MINUTES of 20 September 2015 Meeting of Board

The meeting was held on 20 September 2015 via teleconference. The meeting was called to order (without use of the words “called to order”) at 4:03 pm EDT / 3:03 pm CDT / 2:03 pm MDT / 1:03 PDT / 10:03 pm CEST / 2003 GMT by Chuck McClenon. In attendance were: Chuck McClenon, Bob McClenon, Tom Baisden, Clara McClenon, Lee McClenon, and Carol McClenon.

1. Approval of minutes of previous meeting in June

The minutes were approved as posted.

2. Report of President

Estimated General Income is $2500. Recommended contributions were discussed. There was discussion of giving $4000 to $5000 from the Special Endowment, based on the IRS 5% rule. A target of $1500 to $2000 for the General Endowment, based on the bylaw requiring distribution of at least 50% of the income but also requiring retention of some of the income.

3. Task forces.

Three of the five task forces had some email exchanges.  Those are the committee on long-term purpose, the committee on investments, and the committee on identification of causes.  Those email strings were distributed by the President.   The President requested that the emails be posted to the web site.

Carol McClenon, in Kathy Clark’s absence, summarized several strands from the long-term discussion: philanthropy, honoring the founder, addressing needs, finding community, finding common ground. Whether and to what extent to keep the Fund in the family was discussed. The task force was encouraged to keep up the good work and to develop a working document.

Lee discussed investment policy. We should try to keep risk low. The trade-off between keeping risk low and social investment was discussed. This task force did a good job. The separation of investment decisions and grant-making decisions was noted. Walter McClenon had specified that, while anti-social investments were to be avoided, investments should not be made with the primary purpose of furthering social ends rather than obtaining income.

There was discussion of causes. Carol asked whether there was a preference between national and international causes. The idea of small (e.g., local somewhere) causes with which a trustee is familiar was mentioned. Examples were discussed. The discussion was extensive but not conclusive. The task force should continue and possibly be more specific. The benefit of deferring grant decisions to the fourth quarter was mentioned, because it encourages larger donations.

There was a brief mention of the task force on external presence. It has not met.

4. Review of list of organizations

Lists of organizations showing the status of organizations that were or could be nominated had been distributed by the Secretary and posted to the web.

Training for Change was mentioned, as was the Good Shepherd Mediation Program.

Training for Change is already nominated from the General Endowment. It was renominated from the Special Endowment. Earth Quaker Action Team was discussed. It is not currently evaluated with respect to the Special Endowment due to eligibility considerations. It was renominated from the General Endowment.

5. Next meeting (in November or December)

There was discussion of when to schedule the next meeting. Sundays in December are 6 December, 13 December, 20 December, and 27 December. A motion was made and passed to schedule the next meeting for 13 December. The time was not stated in the motion but was understood to be 4 pm EST / 3 pm CST / 2 pm MST / 1 pm PST / 2100 GMT.

6. Adjournment

There was a motion to adjourn. The motion passed. The meeting was adjourned at 5:13 pm EDT / 4:13 pm CDT / 3:13 pm MDT / 2:13 pm PDT / 2113 GMT.

Respectfully submitted

Robert McClenon

Secretary