ALUMNI ASSOCIATION of the 1929-1973

Northern Conservatory of Music

 

Vol.  7  Number 1                      Newsletter                                March 2005

 

ALUMNI MEETING

Saturday August 21, 2004

Miller’s Restaurant
 Bangor, Maine

 

Alumni in Attendance:
The seventh summer meeting of the Alumni Association was held at Miller’s Restaurant with 16 members present.

 

President Lou Harper called meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.

 

Secretary’s Report:

Doretta York read the secretary’s report – it was accepted by the members.

 

Treasurer’s Report:

Everett Simpson delivered his report as follows.

Our 16 month CD is due 3/21/2005 $4407.02 at Skowhegan Savings Bank

Checking account balance

Took in $80 today for a balance of $509.16

 

Membership dues received this year $200 in annual memberships, $200 in life memberships and $90 in donations.

 

Expected office expenses $50, list serve annual cost $60, Maine annual report $20.

 

The Treasurer’s Report was accepted by the members.

 

Everett requested reimbursement of $14.45 for mailing postage for reports.  A motion was made, moved and seconded to accept payment to Everett for his postage expenses.

 

Elect of Officers:

Directors terms expiring in 2004:  Arnie Poland and Lou Harper .

Other office requiring elections:

President – Current Lou Harper

Vice-President – Current Bruce Brown

Treasurer – Current Everett Simpson

Secretary – Current Doretta York

 

Bea Milewski moved that all officers be re-elected into their previous offices.

This was seconded and voted upon.

All officers will remain the same.

 

Lou Harper’s term as Director will end in 2007

Arnie Poland’s term as Director will end in 2007

Membership Report:

19 Life Members

  6 Annual Members

----------------------

25 Members reported at August Meeting

  8 Additional Members

----------------------

33 Total Members for 2004

 

Total Members for 2003 were 32

Total Members for 2002 were 42

Membership report moved and accepted

 

Nonprofit Application Update as of August 2004:

The application is in the works.  Currently it is at the state level.

Everett is still doing paper work and tells us that the Federal form is all set and ready to go.  All the work we did last year for the fed form triggered what we needed to say on the state form to amendments.

 

Exhibit 1 cleans up the name of the organization, changing the ending date to 1973 from 1972 and changes in Dues to $20 from $10.

Exhibit 2 reclarifies the scholarship distribution details.

Everett says he expects the state form to be mailed in September.

 

Discussion was opened up for general topics:

 

Letter to Donors

Doretta addresses group:  We all know people that can afford and might be willing to donate to our cause.  Once we obtain tax free status, we have a good chance of building our scholarship fund.  She suggests that we draft a fund raising letter addressing our cause and our commitment as an organization to keep confidential important information such as donor’s addresses and phone numbers.  Many people are not willing to donate to some organizations because it generates lists that get sold to organizations that use them to solicit money. 

 

This letter could be distributed to our membership who would then personalize it and send it out to people we would hope to donate. 

 

It was moved and seconded that the Board of Director’s would draft this letter as a collaborative venture through the use of email.  Once they have finished the draft, they will email all of us for final approval of the group.

 

First Scholarship

Bea asked if we had decided on how much our first scholarship would be?

The board had talked about $250.

Arnie thinks we should wait until after our current application (State & Fed) is complete.

It was agreed that we could probably come up with the first scholarship distribution without taking the money out of our current savings.

 

It was suggested that if anyone wants to send a donor designated gift, can give that give with the designation to use it for the first scholarship only.

 

Jim Shepard asked about fiduciary and thinks we need to get our ducks in a row.

Everett said he would look into that now.

 

Annual Meeting 2005:

Lou has talked to the people who rent the Isaac Farrar Mansion.

They said a year in advance is not soon enough to reserve a date for our meeting.

The Mansion is currently renting more than a year out.

He said the price has also gone up; it used to be $25 and is now $50.

Henry thinks more people will come if we have it at IFM.

Lou will call IFM to see what year it will be available when we want it.

 

We discussed the next annual meeting time and place.

It was decided that a morning meeting was better, so 10:00 a.m. was decided upon.

It was also suggested that a meeting earlier in the month would be better for most of those that attended this year’s meeting.  We are aware that no matter when we have the meeting it will be inconvenient for some.

 

Next meeting - Sat Aug 13, 2005 10:00 a.m., Place to be announced.

 

The May meeting is at the “All State Music Festival” as usual.  This year it is being held in Southern Maine.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:02 p.m.

 

Final Notes:

501 (c) 3 was approved by the IRS 2/18/2005 – We are now a Tax Exempt organization.

 

May meeting will be held during the All State Music Conference Friday May 20, 2005, on the Gorham Campus of the University of Maine.  Time will probably be 6:00 p.m., location is yet to be decided.

 

As for the Summer Alumni meeting place; Miller’s Restaurant has been sold and is being renovated to include slot machines.  I have not heard yet if there restaurant part will continue or not.  Looks like we will be looking for a new meeting place for the August 2005 meeting.