The next scheduled Saints Board of Directors meeting will be held at the Saints Office, Room 203, at the Athenaeum, 2936 N. Southport, on Saturday, January 9 at 10 am. Members who wish to attend may contact the Board at large and make arrangements. It is recommended that you send your request to the entire board since we currently are without official leadership. In addition, our current Bylaws do not address leadership succession.
Minutes from the October and November meetings are now available online if you log onto the website and look at "Membership Documents."
Please review previous postings regarding the $30,000 that has been allocated for a Saints 30th anniversary party. There is controversy as to whether this is an appropriate use of funds for a nonprofit organization or consistent with our mission statement.
This issue will be addressed at the board meeting, as well as a report regarding the annual Saints benefit, which was held on Sunday, December 6.
It is important that all requests and concerns be addressed to the entire board of directors right now. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to send something without logging into the website. Two of us, Jim Venskus and Deborah Granite, are not included on the contact list that is available on the home page.
You may, however, log onto the website, click on "committees," select "board of directors," click on the button that says "view members" and select "Send Email to members." Your e-mail address will automatically appear, you can type in a subject in the blank subject line, and then type your text in the empty box. You even have the option to mark your e-mail "urgent".
Good luck!
We hope to hear from you.
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Happy Holiays to everyone! I would like to get some input on a very important issue that affects not only the board and the bylaws committee, but the entire membership. In my opinion, many of the 'issues' that have arisen this year have been due to a difference of 'vision' of the Saints organization. Perhaps half the board sees us as a 'fraternal organization' others (including me) see us as a 'charitable organization.' The difference drives how I for one vote on issues, and how to best represent the wishes of the membership. The proposed anniversary party is just one such issue (though it has already received majority approval).
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I have no access through normal channels to get some structured feedback on this important issue. In fact we are an IRS 501(c)3 CHARITY right now and my votes in opposition to a majority of the board are based on that status. I would like to know if the membership wants to continue to be a Charity, encouraging and supporting the performing arts communities and have us act responsibly as one, or if the membership sees us as a fraternal/social organization who exists to get "free" ushering opportuntities and social events and give up the charity designation in favor of another not-for-profit status. What do you think?
I, for one, am strongly in favor of keeping the Charity status. When I encourage new people to join, one of the big selling points is that we are a charity and that we provide financial support to the performing arts community, as well as getting those wonderful ushering opportunities. I have no interest in the social events - I am too busy ushering.
ReplyDeleteI did not sign onto the Saints to belong to a
ReplyDelete"social club". It was the opportunity to provide something back to the community that appealed to me. The Saints need to keep their Charity status. Otherwise we run the risk of being viewed as just some free-loader organization, doing the minimum possible to see shows for free (and there are already enough folks who behave in that fashion).