Board Work List for the Week of January 28, 2007

Board members and Succession Committee:

Our targets for the week of 1/29/07:

1. Edit the draft letter and posting for the Executive Director position provided by Dewey & Kaye.
2. Contact Forbes Fund about funding for the Organizational Assessment.
3. Make a decision about the level of support we need for the Executive Search Proposal.
4. Draw the list of organizations and supporters to receive the letter and posting; plan the mailing for next week.

Other activities that need attention that are not part of the succession planning are related to events.

• Put the final touches on our plans for the WLI event in February. Give the PR group the final go on this.
• Publish the web site link and announcement of the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community and begin registrations on Thursday, February 1.
• Review Mary J.'s preliminary proposal for the Victorian Tea. Review the project charter for the tea and give Mary feedback.
• Create an agenda for next Monday's joint board meeting at MOMS.
• Send an announcement to participants about the board meeting 2/6.
• Finalize the MOMS brochure and send it to print.
• Collect the statistics for the annual report; create a draft of the January annual report and newsletter.

I have an additional question. Can we consider additional board members at this time? Heather S., who is helping with the chocolate event is interested in considering this. Can the Nominating Committee send her information about this commitment? I also think we need to consider our position about new board members going into our events because these are excellent opportunities to identify additional candidates.

Week 2 - January 15-19, 2007

Team:

I have figured out the permissions and set up the blog so that only people who are invited to read our blog may sign in. I also set up Anne to be an author at her request. If anyone else wants to post, please let me know. If I have missed anyone in the invitation list, e-mail me at kfroehle@zbzoom.net. I have "invited" people based on the e-mail addresses I have on file. If you have trouble getting in, it may be because you are using a different e-mail address than the one I registered. Again, just let me know.

Since we are conducting business to an extent here, it just feels better to restrict access.

1. Last week we received two proposals from Dewey & Kaye for the executive search and the organizational assessment.


2. I assume that the visit with staff happened on Wednesday and all went well? Anne or Peggy?


3. Norma was going to call Diana B. about the possibility of funding for our search and assessment. We can find out from her on Tuesday in a conference call if Diana was positive about that.


4. Norma reported in an e-mail that there was no word from HUD last week, so she is not in gear for MOMS funding yet.


5. Norma, Jodi and Kathy attended a meeting on the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community on Wednesday morning. This event has the potential to raise a minimum of $10,000 for the organization. Kathy has volunteered to chair this committee unless someone else wants to "over volunteer" me. At the very least I will handle promotion for the event.


6. Susan and Norma met with Heather, a new volunteer.


7. Susan is managing publicity for the Victorian Tea. The committee for that event is forming as well.

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NEXT WEEK, JANUARY 15

• The Board needs to review Dewey & Kaye proposal and respond to Kate and Leslie with questions or signatures.


• We're looking for a draft of the announcement letter for Norma's pending retirement to begin reviewing it.


• Once the agreements are signed, we can work on the position description for the Executive Director position.

We have drafts of Project Charters for the February Women's Leadership Initiative Chocolate Event, the Victorian High Tea in April, and the Highmark Walk in May. We need to consider how we review and modify these so the teams can get started.

Hope you are all enjoying 2007 so far. It is off to a vicious start, so hold on to your hat!

Board Member Bloggers

Introduction to Blogging for ED Succession Planning



Today's session was great, and I'm excited about our next steps. As a recap from today's meeting, here are the action steps for the week of January 8, 2007.

1. Kate and Leslie will provide a draft of the letter announcing Norma's pending retirement and the posting of the position of Executive Director of Sojourner House for Board review by Friday, 1/12.


2. Joanne will contact Dee Jay regarding getting his help to outline next steps for the Annual Appeal.


3. Norma will contact Diana at Forbes to explore the possibility of their helping with funding for the search.


4. Kathy will set up communications for the team relative to the transition activities of the joint boards.


5. Anne and Peggy will attend the staff meeting with Norma on Wednesday to announce the Boards' decision and the involvement of staff in the process.


6. Norma will begin work on the HUD application responses.

In order to stay on track to our high-level plan for hiring an ED, the recruitment process should be started by February 1.



Other items that require Board attention in January are as follows with status below:



WLI Event at MOMS on February 22 - Norma will arrange hosting of the event. Postcards and e-mail invitations are being provided by United Way. We must mail postcards and contribute text and graphics for the e-mail invitation.



2007 Victorian High Tea at Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church on April 14 - Mary J. is the event planner and Susan will take responsibility for public relations. Kathy is drafting a charter document for the tea which will be distributed to the Board later this week. Jessica has volunteered to assist with planning the Tea. Kathy also has one volunteer from last year's tea who would be willing to help with planning.



Highmark Walk for a Healthy America on May 19 - Sojourner House needs 100 walkers for the event. Kathy, Jodi and Norma will attend an organizational meeting for the walk on Wednesday, 1/10. More details will follow. Both Citizens Bank and the Adventure Club (see Norma) are sources of potential walkers.



Please add comments to this blog if you have corrections or additions. I hope this media is an easier way to communicate to the broad audience without multiple e-mails. Let me know what you think.



Kathy