Tag: Alliance Council

SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC ALLIANCE COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
September 1, 2015
7:00 p.m.
The Ninety

Present (15 of 32): Samuel Chesneau, Cameron Collins, Paul Cox, Craig Dillon, Roberta King, Angelica Mendoza, Kris Mydske, Jerry Neil, Karl Picard, Daniel Roe,
Stephanie Steiner, Hans Ulland, Brendan Vaughn, Kristina Vaughn, Kelly Weiler
Via telephone: Kyle Boyd
Next meeting: Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.

I. Call to order – Stephanie Steiner

II. Roll call – Angelica Mendoza – 15 of 32 members present

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

IV. Old Business
a) Scarf design – Kristina Vaughn
• To be announced September 8 in a press release and call for designs
• 18 will be selected and then narrowed to final five
• Committee will have six participants determining final designs for voting
• Voting period will be October 2-9 with the winner announced in October
• SSFC to select summer or winter weight

b) Season Ticket Member renewal calls – Paul Cox
• Craig Dillon and Paul Cox participated and each called 12-20 members
o Most intended to renew
o None referenced price as prohibitive
o Praise for six-month over five-month payment plan
o Partial season packages helpful for those who cannot attend all matches
• General confusion about Renew for Life option
o Uncertainty about opting out versus opting in every year

c) Bylaw updates – Stephanie Steiner
• Supporter group recognition (Bylaw 7)
o Line struck providing option to eliminate supporter group
o Bylaw reworked; last two paragraphs removed
o No need for renewal as there is no mechanism to do so
o Motion to vote to approve modification of bylaw passed (14 for and 1 against)

• Leave of absence (Bylaw 8)
o Historically, AC attendance has been between 33-51%
     Bylaw passed previously to help make it easier to meet quorum
     Difficulty meeting quorum resumed after approximately two meetings
     Necessity for bylaw amendment prevalent during voting regarding GM recall procedures
o Leave may be necessary due to work schedule, life changes, etc.
o Temporary non-voting status for those who miss more than half of five meetings or more (running total)
o Non-voting status lasts for two months (60 days)
      Unable to attend ownership meetings
      Ineligible to receive special invitations
o Two ways to stay involved with AC without impeding ability to get business done
      Ex-Oficio status for entire term; still active, but unable to attend meetings
      Leave of Absence status for finite period of time
i. Not included in quorum count and able to return to full-fledged voting status upon return
ii. Previous two absences start leave of absence
o Neither Ex-Oficio nor Leave of Absence status extend AC term
o No notice regarding absence constitutes a resignation; Executive Committee is not responsible for following-up with those who do not provide notice
o Call-in is an acceptable form of attendance
o Consider including voting status on website in the future, so that those voting know status/attendance history
o Include attendance in published meeting notes
o Regular meeting day and time should be included on website when someone considers running for AC
o Concern regarding inability to participate in meeting with ownership after missing the two prior meetings
      Would rather see it limited to non-voting members only
      Ex-Oficio and voting members able to attend
      Argument that attendance at previous two meetings allows for active engagement in current topics
      Predisposed higher attendance at ownership meetings given that they are held on a match day or prior to the EOY business meeting
      Motion to amend amendment to bylaw and strike “who have missed the previous two regularly scheduled monthly meetings” failed (3 for, 7 against, 5 abstained)
o Modification does not apply retroactively; only moving forward beginning next year
      Note that per Bylaw 5, any modification will take effect immediately, unless language of amendment is changed to begin in 2016
      Motion to add language noting beginning in 2016 passed (10 for and 5 abstained)
      Bylaw would not apply to those who don’t receive meeting notice two weeks in advance
o Motion to pass proposed amendment to Bylaw 8 passed (9 for, 2 against, 4 abstained)

• Alliance-wide voting
o Currently restricted on when we may put votes out to entire Alliance
o Appropriate that we call for an Alliance-wide vote at any time for any reason
o Will continue to work with SSFC to strategize timing, reach, etc.
o Motion to vote passed (unanimous); motion to amend the bylaw passed (unanimous)

d) GM vote and recall update – Stephanie Steiner
• AC proposal submitted to SSFC and agreement was reached; Maya Mendoza and Taylor Graham approved
• No additional feedback from owners, so will present to ownership at next meeting
• Procedures only; not a bylaw, charter or article, but will eventually be broken up into those elements as appropriate
• Timelines for four year calculation were cleaned-up; vote will always happen at end of season (October)
• Suggestion to create a simple infographic for every day fan to understand general concept and process
• Need to define whether percentages are all members or all voting members
• Final, legal document will be fine-tuned further and properly worded
• Unanimous vote accepting the proposal

V. New Business
a) Media updates
• New Sounders app will be tested for 6-8 weeks
• AC to have opportunity to test

b) Ticketing updates – Stephanie Steiner
• Executive Committee had a phone call with FO ticketing representatives
• $.50-3.00 increase per seat per match next season
• SSFC has been successful in getting lower bowl seats back that were owned by ticket brokers for resale
• Upper 122 STHs were polled and prefer assigned seating as opposed to GA

VI. Adjournment – Motion to adjourn passed

7:00 p.m. The NINETY

Present (8 of 32): Jerry Neil, Kelly Weiler, Stephanie Steiner, Cameron Collins, Hans Ulland, Craig Dillon, Kristina Vaughn, Paul Cox

Next meeting:    Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at 7:00PM

I. Call to order – Stephanie Steiner

II. Roll call – Kristina Vaughn – 8 of 32 members present

III. Approval of minutes – Motion to approve July minutes made by Kristina, second by Hans. Motion passes.

IV. Old Business – Stephanie Steiner

• Supporter Group bylaw proposal
  • Stephanie moves to vote during the September meeting. Cameron seconds, motion to vote on this passes.

V. Anticipated Owner Meeting – Stephanie Steiner

• Soon – will be announced in coming weeks

VI. Break – skipped

VII. GM Recall Update

•  Alliance wide voting
  • Proposal to amend bylaw 2
• Council voting
  • Attendance Bylaw proposal
    • Paul to revise for September meeting

VIII. Adjournment – Jerry moves to adjourn the meeting, Craig seconds. Motion passes.

7:00 p.m. Seattle Sounders FC Conference Room

Present: (11 of 32):    Kyle Boyd, Cameron Collins, Paul Cox, Craig Dillon, Roberta King, Jerry Neil, Karl Picard, Dan Roe, Stephanie Steiner, Hans Ulland, Kristina Vaughn

Next meeting:                              Tuesday, August 4, 2015 at 7:00 PM

I. Call to order – Stephanie Steiner

II. Roll call – Kristina Vaughn – 11 of 32 members present

III. Approval of minutes – Motion to approve May minutes seconded by Kyle; motion passes. Motion to approve June minutes seconded by Kyle, motion passes.

IV. Supporter Group Work Group Update – Stephanie Steiner

1. One of our duties/rights/responsibilities named in the Charter
2. History: started for Cascadia ticketing purpose
3. Proposal for vote: revise Bylaw 7 to eliminate the last two sections/lines of bylaw – Kyle moves to table this proposal until the end of the meeting, Cameron seconds, motion passes

V. Visibility Work Group Update – Roberta King

1. Working on getting better access to Alliance Council content on SSFC website
   1. Search by tag
2. Monthly “minutes” write up – currently written by Karl
3. No content calendar as of yet
   1. Need volunteers to write op-ed pieces
4. AC highlights (2-3 per month)
   1. Expectations of 1^st AC meeting
   2. What do you bring to AC if in a Supporter Group?
   3. More personal info – What do you do?
   4. How do you live the Sounders way – Passion, Courage, Community

VI. Scarf Vote – Kristina Vaughn

1. Timeline set for scarf design
2. Summer scarf vs winter scarf
3. Need volunteers for the team: Jerry, Cameron, Dan, Roberta

VII. Community – Kristina Vaughn

1. Water Carry event at March to the Match festivities on August 1 – more information to come following a meeting with WGHA

VIII. GM Vote Work Group Update – Cameron/Stephanie

1. Continued discussion on Front Office’s POV
   1. Defining “unanimous”
   2. Communication plan

• Signature gathering – FO does not like idea

1. Creating a Code of Conduct in the Bylaws
2. Creating a budget for the Alliance Council for 2016?
   1. Add a small amount of money to STH cost?
   2. Kyle will head the Budget Proposal Group
      1. Create rules and proposals
      2. Skeleton budget

IX. Old Business

a) Supporter Group proposal tabled to August meeting

X. Adjournment – Dan moves to adjourn meeting, Cameron seconds – motion passes

7:00 p.m. The NINETY

Present: (10 of 32):    Dan Roe, Kristina Vaughn, Kris Mydske, Mark Nesteroff, Cameron Collins, Craig Dillon, Roberta King, Karl Picard, Mike Dollard, Stephanie Steiner (via phone conference)

Next meeting:                              Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at 7:00 PM

I. Call to order – Dan Roe

II. Roll call – Kristina Vaughn – 10 of 32 members present

III. Approval of minutes – Dan Roe – Tabled item due to minutes not being available

IV. Front Office Guest – Mikeala Purvis – Fan Relations Manager

1. 2016 Renewal process has begun with preliminary emails going out to current STH
2. Renewal rate is greater than 90%; going to have conversation with remaining 10% of STH
3. Looking into new option for renewal process
   1. “Sounders Til I Die” – Auto-Renewal
      1. Credit card held on file
   2. SG Work Group Update – Mark Nesteroff
      1. An opinion of the group is to not be involved in this
      2. Do we eliminate Bylaw #7?
      3. Mark propose to strike Bylaw #7; Cameron seconds; Vote to happen at the July meeting
      4. Dan moves to table SG revision; Cameron seconds; motion passes
   3. Visability Work Group Update – Roberta King
      1. The first blog (written by Stephanie) is one month old and not posted to website as of this date
      2. Spoke with Shane Evans
         1. “Minutes to be written by Karl
         2. “Op-ed” article
            1. Topics list to be compiled by volunteers
            2. Posted every other week
         3. Social media – currently running through Karl and Stephanie
            1. 2038 followers
            2. Trying to keep with 2.5 tweets per day

• Found that pictures drive activity

1. Alliance Council Table
   1. Need something to pass out
      1. Buttons/pins?

• GM Vote Work Group Update – Cameron/Stephanie
  1. Discussion on Front Office’s POV
     1. Every 4 years for GM vote after start of “term”
  2. Weighted voting vs non-weighted voting
  3. Recall – Goal is to vote on this at the August meeting

Adjournment – Dan moves to adjourn meeting, Mark seconds – motion passes

7:00 p.m.  Seattle Sounders FC Front Office

Present (12 of 32): Sam Chesneau, Cameron Collins, Craig Dillon, Roberta King, Leann Johnson, Angelica Mendoza, Jerry Neil, Karl Picard, Stephanie Steiner, Hans Ulland, Kristina Vaughn, Kelly Weiler

Guests:  Petyr Beck (Documentary Media), Maya Mendoza

Next meeting:    Tuesday, June 2, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.

I.  Call to order – Stephanie Steiner

II. Roll call – Angelica Mendoza – 12 of 32 members present (13 needed to establish quorum)

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

IV.  Guest Speakers – Petyr Beck and Maya Mendoza

• Petyr Beck – Documentary Media publishing company and former college roommate of Adrian
• Maya Mendoza – General Counsel for SSFC and Executive Director of Rave Foundation
  • Father, Fred Mendoza, served as General Counsel and saw transition of SSFC to MLS
  • Maya began when SSFC separated from Seahawks
• Rave Foundation is a wholly separate 501(c)(3)
  • Created by Adrian to give back to Seattle soccer community and provide opportunities for those who cannot afford to play
  • Increase equity, opportunity and accessibility of the game
  • Allow for more urban participation
  • Design tennis court-sized urban fields for free, small pick-up games
  • First fields may be part of Yesler Terrace project and ideas to part of waterfront designs
• Legacy book project that captures unique relationship between the community and team
  • A look at the team over the last 40 years of professional soccer
  • Coffee-table style, large, 200-page landscape book featuring images and stories
  • Mostly visual and less narration
  • Feature mid-70s team today
  • Bring in stories from the community coupled with compelling images
  • Images not only of match-day in the stadium, but also local bars, fields, etc.
  • Demonstrate the love for soccer in Seattle and commemorate the Pacific NW relationship with the team
  • Tribute to soccer in the community driven by images, quotes and stories
  • Include all supporter communities (e.g., more diverse south-end populations)
  • Council to help solicit stories, photos and experiences
  • Maya and Petyr interested in all types of feedback and suggestions; contact via email
    • 83-94 intervening time
    • NASL Sounders marketing directly to young people while MLS Sounders targeting adults with children
    • Players throughout the decades
    • Marketing campaigns with scarves throughout the city
    • Culture of 2009 opening MLS season to today
    • Personal perspective of supporter culture from within
    • Away match experiences
    • USOC family make-up and how it differentiates from S2 and First Team matches
    • Supporter group representation over the years
  • Rave Foundation project, so outside of MLS control
  • Maya considering summer intern to help with Rave Foundation and book generation
  • What stats would we like to see?
  • Considering eight-page fold-out with timeline displayed; perhaps showing jersey colors and designs over time
  • Collecting ideas and building content all through the summer

 V. Old Business

a) Changes to Charter – GM vote – Stephanie Steiner

• Stephanie and Kyle Boyd presenting AC ideas to Taylor Graham
• Engaging in collaborative conversation with the Club until we have a resolution to concerns
• Club wants GM recall procedures in writing
  • More clarity on what vote actually means; confidence versus no confidence vote
  • Need to determine percentage of people required to petition for recall
  • Votes should be blind; FO should not be able to see who votes which way
  • Anonymous voting needs to be emphasized in advertising
  • Build more power into the recall vote and ability to call as needed, rather than be concerned about circumvention by the Club
• Will need to detail vote advertising frequency, time of day, medium, etc.
• If Club will not allow us to reach out to fan base directly, it has to be responsible for doing the work and absorbing the costs associated
• Letter to Taylor expressing that conversation re GM vote is pending
• Suggestion that we are too concerned about 48-month limitation; general fan is maybe only concerned with ability to vote on GM rather than when voting occurs
• Goal should be to ensure the greatest number of Alliance members vote
• Greatest fan engagement in October; shouldn’t timeline work backwards from there?
• Consider engaging in soft polling with existing options and throwing out those that receive minimal votes
• Stephanie and Kyle drafted four question to pose to fans
  • Put questions into blog form to be tweeted out one at a time
  • SSFC will distribute via social media
• Requested Sounder at Heart to feature the blog

VI. Work group updates

• Year-end meeting – Stephanie Steiner
  • Email went to FO to check on date and venue for this year

• Supporter group recognition – Daniel Roe
  • Daniel, Mark Nesteroff and Brendan Vaughn participating in conference call to discuss
  • Sending clarification questions to Taylor

• Community involvement – Kristina Vaughn
  • Pioneer Square clean-up event on May 16 (VAN away)
    • Viewing party post-event
    • Kristina Vaughn to clarify how many people are needed
    • RSVPs needed by May 8
  • Kristina met with Roger Levesque to discuss United in Green initiatives
    • Rave Green run in Kirkland – 9k, 5k and kids run
    • March to the Match water carry in support of clean water initiatives in Africa; hoping for 1,200 people and Guiness World Record
    • Considering July match; more info at June meeting

• Communication – Karl Picard
  • Karl now managing Twitter account
    • Currently 2,500 Twitter followers versus 900 Likes on Facebook; need to pump numbers up
    • Goal to tweet twice a day with a photo and/or link
    • Shane willing to retweet by request
  • Work group is developing guidelines for appropriate communication via social media

• Adjournment – Motion to adjourn passed

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