Board of Directors Meeting: Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017

WEST POINT SOCIETY OF DENVER

Board of Directors Meeting

Tuesday, December 5, 2017 1130-1300

American Legion Post 1, 5400 East Yale Avenue, Denver, CO 80222

1.       Call to order by President Brian MacDonald at 1130

a.       Eleven board members in attendance, making a quorum.

b.       Board members attending:

Steve Best             Lindy Blackburn                   Dave Jackson                        Brian MacDonald

Mark Frank           Tom Carroll                           Chad Dalton                          Andy Benson

Bob Walcott          Lou Schroeder                                                                     Sam Thiessen (acting scribe)

2.       Minutes prepared and submitted by Secretary Tim Griesmer for the October 3, 2017 board meeting were approved.

3.       Treasurer’s Report – Dave Jackson

a.       Dave reported $25,197.30 in accounts, reviewed receivables & earmarked expenditures.

b.       146 currently signed up for the Army-Navy Game viewing at Sports Column

c.        1037 total membership/95 paid (-7 since last report)

d.       The Treasurer’s report was approved.

4.       Admissions Update – Tom Carroll

a.       Congressional panel reviews are underway or completed.

b.       There is an increase in applications over last year.  318 packets being considered.

c.        The Field Force is planning to hold a central site CFA with a local reserve officer.

d.       Few failures of the CFA (Candidate Fitness Assessment) this year – both physical and medical.

5.       Parents’ Club Update – Bob Walcott

a.       The All Academy Ball is scheduled for December 28, 2017 at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.

b.       Invitation has been extended to the Parents’ Club to participate in Army/Navy Game viewing.   

6.       Army-Navy Watch Parties: Dec. 9, 2017

a.       Brian reported there will be two and that a group of grads up north have taken the initiative to hold a party at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland for those in the Boulder/Fort Collins area.

b.       All is a go for the viewing at the Sports Column in LoDo.  Jason Connor has procured door prizes and is coordinating with our USNA hosts.

c.        Dave reported that a larger turnout is expected than last year.

7.       Founder’s Day 2018

a.       Because of the change of our dinner back to the Saturday, March 3, 2018 date, the Commandant cannot attend our event.  He can only attend the WPS of the Pikes Peak Region FD Dinner on Friday.  WPSPPR President Stover James was unaware of this when it was decided to change back to the first weekend in March.

b.       The Athletic Director, Boo Corrigan has been selected by the West Point to be our speaker in lieu of the Com not being able to attend.

c.        It was discussed, and generally agreed, that it would be better if we can get a speaker who is a grad (Corrigan is not).

d.       Brian will check with commands at USNORTHCOM/NORAD and 4^th ID/Fort Carson to on availability of a flag-rank grad who could be our speaker.  He noted his classmate is the Deputy NORTHCOM Commander.

8.       Fundraising Subcommittee Report

a.       Brian began discussion of the report, a hardcopy of which is submitted for the record as an attachment to these minutes.

b.       The Fundraising Subcommittee consists of: Brian MacDonald, Dave Jackson, Andy Benson, Chad Dalton, Lou Schroeder, and Bob Walcott.

c.        It was noted that additional input from individual board members not on the subcommittee should submit any input they have on the report, and specifically the marketing survey, to general membership by December 12, 2017.

d.       The purpose(s) for fundraising efforts were discussed and the subcommittee identified ease of effort/time-involved and greatest chance of success to raise fund as criteria on how to proceed.

e.       Brian discussed Grad-to-Grad Business Sponsorships, highlighting that our membership and AOG rosters would be kept secure.  Including mutual weblinks between the WPSD and Grad-to-Grad Sponsor pages was discussed, along with developing an Initial Interest Survey to present to the membership (sample survey included in the subcommittee report.) He concluded by asking if there is something “outside the box” that we want to consider for fundraising.

f.         Dave discussed the USMA License Plate fundraising initiative, noting that 3,000 signatures are needed on a petition to have the initiative considered by the Colorado Department of Revenue and then the State Legislature for adoption. We discussed the specifics of this requirement and Dave said he would do more research on this and get back to the board.

g.       The Amazon Smiles and Grocery Store Donation Programs were briefly discussed.  It was believed by some who had experience with either or both that these two programs would not be major fundraisers.  More details on these programs are required to make any determinations about them.

h.       Andy reported on his experience in requesting, processing, and making grants.  Different approaches and levels of grants were discussed.  Andy will continue to develop possible Grant Fundraising models and approaches we might take.

9.       Young Graduate Engagement – Mike Euperio & Cory Wroblewski

a.       Brian reported that Mike and Cory are continuing to work on a structure for activities and a schedule of events for young graduates arriving in the area.

b.       Ideas under consideration include monthly welcome events and opportunities combined with other veterans’ events in the area.

10.     2018 Proposed Meeting Dates:

a.       Brian proposed the following dates for board meetings in 2018 and asked the board to consider them for potential conflicts:

(1)     February 20 (FD)

(2)     May 1 (Officer Elections/Plebe Parent/SLS)

(3)     July 10 (Leadership Conference)

(4)     Oct 2 (Air Force)

(5)     Dec 4 (Navy)

(6)     January 29, 2019 (Annual Planning Meeting)

The next board meeting will be the Annual Planning Meeting to be held Tuesday evening, January 30, 2018 at Piccolo’s restaurant (start time TBD) near the intersection of Monaco and Hampden.

The meeting adjourned at 1300.

Minutes prepared by: Sam Thiessen, ’73

Attachment: Fundraising Subcommittee Report prepared by Brian MacDonald

Fundraising Subcommittee Report

BOARD INPUT:  Individual board members please provide input on this document and any fundraising comments NLT Tuesday December 12, 2017

Fundraising Goals

1. Reduce costs for Founders Day to make it more affordable (anticipating future price increases)
2. Find sponsors for periodic events like golf, picnic, quarterly dinners (make events more attractive)
3. Fund Leadership & Ethics program ($30,000?)

Subcommittee Activities to Date

·         4 phone conferences held (Dave, Andy, Brian)

·         26 fundraising options considered

·         5 options selected to start

Fundraising Programs to Develop

1.       Grad-to-Grad Business Sponsorships

There may be a significant number of grads (or spouses) in the area who run businesses or work for companies and want to do business with other grads.  Examples of professions that might be attracted are legal, accounting, insurance, financial planning, consulting, career counseling, recruiting, marketing, tech consulting, product sales, etc.…  We could offer them sponsorship opportunities to reach our grads through WPSD.

• Revenue comes from advertising & sponsorships of WPSD activities
• Potential advertising & sponsorship elements:

1. Periodic promotional mentions in eblasts to 1000+ WPSD members & affiliates
2. Sponsor registry available on website & promoted in eblasts
3. Mentions at quarterly dinners and/or Founders Day
4. Banner ads / interactive ads on the WPSD website or specific pages
5. Major sponsorship at Founders Day – banner, thanks from the podium
6. Underwriting of the upcoming Leadership & Ethics course for local high school students
7. Sponsor a WPSD quarterly dinner
8. Hold your own educational event for WPSD membership (pay sponsorship fee)
9. Sponsor the car give-away at the golf tournament
10. Sponsor prizes at Army-Navy watch parties, picnic

• Actions Plan
• Initial interest survey to ~130 grads with target business name & position titles; 8 positive responses
• Formal survey to all members (include parents club? BizNet?,USNA? USAFA?)
• Assess data; reach out to key respondents for add’l detail; understand needs
• Create sponsorship & marketing options; collaborate with key respondents
• Develop related media to support sponsorships (website, standardized eblast format..)
• Roll-out to membership – eblast, calls to target business names & position titles
• Considerations/notes
• Keep the WPSD and AOG rosters secure - not to be distributed, no access to sponsors
• Potential to expand offering to WPSPPR, parent’s clubs, non-graduate businesses

2.       USMA License Plate

The state offers a custom license plate program.  Drivers can make a donation to their nonprofit (WPSD) and get one.

• Revenue comes a one-time donation to the nonprofit ($50.00 is proposed)
• Opportunity - Generally, just counting graduates and immediate families living in Colorado, there typically will be approximately 4000-5000 residents with a like number of vehicles.  Additionally, there are over one hundred family members each year that are associated with West Point, having a family member in attendance at the academy. 
• Plan is to provide wpspp and wppcc with their share of profits
• If each group could get 1000 plates, then they’d make $50,000.
• To start, we need 3000 signature s on petition
• We submit to DOR and to Congress for approval
• Costs about $275 up front .
• Annually, requires Source and Use report from an independent auditor
• Action for Board, take copy of petition and make copies. Then approach fiends, family, co-worker,groups to generate 3000 Sig’s.

3.       Amazon Smile

Many people shop through Amazon.com. Shoppers can register their nonprofit of choice (WPSD) through the Amazon Smile program and Amazon donates 0.5% of the eligible purchases to WPSD. 

• Revenue is a small % of each shoppers grocery bill paid by the grocery chain
• Dave has figured out the details and we are able to roll this out to membership

4.       Grocery Store Donation Programs

Many grocery and chain stores, such as King Soopers, Safeway, Target and Walmart offer programs where the store sends a fraction of consumer grocery bills to the consumer’s nonprofit organization of choice. Shoppers (WPSD members, affiliates, anyone) register their loyalty cards, select their nonprofit organization (WPSD), and a small percentage of each purchase is sent to WPSD.

·         Revenue is a small % of each shoppers grocery bill paid by the grocery chain

·         Lou is working on King Soopers

5.       Grant requests to companies

Many companies consider grant requests for their charitable giving.  We could find a volunteer (grad or spouse?) with grant-writing experience to identify available grants and write up donation/grant requests.

·         Larger grants might require more developed/specific needs (Leadership & Ethics program…?)

·         Smaller grants may have lower bars and be easily obtained

West Point Society of Denver Survey

Hello fellow graduates. 

Several graduate business owners in the region have indicated that they would like a way to present their businesses, products and service offerings to fellow graduates. To better assess interest in possible opportunities, we would appreciate a few moments of your time to take this brief survey. 

There are over 1000 West Point Graduates in the greater Denver region (up through Ft. Collins) and ____ more in the greater Colorado Springs region.  Approximately 700 are class of 75 or later (under 65) and many are leaders in their fields, executives in their companies, and business decision-makers. Supporters include friends, family and some___ parents of cadets who are affiliated with the West Point Parent’s Club. 

On behalf of the West Point Society of Denver and all local graduates, thank you for your time and participation.

2. Name (free text field)
3. USMA graduating class (numerical entry / drop down)
4. When did you most recently move to the Denver area? 
5. What industry / profession do you primarily work in? (check box response with most common Denver industries / professions)
6. What company do you work for / represent? (free text field; optional response) 
7. Are you in a position to make commitments regarding donations/advertising? (yes / no / N/A)
8. Would you/your organization be interested in contacting local West Point grads about your profession, industry, product or service? (yes / no) 
9. What would your primary reason be for reaching out to local graduates?  A) Job search, recruiting B) promote products or services C) support WPSD  D) Networking, connecting with like-mined individuals/organizations E)Other [free text]
10. Would you/your organization be likely to commit marketing funds to reach local West Point Graduates?  (yes, no, maybe)
    ------ Only used if they said yes or maybe -----
11. What types of sponsorship opportunities would excite you the most?  (multiple choices) 
1. Periodic mentions/listings emails to 1000+ WPSD members
2. Mentions at quarterly dinners and/or Founders Day
3. Banner ads / interactive ads on the WPSD website
4. Major sponsorship at Founders Day – banner, thanks from the podium
5. Sponsorship of the upcoming Leadership & Ethics course for local high school students
6. Sponsor a WPSD quarterly dinner
7. Hold an educational event for WPSD membership
8. Sponsor the car give-away at the golf tournament
12. Is there some other type of sponsorship or activity that you believe would be more effective for us or for you? (text box)
13. Briefly describe what you think a reasonable investment might be for the opportunities you selected? (free text - to be categorized on the back end)
14. What other aspects of organization sponsorship are important to me / my organization? (check boxes - A) Tax deductible nature of sponsorship B) Exclusivity of sponsorship (e.g. Platinum donor) C) Access area USMA graduates D) Advertising in local AOG publications / events E) Other [free text])
15. ----- End only yes section ----
16. What recommendations do you have for activities/events WPSD could organize that you would personally attend?
17. Any other feedback or ideas for WPSD leaders? [free text. optional response] 
18. Preferred email address [free text, optional response]
19. Closing thanks