IJA BOARD MEETING - MARCH 26, 2001, called to order 9:03pm EST.

PRESENT: Paul Richmond, Chairman; Art Jennings, Norman Schneiderman (acting CAO), Martin Frost, Katje Sabin, Todd Strong, Ben Schoenberg, directors; Becky Schneiderman, recorder.

ABSENT: Braidy Brown, director; Ginny Rose, Festival Coordinator; Richard Dingman, Secretary/Treasurer.

1. COMMITTEE REPORTS

Donations - Todd - no report

World Juggling Day - Martin - no report

Affiliates - Katje - no report

2. CAO REPORT

Video Contract - The board needs to review, amend, and approve the video contract with Barry Korengold.

JUGGLE contract negotiations - Negotiations are a month behind schedule. Stan Allen is still interested in negotiations for a new contract. Norman will periodically update the JUGGLE committee members with current information.

Membership - Currently there are 1950 members. A juggling club will be sending in a list of its new members. There have been 23 youth memberships, one introductory membership and no "new rules" family memberships since the last report. "New rules" family memberships are expected to increase once renewal notices go out.

Magazine proposals - A number of proposals went out to potential new publishers of our magazine. Not all responses have been received yet.

Financial report - Currently there is a cash balance of $28,000, low compared to our normal cash position for this time of year. Last year at this time the balance was $67,000, all things being equal. JUGGLE, in its current form, is draining financial resources.

The LM and Archive funds are balanced. Fundraising could help for the short term. Hopefully exposure of JUGGLE on newsstands will bring about an increase in memberships.

Roster - Costs to correct the 2000-2001 roster are still being researched. One suggestion is to print the fixed version in the Insider.

There was a discussion about the board's access to information. The staff had asked Norman not to reveal the name of the person who had prepared the roster.

Martin moved to instruct Norman to reveal the name of the person handling the database for the roster. Katje second the motion.

Norman then gave the person's first name. Ben suggested Norman be given the opportunity to approach Richard, and explain the board's position.

Martin withdrew his motion.

Norman stated that morale amongst employees is very low. There is a sense of headhunting coming from the board. Paul gave examples of board members questioning staff behavior. This questioning has been interpreted as accusations of the staff not doing a good job.

The discussion that followed was that the questioning was being done because it was felt that information is being withheld, or has the appearance of being withheld. It was clarified that at times partial information is given, as that is all that is known. When there is no information, nothing is said.

It was agreed that it is preferable to communicate that there is no new information, rather than remain silent on matters.

Budget - At the previous board meeting the proposed budget was sent back to the finance committee. Norman moved the budget be approved. Paul seconded.

Todd asked if Norman recommended approval of the budget, given the current low balance. Norman reassured the board that there are short term resources available and that incoming festival registrations will help alleviate the situation.

Board members who are also members of the financial committee were asked for their recommendations of whether to accept the proposed budget, or not. Paul asked if there were any questions. Martin questioned whether travel expenses are justified. Paul reiterated, based on previous discussions, that the purpose of this vote is to approve the budget as it is, recognizing that there are possible ways to trim the budget in the future. However, the current budget is being implemented. We are, effectively, committed to the budget at this point.

The budget was sent back to committee with the request that it come back with a recommendation to the board as to whether it should be approved. Martin is still waiting for answers to questions asked of Paul. The committee has until April 5, 2001, to come up with its recommendation.

The project of reproducing and selling a juggling poster from Karl-Heinz Ziethen's collection was briefly mentioned.

3. COUPONS

With the board's approval, work is to continue on developing the vendor coupons that will be included in the next roster.

4. FUNDRAISING

The committee process is not producing results as rapidly as had been hoped. The committee is working on the content of the letter to be sent out calling for donations. It was suggested that the call for donations be worded as helping out the organization.

5. LIFE MEMBERSHIP

A letter to be sent out to Life Members is in the developmental stage. Further discussion will continue in committee.

6. MEMBERSHIP BROCHURES

Text for a new membership brochure is needed. A proof of a rough draft will be submitted before anything goes to print, as will a proof of the final draft. Katje and Martin will do the proofing and funnel their feedback through Paul.

There was some discussion as to how to express the benefits of membership, including pricing of videos. Discussion is to continue.

7. AWARDS

The process of how awards are given out needs to be examined, with guidelines established.

8. BYLAWS

A volunteer has agreed to look over the Bylaws and to suggest changes.

9. NOMINATIONS

In order to be printed in the Insider, the deadline for submission of statements by the candidates for the election of members of the board is April 2, 2001. Because it was not specifically stated that nominations also were closed at that point, a suggestion was made that an announcement be made in the Insider that June 15, 2001, will be the deadline for nominations.

Individual statements received by those declaring candidacy after April 2 will be posted on the website.

Discussion ensued as to whether write-ins should be allowed, how best to handle mail-in voting, and development of an elections committee. Discussion ended with all in agreement that nominations are to be closed June 15, 2001, with write-ins being allowed.

10. CAO POSITION

Norman and Becky left the meeting at 10:30pm EST, when the Board entered into executive session to discuss the CAO position. Katje took over the role of recording the minutes. The board came out of executive session at approximatel 10:45pm.

Martin moved to appoint Norman Schneiderman to the volunteer position of General Manager through the 2002 IJA summer festival. Todd seconded.
VOTE: FOR - 6, AGAINST - 0, ABSTAIN - 0

The meeting was adjourned at 10:50pm EST.