Call to Order
The January 31, 2023, ACB Board of Directors Meeting was called to order at 8:00PM Eastern Time by President Dan Spoone.
Roll Call and Introduction of Guests
The call of the roll was conducted by the secretary, Denise Colley. Board members present: Dan Spoone, Deb Cook Lewis, Ray Campbell, Denise Colley, David Trott, Kim Charlson, Chris Bell, Jeff Bishop, Donna Brown, Gabriel Lopez Kafati, Terry Pacheco, Rachel Schroeder, Kenneth Semien, Koni Sims and Jeff Thom. Board of Publications Member Penny Reeder was present representing that body.
Members Absent: Doug Powell.
Staff present: Eric Bridges, ACB Executive Director, Clark Rachfal, ACB Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs, Kelly Gasque, Communications Specialist, Nancy Marks-Becker, Chief Financial Officer, Cindy Hollis, Manager of Membership Engagement Jo Lynn Bailey-Page, Associate Director of Development, Rick Morin, ACB Media and IT Manager, Tabitha Kenlon, Audio Description Project Coordinator, Bill Reeder, acting Director of Development.
Review and Approval of Agenda: Dan Spoone, President
It was moved by Bell and seconded by Brown to approve the meeting agenda. The motion carried.
Review and Approval of December 5, 2022, and December 12, 2022 Budget Meeting Minutes: - Denise Colley, Secretary
It was moved by Trott and seconded by Semien to approve both sets of minutes. The motion carried.
Mission Moment: Dan Spoone and Eric Bridges
Dan, Eric and all of ACB congratulated Nancy Becker and the ACB Accounting Team for all their hard work to navigate the federal government guidelines to successfully apply and receive over $900,000 in funds from the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and the Employee Retention Credit Program (ERC) for ACB. These funds have been instrumental in the continued stability of our ACB staff and our key service programs. Many thanks to Nancy Becker, Lane Waters, Nancy Feela and the ACB accounting team.
Consent Agenda: Dan Spoone
Concern was expressed about the continuing decrease in our membership, especially in our state affiliates. This trend is impacting all types of membership organizations, and possible strategies to address this concern were discussed. Cindy reported that she does hold Humpday Happy Hour every week for presidents and believes that there is good two-way communication. The Berl Colley Leadership Institute is providing monthly trainings, with an email listing sent out weekly to affiliate presidents highlighting those Community events that might be of particular interest, and leaders are encouraged to participate. The Fireside Chat at the Leadership Conference is going to discuss what the future needs to look like for ACB and our membership. This will then be followed up with focus group discussions at the in-person DC Leadership Conference.
It was moved by Campbell and seconded by Schroeder to approve the consent agenda. The motion carried.
Review and Ratification of the Rally Budget Email Vote: Denise Colley, Secretary
On January 20, a motion was made via email by Bell and seconded by Semien to approve a budget item of $15,000 to contract with Glasgow Actions Consulting to provide rally logistics, consultation, “Run of Show”, promotions and communications, and media outreach. On January 22, the motion passed unanimously, pending ratification at the January 31, 2023, Board meeting.
It was moved by Trott and seconded by Thom to ratify the email motion made on January 22, 2023, to approve the $15,000 for the Accessible Currency Rally. The motion carried.
President’s Report: Dan Spoone
-
NIH-RADX team works with ACB on communications plan: Kim Noble, Communications Director for the RADX Team at NIH reached out to ACB to collaborate on getting the word out about their Communications Plan as they continue making more accessible COVID test kits available in Phase I, and announcing the RADIX III Program which will lead to another $350,000,000 in investment in both intermediate and long-range accessible test kits; not just for COVID, but for other at-home and diagnostic tests over which the RADIX Team and NIH have jurisdiction.
-
Auction Committee thanks: Dan shared a thank you to the ACB Board, on behalf of the Auction Committee, for their participation and donations in support of the ACB Media Holiday Auction.
-
Update on the ACB Leadership email list: The Leadership email list has been updated with current elected ACB Leaders, updated affiliate representatives, and monitoring guidelines. The number of repeat event announcements has decreased.
-
Next Hybrid ACB Board of Directors Meeting: The next ACB Board Meeting will be hybrid, and is scheduled to take place on Thursday, March 9, 2023, beginning at 9:00AM ET, at the D.C. Leadership Conference in Alexandria, VA.
-
Next Fall ACB Board of Directors Meeting: Working with the hotel in Jacksonville, Janet Dickelman has secured a tentative date for September 29-30, 2023, for the fall Board meeting.
-
Update on Collecting ACB policies: David, Kim and Koni have been working to pull together ACB policies as a part of their work on the ACB History and Archives Committee. The goal is to have the policies posted on the ACB.org website.
It was moved by Trott and seconded by Sims to approve the President’s report. The motion carried.
Staff Reports
Eric Bridges, ACB Executive Director
By the end of February, staff performance evaluations will be complete for 2022, using the EOS Performance Evaluation Tool. In late December, HR, Specialist, Julie Fischer left, and Nancy Becker is in recruiting for that position. ACB will also be recruiting soon for a full-time staff accountant, as well as a Development Associate.
Negotiations will soon be complete for the new Alexandria Office location in Old Town Alexandria near the King Street Metro stop.
The first ACB Advisory Board meeting of 2023 took place on Friday, January 27. Much of the discussion centered around the evolution of the Advisory Board. The feeling now amongst the members is that there is the need to approach the next iteration of the Advisory Board, where it functions more as a collective group, rather than with individual member expertise. The plan is to explore a structure, with a board chair, and identifying projects, that they as a collective group, could help ACB implement. A couple Advisory Board members will be rolling off this year, and it is hoped that they will be able to assist us in identifying individuals to help fill their slots.
Eric introduced ACB’s newest employee, Tabitha Kenlon, the new Audio Description Project Coordinator. She told the Board a little about herself and her background.
Nancy Marks Becker, Chief Financial Officer
Nancy began her report by sharing that Lane Waters is retiring, and by giving a big thank you to Lane for his dedication to ACB. There was never a time when she needed assistance that he wasn’t there for her, and he will be greatly missed.
AMMS: Cindy has been working to coordinate with individuals who will be providing AMMS training to those who are new to inputting their membership information into the system, and those training sessions will be set up soon. Audio recordings of both the JAWS and NVDA training sessions are available on the AMMS site, along with the AMMS certification schedule.
DC Leadership Conference Registration: Since the DC Leadership Conference has expanded to include tours, ACB is utilizing the convention registration platform for the Leadership Conference.
Audit Preparation: This process begins with verifying the amounts on our balance sheets. This consists of sending requests out to financial institutions to confirm balances, then verifying the inventory balances, and reconciling the Database to the General Ledger totals. The in-person phase of the audit will be conducted from March 27th to the 31st. She provided an update on the value of the investment accounts at the end of December 2022. She also informed the Board that the board approved annual withdrawal from the Legacy account was made in January.
Development Update: Bill Reeder and Jo Lynn Bailey-Page
Our total giving for 2022 was 1.5 million dollars. The number one goal for this next year is to repeat that. The number two goal is to increase it. Bill believes that in order for us to go to the next level, where we could sustain fundraising growth, ACB must move to a team approach with additional staffing. We need to consider development not as a series of events, but as specific categories representing individuals, corporations, foundations, and trusts. Each different source of funding requires a different approach. The plan is to integrate everyone across the organization as we prepare for Transformational Grant Giving. The Development Team is working to schedule opportunities to connect with affiliate leadership to begin working with them on fund-raising, and how the work that is being done on the national level can also create opportunities in states as well.
Advocacy Update: Clark Rachfal
All four of our Legislative Imperatives from last year had bills introduced in the 117th Congress. Thanks to the collaboration we have with NFB, we now have two of our imperatives that are jointly supported by both organizations. One is the Medical Device Nonvisual Accessibility Act, and the other is the Websites and Software Applications Accessibility Act.
(NOTE: See reports in Consent Agenda for additional information.)
It was moved by Campbell and seconded by Semien to accept the staff reports. The motion carried.
Updates and Q&A about both the virtual and in-person components of the DC Leadership Conference followed the staff reports.
Adjourn to Executive Session
There was no further business for the public meeting. It was moved by Campbell and seconded by Bell that the Board move into Executive Session to discuss legal matters. The motion carried. The board adjourned to Executive session at 11PM Eastern Time.
It was moved by Campbell and seconded by Pacheco that the Board move out of executive session. The motion carried and the Board moved back into the public meeting for purposes of reporting out any actions taken during Executive Session.
President Spoone reported that legal matters were discussed, but no motions or other actions were taken.
It was moved by Bell and seconded by Campbell that the ACB Board meeting be adjourned at 12:02 AM Eastern.
Respectfully submitted,
Denise Colley
Secretary
Date submitted: 03/02/2023
Approved: 3/9/2023