Board Minutes: September 11, 2017

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Nation’s Capital Chapter of Ohio University

Board Meeting Minutes: September 11, 2017

Introductions

  • Nicole, John, Jen, Lauren, Rick, Whitney, and Amanda in attendance

Recent graduates

  • Tyler sent email with list of five recent graduates who expressed interest in moving to DC.  John emailed them to welcome them to the area and invited them to come out to events, board meetings, and meet fellow Bobcats.  One showed to game watch on 9/8, because she saw Facebook invite.

OU web page update

  • The new website will be ready to launch by the end of September and will be hosted on Squarespace. The website should serve as a hub for all things chapter related, including Board information. By hosting minutes, Executive Board position descriptions, and election protocols, we can use it to recruit new board members.
  • The Middle Tennessee Chapter has feature called “Alumni of the month” that we should replicate to recognize local alumni. This will be included in the website revamp.

Recent Events

  • Softball season: The team made it to the second weekend of the tournament. They went 10-4 in the regular season and 3-1 in the tournament. They raised $500 toward scholarship fund.
  • Baseball game (June 24): We sold all 66 tickets, at $10 each. The Tier funding covered the cost of the tickets so we raised $660 for the scholarship fund.
  • Alumni Luncheon (September 7)- OU’s new president was in attendance and gave a speech. There was good attendance, including the cohort from the Scripps School of Communications and Journalism who are in DC for a new internship program. In future semesters, we should coordinate with the internship program to set up events. This could include a welcome/ending happy hour for spring semester—we should consider if all students are 21 to determine the venue.
  • Ohio vs Purdue Game watch (September 8)- 15 people attended and a number of attendees brought supplies for the drive to benefit Payne Elementary School in DC. While the Pittsburgh chapter won the competition, it was a close race! We also raised $62 in donations for American Red Cross for disaster relief.

Upcoming events

  • Halloween: John and Rob are in contact with Paxton to organize the event.
    • The event will be held at The Ugly Mug on Capitol Hill and it is a pretty great deal: $45 early bird tickets and $50 tickets at the door. The ticket price includes an open bar, great live music and a DJ, costume contests, and Athens-themed drink specials.
    • 10% of the bar sales (outside of the drinks included in the open bar) will go to the scholarship fund. See the event on Facebook and get your tickets here. 
  • Toys for Tots: This year we want to avoid the White House Christmas Tree lighting and will not want to conflict with the Ohio vs Maryland basketball game on December 7th.  Lauren will check out dates in November and December and work with other chapters to identify a date.
  • Ohio vs. Maryland Basketball Game: On December 7th, we will host with OAA a pre-game Bobcat Bash and watch the game. Athens OAA is very excited for the event and we are looking into a suite for the game. More information to come!
  • Pete Souza:  Nicole will reach out to Toby and WOUB to see if we can organize an event before Pete leaves DC.
  • Dinner with former OU president Roderick McDavis: John is looking into a couple of contacts and will target to have this dinner in approximately six-months (early spring/March).
  • New locations for football/basketball game watches: We have heard loud and clear that we should vary the locations around the DMV.  
    • On Oct. 31, OU is playing Miami and we are in discussions about doing a game watch.
    • Early November, there is a week night game against Akron.
    • Rick and Lauren to look at places in MD, like Tyber Bierhaus in Bethesda. 
    • Other options suggested at the meeting include Acre 121, The Goat in Clarendon
    • If you have a suggested location for a game watch, please let us know!
  • Baltimore Aquarium: Rick and Justin will coordinate to see the rates for group tickets. We are targeting this spring.
  • Volunteer at soup kitchen: Nicole to take the lead on finding an activity for a chapter day of action. OU Alumni can send us t-shirts for the day. Martin Luther King Jr Day/ Day of Service could be a great fit for this event.
  • National Cathedral tour: Rick will start looking into it for an April/May event.
  • Capitol Hill pub tour: We are thinking about planning a Capitol Hill pub tour that would include a stop at the Hawk and Dove, where we could receive discounts on drinks. While t-shirts didn’t work well last time, we are considering including it in the registration fees, because who doesn’t love a good pub tour shirt? J We are targeting spring/early summer for this event.
  • 1804 party: Founders Day is on April 18th (Wednesday) and we are planning to do a networking social happy hour/ speed networking/ meet and greet/ OU trivia. We are currently thinking about locations including The Goat and Hawk and Dove. If you are interested in helping to plan, please let us know!
  • Club Hockey will be paying in Annapolis on Sept 30th. We can post on the Facebook page to gauge interest and see if a group wants to carpool together for the game.

Tabled Events

  • Newseum tour
  • DC pops: a local alum reached out and leads a pops orchestra here in DC. We are waiting to see if there are performances in the next 6 months where we can organize an outing.

Discussion of finances

  • We have about $3,900 of tier funding until June 30, 2018. Some of these events could require a fair amount of funding--Halloween, softball, Basketball games. Our goal is to spend down the tier funding and dip into our operating funds as needed.

Elections

  • Prior to June 30th, we need to hold elections for VP, Treasurer, Secretary. Lauren will become the next President.
  • We need to name an elections supervisor, who helps to recruit nominees for these positions. This person needs to be selected by March so they have 3 months to get nominees in time.  
    • John would be a good fit because serve as past president.
  • We definitely want to get new people involved in the Executive Board, as well as the Board at-large to ensure longevity of the chapter.

Schedule next meeting

  • Rock Bottom in Bethesda: Saturday, December 9th, 11am. Lauren to call for the reservation.