Welcome New Board Members Howard Ruan and Paula Lazarz
Election of Board President
- Hogetsu nominated Paula to be elected Board President
- No other nominations were fielded
- The Board unanimously approved Paula to serve as Board President
Guiding Teacher Report (Hogetsu)
- Recap of well-attended events on both New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day
- Taigen has added Sunday dharma talks and additional online seminars throughout 2025 at Ancient Dragon
- Hogetsu will be gone February 3rd thru February 21st. Tantos Eishin & Douglas will facilitate Temple programming during her absence
- The Spring Practice Commitment Period begins on March 23rd with Paula serving as Shuso
- Temple Director Dylan Torporov is resigning from the position
Temple Director Retiring/Vacancy/Transition (Hogetsu)
- Dylan is retiring due to his academic load and professional responsibilities.
- Hogetsu and the Board thanked Dylan for his service in this role.
- The Temple Director is an appointed position determined by the Guiding Teacher.
- The position is to assist the Guiding Teacher as they see fit.
- Potential candidates will be approached by Hogetsu.
- Dylan will continue to serve through January in order to assist in a smooth transition. He is compiling a document that instructs about the administrative tasks in Strype, Quickbooks, Salesforce and other means of data collection.
- Tax Letters for 2024: Paula will email & mail the 2024 Tax Letters.
- Dylan will work with Paula to facilitate the process around January 15th with letters being sent no later than mid-February. Larger donations will receive letters by January 31st.
Board Orientation & Responsibilities (Douglas)
- Sangha members elected to the Board serve as “Directors”
- How executive positions are filled and who can serve in the executive positions explained in the ADZG By-Laws.
- Directors on the Board have the following responsibilities
- Duty of care
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- Operate with good faith and with the prudence of a reasonably informed person
- Read ADZG’s By-Laws & Mission Statement
- Be informed of expenditures
- Read meeting agendas and affiliated reports
- Duty of loyalty, avoid conflicts of interest
- Directors may not personally profit without sound reason and outside of the scope of the mission of ADZG.
- Duty of obedience
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- Directors must adhere to compliance to mission statement
- Directors legally have a good shield against liability if they act responsibly.
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- There are times when outside experts will be and should be consulted for important decisions.
Treasurer’s Report (David Wray)
- Checking account balances (Byline plus Citibank) as of 12/14/2024: $99,878.55, with outflows of $14,192.41 ($7,952.41) and inflows of $10,423.91.
- Total monthly expenses
- Teacher compensation: $8,400 ($4,200)
- Director compensation: $1080 ($540)
- Rent: $1800 ($900)
- Webmaster: $1200 ($600)
- Mailchimp: $123.44
- Total Monthly $12,603.44 ($6,363.44)
- Notable other expenses
- Banking supplies: $609.12
- YEAA mailing $510.40
- Food for 5-day sesshin: $431.95
- Seminar commission: $37.50
- Total Other: $1,588.97
Fundraising Report (Dylan & Hogetsu)
- The Year-End Appeal has reached 75% of our goal of $40,000 raised.
- Additional nudges were sent out to past donors who had not given yet, resulting in an additional 8 donations. Reminders that the campaign continues to January 31st were posted via the monthly newsletter, social media, the website and in-person.
Technology Update (Kevin)
- Google Analytics Kevin presented the Google analytics report for the new Board Members.
- Analytics can be used for future promotional campaigns to target specific demographics.
- Our organic website visitors have been consistent over the past year with an average of approx 600 viewers a month.
- Audio For Online Participants/Recordings
- Hogetsu will facilitate Simone, David Wray and Mike Evans setting a date to experiment with solutions to resolve the audio challenges.
Review of Board Committees (Paula)
- Finance & Fundraising Committees.It was determined populating these committees should be a priority with potential candidates fielded by our next Board Meeting.
- Promotions & Social Media Mark Splitt emphasized the importance of Board approval before any new promotions are enacted, assuring our message reflects our mission and is consistent.
- Nicolas Joyner starts serving this year with focus on Instagram
- Mark Splitt continues to serve and handle Facebook postings.
- Our new webmaster, Jordan Travis, will assist with AI generated images.
- Hospitality & Sangha Care Chris suggested fielding an additional person that is on-site more frequently to assist, especially as new in-person participants attend at the Lincoln Square zendo. Hogetsu will field possible candidates.
- Ethics & Reconciliation Committee No changes in personnel at the present moment.