January Board Meeting - Farm & Wilderness

The Farm & Wilderness Board meets four times a year – in a major northeast city in January and in Vermont in May, August (on the day before Fair), and October. According to the F&W By-Laws, the Board is “responsible for the investment, use, and expenditure of all funds and property of the corporation and for determining general policy of the corporation.” In plain English, that means we have to make sure that F&W is financially healthy. We also make significant policy decisions, hire and supervise the Executive Director, and have committees that provide guidance on various aspects of the camps’ operations, including Finance, Development (fundraising and community engagement), Conservation, Inclusivity and Equity, Risk, and Nominations (selecting new Board members). Following the process of Quaker meeting for business, the Board makes decisions by arriving at a sense of the meeting.

The Board welcomes input from community members, and to that end is going to begin sharing our Board meeting agendas. The following topics will be on the agenda for the January meeting:

• Board Transparency: The Board will consider the question of how best to keep the F&W community informed about its work and engage community members in that work as appropriate.
• Quarterly Report: At every meeting, the Board reviews the activities and events of the last quarter.
• Finance: In January, the Board reviews the 2018 financial statements and approves the 2019 budget.
• Development: Development staff will consult with the Board on the timeline for completion of the Friends’ Lodge project
• Strategic Planning: The Board will meet the consultant who has been engaged to support the community process that will result in F&W’s next strategic plan.
• HR: In January, the Board conducts its annual evaluation of the Executive Director
• Inclusivity and Equity: The Board will participate in a transgender training, review the gender housing policy, and begin a discussion of the role of social justice at F&W.

If you have comments on any of these topics that you would like shared with the Board, please send them to Becca Steinitz, Clerk of the Board, at rsteinitz@gmail.com BY JANUARY 24.