Heron Creek Community Foundation Board Meeting March 16,2022
The meeting was called to order by Holly at 10:00 and a quorum was declared.
PRESENT
Holly Loos
Bill Bay
Mary Bowersock (briefly)
Bill Bach
Pete Cunningham
Maria Rinaldo
Roy Munnelly
Dave Sobecki
Nick Cipolla
Joe O'Connor
Deanne Siddall
Holly welcomed the new board members, Nick Cipolla and Dave Sobecki.
Mary remained in the meeting briefly to explain that she would be hosting a social event for new homeowners at her home on March 30th at 4:00. She asked us to put this on our calendars and spouses are also invited. Holly and Joe will address the group and perhaps two grant recipients will talk about their programs. These might be the Rape Crisis Center and First Tee.
First Tee was unable to attend our meeting today because of a prior commitment. We need to coordinate with their timeline.
MINUTES
The minutes of the February meeting were approved.
FINANCIALS
Pete mentioned that The Gulf Coast Foundation was slow getting a statement to him. $9,000 is always kept aside for operating expenses i.e., postage, storage, credit card. 513,000 is taken out for grants. Gulf Coast invests our funds in a conservative fund that pays about 9% (account in PA). Pete reports that investments are down about $4000. Endowment funds are kept just for grants.
MEMBERSHIP
Joe reports that there are 6 new members. Joe has contacted 21new residents. After a short wait, he will call back if he has not heard from them. Joe explained that he works with Carol Kantor who is the record keeper. She sends a letter to all new homeowners to welcome them and tell them about the Foundation. Joe follows that with an e-mail and phone call. She also contacts members when their yearly contribution runs out. We currently have 240 members out of 830 households. Some members have dropped their membership this year due to a disagreement with grant allocations.
Grants
Bill Bay heads the grants committee. Judy Wing, Joe Strosnik, Bill Bach, and Maria Rinaldo complete the committee. The committee performs one cycle of grants per year.
SITE VISITS
SPARCC- Holly and Bill Bay will visit a home on March 23.
Roy has contacted Meals on Wheels but no response yet. He will send a follow up e-mail.
Mary and Maria will visit Child Protection Center on March 22.
Joe will visit Loveland Center.
Holly will contact First Tee regarding a date to visit.
GRANT APPLICATION REVIEW
Roy sent our grant application to his daughter for her review. There is no feedback yet. He will check with her before our next meeting.
Our grant cycle runs from Aug. 1-Sept. 30. It closes in Sept. Reviews run from Sept. to Oct. We finalize at the end of Oct. This is a thorough process as one must research the needs of the community. Dave asked how much money do we have for grants? Holly answered that the golf tournament and other fund raisers determine grant amounts. Maria asked about the e-mail she received about All Faiths Food Bank. Holly answered that the Foundation works with this fund raiser. Checks are written to the Foundation but then Pete writes a check to All Faiths Food Bank for the amount collected.
GOLF TOURNAMENT
Bill Bach said there had not been a meeting yet, but the committee will meet next week. He believes they have a great group on the committee. They are Dave, Nick, Bill Bay, and Roy. The tournament will be held on October 22, 2022. At the meeting they will decide on the bucket list. (site, prep, donations, etc,) and who has which bucket. There will be many ways people can contribute. Pete added that we have copies of what Bob did.
GULF COAST FOUNDATION
Deanne and Mary attended a Gulf Coast Foundation meeting in Sarasota. We were impressed with their leadership. We felt that we were in alignment with their thinking. Gulf Coast believes in being bold and proactive. They want to invest money in one thing rather than little bits in a lot of things. Gulf Coast is one of the fastest growing nonprofits in the country. It is number 3 in dollars given back to the community in the last 25 years. They believe in high impact projects such as helping to fund the Legacy Trail, 911 reform, and red tide.
Our next meeting will be April 20th. Bill Bach moved to adjourn the meeting and Joe seconded it. Meeting adjourned at 11:10.