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Meeting Minutes: April 2015

7:00 p.m. The NINETY

Present (14 of 32):Kyle Boyd, Paul Cox, Craig Dillon, Michael Dollard, Woody Favinger,
Roberta King, Angelica Mendoza, Jerry Neil, Karl Picard, Daniel Roe, Stephanie Steiner, Hans Ulland, Brendan Vaughn, Kristina Vaughn

Guests:  Taylor Graham, Roger Levesque

Next meeting:    Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.

I. Call to order – Stephanie Steiner

II. Roll call – Angelica Mendoza – 14 of 32 members present (13 needed to establish quorum)

III. Approval of minutes – Stephanie Steiner – Motion to approve March minutes passed

 IV. Community Outreach – Roger Levesque and Taylor Graham

  • Roger started with FO in December; shared passion for SSFC and community
  • Working in partnership with Taylor and Katie Pendleton
  • Met with past and current community partners to discuss how SSFC might have a bigger impact
  • Traditionally worked with five community partners; fundraising and issuing a check at the end of the season
    • Reevaluate the structure of five community partners with United in Green
    • Work with same community partners, but have flexibility to be involved in more programs and partnerships
    • Relationships with each partner will vary (e.g., player appearances and talks on leadership for Sounders in Schools, and fundraising and awareness-building for Washington Global Health Alliance)
    • Aiming for strategic over reactionary giving
  • New website and platform (soundersfc.com/community-outreach)
  • Intend to do more given various assets, such as on the business side and with the game of soccer, supporter groups and AC; involve the whole SSFC community
  • Include all stakeholders and not just the players; lean on FO staff, supporter groups and AC for service and mentorship as well
  • Pillars of equality and equity
    • Equality – introducing and growing the game of soccer and inherent values it teaches; let the game be the teacher (e.g., principles of discipline, teamwork and mentorship)
    • Equity – using energy and enthusiasm to make a difference in local community and combat growing disparity in the city
    • Provide opportunities to those who may not have them otherwise
    • Leverage soccer as a powerful vehicle to provide support and teach values
    • Aim for each partnership to be somewhere on the sliding scale between equity and equality
  • United in Green separate from Rave Foundation, which is focused on urban field development in around Seattle area
  • SSFC will partner with Rave Foundation (e.g., use field for Street Soccer Seattle training session)
  • SSFC working closely with Seattle Foundation; fundraising dollars go into donor advised fund that can only be distributed to 501(c)(3) organizations
    • United in Green is not a separate 501(c)(3)
    • Selected Seattle Foundation for knowledge base and history of working with nonprofits
    • Mission-driven structure of United in Green; perfect hybrid of 501(c)(3) status through Seattle Foundation, and independence and flexibility of not being a separate foundation
  • Electronic version of 50-50% raffle to be incorporated in State of Washington as a massive mean of generating dollars for nonprofit organizations
  • Will lean on AC to unite voice of fans and make United in Green successful
    • Initial service projects and other opportunities to get involved
    • Open-door policy with Roger and Taylor as AC has ideas and input
  • Work to streamline communication; get in touch with community in real time
  • Next big community push is week leading into April 26 match versus PDX
    • Week to get people focused on service and have an impact in the community
    • Different service event each day – schools, Habitat for Humanity, We Day benefitting Seattle youth
    • GiveBIG campaign begins May 5 – April 26 promotion launch for GiveBIG
  • Passion each of us feels is a byproduct of community impact
  • SSFC business goal is to be a global brand; community is a great way to start the conversation about expanding that reach (e.g., water sanitation project in Tanzania)
  • Will have transition and reevaluation periods to determine next steps; may determine a different focus area after impact is measured
  • What would fans like to see with respect to outreach?
    • Broad fan base with diverse backgrounds and interests; crowdsource ideas from that base
    • Brought-in stakeholders during evaluation process and development of mission, but hasn’t been much fan engagement with programming piece
    • Want fans to know that community is important and what SSFC is doing to make an impact
    • SSFC unique in including the fan base; how can fans work with SSFC to strengthen the community?

 V. Work Group Updates

a) Visibility team – Roberta King

  • Met with Shane Evans to discuss how to get information on the web and potential blog (e.g., Brad’s Captain’s Corner, which is visible and gets archived)
  • Same format as Shane’s regular blog posts
  • Biggest challenge is who will write the content
  • Suggests that we do not shy away from controversial or opinion pieces
  • Shane will use social media avenues to promote as we wish; could also do account takeovers

b) Supporter group recognition team – Daniel Roe (for Mark Nesteroff)

  • Should AC be able to recognize and remove supporter groups?
  • What does revocation of a supporter group status actually mean?
  • Team has yet to meet with FO to discuss if Club wants us to be the go-between
  • Recognized supporter groups are allowed privileges within their section(s); question of what exactly are the privileges
  • Original intent was to determine minimum standards for supporter group recognition
  • Create guidelines for Club to enforce

VI. Open items

a) Changes to Charter

  • GM Vote Team working on updating Constitution, Charter and Bylaws

b) GM vote

  • Recommendation handouts provided on: GM Vote, Recall Vote, Communication Channels, and YE Business Meeting
    • Vote of confidence at 48 months (or season when GM enters 48 month) and every fourth season thereafter
    • 48 months after individual is hired rather than complicating season vs. offseason
    • Necessary to mention offseason if voting every 48 months regardless?
    • Maya Mendoza will review language and finalize

c) Recall vote

  • 36 months to allow GM sufficient time to prove whether or not he/she is right for the job
  • After quorum is established, 50% of vote required to pass
  • 50% of AC voting to start process is too low; should be super majority
  • Motion to table GM vote and recall discussion to next meeting passed
  • Review handouts and come prepared to discuss at May meeting

d) Communication

  • Communication Channels; motion to table discussion to next meeting passed
  • Review handout and come prepared to discuss at May meeting

e) Creation of revenue

  • Need budget to plan YE business meeting (e.g., secure venue, A/V capabilities, staffing, etc.)
  • Hold the meeting in cooperation with the Club and negotiate which aspects should be AC responsibility and which should be SSFC responsibility
  • Do we have AC members willing to invest time/energy needed to execute YE business meeting?
  • Budget may also fund meeting materials, marketing/advertising, etc.
  • Suggest greater collaboration earlier on rather than budget and greater hand in planning
  • Sooner we communicate with FO on details and ideas, the better
  • Dialogue with Club about how we get to a point where we have a budget and run point on YE business meeting
  • Likely that FO would be willing to provide a budget for us
  • Two issues as separate: YE business meeting as a vehicle to obtain a budget, and increased collaboration with the FO
  • Budget discussion should reside with GM Vote Team, and increased collaboration should reside with YE business meeting work group
  • Motion to separate budget from YE meeting (budget to be discussed by GM Vote Team and YE business meeting to be discussed by work group) passed

 

  • Adjournment – Motion to adjourn passed