Minutes of the Berkeley Go Club Board of Directors Meeting

June 5, 2005

Prepared by Roger Schrag, Secretary

Roll call: Ken Pelter called the meeting to order at 4:10 pm on June 5, 2005. Present were board members Herb Doughty, Bob Murr, Ken Pelter, and Roger Schrag, constituting a quorum. Mark Harris was absent for the duration of the meeting. Treasurer Ted Christen was also present.

Agenda review: No adjustments were made to the agenda initially.

Reading of the minutes: Minutes from the May 15 board meeting were accepted as read.

Treasurer’s report: Ted presented a verbal report. As of the end of May, the club’s bank balance is $2358 and there are 12-13 members. In April the club got one new full member: John Hwong. In May the club got no new full members, but Anthony Patire joined for a month. At this time two full members—Len Sosnoski and Dennis Rhodes—are in arrears. The report was accepted as presented.

Status reports: Herb wants to speak to Terry Benson on the phone regarding AGF. He has tried once but has not yet gotten ahold of Terry. He will try again. Herb will also attend the SF Go Club tournament on June 11 to recruit beginners for the Berkeley Go Club’s beginner lessons Sundays 2-5 pm. Bob recommended that the club purchase the book from Nolo Press on non-profits that will be coming out next month. Bob says this is a good resource for the club as to how non-profits work. Roger had nothing to report. Ken reported that he has purchased a cash box for the club and is putting procedures in place to better track cash flow through the course of each weekend.

Old Business – Incorporation status: Bob has connected with Dave Marvit of the SF Go Club for getting copies of their documents. Bob has typed up the articles of incorporation as of June 4 and will mail them on June 6. When confirmation comes back that the articles have been filed, Bob will apply for both federal and state income tax exemption. Bob expects the state to take 2-4 weeks to process the articles filing. Bob will be going to Santa Barbara approximately June 10-28. Bob offered to give a key to his PO box to another board member to check while he is away, but it was agreed that this will wait until Bob’s return around June 28. It is likely that the confirmation of the articles processing will not arrive before then anyway. Bob will need a copy of the club’s lease before he can apply for income tax exemption. Ken said that Mark has the lease, and will help get it to Bob.

Old Business – Interaction with AGF: Ken asked the Ing Foundation if they would be interested in helping the Berkeley Go Club with 501c(3) status / tax-deductible donations, and he got the impression the answer is “no.” Herb suggested speaking with Ernest at Ing Foundation about this, and Ken said he would do so. Meanwhile, Herb will continue to try to get ahold of Terry Benson at AGF. Although Ing Foundation appears to have deeper pockets than AGF, Ing is very narrow in its focus—the promotion of Chinese cultural education only.

Old Business – Officer and monitor responsibilities: Ken presented a draft of a document entitled, “Responsibility Description of Berkeley Go Club” with a draft date of June 5. Bob pointed out that the club needs a Custodian of Records, somebody to be responsible for having or knowing how to get ahold of all important documents (but not necessarily being responsible for their content). It was agreed that the Secretary shall be the Custodian of Records. It was also pointed out that the term “Night Stewards” should be replaced with “Club Monitors.” With these two changes, the document was accepted by the board as a supplement to the club’s by-laws. Ken will forward an electronic version of the document to Roger for storage.

Old Business – Domain transfer and website: Ken reported that Colin Jacobs has given him administrative control of the berkeleygoclub.org domain, thus giving us the ability to move the website to a new server. Ken says that Jason Pfaff wants to design a new website for the club, planning to show a draft in a week or so. Jason appears to be more interested in the web design than the actual hosting, so Jim Fischer has offered to host the club website with some security restrictions. Roger said he has explained these restrictions to Jason in email and is waiting to hear from Jason if he can work with these terms before giving Jim the go-ahead to set us up on his server.

New Business – Treasurer processes: First there was a discussion of the financial responsibilities of the club once it is incorporated. Bob said that we need to keep accurate financial records that are updated monthly. The club will need a separate bank account. (Ted currently operates the club from his own checking account.) Tax returns will need to be filed yearly, but we could be queried at any time for information. We need to maintain a balance sheet and current period income statements. Receipts for purchases must be saved. Bob says the income tax forms will be “trivial” because we are a non-profit. For about $100 per year we could use computer software such as Turbo Tax. Bob offered to help prepare the tax forms as long as he is in the area. (He is planning to move to Santa Barbara.) There is a chance that we will be exempted from having to file tax returns.

Ted said that he is comfortable continuing to do for the club what he has been doing before, but he is giving notice that the position of Treasurer is open. Ken said that he is starting to sound people out on Treasurer duties. All board members agreed that people need to feel comfortable doing what they do for the club. Herb pointed out that if Ted is not up for taking on the new responsibilities discussed, then he could step aside as Treasurer and we would all be extremely appreciative for all that he has done for the club over the years.

A motion was made to formally thank Ted for all of the work he has done for the club over the years. The motion passed unanimously. Ted said he has been active in the club since the 1980s, and has been Treasurer since about 1995.

It was also agreed that Roger as Secretary will maintain the master list of contact information for members and interested parties / potential members. Ted and Ken will email what they have to Roger. As anybody becomes aware of any changes or new contact information, they will pass it on to Roger so that the updates all are recorded in one master list.

Next meeting: The date and time of the next meeting of the Board of Directors was not set. It was agreed that board members would continue on in their efforts and correspond with each other over email until such time as another meeting is felt to be necessary.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 5:35 pm.