NORTHWEST CHORAL SOCIETY
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE WHOLE
& ELECTION OF BOARD MEMBERS
MEETING MINUTES
May 28, 2013
CALL TO ORDER:
The Annual Meeting of the Whole and the Election of Board Members Meeting of the Northwest Choral Society was held at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 1095 Dempster/Thacker, Des Plaines, IL. The meeting was called to order at 9:07 PM by NWCS Board President Penny Perles.
ELECTION OF BOARD MEMBERS:
Nominating Committee chairperson, Mary Jane Matecki, thanked the three board members who will not be returning next year for their years of service on the board: Geoffrey Green, David Martin and Candy Mealer. Geoff will continue as our graphic designer and be in charge of our posters, program books and website.
Mary Jane then introduced the remaining members who served on the board this year:
◦ Penny Perles – President
◦ Mary Jane Matecki – Vice-president and Co-chairperson of the Development Committee
◦ Noreen LaValle – Treasurer and Chairperson of the Advertising Committee
◦ Ruta Veitmanis – Recording Secretary
◦ General members:
▫ David Hitch – Co-chairman of the Development Committee
◦ John Schindler – Chairman of Facilities
▫ Diane Szuberla – Chairperson of Promotions Committee
Two of the present board members’ terms have expired, but they have agreed to run again for the 2013 – 2015 term (2 year term): Noreen LaValle and John Schindler.
Two new chorus members have agreed to serve on the board: Greykell Dutton and Kelsey Green. Mary Jane again opened nominations to the general membership, but no more names were forthcoming.
Ruta Veitmanis then made a motion to accept the above list of four candidates: Noreen, Greykell, Kelsey and John Schindler. Bert Matulis seconded the motion. By voice vote of “aye” from the members present, the above list of candidates was elected to the board of NWCS. There were no “nay” votes.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Noreen presented the Profit and Loss Budget vs. Actual report for July 2012 through April 2013. This season’s budget, when formed last summer, showed a possible deficit of $5,330.00. At this 2/3 point in our season, we have gained $5,789.33 more income than predicted and spent $3,194.37 less in expenses. Thus we are $8,983.70 ahead. The completion of our budget depends on the financial success of Sunday’s concert. (The full report follows at the end of the minutes.)
Diane presented our ticket sales report from last year’s June concerts through this year’s April concert. The full report follows at the end of the minutes. This season the board implemented a new policy: each chorus member is expected to buy at least one full price ticket. We also began using the Goldstar website to sell discounted tickets and Go Payment from Inuit for credit card payments.
David Martin, our outgoing Membership Committee chairman, stated that our numbers remain very stable. For each member who leaves us, we are fortunate to have a new member join us.
Penny thanked everyone for sharing their time, talents, ideas and financial contributions this past year. This season we went from financing our organization with members selling items in fundraisers (e.g. Cookie Dough and Yankee Candles) to seeking contributions from individuals, businesses, corporations as well as our own members, at whatever level was comfortable for them (Annual Support Fund). This new system was a success:
▫ Our fundraisers netted us $2,077.00 in 2010/1011 and $1,216.00 in 2011/2012. This season our Annual Support Fund netted us $3,824.00.
▫ The last two previous seasons we had corporate contributions of only $100.00 and $225.00 respectively. This season we received $2,100.00 in corporate contributions, thanks to the work of our Development Committee.
▫ Individual and business contributions netted us, in the last two previous seasons, $10,544.00 ($10,000 from a former chorus member) and $4,239.00, respectively. This season we received $3,029.00.
Alan Wellman stated that he is proud of the achievements of our group and the many contributions by chorus and board members this season. As an organization we are well on our way to achieving the goals set in our Mission and Vision Statements and can continue as planned:
▫ We drew ‘singers from the greater Chicago area with the purpose of performing a diverse repertory for the joy, enrichment, and education of our membership and our audiences’. We went out into our communities with outreach concerts. (Mission Statement)
▫ We went from financing our group with simple fundraising by members to seeking donations from corporations. In July we will have an all-day retreat with the purpose of converting our present Board of Directors to a high functioning Board of Directors of community leaders/members. (Vision Statement)
▫ We debuted an original composition by Daniel Salotti and have asked him to compose a choral work for us. Mr. Salotti has an associate who writes poetry and will compose original lyrics to the music. (Vision Statement)
We will present three programs next season:
▫ The December program will feature Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols and John Rutter’s Joy to the World. We will sing in two different venues.
▫ Our April concert will be called ‘Crown Jewel’ and will feature music from the resurgence of British choral music from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Included will be Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb.
▫ In place of the traditional June concert we will go on a concert tour to Minneapolis July 2014. We will have an informal concert of the program here for our friends and family.
Alan thanked Lori Lyn Mackie for her help not only with our group but with guest soloists and musicians.
Penny thanked Alan for his leadership in making this season such a success.
Saturday’s rehearsal will be here at St. Martin’s at 9:00 AM. After the rehearsal, soloist will have time to rehearse with Lori and board members will have a meeting.
Greykell has received the master copy of our April concert, but needs time to convert it to CDs for us.
ADJOURNMENT:
The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM by a motion from Noreen and a second from Mary Jane. The motion passed.
Ruta Veitmanis
Recording Secretary
Northwest Choral Society