DCF Board Meeting Sept. 20th, 2001

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Douglas-Coldwell Foundation Board Meeting
September 20th 2001 - NDP Caucus Services, Ottawa

In Attendance:
Tessa Hebb
Dick Martin
Ted Jackson
Lorne Ingle
Bill Blaikie
Fraser Green
Marion Dewar
Kealy Cummings

Regrets:
Howard Pawley
Bill Knight
Jill Marzetti
David Woodbury

Request to participate by conference call:
David Mackenzie

Call to Order

9:45 The Meeting was called to order by the President.

M/S/C that the agenda be approved.

M/S/C that the minutes of the last Board meeting be approved.

Presidents Report

The President's report was delayed until the AGM directly following the Board Meeting

Correspondence

The President reviewed the correspondence for the board including: various requests for funding, correspondence with Stoddart publishing re: a request from the DCF to buy the remainder of the M.J. Coldwell biography at a discounted price for placement in schools and libraries; and also the final installment from the Eileen Sufrin estate, which will be transferred to the DCF's portfolio.

Fraser Green volunteered to look into a bequest package for members to make endowment contributions to the DCF

Treasurer's Report

The Treasurer's report delayed until the AGM directly following the Board Meeting

The Treasurer reported on moving the portfolio from Nesbitt Burns to another institution. Three possibilities were looked into Scotia McLeod, Real Assets and Credential Securities.

The Treasurer recommended that for the time being the portfolio be transferred to Scotia McLeod because of their good track record and flexibility. And that we also stay in touch with Real Assets because of their expertise with ethical investing

M/S/C that the Treasurer's report be adopted.

New Projects

The President reviewed the requests that the foundation had received. She presented the ETAG No Sweat anti sweatshop proposal saying that it involves a lot of youth, is a good counterbalance to our recent historical and academic projects and is exactly the kind of grassroots project that captures the spirit of Social Democracy.

Ted Jackson moved that we provide $10 000 for public education to ETAG in the 2002 budget and that we promote the idea to other foundations and individuals. Bill Blaikie seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously carried.

Marion Dewar moved that we accept individual donations on behalf of ETAG and provide tax receipts. Fraser Green was concerned that issuing tax receipts for non-charities might put our charitable status in danger. He volunteered to look further into it and report back to the board. The president suggested that we develop guidelines on this topic.

The president recommended that the other two projects, A film biography of Allan Blakeney and a request from Rabble.ca be taken up in 2002.

M/S/C that the recommendations regarding new Projects be approved

Adjournment

10:25 the Meeting was adjourned by the President.

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DCF Board Meeting - February 27, 2020

DCF Board Meeting 

Thursday, February 27th, 2020 

19:00 ET 

Location: 

By Telephone 

Attendance: 

Karl Bélanger, Melissa Hunter, Mohammad Akbar, Rebecca Blaikie, Jon Weier, Derek De Vlieger, Diana Idibe, Chirs Markevich. 

  1. Adoption of Agenda 

m/s/c 

2. Adoption of minutes 

Minutes of the July 23rd, 2019 meeting 

m/s/c

3. President’s report: 

Hope everyone is well. Mayor of Ottawa has asked people to stay home because of the coronavirus, thankfully we can hold our meeting by phone. 

Transition has been happening. Our new treasurer will give us an update. 

The group “Nos Communes, Our Commons” appears to have gone dormant. We were wise to set conditions to go along with the grant approval. 

Work has been done to update our registration with Industry Canada. No progress has been made on the Stokoe bequest. 4Executive

4. Secretary’s Report: 

Anne Scotton is unable to join us and send her regrets. 

5. Treasurer’s Report: 

Transition has been happening. Priority now is on issuing tax receipts. We have to handle a few manually. We have a lot of different systems which are more or less

compatible with each other, but things seem under control. We are issuing cheques to catch up on some accounts due. 

5. b) Fee structure at Scotia McLeod 

Good discussions with Scotia McLeod about our assets. They remain healthy. 

Their proposed new fee structure, SM would be much more nimble in the markets as there are no commission minimums on trades. Currently, the commission minimum is $175. That does limit profit taking opportunities and specific positions when considering weighting in the portfolio, which we must do as our assets are now stock-heavy. 

Motion: BIRT the Board authorizes ScotiaMcLeod to move the Douglas-Coldwell Foundation wealth management account into a Partnership Plus account, which modifies the fee structure from a Per Transaction formula to an annual fee based on the DCF assets. 

m/s/c 

5 c). Adoption of Treasurer’s report. 

m/s/c

6. Progress Summit 

The Progress Summit will be held in Vancouver. We will have a booth. Looking for volunteers, so if anyone is attending, please let us know. 

The next TDI Institute will be held in May. Theme is Our City & the Green New Deal. We have been invited to take part once again. 

7. Office Space 

Mohammad Akbar has raised the issue of the DCF securing a new permanent space by buying a building. The CFS building is no longer on the market. Board members express general interest in doing so sometime down the road. 

8. DCF 50th Anniversary 

Next year is the 50th anniversary of the DCF. It is a good opportunity to complete the reboot of the DCF and move forward with the plan adopted by AGM two years ago. We should have a year of activity of events, maybe a gala? Jon Weier volunteers to coordinate the DCF planning.

The Institute for Change Leaders (ICL)’s proposal to create a multimedia project that tells the story of progressive campaigns, driven by Olivia Chow, is moving forward, with Tim Harper on board. Another application will be forthcoming at the next board meeting. Board members expressed once again their support in principle for this proposal.

9. Next Meeting 

Board members agreed to look for a suitable date in late April/early May. 

10. Other business 

The Institute for Change Leaders (ICL)’s proposal to create a multimedia project that tells the story of progressive campaigns, driven by Olivia Chow, is moving forward, with Tim Harper on board. We are still awaiting their next application. 

We have received news from Beryl Young that Tommy's Dream, a children’s book that tells the story of how Tommy Douglas's childhood experience with his own health inspired him to work toward establishing universal health care, is now going to be published by Louis Anctil, the publisher of Midtown Press in Vancouver. Target is the spring of 2021. An update application will be forthcoming before the next meeting. 

11. Adjournment 

m/s/c

DCF Board Meeting - July 23rd, 2019

DCF Board Meeting

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2019

6:00 ET

Location:

By Telephone

Attendance:

Karl Bélanger, Melissa Hunter, Mohammad Akbar, Rebecca Blaikie, Diane Idibe,
Jon Weier, Amy Boughner, Jay Ramasubramanyam, Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah.
Non-board member: Josh Bizjak

Adoption of Agenda

m/s/c

2. Adoption of minutes

Minutes of the previous meeting are read and adopted.

m/s/c

 

3. President’s report:

Karl mentions that there was a significant turnover of Board Members at the AGM, which is interesting and challenging.

The two committees charged by the previous AGM to review governance issues and the DCF by-laws made limited progress.

The DCF received a nice letter from a scholarship recipient and was read. The DCF needs to revisit its links with the different universities to strengthen the relationship and increase awareness.

4. Financial Report: No official report as the position is vacant, following the resignation of Emilie Taman. Karl gives a general overview of the financial situation. Our assets remain healthy. The DCF raised more money in the past year, thanks notably to a generous donation from the Flanagan Institute.

Minimal progress has been made on the transition. A full audit needs to be conducted before the end of the year.

Karl had a meeting with Scotia McLeod about our assets. They are proposing a new fee  

structure, in essence moving to a fee-based structure from a per transaction cost. With the fee-based structure, our investors pledge to make himself available for board meetings and consult on the construction of a new investment policy statement. With a fee-based structure, we would be much more nimble in the markets as there are no commission minimums on trades.

Motion moved to ask the new treasurer to review, met with Scotia McLeod and report to the Board on a recommendation for the proposal.

m/s/c


5. Election of officers

 

President: Karl Bélanger

Vice-President: Rebecca Blaikie, Derek DeVlieger

Executive Secretary: Anne Scotton in abstentia, pending her acceptance;
Mohammad Akbar as alternate.

Treasurer: Melissa Hunter


6. Staffing

Chris Markevich has moved on from his position but has been elected to the Board, which will be helpful for institutional memory. Josh Bizjak has been helping out on a volunteer basis.

 

Motion moved to regularize Josh Bizjak’s situation by compensating his work on a similar contract as previous assistant, to be negotiated with the President.

 

m/s/c


7. Correspondence

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