River Valley Charter School
Minutes
Development Meeting
Date and Time
Monday November 18, 2024 at 6:00 PM
Location
River Valley Charter School MS Great Room
River Valley Charter School welcomes your participation at Board meetings. The purpose of a public meeting of the Board of Trustees (“Board”) is to conduct the affairs of the organization in public. Your participation assures us of continuing community interest in our school and assists the Board in making the best decisions for our school. To assist you in the ease of speaking/participating in our meetings, guidelines are provided at the bottom of this agenda. All materials for all board and committee meetings, are available on our Board on track public portal found at rivervalleycharter.org.
Committee Members Present
E. Bradley, E. Rankin, J. Leslie, K. Kuse, M. Connerton, M. Curcio, T. Murdy
Committee Members Absent
A. Hromadka, C. Getz
Guests Present
Ann Clausen, Jason Makin, Jessica Spater
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
B.
Record Attendance
C.
Approve Minutes
II. Development Initiatives - Fall -> Winter
A.
Follow up with last meeting business
B.
Connecting with PA
TM shared a bit about PA - told everyone what PA is.
PA hosts lots of events to connect and build community.
PA events create the village - and the events are always free and adds value to the community
Parent Mixer was last week - and it was great. Parents and music.
PA also offers opportunities to foster volunteer relationships through working with the administration. JP has a vision of sharing PA work and leadership by assigning a chair and co-chair to each event, but this needs attention. Volunteers need follow up. JM suggested creating event descriptions so people understand what they are signing up for. ER can do this for the next event which is the Solstice Lantern Walk in December.
PA meetings are important for connecting - let's address bringing those back. They offer opportunities for people to meet face to face and gain an understanding of events and timelines in advance.
ER - also looking for ways to engage MS children at the Solstice event and read a thon...
EI - Give Middle Schoolers opportunities to work and lead at this event and all events.
C.
Fall & Winter Events
Read a thon!
EI - ways to engage Middle Schoolers and involve those who have volunteered: Spotlight reading at school - have mystery readers for all levels
Read a thon sponsorship strategy - ER I need help with this!
We need to load teacher names and classes into Read a thon database to receive ad sponsorship solicitation material from read a thon. Let's do that this week.
Then we need to know who we are reaching out to
There is a spreadsheet in the Development committee folder where names and contacts can be added - please feel free to add notes and relationships. I suggest that we reach out with a message via email (with a link) first and then share the printed material from read a thon (contains QR code).
I have a draft message for Read a thon ad sponsorships and can share that with KK for approval and then pass it on to committee members. Homework for committee members is to fill the spreadsheet with businesses in the communities.
In order to foster volunteerism in the Middle School
give them tasks - MS students are important for the success of events
Reach out to Colin and let him know that Jay and Erin will come in to share volunteer opportunities
III. Making Community Connections
A.
REMINDER Chamber Holiday Event is Thursday, December 5, 2024 Phoenix Room 19 Inn Street, Newburyport, MA Kids with Anxiety December 5 Custom House Event December 6
Ideas for visibility in the community - friend makers to get on the calendar for next year:
- Gratitude tree for the sea festival of trees - how would we decorate and with what? Let's do this next year if it's too late for this year.
- Bed races for yankee homecoming (JM has a bed!)
- Port Gingerbread Festival (ER)
- scarecrows (Who tanya? both amesbury and Newburyport)
Reviewed progress made on the annual fund, in detail for new committee members, including the successful Kick Off Meeting that took place last week with 14 volunteers in attendance.
ER shared that Ann Marks (former RVCS mom) is working on collateral will have time to commit to design tomorrow KK and ER hope to have something to review shortly.
Shared giving levels - names of area rivers and collateral plan which includes a personalized card.
TM asked question about corporate giving.
What is our plan for corporate giving?
JM - this is a good time to inquire with banks as they look to make plans for the year ahead
KK - should we reach out to institution for savings with annual fund?
ER - we can inquire for the annual fund, also build personal relationships with bank leadership and other corporate partners - maybe create collateral for corporate offerings that differ from the annual fund opportunities.
Meg will inquire about NEF funding and how we can partner and can contribute to the NEF efforts - is there a partnership opportunity here?
Class Captains still need blank notecards those will go home along with additional Annual Fund Purpose message and a list of other class captain names and contact information.
Family spotlight for the current - share stories of giving - why we gave example:
"We don't have a lot to give but we gave"
Board can lead giving by example and everyone gives a little something - this is about amount raised but about being in this together as a community.
MC suggested that during board member orientation for board members talk about RVCS being in the top 3 of meaningful giving options for your family
Why to give? - Let's clarify the need and any funding gaps.