*
$2,014.88
$10,028.36
*Balance reflects cleared check for November donation of $9,200.00 to
AAUW Funds and LAF
C. Membership – Anne Klein (not present)
D. Program -- Alice Smith and Sally Schuster
Sally Schuster reported that we have $100 left over from the Holiday party in December and asked
whether the money should be used for an honorarium gift to the Elmhurst Heritage Foundation for
next week’s program at the Elmhurst Historical Museum. After discussion Carolyn Heiney moved that
the Branch give the Elmhurst Heritage Foundation a $50 honorarium to be taken from the program
budget . Alice Smith seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Alice Smith will write a
thank you note to the Foundation. It was the consensus of the board that the $100 left over from the
party be used for the upcoming 75th anniversary celebration.
Alice and Sally sought input from board regarding upcoming social media program with Librarian Rita
Perona. Some suggestions were to have Rita do an overview from the AAUW National web site, go over
our local web site and then have her show members how to utilize social media.
E. Communication/Publicity – Susan Szymanski (not present)
F. Newsletter – Perry Doubt
No additional report
Standing Director’s Reports
A. AAUW Funds – Elaine Davison
No Report
B. Public Policy – Genie Urick
No additional report
C. College/University – Susan Schmitz (Not present)
No report
D. Diversity/International Affairs – Jan Summers
No report
E. Bylaws/Policy – Cheri Richards
Per written report, Cheri recommended that we form an Ad Hoc committee to review the Branch ByLaws. Cheri moved and Alice Smith seconded the following resolution:
Let it be resolved, that an Ad Hoc committee of 3 members be formed to review our branch governance
practices and branch By-laws for the purpose of making recommendations to the Board based on
National AAUW’s 2013 Best Practice Governance Guidelines and present those recommendations at the
Marc h 5, 2013 Board meeting. Further resolved, that the following be appointed to such committee
Cheri Richards, Sarah Caltvedt and Carolyn Heiney.
Special Committee Reports
A. Study Group – No Report
B. Cool Cities – No Report
C. Dare to Dream-No report
D. Yearbook – no report
E. Used Book Sale – no report
E. 75th Anniversary – Carolyn Heiney
Unfinished Business
a. Per her report, after comparing several credit card payments systems, Perry Doubt recommends using
GO PAYMENT by Intuit.
b. Alice Smith moved that the Branch to get a credit card payment system to provide an optional means
of payment during the book sale. Elaine Davison seconded the motion. The motion passed.
Other details will be worked out between Sarah Caltvedt, Perry Doubt and Sandra Burk.
New Business
a. The Board voted unanmiously to use excess funds from Christmas party for the 75th anniversary party,
based on consensus reached in previous discussion.
b. After discussion, Sally Schuster moved that the Branch checking accounts shall be consolidated into
one checking account, subject to approval by AAUW National. Accounting will be reported with
separate dedicated funds for allocation of income and expenses. Cheri Richards seconded motion. The
motion passed.
c. President Sarah Caltvedt stated that she wished to appoint Darlene VanMeir to the Nominating
Committee for 2014-15 open Board positions. Carolyn Heiney made a motion, which Sally Schuster
seconded, to approve this appointment. The motion passed.
d. Sarah Caltvedt asked for input on nominations for the AAUW-IL Agent of Change and Branch Pride
Awards. Past President Carolyn Heiney stated that the President makes these nominations, and there
were no suggestions from the board.
c. Marcia Lagerwey recommended that going forward we should not have a board representative
attend Cool Cities Coalition meetings. Marcia stated that although they are a worthwhile group, their
mission does not coincide with that of AAUW. She proposes that for next year we should not have a
board appointment dedicated to Cool Cities. Marcia will write a formal proposal to the board.
Announcements
Carolyn Heiney noted that the date for reserving a school for the Book Sale was coming up. She
asked for consensus that the sale should continue, and the board agreed. She recommended
that the Book Sale Committee begin meeting soon to discuss plans for this year’s sale.
Adjournment of Business Meeting
A motion to adjourn was made by Cheri Richards, seconded by Alice Smith. The motion passed. The
meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Rita Andreuccetti, Recording Secretary
AAUW Elmhurst Area Branch
Board Reports for January 2014, Revised
President’s Report: Sarah Caltvedt
Since we have carried over a Dare to Dream scholarship to 2014, Peggy Babyar and I continue to serve
on the D2D Scholarship Committee. We participated in a phone conference on December 17 chaired by
Jennifer Jordan. We will take a two-pronged approach to publicizing the 4 available scholarships this
year. Postcards will be sent to the last known address of all girls who attended D2D and are now
seniors, and counselors at each high school in the districts of the participating middle schools will be
contacted and asked to help promote the scholarship. We hope to have a greater number of applicants
this year.
We have been asked to submit an application for Branch recognition:
2013-2014 AAUW-IL
BRANCH PRIDE RECOGNITION PROGRAM
PURPOSE: To recognize—in a non-competitive way—the outstanding achievements and effort of Illinois branches
between March 1, 2013, and January 31, 2014.
PROCESS: After discussion with branch leaders, a designee should write a brief descriptive paragraph or two about
a branch project/accomplishment of which the branch is proud.
Areas of pride are suggested by, but not limited to, the following considerations:
Are there innovative ways in which you are working toward equity for women and girls or are promoting life-long
education or positive societal change?
Have you created a successful activity, project, or community service?
Have you reached out to the community or formed collaborative efforts with other branches or organizations?
Have you implemented viable methods for maintaining and increasing your membership?
Have you been successful in including or reaching out to diverse individuals or groups?
Are you reinvigorating your leadership and developing new leaders?
Have you improved your network of communication through e-mail, newsletters, or development of a web page
connected to AAUW-IL’s website?
Have you enhanced the visibility of your branch and AAUW through the media, relationships with community
members and groups, publications, or events?
Have you raised funds for AAUW Funds in creative ways
Decide which endeavors you would be proud to share with others.
Please limit the description of your branch’s activities to one or two paragraphs; submissions may be returned for
editing.
E-mail the narrative to Jennifer Urish at jaux2@htc.net (If you do not have email, send the narrative to Jennifer
Urish, 3708 State Route 3, Red Bud, IL 62278)
Deadline is February 15, 2014.
Participating branches will be recognized at the AAUW-IL State Convention. (Note that we will not be represented
at the state convention awards ceremony due to the conflict with our 75 th anniversary luncheon.)
We’re off to a great start this year with wonderful attendance at our program meetings and several new
or returning members. Let’s all make an effort to engage them and ask them to help with small tasks so
that they will “bond” with AAUW and become long-term members of our Branch.
We need to appoint a nominating committee to begin recruiting replacements for those of you whose
terms expire at the end of this program year. This means we need at least one program VP, a recording
secretary, and a director of publicity/communications. In the past we have had two
publicity/communications directors. We need to discuss how best to carry out this function and
whether we might separate out traditional publicity from web and social media publicity. The other
question is whether to continue to send a representative to the Cool Cities Coalition or simply to
maintain contact with them and support them as needed.
Financial Report as of December 19, 2013 – Sandy Burk
General Account #9787
$3,467.92
Book Sale Account #9779
$4,545.56*
Savings Account #4992
$2,014.88
Total all funds:
$10,028.36
*Balance reflects cleared check for November donation of $9,200.00 to
AAUW Funds and LAF
Discussion: Combining Branch Bank Accounts
Currently, the Elmhurst Branch holds three separate checking accounts at Charter One:
1. General Funds account
2. Book Sale Funds account
3. Savings Fund account
To simplify the process of managing these funds, I suggest we combine all Fund accounts
into one bank account. Even though the actual dollars for each of these Funds will reside
in one account, we will be able to use our current Quicken money management program
to track, account, and report each of these separately.
Discussion: Quick Books versus Quicken
After reviewing the Quick Books program, I recommend we stay with our current usage of Quicken to
manage AAUW’s funds for these reasons:
Quick Books is full-scale business finance software and much more robust than what we need to track
our finances; the Quicken program we now use offers all that we currently need to track finances.
Quick Books would involve a great deal of time and effort each time new Director of Finance is
appointed;
Quick Books is very complicated to learn
Available in Windows and Mac versions; each version is substantially different from the other so
transition to a new appointee may involve even more learning time if her computer operating system is
different than what had been in use in prior years. (I have a Mac system so this is what I would purchase
if we were to do this.)
The cost for either Quick Book version is approximately $170.00-$180.00.
Quick Books offers no appreciable benefit in terms of using a program such as Square for accepting
credit card payments at book sale.
Discussion: Square Credit Card App
I’ve looked into this app and find it would be a good fit for use at our Book Sale.
Cost to use is reasonable: 2.75% per swipe.
No fees for sign up, monthly fees, activation fee, inactivity fees, cancellation, chargeback or bank
routing.
The first Square reader is free; each additional is $10.00.
Accepts all major credit cards
Fast and EASY to use.
Open app on phone screen
Sign in
Plug the Square reader into headset audio jack
Enter sale amount using keypad on payment screen
Swipe
Customer “signs” with finger
Choose option for delivery of receipt
Tap “Final”
Can be used with most smart phones
Multiple devices may be signed in to one account simultaneously so we could have two people at the
book sale assigned to take credit cards. As long as each mobile device is signed in to Square Register
with the same email address and password, all transactions will be sent to the same account.
Deposit of funds into account is fast. Card swipes made by 3pm will have deposit action initiated by 6pm
and deposit finalized by the morning of the next day.
Card swiped at 2pm on Monday; deposit action initiated at 6pm; deposit finalized Tuesday morning.
Membership – Anne Klein (not present)
Bonnie Boerger and Sarah Michaelis joined our Branch as a result of the Shape the Future campaign at
our November Branch meeting. Between our Book Sale and our November meeting, our two Shape the
Future events have resulted in 8 new members this year. I believe that this means our Branch has
earned 4 free national memberships.
Program – Alice Smith (not present) and Sally Schuster
No report. Input sought for social media program. How would we like Rita Perona to approach the
topic? What would we like her to cover, highlight?
Publicity/Communications – Susan Szymanski
No written report.
Newsletter – Perry Doubt
The deadline for submitting articles for the February newsletter is Monday, January 27, 2014.
AAUW Funds – Elaine Davison
No written report.
Public Policy – Genie Urick
Women appear poised to crack the state executive branch glass ceiling in 2014, with 36 states holding
gubernatorial elections. So far, 27 female candidates have filed in a governor's race. Historically women
have been vastly underrepresented in the state executive office, with only five current female
governors. We'll see what happens....
College/University – Susanne Schmitz
Diversity/International Affairs – Jan Summers
Bylaws/Policy – Cheri Richards
Amending By-Laws: All AAUW branches (and states) are required to amend Article IV of the branch’s
By-laws. Membership does not need to approve of this amendment. The amended By-laws must be
submitted to AAUW National by May 15, 2014.
To review the mandatory changes to Article IV (Membership and Dues) prior to Wednesday’s meeting,
please go to:
http://www.aauw.org/files/2013/09/2013-Mandatory-Conformance-of-AAUW-State-and-BranchBylaws.pdf.
The resolution the Board should consider for this meeting or the next (in time to submit the change to
National in May).
“RESOLVED, that the AAUW Elmhurst Area Branch By-laws are amended to delete Article IV in its
entirety and replace it with the following new Article IV: [Add text of new Article IV]”
I will bring copies of the new Article IV to the meeting for all of us and for the Secretary.
Governance Best Practices. National AAUW has provided all branches and states with guidelines for
governance procedures – with a focus on voting procedures. The guidelines are at:
http://www.aauw.org/files/2013/09/2013-Mandatory-Conformance-Memo-Attachment-1.pdf.
I would suggest comparing the suggested “best practices” to our branch’s current practices –
focusing on where we might make some changes either: (i) as further changes to our By-Laws; or (ii) as
to our practices leading up to (e.g. notices) and conducting meetings.
As an example, Illinois statute does permit electronic voting for non-profit Boards provided that the
Board meets certain validation requirements. That provision can be added to our by-laws and used as
needed for Board meetings.
Suggested Action: A committee reviews the Branch’s current By-Laws and practices against the
National AAUW Best Practices Governance Guidelines and sets forth a set of suggested governance
changes for (i) updating the by-laws and (ii) conduct of board and member meetings. I would be one
member of that “committee”, but I would like at least one other member who has been attending
member meetings and Board meetings for many years – possibly a President or Past President. That
person would be able to weigh in past practices and on how our members and our current and potential
Board members would prefer to handle the practical aspects of meetings and voting issues.
Further, the purpose of a committee (even if just a committee of two) is to cut down on the amount of
time we would spend as a full board addressing the new guidelines. I can do this myself – with no
committee – and we would meet as a full board setting aside some special time to go over the
guidelines against IL law and our current practices and by-laws.
The timing issue: Any change to the by-laws requires Illinois State branch submission and approval prior
to a membership vote. Then, many changes may also require a membership vote. If we do decide to
make any changes - it makes sense to me that we should have that done in time to submit those to
National AAUW with the mandatory By-Law change to Article IV by May 15 (see item #1 above).
Suggested Board Resolution: Resolved, that an Ad Hoc committee of ___ members be formed to
review our branch governance practices and branch By-laws for the purpose of making
recommendations to the Board based on National AAUW’s 2013 Best Practice Governance Guidelines
and present those recommendations at the [fill in date] Board meeting. Further resolved, that the
following be appointed to such committee [names of committee members].
Non-mandatory Amendment. AAUW National made a by-law change to Article VI (Officers and
Directors). This change is not mandatory. Please see:
http://www.aauw.org/files/2013/09/2013-Mandatory-Conformance-Memo-Attachment-3.pdf
Suggestion: These changes could also be considered along with Item #2 by the full Board or the
Ad Hoc governance committee and a recommendation submitted to the full board. OR – we could
simply decide if we wished to make any changes at this January 2 meeting or the next.
I will bring copies of the new Article VI to the meeting for all Board members.
Social Media Policy. I would like some input on what concerns we want to address for our social media
policy. I thought about a couple of posts to the National/State Facebook for input – as suggested by one
of the State members I spoke with – but, I didn’t have a clear enough view of the concerns or questions
we are trying to address/resolve as a branch. I thought of:
Do we set limits on types of or procedures for social media postings: Some members had concerns
about what gets posted to Facebook or other social media sites about individual members. There are
two ways to handle that: (i) a procedure for approval such as a Board member reviews any posts prior
to posting; or (ii) substantive limits on the types of posts that are permitted. E.g. of the problem:
Lombard’s branch almost posted the address of a member who is under a protective order from her exspouse and has safety concerns.
I believe we discussed member concerns at a meeting some time last year.
Perry Doubt’s report on credit card payment options sent as separate PDF document.