Minutes of the Jan 11, 2010 Staying Put Board Meeting
A meeting of the Staying Put Board took place on Monday, Jan 11, 2010 at 4:30PM at the New Canaan Library.
Tom Ferguson called the meeting to order and welcomed Rogers Harper and Lee Barnes who will be our facilitators at our retreat on Jan 30.
The Birthday Party (January 10) was a huge success. To wit: over 150 attendees, all of whom circulated and socialized comfortably before the program (ably emceed by Bill Sessions) got going. The youthful singers, Magical Music for Life, were a high point, and Jane Nyce's speech, in which she artfully managed to mention numerous people by name, made everyone feel a part of the Staying Put effort. Thanks also to Molly and Dick DePatie, who basically moved into Morrill Hall for the day in order to make SP comfortable there - and also kudos to Judy Bentley who made it such fun. Thanks also to Jim Hollyday and his invaluable parking/walking-to-the-door crew as well as to the bartenders he signed up for the job. Members' guests were so impressed that some of them wanted to join immediately.
Jane thanked the Board for its support of her work. Three new people joined SP in the end of December and so far two new members in January 2010. SP renewal rate (79% at this early point in the process) is above average compared to Beacon Hill, which is at 80% at the end of the renewal process. Requests now average over 100 per month and rides still top the list. We continue to need more last minutes rides -which require a "ready-to-go" driver. More often than not, Donna or Jane still drive these people. Jim and his able-bodied drivers fulfill requests for rides that are made in advance. SP has 7 events planned in January. In 2009, 120 Households attended at least one event; the average member came to 6 events.
Dan Ward reported that the goal for fundraising in the '09-10 term is $250K, and we are hoping to receive two large donations by April. To date we have been given $106K. Of these, 55% are New Donors and 34% of the donors are members. The Barbara Benton Davis Foundation gave SP $48K in 2009 toward salaries and is very positive about SP. Other important support comes from the Fairfield Community Foundation and from the New Canaan Community Foundation.
At this time of year SP is making transitions in committee structure. Judy Bentley will take on the Chair of Development, and Events and Programs will be chaired by Jeannie Hart, Judy Schurman and Pat Stoddard. Efforts to increase membership continue to involve Jane giving speeches everywhere. She has spoken this month to the Senior Men's Club and will address the Sewing Group and many other groups in New Canaan. She will also speak at various condo SP informational meetings. Our experience has been that although people don't sign up right away, these informational events do produce new memberships sometime after the event. SP still has brochures in every MD office and in churches and many other meeting places.
There was a coffee in December to thank volunteers and to build a sense of SP camaraderie. Jane thanked them and they were each given an angel because that's what they are: angels. Driving our members is key; kudos to Jim for setting up rides as well as being a constant driver himself. Katch Cerow heads up the mailing committee. Thanks also to Molly De Patie for setting up office volunteers for every day of the week. SP is experiencing more and more commitment to helping in every way possible from its volunteers. With that in mind, Barbara Johansen and Jane will schedule more training sessions for office, driving and home visits during the year. Some of the training sessions that require a physical therapist's expertise and presence might be videoed so as to be more readily available when needed.
December was a good month for SP publicity. The January 7 issue of the NC Advertiser was a boost with the SP article on the front page. It included two recent articles which hadn't been published yet. Nancy Helle's piece on SP is in Town Talk of the New Canaan Darien magazine. Tanis Erdmann will submit an article on the new Board members. Please look for SP publicity on Channel 79 and on the internet at Patch.com. Tanis reports that the SP website continues to get around 5000 legitimate hits a month - with nearly 300 from Russia. Many out-of-town, grown children of New Canaan elders look at the SP website to learn what events are happening as well as what services SP has to offer their aging parents.
The Board Retreat will take place on January 30 at St. Luke's School in their library, thanks to Annie Cohen. Lee Barnes and Rodgers Harper of HBSCT Community Partners explained that their organization is part of Harvard Business School of CT and their mission is to do pro bono consultations for non-profit organizations in CT. Community Partners holds seminars and workshops throughout the state, and raise money for scholarships for executive directors to attend Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management, SPNM. Board members can expect to come away from the 5-hour retreat with a better "road map for going forward." Each Board member received a questionnaire to be filled out by Fri, Jan 15 to help jump start the process.
The next meeting of the Board will take place on Feb 8 at 4:30 at the library.
Respectfully submitted,
Lyn Chivvis, Secretary to the Board.
January 12, 2010
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