Minutes: September 25, 2007

Minutes of the Board of Directors, The Special Hope Foundation

After receiving proper notice via e-mail on September 10, 2007, 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
• Ed Hoskins, Secretary
• Mary Wilson, Treasurer
• Carrie Jones
• Tracie Sloat (via speaker phone)

Minutes Approved

The first order of business involved the review of the minutes from the previous Board Meeting on January 23, 2007. All reviewed and accepted the minutes.

Review of Existing Business

Updates from Previous Grantees

• Viewed Miracle League of Blair County DVD – opening day of ball park.
• O’Hara Family visit to Asha Kirin, India – This governmentally run facility that holds approximately 700 patients (who are referred to as “Inmates”).  They toured some of the dormitories (they seemed run down).  Found out that for most patients, once they are admitted, they will spend the rest of their lives there.  It was interesting to note that all staff members carried cell phones to communicate, it seemed strange to see such a high-tech thing in such a low-tech environment.  During their visit, the country celebrated their 60th “Independence day”.  The kids participated in special dance programs in the auditorium.  One of the heartwarming things was talking to patients who had been at Asha Kiran for 20 or more years, and how encouraged they were with improved living conditions that had come about in the last 4 years.  A slide show of the trip was shown.
• Report from PET MO – a letter was received describing how they have been building carts, and that they have already shipped 100 carts overseas.
• East Bay Innovations, San Leandro – They continue to work with the regional center and the State of California in order to get more funding for specific aspects of their programs…they are a very proactive group.
• Milestone Preschool from CAR.  This is the fully integrated preschool.  They thought they would be up and running right away, but they were overly ambitions.  It has taken three full years.
• Oak Hill – sent a brochure, where they had written an article on us in regards to their Healthy Boundaries program.
• Benetech – they have initiated a new way to keep funders informed…Lynne will send out the address and log-in information.
• Common Ground Ski School – they had a great season including four to five days a week.  Twelve schools were involved and used the equipment they had purchased.  They were very appreciative of our grant.
• Hope Technology School – A hand out was passed out that contained a lot of news.

Committee Reports

Finance & Investments Committee – Mary Wilson

Mary reviewed a couple of reports, the first one for the fiscal year ending June 30 2007.  The -31.2% budget variance is due to the fact that the sale of Berkshire stock was different from our projections.  There is nothing to be alarmed by this.  The investments are still doing well, and the expenses are only off by 3.8%.  No real issues for last year.  These issues will arise until everything stabilizes.

The August Report is off by 6% due to two things.  The office supplies is over budget because a new computer was supposed to be included in the budget, but  was not.  The accounting variance is just a timing issue.

The percentages for the investments are still off, and will continue to be.  We still have our stocks at a higher percentage, and that will be adjusted over time.  In the August report, the cash percentage has increased from 1% to 3%.  Despite the volatility of the stocks this summer, we have done very well this summer.

We looked at a report on our grant distribution numbers.  This report shows the current cycle as well as the next cycle.  $260,000 for our current cycle is a decent amount.  The next cycle has so many more quality applications, that the growth is amazing.  We now have a pre-application deadline and at that point where we pick the top 10.  The bottom line is that we now have to pick the best of the best, because more qualified applications are coming in than we can handle.

General Discussion on the Future of Special Hope – Lynne O’Hara

We are now ready to revamp our public information in order to more clearly define what we do, and what we are looking for.  It looks like most long-term funding doesn’t really fit anymore.  By it’s very definition, long-term funding doesn’t fit with new and innovative ideas.  We need some wording that expresses that we aren’t looking to provide long term funding.  This is driven by the fact that a few years down the line, we would have to turn down more new and cutting edge grant requests.

Areas that we may wish to concentrate on:

Start-ups (brand new groups or programs) – gives small newly formed groups a chance, this area is exciting because it includes many new innovative ideas, and often programs without a long history have a tough time getting funding.

Transitional programs – includes new organizations that are transitioning to more established organizations, and organizations that are simply changing their focus with strategic changes.

By focusing on these areas, it will help us avoid getting into “maintenance funding” where innovation is no longer the driving force, which doesn’t seem to fit our mission.  The worry is that groups start relying on us for repeat funding over time where they are no longer doing anything new or different.  By posting more specific guidelines, this doesn’t restrict us from making exceptions, however, it does help us narrow our focus.  We need to be as strategic as possible.  Since our foundation isn’t that big, maintenance funding will reduce our impact.

Since we are getting so many applications, we need to continually use the web site as a filtering mechanism.

Grant Review

The board was asked if anyone has any personal connection to any of the following organizations: Area Residential Care, Inc., California Association of Addiction Recovery Resolution, Clausen House, Community Mainstreaming Association, Inc., Dreamcatchers Empowerment Network, Shared Adventures, The Morgan Center, and University of Santa Cruz.  Carrie Jones, who works at San Jose State, places student interns at the Morgan Center.  It was determined that her connection is indirect and not impacted by the grant request in question.  No conflict of interest identified.

Area Residential Care, Inc.
The main problem with this proposal is that that the sensory integration room that they are trying to build will not have a trained professional to asses and oversee the use of the room.

A motion was made to not fund Area Residential Care, Inc. for $25,000 in this round of applications, and was unanimously approved by all who were attending.

California Association of Addiction Recovery Resolution
The goal of this proposal was to enhance the programs that they already have in place, and will cover the cost of interpretors during the training of the deaf councilors for these programs.

A motion was made to fund California Association of Addiction Recovery Resolution for $25,000, and was unanimously approved by all who were attending.

Clausen House
We had quite a discussion to try to figure out if this group will positively affect the perception of the disabled in the community.  Although we like what he is trying to do, it doesn’t seem like a perfect fit.

They were asking for for $31,464.

A move was made to fund the Clausen House for $6,000 to cover two semesters of their class, and was unanimously passed by all present.

Community Mainstreaming Association, Inc.
This is funding for a bakery that will employ both disabled and non-disabled employees.  They are looking for funding to cover start-up costs, but should be self-sustaining shortly after opening.

A motion was made to fund the Community Mainstreaming Association for $30,000, and was unanimously approved by all who were attending.

Dreamcatchers Empowerment Network
Dreamcatcherrs is a supported employment program.  The department of rehab insists that the client must be paid a wage for their work, but they do not fund them to cover this.  The payment structure does not take into account a chronic mental condition.  The cycle goes around and around: hospitalization, improvement, discharge, then repeats: hospital, improve, discharge…

Having a never-ending cycle, makes it tough for us to continue funding.  We already funded them the first time for $40,000, now they are asking for $50,000.  Do we nip this in the bud?  Will funding make them feel like we will continue to fund them in the future?

Since Dreamcatchers remains innovative, a solution would be to cut the funding in half, which will allow us to help, but send the signal that we’re not in it for the long term. This way they will be forced to find more funding this year, and that may help them for next year.  It will at least allow the program to continue.  They also said that they can cut back the program (how many clients they can take on).

A move was made to fund them for half the amount $25,000 (50% of what they asked for), and was unanimously approved by all who were attending.

Shared Adventures
We looked at the magazine that they put out that includes all of the disabled program in Santa Cruz County.  We liked this one.

A move was made to fund Shared Adventures for $10,000, and was unanimously approved by all who were attending.

The Morgan Center
A communicative device is like a small computer with 3, 8 or 20 buttons that allows for some type of communication.  There are a variety of these devices.  The student teacher ratio is 1:1, which is amazing.  They have stations, and the kids move from station to station.  The environment was very well controlled, and flowed very smoothly.

A move was made to fund The Morgan Center for $38,000, and was unanimously approved by all who were attending.

University of Santa Cruz
This proposal was for the development of the “talking head” software that is designed to help autistic students to better interact with educational software.  We are concerned that since autistic kids love spending time in front of the computer, this approach might not be the best direction to take for this disorder.  Autism is a social disorder, that requires social interaction, which makes us wonder if he has a speech pathologist working with him.

A motion was made to fund the University of Santa Cruz for $25,000 (half the amount that was requested), and was unanimously approved by all who were attending.
 

New Business

Next board meeting January 22, 2008.  Other dates for 2008…May 13th, September 23rd

Adjournment

There being no further business to come before the meeting, upon motion duly made, seconded and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 8:07 p.m.

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Lynne O’Hara, President

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Ed Hoskins, Secretary