Saturday, October 20, 2018
St. Boniface Library, 131 Provencher Blvd., Winnipeg
Welcome and Call to Order: 11:07, Susan Rocan
Approval of Agenda
Review and Approve minutes of previous meeting
Motion with corrections: Marjory Poor
Seconded: Armin Wiebe
Discussion/corrections:
- Page 1: Jennie Geist —> Jenny Gates
- Page 2: Catherine Hunter’s comment has UofM —> UofW
Carried
President’s Report: Susan Rocan
- Ref: President’s Report, Annual General Meeting, Oct 20, 2018
- We need to have someone on staff in order to apply to grant money … if we do this then the cost will eat into our financial resource
- We are saving considerable money having downsized our office space
- We had a successful Manitoba Book Awards and ended up in the black for the first time in a good many years
Treasurer’s Report: Clarice Sinohin
Clarice was not present and so Susan presented
- Ref: Manitoba Writers’ Guild Finance Report October 2018 AGM
- We are in the black having cut back on expenses and have paid off all past debt
- We are facing obstacles in getting grants and so we will have to think creatively in order to bring back grant revenue
- Ref: Manitoba Writers’ Guild Inc. Financial Statements June 30, 2018 (Unaudited)
- Discussion ensued as to the definition of paid staff as well as general fees for accounting services, the difference between financial review and audit, and the requirements for financial reports
Motion to accept the reviewed but unaudited financial statements
Motion: Chris Rutkowski
Seconded: Bev Sandel Greenberg
Carried
Motion to Accept Auditors
Motion: Jenny Gates
Seconded: Lynne Martin
Carried
Committee Reports
1. Programming and Membership: Anna Valdron
- Ref: Programming and Membership Report Annual General Meeting October 20th, 2018
- Many workshops and programs were held over the year
- We participated in Doors Open in the Artspace Building
Q: Are we doing mentorships this year?
A: We have to cut back to 1 mentorship because of financial constraints
Q: What would it take to get more mentors?
A: $1500 per mentor is required
2. Resource Development: Doug Whiteway
- Ref: Resource Development Committee Report 20 October 2018
- New ideas for fundraising have been required: social media has been moderately successful
- We need fundraisers—individuals with deep skills—at the board level
- A bit of discussion ensued about online auctions
3. Nominations and Governance: Chris Rutkowski
- Ref: Nominations and Governance Committee Report 2018
- New board members are required and some of these must fulfill professional desires that funders look for
4. 2019 Book Awards Report: Susan Rocan
- Ref: 2019 Book Awards Report
Q: What about digital books?
A: At this point, we are not allowing digital submissions
Motion to Accept reports: Donna Besel
Second: Bev Sandel Greenberg
Carried
Directors Elections
Call for nominations from the floor: none
Consideration of new directors:
Brydon Caldwell
Andrew Dutfield
Robyn Hartley
Deanna Ng
John Oross
Spencer Silver
Directors remaining:
Susan Rocan
Clarice Sinohin continuing into final year of 2 year appointment
Alexandria Dawson
Motion to accept the slate: Annie Deeley
Seconded: Jenny Gates
Carried
New Business
- We need people to work at the Guild Office
Volunteer opportunities:
- a MWG member with mobility issues needs someone to help him with his writing;
- a group wants poets to collaborate with;
- social media expertise;
- we need some material digitized;
- we need to update the Writer’s Handbook;
- we need people to go into schools to promote the guild;
- we need to catalogue the archival data
Doug Whiteway motions that we give Susan Rocan a lifetime membership
Motion: Doug Whiteway
Seconded: Marjory Poor
Carried
Adjournment of AGM
Motion: Andrew Dutfield
Adjournment at 12:48
Documents Referenced contained in 2018-10-20 AGM Reports Package below