Minutes from the Annual General Meeting 2015

Tuesday June 9^th, 2015

6:00 pm ET

 

Location:

25One Community

251 Bank St.

Ottawa, ON  K2P 1X3

 

Attendance:

Present: Oliver Kent, Doug Massey, David White, Anne Scotton, Erin Kelly

 

By telephone: Diane O’Reggio

 

11 proxies

 

 

1.      Approval of Agenda

Amended to start at 5:30pm, m/s/c

 

2.      Approval of Minutes

m/s/c

 

3.      President’s Report

Reading from Tommy Douglas’ biography by Doris French Shackleton. Quotes Cliff Scotton, A Scotton’s father. p. 318 Change in governance documents, AGMs have followed one another closely. President has talked to Rabble, Inter Pares, Canadian Healthcare Coalition, Upstream and other past grant recipients. Wrote a note, a Legacy of Hope, for Upstream, now posted on the site. Has connected with some but not all board members. Note, need to set deadline for this year’s grants. What does it mean to be a member? How do we increase our membership? How should we innovate our communication strategy? Have a general discussion around the future of the DCF. There have been opinions that the DCF is winding up, others see the possibility for growth. Clarify our relationship with the Broadbent Institute. Asks board to consider possible next steps: need ad hoc groups to have conversations to bring back to the board – on membership, DCF future, communication strategy (dependent on first two groups). 

 

4.      Executive Secretary’s Report

Reports membership numbers at a total of 107.

 

5.      Treasurer’s Report

2014 audited statements.

Highlights: B/S  comparison, worth same amount of money – no gain/loss; I/S – membership down by $3,000 (25%) from 2013, which is also a drop from previous years. Affiliation w/ SHARE – need to send our ScotiaMcLeod our statements in order to invest in  more socially responsible manner, become more active by staying and working with other shareholders. Gives a detail of monies awarded for grants and scholarships. Postage increase due to sending out by-laws. Website expense was due to putting material online for the AGM. Membership, max was 450, 300 members, a small committed group of people, donations should take care of operations. Auditors talked about concern for internal controls to protect staff and officers. Diane and Anne will come up with some best practices recommendations for the next board meetings. Issues: a few cheques have gone through with one signature – have the bank statements be reviewed and initialed by the Treasurer. O Kent – Questions qualified opinion about inventory. Relates to large number of DVDs and bobble heads on inventory. Recommending to board to reduce DVD price to $11.99 + tax in order to move inventory. A Scotton – suggests further reduction (ie. 3 for $20). D White – comments on price aversion at conventions. O Kent – comments on difficulty making money on inventory, high cost, niche market. A Scotton – get it into a resource centre, your kid’s school, etc. Auditors concern is in regards to the realizable value. Get them into Octopus Books. D Massey - $24.99 for 3. Motion $10 per DVD or $20 for 3. m/s/c Auditor’s Report m/s/c/

 

2015 YTD

No more slippage on receiptable donations, investments down year on year. Anne comments on the fact that changes have been made, which incur costs. Investment advisor may not have been as conservative as we would have liked. Advises to cancel Google Adwords and move to Facebook. Treasurer recommends that we approve a budget. Anne approves financial forecasting. Doug and Diane commit to proposing a draft budget to be approved by the board. In the fall, there will be a budget for 2016 proposed as well. Previously, $15,000 was approved to revamp the website. A proposal was received from Union Communications. Recommends consideration of two additional proposals, NOW Communications and Campaign Gears. Campaign Gears proposal was more thorough, more self-sustaining (vs. NOW Communications which requires more upkeep with Wordpress). Diane’s concern was about accessibility. D O’Reggio, asks we consider an accessibility policy. Campaign Gears responded to our specific RFP, would be tailor made. A Scotton proposes a resolution to authorize Doug Massey to sign contract on DCF’s behalf, and to continue work of committee and determine provider to be used. m/s/c 

 

6.      Membership Discussion

Referred to membership discussion group for report at fall board meeting

 

7.      Board Members

A Scotton nominates P Dietrich for 3-year term, agreement previously obtained m/s/c

 

8.      Other Business

 

9.      Adjournment

m/s/c