Art Libraries Society of North America 32nd Annual Conference
Roosevelt Hotel, New York, NY - April 15-21, 2004 

 

Development Committee

April 16, 2004   4:30-5:30pm

 

NOTES submitted by Kim Collins

 

Present: Marilyn Berger, Kim Collins, Ted Goodman, John Hagood, Phil Heagy, Milan Hughston, Karen McKenzie, Gregg Most, Faith Pleasanton, Merrill Smith, Jack Robertson, Lee Sorensen, Linda Tompkins-Baldwin, Allen Townsend, Rina Vecchiola, Lynda White

Absent:  Ursula Kolmstetter and Deborah Ultan

 

 

Before I ‘officially’ begin the minutes, I wanted to highlight a sentiment expressed by Merrill Smith at the end of our meeting.  She thanked Gregg Most for all of his work with the Development Committee.  Gregg has done a fabulous job of keeping everything together, and I wish we had had more time at the meeting to reflect and appreciate his contributions.  Personally, I can attest that Gregg has answered MANY a stupid question with grace and patience.  Thank you, again!

 

Also, we have gained another DEVCOM 2005 committee member since the meeting.  Please welcome Deborah Ultan to our group.

 

The annual DEVCOM meeting was called to order at 4:35pm with recognition given to departing members and a welcome to those new to the committee.    Gregg Most recapped the 2004 Conference Fundraising discussing sponsorships, awards, and this year’s very successful Cocktail Party, which raised almost $10,000 for ARLIS/NA.  It is a testament to the hard work of the committee that in these difficult economic times, we were able to get more sponsorships than before, raising $29,630 as of 4/16/04 (31,630 current).  Unfortunately, each individual donation was smaller than in the past, so the committee was unable to reach our goal of $35,000.

 

We discussed the need to align sponsorship requests with the actual expenses.  For example, the committee asked for $1,000 to sponsor this year’s coffee break; however, the actual cost was $6,000.  This issue will remain a priority as we develop the SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNTIES documents for the Houston Conference (March 31- April 6, 2005 in Houston, TX.)

 

Next, Gregg Most reported that the Society Circle had raised $8,400 this past year. Gregg founded the Society Circle in 2003, and it has proven a successful vehicle to encourage and raise donations from ARLIS/NA's own membership base. The literature about the Society was updated and the mailing sent in early December.  However, many people reported that they never received the mailing.  The December 14th e-mail reminder about tax breaks was helpful and should be repeated next year.  Currently, the Founder’s Circle is reserved for those who give over $1,000; the President’s Circle is for those who give $500- $999, the Patron’s Circle for those who give $200-$499, and the Members as those who give $100-$199.  There was some discussion about raising the amounts needed to qualify for some categories.  A return envelope might also produce better results.  This year there was a Society Circle thank you party on Thursday. We will plan a similar function next year, perhaps at Houston’s Contemporary Art Museum or the Menil house.  Also, it would be preferable to schedule the event later into the conference week.

 

The question of publicizing Institutional Memberships was raised and discussed.  Kim Collins will investigate with the ARLIS/NA Executive Board.

 

On March 19th, Kim Collins submitted a proposal to revise ARLIS/NA Policy: G-9 Development Committee (standing): Section C: Committee Structure, which limited the number of DEVCOM committee members to eight.  The Executive Board approved the bigger committee for DEVCOM 2005 only.  A new Business Package (i.e. Sponsorship/Partnership initiative), currently in the planning stages, might change the nature of the work done by the Development Committee, lightening the workload considerable.

 

The DEVCOM listserv has been moved from MIT to Emory.  The new address is DEVCOM@LISTSERV.CC.EMORY.EDU

 

A password protected web page is in the works:  web.library.emory.edu/assoc/ARLIS

 

Please contact Kim Collins at (404)727-2997 or kcolli2@emory.edu will any questions about the listserv or the webpage.

 

The committee requested that Janine Henri please alert the DEVCOM 2005 commiteee, when she has sent out requests to vendors about participating in the Houston Exhibits (sometime in October). If DEVCOM 20005 members know whether or not a prospective vendor has been contacted about Exhibits, it will help them better tailor their initial e-mail sponsorship requests.

 

The group reviewed the current Prospect list and asked that names of the Executive Board Prospects (which fall outside the DEVCOM responsibilities) be shared with the committee.  See 5/14/04 posting to the DEVCOM list-serv for that information.   

 

The meeting ended at 5:30pm with Merrill Smith thanking Gregg Most for all his work.