Date: Wednesday 18 June 2014
Time: 6:30 pm
Attendees: Sal Tavormina / President , David Gaus / Vice President, Ron Hirsch / Treasurer, Roger Sayre / Secretary, Jerome Thomere / Web and Blog Editor, David Goldsmith / Ride Coordinator
1. Call to Order
Sal called the meeting to order
2. Public Comments
– No public comments received.
3. Approval of Minutes
–Minutes from the meeting of 3/31/2014 were approved
4. President/Membership Coordinator’s Report
Sal noted that DSSF currently has 98 paid members for 2014. Ron noted that the website states 107 members and that if DSSF has more than 100 members it may make a difference for fees on certain things. It’s anticipated that additional members will join during pride festivities. The remainder of the year usually doesn’t see too many new members.
Sal also updated the Yahoo Group and it now has about 66 members.
Sal updated the New Member Guide for 2014. A copy was distributed to board members for review and input. Email Sal with any corrections. A pdf version will be available on the DSSF website and David Gaus will print hardcopies for distribution at events like pride.
The DSSF Membership Kickoff meeting went smoothly. Sports Basement issued a $35 gift card for their revenue sharing. They don’t issue a check for under $50. David Goldsmith will purchase the gift card and the $35 will go into DSSF funds.
Only 6 or 7 people responded to the JFK Initiative poll, mostly Board members. No further action
Brendan Patrick may be willing to take events coordinator position if he moves to San Francisco
DSSF will have a booth at the Pride Festival on Sunday, June 29th to sign up new members and get people excited about riding. Last year 10-12 new members joined DSSF. This is a great opportunity for outreach and to make DSSF known in the wider community. All paperwork is completed. Volunteers are needed to help man the DSSF booth in 2 hour shifts from 10am to 4 pm. So far only David Gaus & Joseph Collins have volunteered. Additional volunteers are needed. Someone must be there at 9am to set up the booth. The parade starts at 10:30. Ron suggested not bringing a cooler with drinks since the cooler is difficult to maneuver through the crowds and drinks are readily available. Sal will contact Phil Bokovy to get the DSSF banners. Phil had them for the Great Western Bike Rally.
DSSF’s annual club picnic is scheduled for Saturday, July 26th. China Camp in Marin County was selected as the location for this year’s picnic. DSSF has used this location many times and it seems to work well. Advantages are a beautiful location right next to the Bay, privacy, quiet, and flush toilets, and probably the best chance for ideal weather. The main drawback is the aggressive bees that go after the food. The ride to China Camp is about 45 miles round trip from MacLaren Lodge in SF. David Goldsmith will coordinate the ride. All board members are encouraged to co-lead this ride.
Jerome suggested that DSSF consider doing away with family memberships. Ron noted that it would simplify the bookkeeping. Only 10-12 people currently have family memberships. Sal felt that since the gay community has struggled for so many years to have our family relationships recognized that it’s symbolically important for DSSF to continue family memberships. It was agreed that family memberships will continue.
Ron requested that half price memberships be restricted to new members only. Offering half-price memberships during the second half of the year does make sense since the year’s half over, but as Ron pointed out it also rewards procrastinators. Only 5-6 people have taken advantage of half priced membership. Jerome proposed that instead of renewing all memberships at the beginning of the year we change to yearly memberships that are renewed throughout the year depending on when the membership started. After some discussion it was decided that it’s much simpler to send out renewal notices all at once. Eventually it was decided to leave things as they currently are.
Ron requested clarification on approving people for Facebook group page. David Gaus said he just checks the persons Facebook profile to verify that they’re a real person and not some spammer. Basically just use judgment.
DSSF business cards have been printed. Ron & Sal each have half of them
5. Treasurer’s Report
Government Forms up-to-date: CA, SI-100; CA, RRF-1; CA, 199N; and IRS, 990-N
Financial report: Sal thanked Ron for his work. Current financial status is:
$4,800 in current assets (Pay Pal + bank account + $20 cash)
$1,600 Y.T.D. revenue
$1,300 Y.T.D. expenses
$520 fee for Pride booth + $120 for insurance for pride = $640 pride expenses
Most financial activity occurs during the first half of the year
6. Ride Coordinator’s Report
David Goldsmith just posted about 12 new rides to the Ride Calendar, so it’s starting to look pretty healthy for the remainder of the year. He’s had some time off between jobs so he’s been using it to plan rides. Ron will post two rides. David Gaus has posted some Saturday rides. Chris Thomas will be posting DBD training rides on Sundays. Joseph Collins will also be posting rides. David Gaus will solicit ride leaders where there are gaps in the ride calendar.
It was suggest that rides with a lunch destination are always popular.
Ride Coordinator Report: David sent out reports last week. He’s been having some difficulty getting all ride waivers submitted, but will keep working at it. David would like to do a ride leader appreciation dinner this winter.
7. Web/Blog Editor’s Report
Jerome requested we replace the Yahoo Group. Outgoing emails are only having an 80% success rate in reaching the recipient. Yahoo groups does have some advantages in that it allows the organizer to see who voted for what in polls whereas alternates like Survey Monkey don’t have that feature. Jerome will investigate whether it’s possible to send email through DSSF’s web hosting provider 1&1
Sal asked if there are any better alternatives for sending emails to members. Emails sent through DSSF’s web hosting provider 1&1 only have about a 75% success rate, and it’s even lower with Yahoo. Jerome says that Sal’s email, president@dssf.org is an alias which may be blocked by the recipients spam filters. Jerome will set up a new email address members@dssf.org . Jerome also suggested using blog posts more frequently although that does require people to go to the blog.
8. Apparel Coordinator
Bob McDiarmid reported that Primal Custom Cyclewear – vendor for the team kit – is running a special on custom kits – reducing the minimum number of orders required to ten pieces. (meaning one jersey and one bib = two pieces). He posted a poll on the DSSF Facebook group page to determine interest and so far 5 people have responded positively. The order would need to be for either the old Rainbow jersey or the 30th Anniversary jersey. It’s not possible to combine both types in one order.
9. Special Events for 2014
Jock Sunday at the Lookout bar is scheduled for Sunday, August 17th. Ron will coordinate. This is a good moneymaker for DSSF since the Lookout splits the proceeds 50/50 with DSSF. Ron prefers doing the jello-shots to the raffle.
Big Sur trip won’t happen this year. David will ask Bob if he’d be willing to coordinate a trip to the Davis Bike Museum.
10. Other Business
Tony Moy suggested that the Club open an account on ridewithgps.com to store the Club’s ride library. Account levels are free/$50/$80. Tony suggests the premium membership at $80/year. David Gaus will check on group memberships. He thinks that he may have already set up one.
11. Next Meeting
The next meeting will occur in October. Agenda items will be to plan the xmas party, ride leader appreciation dinner, and board elections
The Chain Letter 