As we've been doing for a few months now, we want to share our monthly committee reports with our membership and those who are thinking of becoming members. We have several active committees staffed by dedicated, hard-working volunteers whose one goal is get this Co-op built. As you can see from the reports below, we've all been pretty busy trying to accomplish that goal.
But we need help. If you're a member who wants to make a HUGE difference in how fast we can get to the ribbon cutting for the Co-op, please consider volunteering to serve on one of these committees. The report below - which was available in hard copy at our Spring General Membership Meeting - will help you determine which activities fit with your skill set or are among skills that you're hoping to learn. (
You can also download the report here.)
May 2013 Committee Updates
Submitted to the general membership on 5/17/13
Treasury (Jay Tarlecki)
- Statement of Activities and Statement of Financial Position and bank reconciliation submitted to the board on a monthly basis.
- Still awaiting final CPA approval of FY13 final numbers
- Reviewed outstanding member equity numbers as briefly discussed in April board meeting. Pledged but not received for all calendar years = $26,647. Of that total, $5,050 is currently past due.
Upcoming:
- Develop new bank deposit form, in progress
- Treasurer playbook
- Looking for CPA to handle taxes moving forward, no luck finding one that handles co-op so far
Bookkeeping (Molly Peterman)
- Move from member records in excel to QuickBooks for accounting and tracking needs
- Begin using QuickBooks at start of FY14 - Not implemented
- Begin transition of past FYs to QuickBooks on 6/1/13 after FY13 is officially closed out- Soliciting quotes for support in implementing QB
- Provide reliable and accurate financial stewardship to people who have trusted us with their money records are reconciled
- Written policy and procedure manual for member tracking, CRM entry, and bookkeeping practices. DEADLINE TBD based on CRM selection Pending
- Monthly reconciliation for banking Records reconciled as of 5/16. Current active member count is 466 (members in good standing = 411 and equity past-due = 55). Cash on hand = $67,602. (excluding $1,750 transferred to Fair Food account). Non-equity cash = $1,270.
- CRM database and QuickBooks to be updated twice a month. Done
- Membership cards and welcome letters to be mailed once a month mailed at least once every calendar month
- Assist with development and conversion to the Co-op’s CRM system. Pending
- Distribute membership certificate shares at each general meeting list provided for 5/19 meeting
Business Outreach (Dana Mitchell)
Business Outreach successfully rounded up some sweet swag for the 100 in 75 campaign, thank you to all who helped in that endeavor! Please welcome The Yoga Garden, our newest Shop South Philly Partner (#22). BO responded to inquiries and contacted Shot Tower Coffee, Blackbird Pizza, and Dig Yoga about SSP and are awaiting their reply. BO contacted Girls Can Tell regarding their new company Occassionette, and whether changes to the SSP page needed to be made. BO received a request to change the offer for Wake Up Yoga and has submitted it to marketing/communications. If anyone knows of a business that may be interested in participating in SSP, please email
[email protected] so BO can contact them. Finally, BO will be focusing on recruiting business sponsorships for the Garden Tour and other upcoming events. Any help with recruiting sponsors will be greatly appreciated!
Grants (Maria Sourbeer (formerly Camoratto))
CCMA application was approved and we were awarded two scholarships to the Austin conference June 6 - 8. TRF, Community Design Collaborative and Clif Family Foundation applications are still pending response. We worked to get the Philadelphia Activity Fund grant application submitted this month and we're pending response. Last year's Philadelphia Activities Fund report due in June 2013; working with Programs and Events to submit final report. We continue to research and update our database. On our radar are: Philadelphia Foundation which has a rolling application for technical assistance, NIFA, Del. Valley Grant Makers, Bank of America Foundation, Wallace Center and Impact 100.
IT Committee (Melanie Myers)
The committee has moved forward with the migration of our existing website to NationBuilder. Veracity has access to our website and design files, and they will be working on the site design over the next two weeks. At that point they will be ready to show us the design and start discussing moving our data on the site. The new site won't go live until we are done with everything, therefore we keep our current site live until then. Melanie sent the invoice to Jay to see if the form needs to be filled out for payment.
Leadership (Aubrey Jones)
Prepared for 5/19 board elections and will be developing more comprehensive recruitment and succession planning for future.
Legal (Josh Richards)
The legal committee has had no substantive tasks this month, but is working to organize and begin work with the Member Loan Committee. The first Member Loan Committee meeting was rescheduled to May 21.
Marketing and Communication (Dan Pohlig)
The Marketing and Communications Committee is in the process of completing a revised draft of messaging documents to be used by senior volunteers and members of the Speakers Bureau. The Committee just completed the design of promotional posters that use testimonials from current members to tell several stories about why people have chosen to join the Co-op. Posters are in final QC and will be sent to print by end of May. The Committee has also put forward its chair to be liaison to the working group that is executing the transition of the website to the Nation Builder platform. Finally, the Committee has begun a push for new volunteers. The chair has received a set of contact information from survey respondents who indicated interest in doing communications work for the Co-op.
The Marketing and Communications Committee is looking for a few of our member-owners to step up and help out with our efforts to spread the word about the Co-op to new people and create compelling messaging that convinces those who are aware of us to take the next step and join. If you can string together a few sentences about what made
you want to join the Co-op and have an idea of what might make others want to join, then this is the committee for you! Specific tasks include: posting to our Facebook page and Twitter account, drafting press releases and media advisories, advising other committees on messaging and language for external communications and creating promotional materials. If interested in helping out, the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 6:30pm. Or email
[email protected]
Membership (Cassie Plummer)
The Membership Committee oversees co-op member-owner relationships. We manage volunteers, new member-owner welcomes, membership account tracking and a whole lot more!
We’re a behind the scenes group that collaborates with Programs and Events Committee and the Marketing and Communications committee to develop and execute new member recruitment initiatives.
We are currently working on developing the next stage of recruitment tactics and volunteer program development. In the upcoming months, we plan to mobilize our current members to recruit new Co-op members – we want you to host Eat and Greet House Parties, invite us to your block party, and participate in our training for neighborhood outreach (coming soon). We are also looking to use some new database technology to help us target highly engaged not-yet members, people newly added to mailing list, and neighborhood networks.
We could use help in the following areas:
- volunteer management (you can do this all by email)
- neighborhood outreach (we’ll provide the training!)
- hosting Eat and Greet Potluck dinners or other creative events for your neighborhood/friend network
Please come join us and help us reach our next membership goal!
Operations Committee (Alison Fritz)
Operations continues to work on the business plan with CDS consultant Mel Braverman. We have all of the components and are going to be doing a major edit over the next two weeks. The pro forma is a work in progress and numbers are adjusted regularly as new information is available. Operations is working closely with Real Estate and will update the financial with site specific numbers as we continue to vet potential locations. Upcoming work includes: 1.)developing programing model for the Co-op (ie. What products and services will we offer/will we have room for in the proposed 3,000sqft retail space), 2.) guidelines for electronic documentation storage, 3.) a primer on the Co-op’s sources and uses so committee members understand the basics.
Operations also oversees outreach to potential lenders; Alison and Maria will meet with representatives from LEAF and NCDF at the CCMA conference in Austen June 6 – 8. Plan to approach Philadelphia based lenders is in process and some initial contacts have been made.
Programs and Events (Leigh Goldenberg)
Programs and Events wrapped up a busy spring season with a celebration of our 75 Members in 75 Days campaign at Fountain Porter. We welcomed nearly 40 guests and gave away prizes from our generous Shop South Philly Partners. Last week, we took a small group on a tour of Mariposa Co-op and hope to continue tours of local Co-ops throughout the summer and fall in tandem with the Real Estate Committee. In June, the committee has scheduled two free events - a pallet gardening workshop at South Philly High School and a happy hour at Underdogs, sponsored by Victory Brewing Company. The committee's focus is turning to the 3rd Annual South Philadelphia Garden Tour on Saturday, September 7. The tour will focus on Broad Street and surrounding blocks. In the coming month, they will focus on securing gardens to participate and local businesses to sponsor the event. Volunteers are welcome to assist in this event, the Co-op's largest fundraiser of the year.
Real Estate (Megan Kiesel)
The real estate committee has narrowed down our real estate agent search to two agents. We interviewed both by phone and in person. We are currently investigating a couple of opportunities and getting our pro forma and business plan finalized before we make a final decision on which agent should represent us. In the meantime we continue to compile a list of potential spaces and have two member real estate agents who will help us to schedule visits. We worked with the grants committee to submit an application for the Community Design Collaborative and participated in a follow up meeting. We expect to hear an update shortly.
Speakers Bureau (Katy Travaline)
The Speakers Bureau has presented at a total of 5 events in 2013 and has been helping to coordinate speakers for Co-op House Parties and other events, which are not included in this total. The Bureau coordinated with the Marketing and Communications Committee on updating the talking points and materials to be used at speaking events on April 24. The Speakers Bureau outreach binders will now be updated once the talking points are finalized.
The goals for May and June are as follows:
We are actively seeking more speaking opportunities and more speakers. All suggestions and volunteers are welcome. Toward this goal, the following steps have been taken: 1) a number of civic organizations and community contacts (four, at the time of this committee report) have been contacted to schedule speaking events; 2) current members of the Speakers Bureau have been contacted to encourage them to review the list of potential speaking engagements and make recommendations for additions as well as to reach out to organizations to schedule events themselves; 3) a few potential speaking events have been added to the list; and 4) plans have been made to recruit speakers at the General Membership Meeting on May 19, 2013.
We will also plan to hold a Speakers Training Workshop. Details to follow.
