Minutes: February 2, 2004

Minutes of the Board of Directors, The Special Hope Foundation

After receiving proper notice via email on January 16, 2004, a quorum of the Directors named either by the Incorporator or listed in the Articles of Incorporation, constituting the Board of Directors of this Corporation, held their meeting at this time, on the day, and at the place set forth as follows:

The following Directors, constituting a quorum of the full Board, were present at the meeting:

• Lynne O’Hara, President
• John O’Hara, Vice-President
• Mary Wilson, Treasurer
• Ed Hoskins, Secretary
• Carrie Jones
• Tracie Sloat  

Minutes Approved

The first order of business involved the review of the minutes from the previous Board Meeting on August 20, 2003. All reviewed and accepted the minutes as presented.  

Review of Existing Business

Final Review and Approval of Investment Policy

• Was unanimously passed

Insurance Status

• Good news: we do have General Liability insurance.  The policy is for $1046
• Bad news: Our D&O provider will not be carrying this type of insurance after our policy has expired.  Our broker has identified a new carrier, Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company, who will provide the same coverage at a cost of $720.  Lynne O’Hara made the initial payment last month to prevent a lapse of coverage.

Update on Collaborative Project

• The 5 grantees have been selected
• Positives: 41 proposals were read, and discussed with seasoned grant makers…this was a very beneficial and validating learning experience for Lynne O’Hara.  Disability was featured as a selection criteria in the grantmaking guideline materials.

Tracie Sloat on Philanthropy Roundtable

• Programs without huge amounts of govt. finding
• Annual meeting (400 attendees)
• Great sessions, the best was on the literature of philanthropy (the best are things that empower)

Committee Review

Communication Committee – Ed Hoskins

• The board will be going to paperless meeting materials
• Email notification will be given to board members at least two weeks prior to the upcoming meeting
• Members will be directed to go to the internal website to access materials for review

Advisory Committee by John O’Hara

• Advisory Committee  Roundtable Breakfast and Discussion scheduled for Saturday, March 13th from 10:00 am to 12:00pm at the Stanford Park Hotel
• Involve people in the community who can help us make great choices
• Tracie is doing a publication newsletter, this will be posted to the advisory site-will include question of the month

Mary – Finance & Investments Committee

• Budget Review with Actuals to Date – We are pretty much on track, the large negative numbers are due to the fact that we are not being funded until later in the year
• Mary and Lynne talked about the mix of stock vs. bonds, and the fact that it will take some time for this balance (of about 50% for each) to stabilize
• We are also trying to stabilize the income from the investments to allow for the amount needed for grants
• Due to lack of funding, there are no available funds to make grants at this time  

Grant Review

• Some groups have been hoping for funding from us for about 9 months
• Lynne’s recommendation is to tell them that at this time our financial situation will not allow the funding at this time (allow some closure)
• Let’s add a status block on the main page of web site
• We have funding cycles that must end at some point
• We have agreed to tell these companies that this funding cycle is now over  

New Business

Discussion of Upcoming Board Elections

• John O’Hara, Mary Wilson, Tracie Sloat, and Carrie Jones’ terms all end June 30
• All have agreed to an additional 3 year term
• Elections will take place at the May meeting

Pre-Application Exercise

• Exercise on selecting/denying pre-applications: some pre-apps simply don’t fit, some are definitely worth considering, and some are in the grey area
• During the development of the mission statement, something that was decided upon, was that the Special Hope Foundation would look for projects that are UNIQUE and INNOVATIVE (Inclusion in itself is very unique!)
• Proposal to update the mission statement to add the “unique” stipulation to the text (the question has already been added to the pre-application)

Meeting Dates for 2004

• Dates set for May 6, August 26, and November 6
• The schedule will be posted on the internal site
• The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 6 at the O’Hara’s House at 7:00pm  

Adjournment

There being no further business to come before the meeting, upon motion duly made, seconded and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 9:10pm.

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Lynne O’Hara, President

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Ed Hoskins, Secretary