NORTHWEST CHORAL SOCIETY
MEETING MINUTES
August 16, 2014
CALL TO ORDER:
The August Board Meeting of the Northwest Choral Society was held at the home of Greykell Dutton, 405 S. Clifton Street, Park Ridge, IL. The meeting was called to order at 9:15 AM by NWCS Board President Penny Perles. The following board members were present:
Meredith Bechtel Penny Perles
Greykell Dutton Diane Szuberla
Kelsey Green Ruta Veitmanis
David Hitch Robyn Waldman Borek
Mary Jane Matecki
Also present: Alan Wellman, Artistic Director.
Due to work commitments, board member Tammi Lothson will not be able to attend Tuesday evening rehearsals and meetings this fall session. She hopes to be back with us in January. Chorus member Rae Beth Egan has moved out of state and thus will not be back this fall.
MEETING MINUTES:
The meeting minutes of the June 3rd board meeting were reviewed and no corrections were needed. Kelsey Green made a motion to accept the minutes. The motion was seconded by Robyn Waldman Borek. The motion passed.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Noreen LaValle submitted the treasurer’s report for June. Cash disbursements totaled $790.00. Cash receipts totaled $1,369.00. Our regular account balance was $3,045.26. A $20.00 annual bank charge was withdrawn from the J. Melcher Memorial Fund leaving a new total of $2,997.00. Including the J. Melcher Memorial Fund and petty cash, our final total was $6,077.26. Mary Jane Matecki made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. David Hitch seconded the motion. The motion passed.
Noreen also submitted the treasurer’s report for July. Cash disbursements totaled $1,788.00. Cash receipts totaled $536.66. Our regular account balance was $1,793.92. Including the J. Melcher Memorial Fund and petty cash, our final total was $4,825.92. Meredith Bechtel made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Kelsey Green seconded the motion. The motion passed.
The cost of our recently purchased keyboard and bench will be deducted from the J. Melcher Memorial Fund. Due to the annual bank fee, the Fund will be closed and the money be kept as a separate item in our regular checking account.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY’S REPORT:
Joan Behrens and Jamie Thompson are helping Mary Jane on this committee.
We have received thank you letters from Ann Jensen for the flowers after her surgery and from Jennifer Bauer and Robyn regarding our Minneapolis trip.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR:
The JRC temple choir will not be participating with us in our spring Annalise concert. Before renting their concert space, Penny will consult with Jean Merzon and Jordan Becker about other possible venues.
The Gargoyle Brass will be joining us again for our December concert. Alan has begun discussing the possibility of recording a CD with them, either in a studio or concert setting. This would be a long term project and a way to commemorate our 50th anniversary.
Rehearsals will continue to be from 7:30 to 9:30 PM. Sectional rehearsals would be 9:30 to 10:00 PM. Alan will prepare a schedule of rehearsals for our fall session.
We will not need to buy the music for our December concert. We will borrow it from the library of the other choir that Alan directs.
We have been invited to sing Friday, October 24th, at the Illinois branch of the American Choral Directors Association meeting in Naperville. The program will include O Song, the three Latin Motets, How Can I keep From Singing and I Was Glad.
PROMOTIONS:
Diane Szuberla has received an inquiry from one of our long time chorus supporters about Season Subscription tickets. We did not offer these because we have recently changed the former three concert format. We will work out a discount plan and send it to the 12 or so families who have bought them in the past.
ADVERTISING COMMITTEE:
Kelsey is preparing the information packets to give to advertisers for our program books. The pricing will be discussed in the budget section of this meeting.
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE:
David announced that we are losing one of our corporate donors. Unichem has been bought by another company. David’s company, LKH-Dionne, Inc., is donating $2,500.00 this year. Another company is donating $500.00.
David also inquired about a PowerPoint presentation that Alan had made about the NWCS that he might use when going to companies asking for sponsorship. Alan thought that this presentation was still available on Prezi.com.
Kelsey will give us contact information about the company where she works.
David, Robyn and perhaps Tammi will begin working on applying for grant money.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE:
Greykell Dutton announced that three new members had been accepted by Alan – a soprano, an alto and a female tenor. Several more people are scheduled for auditions.
FACEBOOK:
Kelsey has prepared a Meet and Greet invite on our Facebook page. She asked board members to ‘share’ this on their Facebook pages.
FACILITIES COMMITTEE:
We will continue with rehearsals at St. Martin’s. The rental price remains the same for the next year.
PUBLICITY:
Four articles have been submitted to the media about our Minneapolis/St. Paul trip, our Meet & Greet and auditions.
WEBSITE COMMITTEE:
Our new website will go live within the next few days. All the sections are not yet totally complete. The members’ section will be completely different. It will include a picture of each member and the member can add some comments about himself. Also, each member can establish his own password.
The website will be totally controlled by the members of the committee: Mary Jane, Penny, Greykell and John Schindler. Doug Buchan, our webmaster, will be available for advice as needed.
Jerry Borek will continue as our graphic designer only.
50th ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE:
The committee members are Barbara Stewart, John Morrison, Noreen LaValle, Joan Behrens, Penny Perles and Ann Jensen.
SUNSHINE COMMITTEE:
The committee members are Mary Jane and Ann Jensen.
OLD BUSINESS:
Penny suggested that we compensate Alan and Lori Lyn Mackie for the extra rehearsals leading to our trip and for the trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul. Robyn made a motion to give Alan $300.00 and Lori $250.00. Mary Jane seconded the motion. The motion passed.
We will compensate Lori for her purchase of the keyboard bench as mentioned above in the treasurer’s report.
The Meet & Greet will be Tuesday, August 26th, 7:00 to 9:00 PM. Ann Jensen is coordinating the food and entertainment. At about 7:30 we will show two trailers prepared by David that highlight our Minneapolis/St. Paul trip and our next season’s concerts.
We will continue with singing, socializing and refreshments. David has prepared a 45 minute presentation of our trip using photos submitted by members. We will begin showing this at about 8:15. Staying for this presentation is optional.
Megan Lothson has volunteered to prepare business cards for our chorus.
Auditions for new members continue on August 19th.
NEW BUSINESS:
Noreen submitted the Profit & Loss Budget vs. Actual July 2013 to June 2014 report. Our total income was $40,984.94 ($16,109.64 more than budgeted). Our total expenses were $50,340.12 ($17,315.12 more than budgeted). This gave us a budget deficit of $9,355.18 ($1,205.48 more than budgeted). Penny and Noreen prepared a list of the unexpected expenses we incurred this last season. Many of these were one time expenses that will not repeat this next session. The list follows these meeting minutes.
Since the cost of everything is increasing, we also need to raise the price of our dues, concert tickets and advertising space for the 2014-2015 season.
◦ Concert tickets: $25.00 for adults and $20.00 for students and seniors. Mary Jane made a motion to accept these new prices. Greykell seconded the motion. The motion passed.
◦ Since our June concert of Disney movie music will be geared towards children, we will offer a special family ticket plan – $65.00 for 2 adults and 2 children (under 12 years of age) with $10.00 for each additional child under 12 years of age. Individually bought tickets will be $25.00 for adults, $20.00 for students/seniors and $10.00 for children under 12 years of age. Greykell made a motion to accept the family ticket plan and the children’s ticket price. Ruta Veitmanis seconded the motion. The motion passed.
◦ Membership dues will increase to $100.00 for the entire season. $75.00 will be budgeted as actual member dues and $25.00 will be donated to the members’ giving fund. Mary Jane made a motion to accept these new dues. David seconded the motion. The motion passed.
◦ Advertising space for a business card will increase to $60.00 (one quarter of a page in our program book). A half page will cost $100.00 and a whole page will cost $175.00. The inside covers will cost $225.00 and the outside back cover will cost $250.00. We will also continue reciprocal advertising with other choral groups. Mary Jane made a motion to accept this new pricing. Kelsey seconded the motion. The motion passed.
Robyn and several of the other newer board members stated that they hadn’t realized the true cost of operating our choir. Although our budget is on our website, it is hard to actually visualize all the numbers. Robyn will prepare a ‘pie chart’ to better visualize our costs and revenues.
A proposed budget for the 2014-2015 season was prepared. It will be voted on at our September board meeting. The proposed budget follows these meeting minutes.
Friday, October 24th, we will perform at North Central College in Naperville for the American Choral Directors Association meeting.
Penny and Greykell will work on our Scholarship Fund.
Our Handbook needs to be updated. If Karen Pelletiere cannot do this, Robyn has volunteered.
We will offer voice lessons to members – one class in the fall and another in the spring.
Could we take another chorus trip in 2016, perhaps to Europe? We will prepare a survey for members – who would participate, when, where? If we do an expensive trip, we would open it up to non-members also. The more people who join us, the lower the cost.
NEXT MEETING:
Our next Board Meeting will be Tuesday, September 9th, 6:30 PM, before rehearsal at St. Martin’s.
ADJOURNMENT:
The Board Meeting was adjourned at 12:23 PM by a motion from Diane and a second from Alan. The motion passed.
Ruta Veitmanis
Recording Secretary
Northwest Choral Society
Northwest Choral Society
Proposed Budget
2014 – 2015 Season
Income
47200 · Program Income
47230 · Membership Dues 5,000.00
7101 · Admissions 11,500.00
Total 47200 · Program Income 16,500.00
7400 · Outside Source Income
7402 · Individ, Business Contributions 3,000.00
7403 · Member Contributions 3,000.00
7404 · Corporate Contributions 3,000.00
7916 · Bake Sale 1,000.00
Total 7400 · Outside Source Income 10,000.00
7900 · Other Income
7904 · Advertising Sales 1,000.00
7905 · Memorials 0.00
7906 · Music sales to members 2,250.00
7908 · Recording Income 300.00
7920 · Minneapolis Trip 2014 0.00
Total 7900 · Other Income 3,550.00
7909 · Concert Dress 0.00
7911 · Educational Classes 600.00
7948 · Scholarship account 0.00
7950 · Miscellaneous Income 0.00
Total Income 30,650.00
Expense
8106 · Directors Stipend 5,400.00
8108 · Asst. Directors Stipend 4,500.00
8111 · Extra Rehearsals 1,200.00
8114 · Concert Fee (Director) 800.00
8115 · Assistant Director Concert Fee 800.00
8116 · Orchestra 6,000.00
8118 · Soloists 1,000.00
8120 · Concert Expenses &nb
sp; 250.00
8500 · Programs 1,500.00
8503 · Graphic Design Stipend 650.00
8504 · Season Subscription Mailer 350.00
8505 · Postcards 500.00
8506 · Posters 450.00
8508 · Ticket Printing 175.00
8510 · Postage, Mailing Service 650.00
8512 · Insurance/Royalties 525.00
8516 · Music Education Outreach 700.00
8518 · Website 200.00
8519 · Marketing 200.00
8520 · Merchandising 3,500.00
8521 · Concert Dress Expense 300.00
8522 · Recording Expense 1,200.00
8524 · Member Purchases for reimbrsmnt 0.00
8525 · Registration Fees 100.00
8530 · Legal Fees 125.00
8702 · Music (Chorus Parts) 2,250.00
8704 · Music (Orchestra Parts) 800.00
8706 · Office Supplies 250.00
8708 · Performance space rental 2,250.00
8710 · Rehearsal Space Rental 2,000.00
8716 · Benefits/Social Expenses 350.00
8719 · Bank Fees/PayPal 50.00
8800 · Other Expenses 100.00
Total Expense 39,125.00
Net Income (30,650.00 – 39,125.00) – 8,478.00