Board Members in Attendance: Members Present: Allan Affeldt; Drew Barringer; Sam Braun; David Connell; Susie Garretson, Chair; Susan Golightly; Sam Henderson; LaVelle McCoy; Jack Metzger; Beverly Miller; Peter Pilles; Wayne Ranney; and Miguel Vasquez.

Board Members Absent: Rowena Dickerson, Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, Barbara Poley, Katrina Rogers, Carolyn Shoemaker, Octavania Trujillo, and Steve Verkamp.

Staff members in Attendance: Robert Breunig, Director; Julie Sharpe, Executive Assistant; Karen Enyedy, Volunteer; Kelley Hays-Gilpin, Danson Chair of Anthropology; Cassie Dakan, Development Officer; Lynn Yeager, Controller.

Sedona Muses Representative: Mary Ann Isom, Muses President.

Meeting Documents: Finance and Investment Committee Meeting Minutes of August 2nd; Director’s Review of MNA’s Fiscal Year; Museum of Northern Arizona Financial Statement Summary Sheet August 2006, Executive Committee Meeting Minutes September 21, 2006, The Board and Fund Development, Sample Support Letter, The Ten Most Important Things You Can Know About Fundraising by Kim Klein.

Summary: The Board Meeting of October 7 appointed Drew Barringer to the Executive Committee, approved an amendment to the Collections Management and Ethics Policy based on AAM recommendations, reviewed the fundraising process, reviewed the theme and structure of the Siitala exhibit, adjusted MNA’s fiscal year to end in September, and approved modification of Endowment Board bylaws.

I. Call To Order.
Chair Susie Garretson called the meeting to order at 9:00am.

II. Approval/Acceptance of Minutes.
A motion to approve the Board of Trustee meeting minutes of August 5, 2006 was made by Susan Golightly, seconded by David Connell, and passed unanimously.

III. Approval Consent Agenda.
A motion to approve the consent agenda: Executive Committee minutes of September 21st; Finance and Investment Committee minutes of August 2nd and October 4th; and Governance Committee minutes of August 8th and September 12th; was made by Susan Golightly, seconded by David Connell, and passed unanimously.

IV. Report from the Chair.
A motion to appoint Drew Barringer to the Executive Committee was made by the Executive Committee, seconded by Wayne Ranney, and passed unanimously.

Chair Susie Garretson reported that the Board Orientation of September 29th was very successful, possibly the most successful so far. Beverly Miller commented that it was a wonderful day and LaVelle McCoy commented that the orientation was extremely well-prepared.

V. Report from the Director
Robert Breunig reported that the museum has had a busy couple of months with a whirlwind effort to complete the self-study application for AAM accreditation, preparations for the Therizinosaur exhibit, grant applications, the 17th annual Trappings exhibit, the upcoming annual appeal, and preparations for Celebraciones de la Gente.

Therizinosaur Exhibit
The Therizinosaur exhibit has been postponed again, because the individual preparing the cast could not guarantee delivery by the scheduled opening and the exhibit cannot open without the Therizinosaur. The new date for the opening will be in early September 2007, just after Labor Day.

Trappings of the American West
The 17trh Annual Trappings of the American West exhibit opening was a success, with a large turnout and a great time had by all.

Celebraciones de la Gente
Celebraciones de la Gente is an upcoming event that will include 2 days of dancing, music, and heritage insight talks. Santa Cruz River Band, an old Mexican folk song band, will perform as will an Aztec group from California.

Art Donation
Robert recently met with the potential donors of two paintings by Louis Akin. The couple, from Tucson, toured the museum and it seems from their reaction that MNA is in good standing.

Annual Appeal
After summarizing that the time has come for the annual appeal and for all to ask friends and selves to provide a year-end gift, since this was the time that the majority contributions come in for the year, Robert introduced Cassie Dakan—newly appointed Development Officer—to deliver a presentation on fund raising.

Cassie began by expressing her gratitude for her new appointment and explaining her background in fundraising. She then addressed the common fears and anxieties associated with asking for donations and stressed the importance of overcoming these fears, so that the Board may comfortably approach people for support for the organization to which they are committed. She then described how the task might be made more creative and interesting in order to reach as many people as possible.

After this appeal, Cassie described the cycle of development as cultivation—planting the seed—and stressed the importance of creating ongoing relationships. She explained that MNA is launching a new campaign in order to establish a personal touch, which will begin with a 500 count mailing of a personal letter, followed by special notes and direct phone calls. She explained that the letters will offer two ways to donate to the museum: 1) to the annual fund and; 2) to an endowment fund. Karen Enyedy explained that the arrangement of the letter makes it clear that the museum’s top priority is the annual fund.

Cassie next reviewed the document, The Board and Fund Development: Your Role in the Annual Campaign. This document outlines the framework for development and provides Board members with a to-do list to start aiding in the annual appeal effort. She then quoted statements from the article, The Ten Most Important Things You Can Know About Fundraising, by Kim Klein.

Cassie then explained that the museum is involved in an endowment challenge and Robert added that the BF Foundation gives support in relationship to how much endowment funding is raised, with the goal to raise 2.5 million dollars over the next 5 years. This is why the museum is making an effort to raise awareness of the option of contributing to an endowment fund.

Cassie closed with the comment that Board members will have the opportunity to include a personal note with follow-up letters after the first mailing, which is scheduled to go out in five days. The follow-up letters will occur in November and December and these will be the key letters as those are the months of the year during which people tend to give donations.

AAM Report
Robert reported that the AAM had received MNA’s Self Sand had received comments back. AAM staff noticed a contradiction between the revised Ethics Policy and Collections Management Policy that needs to be cleaned up. The AAM wrote:

The [MNA] code of ethics states that no trustee or person close to the trustee, or acting on behalf of the trustee may acquire objects from the museum except when the object is clearly offered for sale in the public marketplace. Please clarify how
this policy is in alignment with the museum deaccession policy, which states
that “no staff member, trustee or volunteer…may acquire an object
deaccessioned from the museum” and update [the AAM on] the museum’s plans to bring the two policies into alignment.

Robert suggested that to address this problem the Ethics Policy should be amended to state: “No trustee, or person close to the trustee, or acting on behalf of the trustee may acquire objects deaccessioned from the Museum of Northern Arizona.”

Dr. Breunig also recommended, based on AAM comments, a change in the Collection’s Management Policy, suggesting that the provision to allow deaccessioned works to be returned to the original owner be dropped from the policy. The amended policy would read:

D. “Preferred methods of disposal of non-NAGPRA related objects approved for deaccession include the following:

1. Transfer of object to a public museum in the region.
2. Exchange of object with a public museum in the region.
3. Donation of object to a public museum in the region.
4. Disposal or destruction of object, if warranted by circumstances.
5. Sale of object at public auction.”

A motion to pass the recommended changes to the MNA Ethics Policy and to the Collections Management Policy was made by Susie Garretson, seconded by Susan Golightly, and passed unanimously.

Hopi Iconography Project
Robert Breunig introduced Dr. Kelley Hays-Gilpin, the newly appointed Danson Chair and head of Anthropology at MNA. Kelley expressed gratitude for her appointment and explained that she had spent the last two months cleaning up grant applications and has reached the point where she is prepared to focus on goals to accomplish within her position.

Dr. Hays-Gilpin then proceeded with a presentation of web page samples for MNA’s traveling exhibit Siitala: Life in Balance, World in View, scheduled to open in the Fall 2009, which describes values of the Hopi worldview that a causal relationship exists between the environment and individual actions, such that when people are living the right way, the world is in bloom. The goal of the exhibit is to teach people to read Hopi arts in terms of values. The slide presentation provided examples of Hopi art and images and a quote provided for the associated website, which is currently in production.

IV. Report from the Finance and Investment Committee

David Connell reviewed the July and August financial reports. He noted that in most all categories we were ahead of budget in revenue and below budget in expenses. There is year to date a positive budget variance of $116,000.

A motion to approve the July and August Financials was made by David Connell, seconded by LaVelle McCoy, and passed unanimously.

Proposed Fiscal Year Change. David Connell made a recommendation on behalf of the Finance and Investment Committee to change the fiscal year from January to October 1. He explained that the museum’s financial success for the year largely depends on the last quarter of the year. Operating this way, if the museum’s fundraising efforts fail to reach goal, it is too late to adjust. He suggested that the museum might change its fiscal year to end in September so that the majority of funding is then received at the beginning of the fiscal cycle and the budget could be adjusted accordingly. He explained that there would normally be a concern with cutting a fiscal year short in order to make the adjustment, but that this year the museum w as in a good position to do so.

A motion to adjust the MNA fiscal year to end in September was submitted by David Connell, seconded by LaVelle McCoy, and passed unanimously.

David Connell then provided the Endowment Board report.

A motion to approve modification or deletion of paragraph 2, article 6, in the Endowment Board bylaws was submitted by David Connell, seconded by Jack Metzger, and passed unanimously.

VII. Report from the Governance Committee
Susan Golightly commented that the Governance Committee, in its most recent meeting, took a close look at the Institutional Plan in order to find sections that had relevance to their committee. Among some of the responsibilities they uncovered were that:

• The Governance Committee is responsible to review the Institutional Plan annually.
• The Governance Committee will serve as the vehicle for an internal review of the Board itself.
• The Governance Committee is responsible to review the Director. (It was questioned whether this responsibility should actually be appointed the Executive Committee.)

Given that some unexpected responsibilities were discovered in the review of the Institutional Plan, Susan strongly suggested that each committee should take the time to review it in the same manner, searching for points relevant to the committee.

The announcement was made that the board should be considering potential new members in order to prepare for the nomination process scheduled for June 2007. The following members have terms that will end in June:

• Susie Garretson
• Katrina Rogers
• Susan Golightly
• Miguel Vasquez
• David Connell

X. Muses Report
Mary Ann Isom reported that the Muses had their annual meeting on Thursday, September 28th. Membership is still growing and has reached into the mid-90’s.

Muses will have a table at the Sedona Arts Fair.

The Christmas party will be held at Mulligan’s on the first Thursday in December.

A lecture series is coming up in January, February, March, and April, which will be the main fundraiser for the year. The theme is not yet established.

XI. Other Business.
Robert announced that new grants will provide scholarships for kids in the Discovery program.

Robert provided a summary of the conference he attended in Victoria, Canada. The international conference was held to honor the legacy of Steven Weil, who wrote prolifically on the proper role of the museum as an active proponent of social good within its community. The conference involved a series of papers and discussions, Robert moderated a session called Museums Matter. Robert noted that one paper in particular, titled The Intentional Museum, struck a chord with him as a description of the type of museum that MNA is.

Susie Garretson announced that the Executive Committee meeting schedule has been cut down to two meetings between each Board meeting, which equates to one per month.

The meeting broke for lunch at 12:15pm and resumed in Executive Session at 1:00 pm.