DCF Board Meeting December 1, 2009

Douglas-Coldwell Foundation Board Meeting

Dec 1, 2009
11:00 am ET Board Meeting

Boardroom
300-279 Laurier Ave W
Ottawa, ON

Present:
David Mackenzie
Pat Kerwin
Erin Armstrong
Kealey Cummings
Phyllis Dietrich
Jesse Brady
David Illman-White
Tessa Hebb
Doug Massey (Staff)

On the Phone:
Dick Proctor
Howard Leeson
Kevin Wright
Anne Scotton

Regrets:
Fraser Green
Peter Stoffer, MP
Alexa McDonough
Agenda
1. Adoption of Agenda

m/s/c

2. Minutes of Aug 16th 2009 Board Meeting

m/s/c

3. Correspondence

David was sorry to report that Frank Saptel, the current Vice President has decided to step down from the Board. David wanted the minutes to reflect the tremendous contribution that Frank Saptel made to the Board of the DCF.

Motion to thank Frank Saptel for his contributions to the DCF.
m/s/c

No other correspondence.

4. President’s Report

David reviewed the minutes of the very first meeting of the DCF on Monday July 31, 1972 and paid special attention to the following:

Tommy’s opening remarks – he noted that the political and social climate in North America was demonstrating many similarities to the populist period of the 1930’s -- this was based on discontent, a lack of confidence in the “establishment” and a manifestation of the frustration and alienation on the part of many citizens. He stated that it was particularly important that, at this time, there be clear thinking on social and economic questions. He felt that a role that the Foundation could play in such a context was to provide educational directions in the field of social economic questions.

David stated that this is just as relevant now as it was then.

David spoke of the grants for this year and mentioned we have to manage our funds wisely so for 2010 the grants at this time will be limited to $10,000 to be divided up as per the Board decisions based on the submissions received.

David covered the continued efforts of the CNCA and the grant we gave them.

David asked Doug Massey to talk about CLiFF in Ottawa.

Doug – Frank Saptel, the Founder of CLiFF – Canadian Labour International Film Festival successfully took on the challenge of not only starting a Labour Film Festival but a Labour Film Festival that went country wide in it’s founding year. We hosted a venue for Ottawa at the National Archives --- it was well received by those that attended and there was a genuine interest in the DCF continuing to host the Ottawa venue of CLiFF in the years to come – it is a great opportunity to promote education of different aspects of the world of labour.

Motion to move David’s report
m/s/c

Pat proposed a motion that the DCF continues to host the Ottawa venue of CLiFF in 2010 seeking the support of local unions to support any costs that would be incurred.
m/s/c

Pat also mentioned the great content of films that we had in Ottawa (which can be found on the DCF web site). David Illman-White also commented on the interview that Doug did on Michael Bhardwaj’s CBC Saturday morning radio show was well done. Phyllis also commented on how exciting this type of event is for not only the DCF but the country as a whole.

5. Secretary’s Report

281 members overall
31 members that Alexa signed up in Nova Scotia
125 members of the 281 still need to be renewed

32 Affiliation memberships in various stages of involvement

m/s/c

Pat asked that all the Board members take a part of the renewal list to personally call and ask people to renew. Everyone is to contact Doug with people they know on the list and then Doug will send out lists to all the Board members of people to call to reduce the duplication of calling.

6. Treasurer’s Report

Pat reviewed the YTD financial statements noting that we’ve made some progress on gaining on the lost investment money due to the market conditions at the end of 2008.

Kevin brought up his concerns about the investments we have as it pertains to certain organizations and their involvement in the Tar Sands for example.

Anne suggested that Tessa and Pat start a committee to discuss an investment directive statement.

Tessa wanted to ensure that we were still continuing our affiliation membership with SHARE. Tessa discussed that we have always explained to ScotiaMcleod to keep our investments in the areas of best in sector respecting the different aspects of responsible investing.

m/s/c

7. Scholarship Report

All 3 at Woodsworth College given out
The 2 at Carleton University were given out
Initial at University of Regina handed out.
Also two final University of Regina scholarships were submitted for payment.

Tessa asked that we ask the different scholarship venues for contact information so we can continue to communicate with these scholarship recipients in the future.

m/s/c

8. 2010 Grant Discussion

David covered the grant requests we have received. Once again a great group of grant requests but due to our investment rebuilding -- funds are limited this year.

After much discussion the Board recommended and agreed on the following:

$5,000 for Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting
$4,000 for the Knowles-Woodsworth Centre for Theology and Public Policy
$1,000 for CCPA in Saskatchewan for a book on the Regina Manifesto.

Tessa, Anne and Erin mentioned that we should confirm the percentage of the endowment fund that must be dispensed each year to ensure we are on target. Doug to follow up with the Auditor and communicate with the Board for the next meeting.

m/s/c

Pat put forth a motion that all future grant requests must be received 4 weeks prior to a Board Meeting to be included for discussion in order to ensure the Board has time to review the submissions in their entirety.

m/s/c

9. Other Business

Tessa brought up the Responsible Investment Policy mentioned under the Treasurer’s report.

Motion to set up a Responsible Investment Committee comprised of members of the Board who want to participate to discuss a proposal to be brought forth to the Board for our next meeting.

m/s/c

Howard brought up that most of these meetings are done by phone and it would be great to come up with little projects in each region of the country that different Board Members could help with in conjunction with other Board members (Education events, member drives, etc). Phyllis agreed.
David Mackenzie encourage all the Board Members to think about what events the DCF could support/hold in their different regions across the country.
Doug mentioned that for the future we’re investigating cost efficient web conferencing that will keep all Board members more in touch during meetings.

Next Board Meeting – Thursday May 27th, 2010 at 11 AM ET.

Motion to adjourn at 12:42 pm
m/s/c