Minutes of the ECA Vestry Meeting
August 12, 2003
Attending: Ken McCormick, Stephen Mills, Ellen Lukanc, Lele Blackman, Jon
Mills, Susie Ferguson, Pat Rimroth, Ann Avoux, Elizabeth Ward, Len Whitlock,
Pete Mayo (guest), Pat Dorsey (guest speaker), Lorraine Zeller (vestry clerk).
The meeting was called to order following the opening prayer at 7:10 p.m.
Approval of Minutes: Minutes were acknowledged as approved per the email
process.
Fundraising Presentation - Pat Dorsey
Pat Dorsey, Development Director at St. Stephen's School presented vestry with
some fundraising strategies they have used with great success. The school has
three major fundraising events each year. This year they were:
- A silent auction with dinner and a band. This was not only a fundraiser,
but also a celebration of their community and what they do.
- Raising funds for a new playground via winning a grant of $21,000. from
the David and Lucille Packard Foundation and another grant from KaBoom!
Funds were also raised by building a permanent sign on the playground and
taking donations for the sign with $250 or more guaranteeing that the
donor's name is written on the sign.
- An Annual Spring Walk-a-thon and Festival. People pledged money
according to the number of miles the children walked. An anonymous donor
challenged the school to match funds if $15,000 was raised by the end of
the Festival day and they were able to accomplish this! Corporate donors
sponsored the event in return for radio air time as the community event
was announced with the name of the sponsoring company.
Other strategies included corporate sponsors paying $250 for ads on St.
Stephen's school tee-shirts, participation in the "Westfield Works
Wonders" shopping day to benefit local non-profits, ice cream sales, and
E-scrip participation. One point stressed by Pat Dorsey is that "if you
put a 'product' at the end of the fundraiser, it will get done."
Stephen brought up our evangelism campaign featuring three events which are
free and open to the public. Ten thousand postcards are being sent out to
residences in the 95120 and 95123 zip codes to invite our neighbors to these
events. The hope is that folks in our community will come in for the events
and also learn more about what our churches have to offer. The first event,
scheduled for September 16th, is My Monastery is a Minivan (written up in both
newsletters), the second will be a workshop presented by Bob Farnquist for
people who are searching for employment or more satisfaction in their career
or job. The third event is yet to be determined. Susie pointed out that, when
people from our community come to attend these events, we should be sure to
have ECA brochures posted in prominent places around the church for people to
read and learn more about ECA. Stephen commented that brochures and other
welcoming information will be available in a new visitors' center to be set up
in the narthex.
Christian Education
Stephen shared the good tidings that Katie McCormick is our new youth
director, Robin Root is serving as our high school youth coordinator, and the
Clicks will continue to work with our middle school youth for another year.
The youth center has a new ping pong table and couch and we looking for a
foosball machine and other items that will make the youth center more
youth-friendly. We are also revamping and painting our nursery to ensure that
it's in good shape for the new (program) year. Jon Mills reported that we have
received only ten kids' break-out surveys and will check to see if we should
continue to send them to our congregations. He also reported that he will
still be involved in Christian Education but that his wife, Sharon is
replacing him on the Christian Education Committee.
Rector's Comments
Stephen announced that we will have a Joint Venture work party on Saturday,
September 6 to continue repairing and sprucing up our facilities and grounds.
Pete pointed out and Stephen agreed that it's important to prioritize the
work, determine work assignments, and think about the jobs are to be carried
out so we can ensure the quality of the work and make the best use of
volunteer time.
Database and Program Scheduling
Lorraine updated vestry on the progress in setting up our new PowerChurch
database and the importance of gathering information and keeping updated
records so the office can best support church leaders and the groups they
oversee. She shared that this database can identify and make labels or reports
and send email messages to groups such as vestry, Christian Education,
outreach, folk choir, middle school youth, senior high youth, etc. Again, she
asked for support from vestry and church leadership to inform the office of
any changes to ensure that we will be able to generate accurate reports, etc.
As to the calendar and program scheduling, Lorraine handed out the calendar
for the remainder of 2003, calendar request forms, and a letter instructing
leaders to work on their program schedules so that dates can be booked for the
remainder of 2003 by September 15th. Dates for 2004 are due in October. She
pointed out that we are already receiving requests from community groups to
use our facilities and we want to make sure that scheduling for church
programs takes precedence. In the latter part of October, program leaders from
both churches will work together on their scheduling requests for 2004 to
ensure equity in the determination of program scheduling for both AVUCC and
ECA.
Fellowship
Susie reported that the BBQ Line Dancing date is changed from September 13 to
Saturday, September 20. She also told vestry that the Road Rally was a great
success!
Worship
Susie was pleased to announce that Sharon Mills volunteered to help with the
Ministry Faire on September 7. She also told vestry that the first Alpha
Dinner is scheduled at the church on September 10 starting at 6:30 p.m. and
that Cursillo will take place on the first weekend in October.
Labyrinth
Lele advised vestry that Labyrinth Adventures and research continues with
increasing interest and participation from both ECA and UCC members. She
reported that the next event on August 17 will take place in Santa Cruz where
the group will meet and enjoy a meal at Zachary' Restaurant and visit two
labyrinths, one in Santa Cruz and one in Aptos.
Rector's Comments
Stephen remarked that our order for prayer books has turned out to be a
nightmare. We tried to save money, but received some damaged books which we
are returning. We're canceling the order and will purchase the prayer books
from a more reliable, albeit more expensive source.
Senior Warden's Report
Ken reported that Stephen Mills' evaluation after his first year of service is
to take place in September. Ken explained that, the evaluation process will
include a purpose statement and a request for each vestry member to write in
their evaluations. Both the Shape and our Sunday bulletins will contain an
announcement regarding the evaluation and inviting feedback from the
congregation. After some discussion, vestry decided to have the evaluation
take place at Ken and Katie McCormick's home with the evaluation from 10:00
a.m. to noon and the vestry meeting, including lunch, from noon to 3:00 p.m.
This meeting will also be a time for program planning.
Finance
Pat Rimroth reported that our ECA financial audit was successfully completed
with much credit due to Maryke. He told vestry that the number of pledging
families has decreased in 2003 from 95 to 81. All pledges, he pointed out,
were annualized so we can see how we're doing financially on a month to month
basis. Since the beginning of the year, he reported, we have been living off
the January pledges, funds from the lobster dinner, and reserves and are
losing an average of $6,000 a month. Our financial team is looking at line
items that are variable rather than fixed to identify which items we can
reduce. Pat passed out a document with proposed line item budget reductions.
Elizabeth Ward reported from the finance meeting last week. The discussion
turned to our Fair Share contribution to the Diocese as this is a $20,000 line
item, a large proportion of our $30,000 deficit. She presented a draft of a
letter to the Diocese requesting forgiveness of this debt. Len pointed out
that we state in the letter that we have exhausted our cash reserves. It was
mentioned that we have an endowment, but it is not to be used for operating
expenses. Stephen volunteered to reduce the pastor's discretionary fund and
claimed that he doesn't think we'd be able to reduce and communication and
office supplies without impacting mailing of the Shape. Stephen suggested
cutting expenses for the annual convention and having attendees pay their
expenses. Susie pointed out that we need to focus on our plan to increase
pledges and let people know that, if they want a youth director and youth
programs, for example, we need to "paint the picture" for them to
illustrate how much these programs would cost. She also mentioned that pledge
cards were sent out right after a major fundraiser and that our fundraising
effort could be more strategically timed. Stephen pointed out that we can get
so busy fundraising that we find it difficult to focus on the work of the
church. Susie suggested that we focus on raising the $10,000 needed to pay our
bills apart from the $20,000 Fair Share contribution, send the letter to the
Diocese, and work on developing an effective stewardship campaign. Stephen
commented that there are already a lot of educational resources on stewardship
including an Episcopal resource on the internet. Susie suggested small group
fellowship events where we can ask folks what they want to do at ECA and would
lead in to a discussion of how much it would cost to develop and maintain the
programs that are important to our congregants. An early November dinner was
proposed for this purpose. Ken proposed to have Rev. John Buenz come and give
a speech on stewardship. He also suggested having an ECA flea market, possibly
on September 13th, and sell spaces to groups who might donate items to ECA
that we can sell. The discussion went back to the Fair Share contribution and
letter proposed to request forgiveness of this debt. A motion to send this
letter was made and seconded by Ellen Lukanc. The motion was voted on and
Stephen voiced his opposition, pointing out that it would be possible to use
the Shadinger Fund, which amounts to over $200,000 to pay our Fair Share.
Stephen also pointed out that the amount determined by the Diocese to be our
Fair Share contribution is based on the state of the economy two years ago
when the economy was in better shape. He stated that our financial situation
at ECA which be much improved in 2006 as our financial obligation to pay the
JV bonds will be completed. Stephen voiced his desire to send the letter to
local Episcopal clergy to get their feedback. Len disagreed with Stephen,
reasoning that the proposed letter is only a request. Stephen suggested that
we rewrite the letter to include a statement that "we are hoping and
praying that this situation will turn around so we will be able to meet our
Fair Share obligation. It was agreed that Elizabeth will rewrite the letter
and send it out by August 15 for approval of vestry. Motion was made to
publish the letter in Shape. The motion was seconded and approved by vestry.
The vestry agreed that all the names of all vestry members will be included at
the end of the letter, Ken McCormick as Senior Warden will sign it, and it
will be sent out to the Bishop by August 15th.
Closing: The meeting was closed with a prayer led by Stephen at 10:00 p.m.
The next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, September 20 at 10:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lorraine Zeller
