Official Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting 090217

National Council of the United States Society of St.. Diocese Bryan Dahlberg Diocese of Lincoln Pat McMann Diocese of Fort Worth Carol Durkin Diocese of Belleville Stephany Brown Diocese

National Council of the United States Society of St Vincent de Paul, Inc.

Official Minutes of the 2017 Annual

Business Meeting

The meeting was opened with a prayer at 9:45 am EDT Board members present included Sheila Gilbert, Ben Vaissade, Margarita Galindo, Althea Graham, Mike Nizankiewicz, Dave Barringer, Barbara Slaven, Bill Migley, Jeanne Harper, Dom Visco, Brian O'Donnell, Dick Reimbold, Patricia Sickinger, Bill Henckler, Mike Pazzaglini, Ray Sickinger, Linda Strasburg, Ralph Hassel, Jack Murphy and Ron Guz Tom Fahl did not attend the meeting

When Sheila started six years ago, she knew that each of us builds on the shoulders of the people who came before

us She thanked each Council and Conference because you took seriously the initiatives around Extension, Diversity, Governance, Spirituality, Friendship and Service The Society is better today because of the way you have worked together and what you will be passing on This has been an exciting journey It is not an easy job, but one well worth doing Thank you for your help and support

 Sheila asked the new Council Members and Proxies to introduce themselves

Diocese

Bryan Dahlberg Diocese of Lincoln Pat McMann Diocese of Fort Worth Carol Durkin Diocese of Belleville Stephany Brown Diocese of Tucson

Cathy Bjorklund Diocese of Crookston Jerry Russi Diocese of Rochester, NY Charles Mazza ADCC of Indianapolis Theresa Elpers Diocese of Wichita

Charles Miller Diocese of Wilmington Dennis Coyne Diocese of Covington

David Dutschke ADCC of Louisville Jerry Retkwa Diocese of Metuchen

Larry Lauter Diocese of Cleveland Jim White Diocese of Grand Rapids Mark Schwartz Diocese of Rapid City Jim Rolling Diocese of Dubuque

Martin Duda ADCC of San Francisco Noreen Valadez Diocese of Oklahoma City Mary Ann Hunter Diocese of Phoenix Sue Macleod Diocese of Bismarck

Patricia Walsh ADCC of Philadelphia Nancy Jones Diocese of St Petersburg Randy Gomez Diocese of Little Rock Joseph Bibeau Diocese of Nashville

Ray Dick ADCC St Paul/ Minneapolis

Richard LaPorte ADCC of Boston

Robert Greuling Diocese of Biloxi

Ron Costanza Diocese of Oakland

Sam Salisbury Diocese of Kalamazoo

Sharon Hills ADCC of Portland

Thomas Berg Diocese of Charleston

Vivian DiScipio ADCC of Hartford

Zoltan Eszes ADCC of Milwaukee

Martha Desposito Diocese of

Pensacola-Tallahassee

2017 Absent Councils

Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston

Diocese of Albany

Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown

Diocese of Beaumont

Diocese of Charlotte

Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend

Diocese of Gary

Diocese of Gaylord Diocese of Great Falls-Billings Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Diocese of Jefferson City Diocese of Lexington Diocese of Monterey Diocese of Palm Beach

Diocese of Pittsburgh Diocese of Saginaw Diocese of San Bernardino Diocese of San Jose Diocese of Santa Rosa Diocese of Stockton Diocese of Toledo Diocese of Worcester Diocese of Youngstown

ITEM: The Consent Agenda, including Reports and Minutes of the 2017 National Assembly Business Meeting, was moved and seconded 94 Council Members and Proxies are present, which exceeds the 60- member quorum The Consent Agenda was approved.

Gene Smith introduced Fr Joe Agostino, CM, Regine Theodat, National Coordinator for the Vincentian Family Haiti Initiative and Haitian agronomist, Yamileh Jean Pierre Regine gave a brief background of the initiative and the goals

of the program

 After the 2010 earthquake, the Zafen project began which raised over $1 million dollars, but it didn’t serve the poorest of the poor, it was not congruent with our mission We began looking for the best approach and decided on four goals, economic development, meaningful employment, school improvement and human development

 The natural starting point was to locate a place with a lot of natural resources, people in need and ready to start working We located property Savane Perdue with all of the resources needed to implement a tilapia fish farm We raise the tilapia in an artisanal way, employing technical people and low skilled workers When the fish are ready to be sold, we harvest the fish, and 22 women start selling We train them about nutrition The farm generates around $200,000 annual revenue

 The second goal is education, we evaluated the immediate need and underlying issues and then began the strategic planning process It is a 10-year process; we already have 276 professionals trained

 We are focusing all of our energy on the Fish Farm, Education, and the Feeding Program We sustain our farming network with the assistance of the Society of St Vincent de Paul

 The next steps are:

o Education: 8 schools With a total number of 2,375 students

o Feeding Program

o Fish Farm

o Farmers Network

 The Commission comprised of people appointed by FAMVIN represent five branches A newer group is the Vincentian Advisory Council who help us plan our business ventures

 There are many ways to get involved Follow us on Instagram; champion the mission of the initiative; short term volunteer missions of 12-20 people; and lastly donations to help them grow

 Fr Joe discussed the Symposium in Rome in October with 8,500 people registered from around the world including 500 Americans The International fight against homelessness initiative will be introduced The Vincentian Family will make this our objective for the next three years

 A second initiative is an International FAMVIN film festival with the the message of our charism Clarence Gilyard explained how the idea began at the 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid Spain, where he met Sr Christian Price, ASCJ who asked him to work with her to promote the Society among youth and young adults She encouraged me to tell my story At your Vincentian meeting outside Krakow Poland I

witnessed to 1500 youth We will produce the film festival, "Finding Vincent's 400." We will create a world event with competition and celebration of visual arts to replace global indifference with global caring Modern story telling will entertain, instruct, and spark a fire Use your resources to help us create seeds of hope Movies are where we rediscover what unites us In October 2018 the program will comprise exhibitions, panels, music, entertainment, and screening of live winning film shorts What do you

do to support the program? Pray that it is not just a film festival, but is a resource of tools to support systemic change around the world As this project grows it will provide the resources to help it get off the ground

 We are still supporting the school students in Haiti for the rest of their education We also have the ability

to twin with Haiti conferences We have the opportunity to help one of the poorest countries on earth

June Financials

 Mike thanked the Society for the opportunity to work with Sheila and the Board, noting he had the assistance of Richard Morin who had said we really needed a CFO, Richard was the volunteer CFO, then Nick Lomonte took over as a volunteer, who also said we really need a full time staff CFO So we hired Nancy Pino as the Chief Financial Officer

Motion and Second to approve the June Financials.

 June 2017 Financials compared to June 2016

 Total assets are $7.8M, which is about a $2.9M increase over the same period last year Current assets are

$6.9M an increase of $2.7M over last year The checking account of $800K includes funds that should be dispersed into the investment fund Investments at $5M include donor restricted, escrow, building and surplus of operating funds Accounts Receivable are up $400K over last year, includes $300K funded to Disaster Services Corporation, while they wait for state grant money Current assets include money that

we got for the EWTN series production Fixed Assets had minimal changes Once the online database is put into service, we will capitalize the expenditures at a total cost of $400K

 Liabilities are at $1.3M compared to $650K last year Increase is in Accounts Payable funds that are waiting

to be put into Investment Funds Deferred revenue accounts, Solidarity, CCHD, EWTN, and meeting income are recognized as the funds are spent EWTN funds are reserved until the episodes are aired Once this meeting is concluded, that income will also flow into revenue We end up with $6.4M in net assets, compared to $4.2M last year, a large increase coming from special funds and a surplus in our operating fund Of the $4.2M net assets, $1.7M is in donor restricted funds, $937K in escrow, and $400K in Building Fund, for a total of $3.4M unrestricted net asset funds $800K is tied up in fixed assets That leaves us with

$2.6M available funds for reserves As you look at the percentage, 65% compared with last year 42%, we are significantly improved Expenses in the fourth quarter will be high, reserves expected to go down to 50%

 Operating Fund - Revenue, full year budget of $3.8M, YTD is $2.7M, 43% over YTD revenue budget One reason is multi-channel fund raising which is just about double compared to last year, a result of new marketing and data mining techniques and Bequests of $714K so far this year At YTD, projecting we will

be about 9% positive to the overall budget Looking at expense side YTD expenses are 11% favorable to budget Development budget is significantly under YTD We approved a budget at Midyear and start the budget process in December A lot did not get to go forward because the website was not complete Legal fees for 501 (c) 3, the new Foundation and DSC corporations, and trademark protection is a major overrun FYE currently forecasting $165K, 4% positive, leaves $314K net increase in net assets, a half a million-dollar improvement over what we thought when we did the budget Still have $54K in unrealized gain on investments

 We are in very good shape We had about 5 or 6 bequests The reserve fund of 50% of our operating fund was a Resolution approved to provide an operating fund if there was a catastrophe that would interrupt our fund flow so we can continue operations

 The balance of the Haiti earthquake fund is being used for scholarships for students

 On the expense side the significant decrease on the Development side was because the monies were spent

in the year 2016

 Investment report through June - the portfolio investment initial contribution was $1.8M, with additional net investments of $967K, yielding a net return of 4.6% We have five accounts, Investment, Pledge, Asset Account, Building Fund, New York Account In December at the Budget Meeting we were concerned if we had the right asset allocation We switched to 40/60 Stocks/Bonds and told the investment company that

we would like to see a net return of $85K each year They suggested 40/60 Stocks/Bonds Building fund is 50/50 Stocks/Bonds, Endowments are long term and more aggressive at 60/40 Stocks/Bonds New York Fund 25/75 Stocks/Bonds as it may be resolved in the near future Buckingham used 40% Treasury invested protected securities as benchmarks

June Financials were accepted.

ITEM: Roger Playwin Do not lose sight of the need for good governance Follow the Rule, the Bylaws and that will

keep you on track The Governance Committee encourages you to support the Mentoring Program If you are a former Executive Director or Council President, consider becoming a mentor

ITEM: Resolution 152 – VOP Position Statement on the Environment Jack Murphy

 Jack Murphy read the resolution which was co-written by Vincentians of Canada, Mexico and the United States

 The Resolution was moved and seconded.

 Several National Council Members opposed the resolution and expressed their reasons for the opposition

A rewrite was suggested to remove any mention of support for the United Nations Support for the

resolution as written was based on Pope Francis' Laudato Si, which noted the intimate connection between

climate change and its effects on the poor The Holy Father has made it clear that climate change will disproportionately affect the poor A motion to table the Resolution was seconded and approved

 Resolution 152 was tabled

 Ray Sickinger noted that the better way to handle the Resolution would have been a motion to postpone rather than table A motion was made, seconded and approved to un-table the Resolution A second motion was made to postpone the Resolution to the next meeting where it will automatically be on the

next meeting's agenda The motion was seconded and approved to postpone the Resolution to the next Midyear Meeting.

 Harvey damaged 500,000 vehicles, 100,000 homes, 40+ dead, 42,000 people in shelters, 3,000 in Dallas, 25,000 people have been rescued Anticipating 440,000 requests for assistance to FEMA $79M has been approved so far This disaster is 5-6 times worse than Katrina Each one of those homes and cars need to

be checked for survivors Liz and two cohorts are finding out where we are in the six affected dioceses What resources can we as a Society bring to the recovery? SVDP will do case management programs that will continue for years We are helping to set up Rapid Response teams for recovery Our Operation Center is in College Station Texas Send funds to National and indicate that they are for Harvey and National will forward to DSC

 We have identified an immediate need for Hygiene Kits You can build the kits and send to us at: St Thomas Aquinas, 2541 East Rudder Freeway, College Station, TX 77845 They will be used in shelters in Beaumont and Victoria, TX

 Tempur-Pedic is supplying mattresses to put in shelters and also supplying mattresses for the House in a Box program

 We are evaluating what we can do to support the smaller councils of Victoria, Corpus Christi and

Beaumont We will focus on the smaller towns

Acceptance of the appointees was moved, seconded and approved.

Ralph Middlecamp, National President

Brian Burgess, National Vice President

Guadalupe Valencia, National Secretary

James Dodd, National Treasurer

Irene Frechette, National Vice President Northeast

Alice Garvey, National Vice President Eastern

Morgan Jellett, National Vice President Southeast

Bill Brazier, National Vice President Mideast

Tom Pelger, National Vice President North Central

David Winslett, National Vice President Midwest

Ray Dupont, National Vice President South Central

John Hallissy, National Vice President Western Jeanne Harper, Liaison for Extension

Raymond Sickinger, Liaison for Formation Althea Graham, Liaison for Diversity Tom Fahl, Liaison for Governance Bishop Donald Hying*, National Episcopal Advisor David Barringer*, National CEO

Ann Schorno*, Executive Director Taskforce Observer John Berry*, Executive Director Taskforce Observer

*Non-voting

 Update on the progress of completing the Strategic Plan, 90% has been completed or is in process 10%

has either not been started or stopped We will have a finalized Strategic Plan at the Midyear Meeting

 Althea recognized the Goal Leaders and their work on the Strategic Plan

 Suzanne explained an Essay contest for the Youth (grades 1-5 and 6-12) that will be published in the E-Gazette Topic is "What does bringing good news to the poor mean to you and how someone your age can help." There are different prizes including an iPad, plus money to support the work in their Youth

conference; a Pizza Party for 15 of their members

 Bryan explained that the committee has been crating 11 different models, for young adult engagement including recruitment, funding, implementing some model, Infrastructure, electronic media Let him know, bryankirchoff@att.net, if you would like to weigh-in and connect with the committee

 Database is turning around Our organization is complex and not as straightforward as the vendor

assumed We are trying to bring it together under one structure The interface will be easier to

manipulate with a quicker dive into where you want to go Features include Special works; 501 (c) 3 detail; Member profiles; groups you are associated with; Annual reports

 Communications- Please set your DVR for 13 episodes of Our Faith in Action on EWTN to recruit donors

and new members Once they have been aired twice we can use these in our Councils and Conferences

 Goal 1 Update Ray Sickinger

 In April we asked for reports of detailed information about Ozanam Orientation, trained Formators Next April in 2017 we ask you to take accountability for this seriously with 100% compliance supplying number

of Ozanam Orientations, Participants and Formators

 Home Visits will have links to 5 small videos on the Home Visit We will also have links to Donna Beagle,

Bridges Out of Poverty, a 44-minute film, with segments on Getting Ahead, and what to do after that We

have quality footage of real home visits and hope to have Module 7 on Home Visits by Midyear A lot of materials will be available

 We have given an exclusive license to Disaster Services Corporation for the "House in a Box" Trademark If you have been using that name for a local program, we ask you to stop using it

 We had 40 Vincentians at the USCCB Convocation, from that as well as the National Black Congress and the Tekakwitha Native American Conference we generated over 200 contacts who want to start Conferences Two Bishops stopped by and said they want to get started Please follow up with these leads

 We have annual statistics in and will be producing the Annual Report as soon as we have verified that the figures are accurate

 Friends of the Poor Grants have continued to grow with support from outside funders Next year we will have over a half-million dollars available for emergency services, systemic change programs, and dental programs One donor has created a $100,000 Matching grant for Foundation grants

Meeting was adjourned with a prayer at 2:30 p.m

PowerPoint Presentations from this meeting can be downloaded from the website www.svdpusa.org