IABA BOARD MEETING MARCH 2, 2020
VIA PHONE CONFERENCE

MEMBERS PRESENT: JANET LOMABARDI, GINA HALISSEY; TERRI CERVI, JOY LAWRANCE, ANN BOSSO-JOHNSON, JOHN NACCARATO, SIMONA FAVA

MEETING CALLED TO ORDER AT 6:05PM BY JANET LOMBARDI

MINUTES APPROVED AS CORRECTED

TREASURER’S REPORT: ANN   $4069, sent out a balance this morning, but will have final numbers for Feb. meeting later. Members: 22 Business; 47 Regular members. Still a few overdue members. 

MEMBERSHIP
Terri: Discussion about auto-renewal. Ann: if someone says they don’t want auto-renew, the site will not do it. Terri: every auto-pay sends a warning about when it’s due. This may add to some confusion about when dues are to be paid. Janet will call Wild Apricot to clear this up.

OLD BUSINESS
Gina: Talked to Silvia, our March speaker, today, she will do a 20min. presentation then Q&A. Does not think it’s necessary to have audio/visual equipment…Gina will print out info from her. Catering from Pie Society -cost should be about $11 -12/per person. Ann has paid for the venue. Talked about room set-up. We need to be able to talk to other members.    

Ferragosto: Assumption Church is happy to provide a space for the event. (August meeting) Gina will explore idea for food and entertainment. This is an event in Italy where they take off the month, have beach BBQs, it started as a feast for the Assumption of Mary. John: this is a good event, having it at Assumption is good. Gina: Ties in with our goal of having things out in the community. I’ve done some research on the event. We’ll probably make a donation to the church. 

I’ve not talked to Mrs Condi’s yet. For OCT – For Italian Heritage month in Oct I'm working on putting together an event at Balistreri Vineyards with the singing Celebrity Chef Andy LoRusso to benefit Caruso Family Charities.  It's planned for Thurs, Oct 15 which is the day after our regularly scheduled monthly Oct meeting so I wondered if IABA would consider inviting members to attend the Caruso event to support that in lieu of the monthly meeting or if they don't want to go to the Caruso event they could donate and maybe we could do one IABA donation at the event?  The ticket cost for the Caruso event will probably be $85 and a table will be $1000.  This would be a good event to support for a "philanthropic community" cause by purchasing individual tickets or maybe buying an IABA table to have a presence.  

Nov. – we don’t do a meeting usually, it’s a board retreat.  Dec. – holiday party – has looked into some sites – a site on So. Broadway may want to trade some space, but this is all still in the works. We’re not going to get a weekend date in Dec. The Grid is a possibility – they have tables…it’s different. If you want something like last year, we need to move fast. We need to decide what our budget is for this party. Even if we go back to Sons of Italy, it will be $800.  The Grid has a nice set-up. Gina will send a link to this place for us to evaluate.

REVIEW: Feb meeting: - They tried to give a long presentation into a 45 min. program. They want to join the club. 

(Brief interruption – Zoom cut off. Meeting resumed, Terri Cervi took minutes from this point)

Debrief of February meeting - a little disappointing in their presentation and delivery however, lessons learned to help them and the Board with expectations in the future.

Gina and Janet donated $$ to Mt. Carmel that will appear in account as "Sponsorship of Meeting".

It will be an agenda item at each board meeting to debrief the good bad and ugly of each previous member meeting.  

Marketing in Andiamo - discussion about 1/4 page ad for $100 per for $600 annually.  We could "sell" to members to re-coop cost or use totally for IABA listing of upcoming events.  Ads could be sold to members as little as $20 or share with club.  Janet will get more information.  It is noted that the publication is not digital - therefore a disadvantage in selling talking points.

More discussion to pay Simona for web services.  We have budgeted $$ for 2020 for marketing services and fees.  So far Simona has volunteered her time.  It is noted that it is in the bylaws, that this is a paid position.  The amount will be at the discretion of the board. Further discussion will take place on the amount.

Notes from members:

Caruso Family Charity Gala - May 2

Columbus Parade and Events from Rich Sabell

Janet has purchased a microphone for more mobility in meetings.  Janet will submit receipt to Ann for reimbursement.

Motion - moved and seconded to subscribe to ZOOM meetings for 1 year.

The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.