Roy Williams Foundation Meeting Minutes, Meeting 11 

 

Date of Meeting 8/02/20 @ 2:00 pm MST
Type of meeting: Live, Internet, Zoom

 

Roll Call:
Chairman: Zach Crevier- Present
Vice Chairman: David Newton- Present
 

Board Members:
Zach Krause-Present
Alhaji Bangura-Present
Kit Steimle-Present
 

Alternates:
Matt White-absent
 

Secretary/Treasurer:
Bret Collyer-Present
 

Assistant Secretary:
Haley Steimle-present
 

Additions, Deletions or Changes to the Agenda? -None
Adoption of meeting minutes, meeting #10 8/02/20
Chairman Crevier made a motion to adopt the meeting minutes as written, seconded by Board member
Krause. Minutes were unanimously adopted.
 

Old Business:
No old business presented
 

New Business: 501(c)(3) status has been awarded with the effective date of exemption of March 3, 2020
 

*Secretary Collyer updated the Board about his meeting with our Accountant: Donors over $250.00 will
require a donation receipt letter. Smaller amounts should receive one if requested. Donations of $5k or
more must be reported separately at tax time. We will be required to file a “990 N” return, probably be
able to use a “990 EZ” form this year and next. Once the RWF revenues are “In the million-dollar range”,
Danny Stotler will refer us to a larger accounting firm that specializes in non-profits. The long form of the
990 return is “the most complex form there is in the accounting world”. We are limited to spending 1/3
(33-1/3%) of income on management, 1/3 on fundraising and must spend a minimum of 1/3 on
“programs and services” for our clients. We are allowed to use program funds for assisting members to
travel to Colorado for our yearly meeting if necessary.
 

*Secretary Collyer updated the Board about facilitative communications with our bank: He noted that
the Bank President has put us in touch with a representative to help us set up our “Donate Now” button
on our website as well as help us to secure a card reader for fundraising events. All of this at minimal
costs to the organization. We will also be eligible for special fundraising programs and donations offered
by the bank.
 

*Board Member Bangura led a discussion about the larger picture as it relates to the structure and
future of our organization:

 

a) Organizational Strategy and Milestone chart to operational capability; where are our initial focus
areas? This discussion centered on creating a “Road map” of where our money is spent to track and
discover an average of how much money will need to be spent on every client and volunteer to include
recruitment and training of volunteers, initial contact with clients, counseling and follow-up with clients
to ensure they don’t fall back into their old self-destructive habits. This will help us develop our
operational plans so we will be able to work better with our accountant and ask him good questions i.e.
“Is this strategy financially feasible and sustainable?”. Secretary Collyer asked Bangura if he would be
willing to create a draft of a flowchart to get this effort started. Bangura said he would create a draft
flowchart.
 

b) How are we going to build the organization out to meet demand; meaning how much time will we
have to operate the organization? This discussion largely centered around management efforts. We
need to discover how long it will take to certify a volunteer as well as an average cost. Bangura stated
that we will need basically three lines of effort: 1) Volunteer recruitment, initial training and continuing
training. 2) Client and (Law Enforcement) Outreach to introduce our organization and volunteers in
order to offer services. 3) Build out strategically to meet demand. Bangura added that we will “Need a
Lawyer” and that he would reach out to an old classmate who is a trusted lawyer to see if he would be
interested in helping. Chairman Crevier asked if prioritizing counseling staff should be a first concern?
Member Bangura replied that he didn’t think counselors should be the first concern. Vice Chairman
Newton agreed with Bangura stating “We should prioritize finding a Lawyer first, to help keep us out of
trouble”.
 

The discussion covered all of the following topics:
     1) Funding outreach operations, counseling/patient outreach, to include
Operations/governance/training/accounting and support opportunities.
     2) Benchmarks for scalability (Where and when do we expand?).
     3) When do we start hiring Regional Directors and will the regional offices look like the main
office?
     4) What is the law for how much we can spend on overhead costs? (1/3 or 33-1/3% of yearly
budget).
     5) Board Member Bangura stated that we will need to identify the IT infrastructure and the
software we will use to ensure confidentiality and which telecom service we will use for
operations success. One of the next steps will be to find a corporate partner now that we are
legal and can solicit help.
 

Fundraising Discussion: Members discussed strategies to begin fundraising. Chairman Crevier noted
that the final draft of the fundraising letter had been sent with the agenda. This letter includes minor
clerical/grammar corrections provided by Assistant Secretary Steimle and that it was “Time to go!”
Members brainstormed places to post/leave fundraising letters to include: Banks, Post Offices, Bulletin
Boards, Local Stores, VFW’s, Newspapers etc. Secretary Collyer added that at some point, when our
“Donate Now” Button is working on the website, we will write a ‘Press Release’ to be shared with
members to be widely distributed to begin outreach efforts in earnest.

 

Volunteer Recruitment:
Application Scrutiny: Secretary Collyer asked members to scrutinize our draft volunteer application form
to see if it covers the minimum standards members would be looking for in volunteers. All agreed that it
should be reviewed by a lawyer as well as soon as possible. Board Member Krause asked for a reminder
of how Volunteers would be selected. Collyer reminded everybody that we had formed a “Selection
Committee” to review and vet interested volunteers. Potential Volunteers would fill out our application
form which would then be reviewed by the Selection Committee and interviewed, in person if possible,
or via Zoom by our selection committee, then passed on for full-board consideration if the Selection
Committee approves of the individual. Note: The selection Committee was formed during meeting 8
held on May 3, 2020 and consists of Krause, Crevier, Bangura, Newton and Collyer.
 

Business Cards and Stationery: Board member Steimle suggested that companies like ‘Vista Print’ are
really cheap and that he would be happy to create general business cards for all members.
 

Discussion of Salary for Assistant Secretary Steimle beginning in September to monitor and filter
website and e-mails daily. Chairman Crevier noted that somebody should monitor the website and e-
mail daily to filter e-mails and refer specific questions to individual Board Members or the Board as a
whole. Assistant Secretary Steimle said she would begin monitoring e-mails in August and present
members with a reasonable proposal by the early September meeting. Secretary Collyer suggested that
if her proposal is acceptable to the Board that he would draft a simple contract for board adoption to
facilitate payment.
 

Other Business:
Search for two more alternate Board Members: Members discussed the need for two more Alternate
Board members to ensure continuity during meetings when Board Members are absent or can no longer
fulfill their duties as a Board member and have to resign. All agreed that potential Alternates will be
required to submit a letter of interest and a resume’ type document for members to review prior to
consideration. A few possible candidates were named and Board member Bangura suggested that it
would be desirable to have a Woman as part of our Organization if one could be found.
 

Financial Update: Chairman Crevier informed members that the Foundation savings account balance
stands at $3,749.15. We are in the process of creating a checking account. $500.00 will be moved from
our savings account to open our checking account.
 

Next Meeting will be Sunday, August 16, 2020 @ 2:00pm.
 

Meeting Adjourned @ 3:02 pm