[chapter-communicator] Newswire Extra: Board Meeting Summary Report
- From: "TENNEFOSS, Lynn" <ltennefoss@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
- Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 21:27:02 -0400
Audubon Newswire
Volume 2, Extra #4
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
In this issue:
-- Board Meeting Summary Report
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Audubon Board of Directors Meet in Malvern, Pennsylvania
Announcement of Important Progress in Centers and Bird Conservation; Audubon
Annual Appeal is Launched
Malvern, PA, Monday, September 20, 2004 - The National Audubon Society Board of
Directors gathered here for its Autumn 2004 meeting, Friday, September 17
through Sunday, September 19. Malvern is just outside of Philadelphia.
This was a very positive meeting in which the Board Committees were able to
report on important progress in their areas of concern. Board members heard
about movement forward in the Centers' initiative and IBA program. They also
heard about the launch of the Audubon Annual Appeal, and several Board Members
pledged leadership gifts to help kick off that program.
The Ad Hoc Committee on Chapters presented their draft recommendations for
Board discussion. The draft focuses on enhancing partnerships between Chapters
and National Audubon Society and strengthening the Audubon grassroots network,
making use of funding support for Chapter programs, improved collaborations
with State Offices and Chapter Services, and more options for Chapter
membership structures.
During the meeting, Richard T. Schlosberg, III, of San Antonio, Texas was
elected to fill a Board vacancy. Mr. Schlosberg is a resident of San Antonio,
Texas. He is the former President of the Packard Foundation and served as the
publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Times and the Denver Post.
A slate of at-large candidates was nominated to stand for election at the
annual meeting of the membership on Friday, January 28, 2005, 10 am, at
Corkscrew Swamp Center and Sanctuary in Naples, Florida. The new candidates
include: Steven Blank, Margot Ernst, Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff, Virginia
Stowe, and Peggy Montano. Board Members standing for re-election are: Robert
Stanton, Andrew Sansom, Chris Harte, Juliet P.T. Baker, Carol M. Browner, and
Richard T. Schlosberg, III. Regionally elected Board Members who are up for
re-election include Geoffrey Cobb Ryan and William McQuilkin. Roger Wolf is a
new nominee for the Rocky Mountain Region; John Bellmon, who is the current
Rocky Mountain Regional Director, will step down when his term expires this
winter.
On Saturday evening, the National Board and the Board of Pennsylvania Audubon
met at the new Audubon Center at Mill Grove in Audubon, PA, to celebrate the
Center and review progress at the site, which is the first home in the United
States of John James Audubon. Dozens of local guests attended, including
Colonel and Jean Robert Holt, Robert and Barbara Hauptfuhrer, Elizabeth
Gemmill, Ralf Graves, Dr. and Mrs. John Carson, and Minturn Wright. The site a
flagship Audubon Center and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The summaries of the committee meetings follow.
Conservation
The Conservation Committee reviewed the status and measured progress of the
Audubon Centers Network.
- Audubon Chief Operating Officer Bob Perciasepe made a
presentation on the Measures of Success Framework document, which was approved:
the framework makes bird conservation success the measurement by which
Audubon's progress will be judged. In addition, Audubon's ability to engage
people, counted in numbers and ultimately the quality of their engagement
through citizen science, advocacy, Chapter programs, and Audubon Centers, along
with Audubon's organizational capacity, as evinced by our ability to get the
work done, will be important measurements of success. Staff was charged with
creating an implementation plan that will move the framework document into a
working document for FY06.
- The Committee received a report from Audubon
Pennsylvania's Acting Executive Director Paul Zeph on the progress of
Pennsylvania's IBA program (now with more than 80 IBAs identified, covering
more than 2.6 million acres, each scheduled to have a conservation plan
developed). Zeph reported on the IBA Stewardship Program and land planning
toolboxes for both public officials and landowners developed by Audubon
Pennsylvania, as well as partnerships with state agencies that weight
competitive grants toward bird conservation by awarding extra points for
proposals with work in IBAs. He also reported on the Kittatiny Ridge IBA
Conservation Program.
- The Committee unanimously voted to establish the
Environmental Litigation Subcommittee with the following members:
Lloyd Semple - chair
John Whittle
Alan Wilson
- The Committee also reviewed several real estate
transactions, which were unanimously approved, including: establishment of an
NRCS easement on 74 acres of the Kern River Preserve in California; acceptance
of a donation of two parcels of land adjacent to the Sharon Audubon Center in
Sharon, CT, with an approximate value of $19,000; and agreement to acquire
several parcels that will be integral to future development of a nature center
on 250 acres at Dogwood Canyon, in Dallas, Texas.
- The Committee received a progress report on Audubon
Centers from Vice President of Centers and Education Tamar Chotzen, which
reaffirmed the economic sustainability of the program, currently at 79 Centers
either in operation or in development, with an annual economic growth rate of
27% and annual visitorship of more than one million. The Committee recommended
that the Center Review Task Force be re-established with members drawn from the
Conservation and Finance Committees, to conduct risk assessment and in-depth
vetting of new Center proposals, as several are moving forward with
implementation. The presentation also included a discussion on developing an
increasing number of lower capital cost options for Audubon centers through
partnerships and licensing arrangements. There was strong support on the
committee for these ideas.
- The Committee received a report from IBA Program
Director John Cecil, Audubon Senior Scientist Tess Present and Latin America
and Caribbean Program Executive Director Alejandro Grajal on the August IBA
Conference and the IBA program. The program has gone from being an in-house
technical program to a real international conservation initiative, led by
Audubon and with many new partners. Staff anticipates that all of the IBAs in
the Americas will be identified and included in a hemispheric map by 2007-2008;
the next step will be finding ways to leverage and prioritize IBAs.
Planning and Finance
The Committee closed out the FY '04 Budget, which despite operating at a
deficit marked an overall increase in revenue above projections. The Committee
reviewed the FY '05 Budget, noting that projections were on target for the
first two months of operations, with actual revenues slightly ahead of
projections.
Governance Committee
The Board of Directors took several actions recommended to the full Board by
the Governance Committee, chaired by Chris Harte, as follows:
- Elected Richard T. Schlosberg III to fill a vacant seat
on the Board of Directors.
- Elected Denise Scelzo a Vice President of Audubon. Ms.
Scelzo will head the Constituency Development Division of Audubon's Development
Department;
- Set the next Annual Meeting of Members for Friday,
January 28, 2005, at 10am at Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples,
Florida;
- Set December 10, 2004 as the Record Date for the Annual
Meeting of Members (the date used to determined the eligibility of members in
good standing to participate in the Annual Meeting);
- Nominated a slate of at-large candidates to stand for
election to the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting of Members.
Biographies of the slate of nominees will be posted on Audubon's website as
soon as the biographies are written and approved;
- Created a Development Committee of the Board of
Directors to oversee Audubon's fundraising operations; and
- Adopted a Conflict of Interest Policy applicable to
members of Audubon State Boards.
Board Forum and General Meeting
At the Board Forum on Saturday, Charles Kahle, Bill McQuilkin, and Ruth Russell
of the Ad Hoc Committee on Chapters presented the draft of the Committee's
Recommendations Document. This is the culmination of a year's discussion with
Chapters nationwide regarding solutions to the problems affecting them. It was
presented to the Board for their information and feedback, and Board approval
will wait for a final set of recommendations to be submitted at the January
2005 Board Meeting.
The Ad Hoc Chapter Committee and Advisory Group is composed of National Board
Members, Chapter volunteer leaders and staff, Audubon State Executive
Directors, State and National Board members, and other National Audubon Staff.
They worked collectively on the draft, which focuses on enhancing the
partnership between Chapters and National Audubon Society, and on strengthening
the Audubon grassroots network. Specific recommendations include continued
national financial support funding Chapter programs, enhanced collaboration
with State Offices and Chapter Services, improved coordination of messages to
donors, new options for Chapter membership structures and new measures to
evaluate the success of the overall grassroots program. Board members offered
a number of questions and suggestions clarifying the recommendations, and
supported the Ad Hoc Chapter Committee's next steps
Beginning next week, the draft recommendations will be circulated to all
Chapter leaders and State Offices nationwide. Over the coming season, the Ad
Hoc Chapter Committee, Advisory Group and Regional Directors will attend
Council, Chapter, and State Board meetings and communicate with individual
Chapter leaders to discuss the recommendations and receive feedback for the
final document, scheduled to be brought to the Board in January.
On Sunday morning, at the general meeting of the Board, it was affirmed that
the May board retreat in Park City, Utah, which allowed National and State
Audubon Board members the opportunity to collaborate and share information, was
a valuable success and that the meeting will be repeated in the same location,
May 19-22, 2005.
The full Board heard the reports and business of the Governance and
Conservation Committees. Both Committees' resolutions were presented to the
Board and were unanimously passed.
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