The Roy Williams Foundation Meeting Minutes, Meeting 44

Date of Meeting: Meeting 44 12/11/2022 1300 MST

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Roll Call:
 

Chairman: Alhaji Bangura- Present
Vice Chairman: David Newton- Present
Managing Director: Ashley Ottmer- Present 
 

Board Members/Directors: 
Zach Krause- Present

Dexter Pitts- Present

Travis Garvin- Present

Markus Hugle- Present

 

Secretary/Treasurer:

Bret Collyer- Present

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Assistant Secretary:

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Social Media Manager:

Amber Holmes- Present

Alternate Director:
 

Call to Order:
 

Additions, deletions or changes to the agenda?: None
 

Adoption of Meeting Minutes, Meeting #42: 10/23/2022 and Meeting #43 11/04/2022:
Ottmer made a motion to accept the minutes from both meetings, multiple seconds. Minutes were
unanimously adopted.

 

Old and continuing Business:
1) Fundraising/Events/continuing support and Eligible Grants in Partnership with other organizations:
Director Hugle informed the board that he is still ‘playing phone tag’ with the Ross Perot Foundation
and will continue his efforts.
 

2) Structural Evolution. Bangura: Bangura stated that he didn’t want to get too into the topic at this time,
but the important thing to note was that raising money will be key to every part of our mission. He
continued that “We need to set realistic benchmarks, like $50k by the end of next year”. He spoke
about the need to sync our efforts with the traditional granting cycles of these bigger organizations.
Director Garvin asked Bangura: “What is the significance of the dates?” Bangura replied that, Sept-
November are the biggest granting times of the year because the bigger organizations are looking to
reduce their tax liability for the year by making large donations to charitable organizations. February
seems to be the month that the application process usually begins, which can take a while to compile
and process. Director Ottmer added that “The large Corporations give mainly during the end of the
year as part of their tax planning process”. Bangura continued the discussion by stating that

“Everybody is now a fundraiser from here on out”. He added that: “Our model with First Responder
Friday’s is solid; Ashley is on it, we have a workable plan, so every month and every meeting will be
dedicated to raising more money, or we will never get ahead of these problems we are trying to solve.”
Secretary Collyer asked Bangura if he has spoken to CSM Troxell about our efforts yet? Bangura replied
“Not yet, but I am hoping to call him later this week, but want to talk to you, Ashley and Newton
separately first for some clarification because I have missed a lot of meetings due to my health
challenges.” Vice Chairman Newton later drew an important distinction between “Fundraising” and
looking for grants to apply for. Meaning, people who don’t live in Colorado shouldn’t be engaged in
organizing local fundraising in their communities when their money will be spent in Colorado at no
benefit to the local communities that raised the funds. However, encouraging people to check out our
website and donate from anywhere should still be encouraged.

 

3) Advertising/Outreach. Is our Social Media Effective, how can we help? (Holmes): Assistant Secretary
Holmes announced that “Social Media is going great, with a bunch of new followers and better reach,
but I would still like to receive more pictures to post”. Director Pitts informed Holmes to ‘feel free to
use anything you find on my social media that you like’. Holmes thanked him and added that one of his
pictures she used in a post brought 57 new visitors to our website and multiple new followers.

 

4) First Responder Friday’s and Managing Director Update (Ottmer): Ottmer reported that ‘Right now, it
is going relatively slow, but I’m still treating people.’ She went on to explain that she is trying to clear
her schedule in order to get ready for her (broken foot) surgery on December 20th adding that “Five
and a half months with a broken foot is long enough and I will be taking the following three weeks off
to recuperate”. Secretary Collyer joked that when she gets bored she can work on her (Managing
Director) job-description. He also offered to help get her started on it.

 

New Business:
1) Discussion of Proposed Changes to Website: Secretary Collyer began the discussion by stating that he
thinks the Mission Statement is fine, noting that we reviewed, shortened and changed it earlier this
year, but that the “Vision Statement” remains pretty long and we might consider shortening it and/or
putting it under a button after we review it. Bangura agreed and stated that “There are too many
words on that first page”. MD Ottmer spoke to the need to “Have a really good snapshot of what we
do”.

 

2) Review of Scholarship Application and requirements: The discussion began with Collyer stating the
current application awards $500.00 to two applicants, adding that he just received a flier for Colorado
Mountain College course offerings and maybe we could consider tying our scholarship to a local CMC
mental health course. Adding that “Tying the scholarship to a college course might be a better

approach than offering it arbitrarily”. Ottmer replied that she would look into the CMC offerings, but
that since she had already achieved her credentials, that it would be nearly impossible to offer enough
money for a serious candidate to achieve all of their degrees. She added that any amount will help.
Bangura agreed and stated that “Any amount would be appreciated.” Director Hugle added that ‘This is
why it is important that we look into communicating with these larger organizations, with larger
budgets that focus on supporting Veterans’. Ottmer speculated that there me be some slight pushback
to some of our efforts (to fund a college education) because former military members, who were
honorably discharged will have access to the GI Bill education benefits.
 

3) Need to create paid position for Managing Director to properly refine First Responder Friday (FRF)
program in order to efficiently vet possible counseling partnerships. Ottmer to develop job description
for Board Review as well as fair compensation package. Discussed above. Collyer reiterated that he will
be happy to help get Ottmer organized and started with this effort.

 

4) Task assignment and follow-through items: Bangura reiterated that “Everyone is now a fundraiser from
here on out”. As clarified above, searching for grants. Also, Collyer and Ottmer will further review the
scholarship application and work on contacting the correct people at the school district to help spread
the word. Hugle will continue to work on communicating with the Ross Perot Foundation.

 

Financial Update:
Checking Account Balance      $1,003.91
Savings Account Balance:  + $11,604.86
Monetary Assets:                    $12,608.77
 

Anything Else/General Discussion: Potatoes……. powdered/instant versus peeled.

 

Next Meeting: January 8th 2023
 

Meeting Adjourned: 1515