Roy Williams Foundation Meeting Minutes, Meeting 9

Zoom, live Internet Meeting                                          

 

Date of Meeting 6/28/2020 @ 2:00 pm MST                                                                                                      

Type of meeting: Live, Internet, Zoom

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Roll Call:

 

Chairman: Zach Crevier- Present                                                                                                                                 

Vice Chairman: David Newton- Present                                                                                                                      

 

Board Members:                                                                                                                                                      

Zach Krause-Present                                                                                                                                                   

Alhaji Bangura-Present               

Kit Steimle-Absent                                                                                                                                          

 

Alternates:                                                                                                                                                                       

Matt White-Absent                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Secretary/Treasurer:                                                                                                                                                            

Bret Collyer-Present                                                                                                                                                     

 

Assistant Secretary:                                                                                                                                                     

Haley Steimle-Absent

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Additions, Deletions or Changes to the Agenda? -                                                                                                       

New Business “Name change” item moved up on agenda.                                                                                 

 

Adoption of meeting minutes, meeting 8, 5/03/20                                                                                  

Chairman Crevier made a motion to adopt the meeting minutes as written, seconded by Vice-Chair Newton. Minutes were unanimously adopted.

 

Old Business:                                                                                                                                                        

501(c)(3) digital application successfully submitted on June 17, 2020. Chairman Crevier noted that the IRS E-mail stated that If we don’t hear back from them within 180 days to give them a call. All members agreed that we are going to continue on with the assumption that our application will be approved, though possibly amended. Chairman Crevier thanked everybody for doing their part, especially Assistant Secretary Steimle for helping navigate the IRS’s new process.

 

New Business:  -Note: Chairman Crevier decided to move the “Name Change” agenda item up as it relates to many other agenda items.                                                                                                                  

 

Name Change? Chairman Crevier asked Secretary Collyer to explain the possibility that the organization might have to change or alter the name and noted that this conversation is to be considered “Contingency Planning” in the event that the IRS asks us to alter our name. This presents an opportunity for a minor name-change or a complete re-branding as we have not yet created stationary and our name recognition is limited so far. Secretary Collyer began by explaining that back when we were first talking about forming this organization, a cursory Google search turned up one “Roy Williams Safety Net Foundation” for single parents based in Texas, which appeared to be inactive. That Organization is now active as well as another “Roy Williams Foundation”, for youth education based in North Carolina. Therefore, it is possible that the IRS will require a name change, or an added identifier as part of our name. For instance: The “Roy Williams Veterans Outreach Organization” to gain final approval. Board Member Bangura spoke in favor of the identifier (Veterans Outreach Organization) stating, How many John Smith’s are there in the world? It’s really no surprise there are multiple Roy Williams’s. Vice Chairman Newton spoke about the need to be prepared to make a larger change if necessary. Including a complete re-brand if the “Roy Williams Foundation” is not an option with the IRS. He has several ideas in mind if it becomes necessary. The Board consensus was that the Roy William’s Foundation name should be kept if possible and that an identifier would be acceptable. The item is considered, TBD.

 

Fundraising Discussion, how to proceed while IRS approval/review is pending: Chairman Crevier asked Secretary Collyer to explain how we might proceed with fundraising. Secretary Collyer explained that we can begin to accept donations for the “Roy Williams Fund”, which is the current name of our bank account until our application is approved. We will create a ‘form letter’ to present to the donors explaining that since our application is pending, they should wait until they receive another letter from us after our non-profit status has been approved, before claiming their donation as tax-deductible, if they ‘itemize’ their deductions. Board member Bangura spoke about what we can do now, while waiting for approval, namely getting the word out about our organization. He stated that during his regular travels he can visit multiple states within a few days’ time to distribute information, request donations and literature. He mentioned trifolds and business cards. Secretary Collyer asked if Bangura could help get literature printed for distribution to members if the design was completed. Bangura replied in the affirmative. A larger discussion ensued.

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Need for a checking Account: Our Financial Institution has advised us of the need to consider and pass a resolution to allow a checking account to more easily and legally handle our monies. A Brief discussion was had as to the need for a checking account and it was noted that we have already established a Finance Committee (Meeting four, 1/19/2020) to review expenditures. Expenditures will be reviewed by the Finance Committee before being brought to the full board for approval prior to fund disbursement. The checking account will be dual-control, meaning that Chairman Crevier and Secretary Collyer will both have to execute signatures to spend money, Crevier may be able to sign digitally. Chairman Crevier made a motion to open a checking account. Board member Bangura seconded, resolution passed unanimously. Secretary Collyer noted that he would order a small number of checks in case the organization name needs to be changed based on IRS Approval. The name of the account for now will be the “Roy Williams Fund”.

 

Other Business:                                                                                                                                                        

Continue discussion of Mid-November public meeting in Colorado. Chairman Crevier asked Secretary Collyer to explain what he had in mind since Collyer lives in Colorado where the meeting will be held. Collyer suggested that he would reserve Poncha Springs’ New Town Hall and meeting room. We could then invite the local press, public, all elected officials and Department Heads, especially Law Enforcement, EMT and First Responders. We would craft an agenda to deal with regular business as well as introduce our organization to the community at-large and present our mission with some Q & A and ‘networking’ afterward.                                                                                                                                                                  

 

Vice Chairman Newton discussed the benefits of having a low-key first meeting with an in-depth press release afterward explaining what we were doing. Since it will be our first in-person meeting, we wouldn’t want to make any mistakes and look foolish.

 

Board Member Krause spoke in favor of a larger meeting noting that “Seeing Faces is important”. Adding that there may be a Veteran in attendance that is in need of help, or willing to help.                                    

 

Collyer reminded everybody that Roy Meant a lot to the Community. He was the Deputy that would be dispatched to talk to Veterans, or people in Crisis and would effectively ‘talk them down from the ledge’. When he departed he left a void in the area. Collyer was afraid that Roy’s local friends and colleagues would feel slighted if they were left out of the conversation.

 

Chairman Crevier noted that this item would remain a topic of discussion as the date approached and there were larger issues at play. Notably the possibility of Travel Restrictions with the continued Civil Unrest and Coronavirus pandemic. All members said they are planning to attend if circumstances permit.

 

Financial Update: Secretary Collyer noted that the fund balance remains unchanged at $3,749.15 since no funds have been received or spent while the non-profit application was prepared.

 

Anything else? Board Member Krause asked Secretary Collyer if he would prepare a fundraising letter explaining the pending non-profit status. Collyer said he would have a draft letter for members to review at the next meeting.

 

Chairman Crevier mentioned that Secretary Collyer has spent a lot of his own money on the effort so far and suggested that other members would be willing to ‘chip-in’ to help reimburse, or cover expenses and thanked him for his contributions. Collyer appreciated the sentiment, noting that he had spent somewhere around $6k so far and ‘wasn’t worried about it and considers it money well spent because he believes in the mission’. Collyer also noted that expenses going forward should be legitimate expenditures from the RWF fund accounts.

 

Members also ‘brainstormed’ ideas about outreach with Collyer noting that a clip shared with him and Crevier by Newton from a “Ted-Talk” episode (later shared with the rest of the members) regarding “Post Deployment Alienation Disorder” inspired him to consider how important laughter was. In this Politically Correct world, nothing can just be funny anymore, but Laughter is important in any society. Other warrior societies laughed with their populations after battles. Modern US Veterans do not. Therefore, if members and fellow Veterans would record their funniest service-related stories, via zoom, the stories could be placed on our website to get people laughing. That alone, might make a huge difference during a time of crisis for a Veteran or First Responder.

 

Meeting Adjourned 2:55 pm.

 

Next Meeting: Sunday, June 12th.