The Roy Williams Foundation Meeting Minutes, Meeting 50

Date of Meeting: Meeting 50 10/08/2023 1300 MST

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Roll Call:
 

Chairman: Tom McConaghy- Present

Vice Chairman: TBD

 

Secretary/Treasurer: Bret Collyer- Present

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Assistant Secretary/Social Media Manager: Amber Holmes- Present at first, then lost service

 

Board Members/Directors:
Dexter Pitts- Absent/Travelling

Markus Hugle- Present

Samuel Vena- Absent/Working, 

Hailey Fuller- Present

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 Directors:

Two Vacancies 

 

Alternate Director:

Three Vacancies

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​Guests:

Robin Olson- Present

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Call to Order:
 

Additions, deletions or changes to the agenda?: Collyer suggested an action item to add Chairman
McConaghy as a signor to the bank accounts. Director Fuller would like to discuss fundraising.

 

Adoption of Meeting Minutes, Meeting #49: (Action Item): Director Hugle made a motion to
accept the minutes as written, Chairman McConaghy seconded. The vote to accept was unanimous.

 

Old and continuing Business:
1) Consider New Vice Chair: (Action Item): Members discussed who would have the time to serve as vice-
chair. McConaghy spoke about the important role of a Vice Chairperson. Director Fuller stated that she
would have the time and desire to serve. Hugle nominated Fuller for the role with McConaghy
seconding and the vote was unanimous. All members expressed gratitude to Fuller for stepping up.

McConaghy also spoke about his desire to have an informal lunch meeting between local members the week
prior to each scheduled board meeting whenever possible

 

2) Recruiting new prospective members:
 

a. Consider letter of interest from Robin Olson (action item): McConaghy introduced Olson to the
Board, all welcomed her and she spoke about her desire to help our organization and how the
mission statement really spoke to her. She recounted her and her families struggles with loss as
her former husband, an Air Force Veteran struggled for years with issues that resulted in their
divorce and him eventually taking his own life. She works in “Grief Support and end of life care”
and is always working toward furthering her education to better serve those in need. She
stated that this organization feels like a good way to give back. She now lives in Salida, is re-
married and has made a new start in life. McConaghy added that Olson is well credentialed and
is a “Reluctant accountant” and may be in a good position to help with finances. He noted
further that it is uncommon for someone to serve as a Secretary and Treasurer for an
organization. Collyer expressed optimism and agreed stating that he ‘would be happy to pass
the treasurer-torch’ and thanked McConaghy for running the meeting, noting that he had
always hoped for leadership to emerge so he could focus on being a better Secretary. After
further discussion, Fuller made a motion to invite Olson to join the RWF, which was seconded
by Hugle. All members voted in favor and thanked Olson for joining the Board of Directors.
Hugle thanked Olson for her inspiring story of ‘Overcoming obstacles and willingness to help
others’. McConaghy then spoke about his desire to review our bylaws and look at the numbers
of Directors with the goal of increasing the numbers. His hope is to have more local Directors to
help with Fundraising and to increase our local footprint.

 

3) In Person Meeting Date: Note: Chairman McConaghy will be out of town Nov 4th-11th: A brief
discussion was had with the local members stating that they can be flexible with the date. Fuller and
McConaghy spoke about trying to connect with him when she comes to town November 3-4 th . He
mentioned that this may conflict with his hunting schedule and preparations. Fuller responded that she
can be flexible with her schedule and she can come back later in November to attend the in-person
meeting once a date is decided. It was tentatively decided that November 18 or 19 might work with
venue TBD.
 

New Business:
1) General Directives from our new Chairman:
    a. Consider a community event(s)
          i. Cookout for First Responders and Veterans
          ii. Community Listen Session(s)
          iii. Outreach to surrounding areas

McConaghy began the discussion by stating that ‘Any community event is an opportunity to raise awareness
about our organization, make connections with people and raise funds for our mission.’ He spoke about the
need to increase our outreach, especially to First Responders. He suggested planning ‘meal events’ where we
invite all local Veterans and Agencies. Collyer noted that we have done this (meal event format) on several
occasions in the past and it was very well received and attended, but that we did not really focus on

fundraising. The discussion then turned to “Listening sessions,” where we might ask FR’s “How can we help?”
McConaghy continued, ‘We can provide envelopes to attendees containing more information and possibly
solicit funds.’ It was discussed how we need to ‘grow our bubble locally, regionally, statewide and eventually
nationwide’. He mentioned that we can most likely use the County Fairgrounds venue for any larger meeting
or event. McConaghy spoke about how many non-profit organizations encourage their members to donate
money to their cause in order to prove that they have ‘skin in the game’. He added that they don’t need to be
considered “Mandatory” and that such an approach would give us more credibility. He added that we should
also encourage recurring donations like the Tunnels- To-Towers organization does. Mentioning that he has his
credit card set up for automatic monthly donations to T2T. All agreed this would be a good tactic. Collyer
mentioned that our local VFW currently donates $100 per month to the RWF, which is paid quarterly.

 

   b. Brainstorming fundraising ideas
          i. Reoccurring donations
          ii. Director donations (consider in kind and cash)
          iii. Events for fundraising (small vs large scale)

 

Collyer also mentioned that Director Vena (absent) has a nice saddle that he would like to donate for a
fundraiser. McConaghy asked for fundraising suggestions. Olson spoke about 5k fundraisers that she has
participated in that were very successful. Fuller spoke of cycling competitions and McConaghy noted that with
the outdoorsy culture of Chaffee County, all of these ideas could be very successful. Many good fundraising
ideas were discussed by the group such as swimming competitions, fishing derbies, four wheeling events etc.
Fuller suggested organizing a “Golf Scramble” among many other possibilities. Holmes suggested the
possibilities of using ‘virtual fundraisers’ stating that they are very effective and used all the time. Such as
people sponsoring each other for taking 111123 steps for Veterans Day (11/11/23). McConaghy suggested
that she begin working on that idea. All agreed that fundraising will be an ongoing discussion.
 

2) Rebranding the Roy Williams Foundation as “RWF”:
     a. Transition Branding (Add “RWF” more prominent and minimize “Roy Williams Foundation”)
     b. Keep “Roy Williams Foundation” Prominent, add RWF
     c. Leave it as “Roy Williams Foundation” for now.
     d. Other options?
     e. Review again at next meeting

 

McConaghy began the discussion about rebranding the organization. Fuller asked what brought this idea to
the forefront? Collyer replied that some of the former members and some third-party ‘constructive criticism’
suggested that hearing Roy’s name over and over was tantamount to ‘ripping scabs off of old wounds’. Hugle
added that Instead of an official re-brand, “RWF is just easier and quicker to say”. Holmes offered that
‘saying/hearing someone’s name is an important part of the healing process’. Olson agreed with this
sentiment. McConaghy noted that Director Vena was in favor of option C as was he (Tom). All members
agreed that option C (Leave it as the Roy Williams Foundation) was the better course for now.

 

3) Consider RWF letter to the Ross Perot Foundation requesting funding:
    a. Letter being recrafted by Tom McConaghy – will send out for review before next meeting
    b. Anyone know where the grant application can be found?
    c. Does anyone have statistics already gathered? Demographics?

 

McConaghy deferred this discussion to Hugle, who quickly reviewed that we really weren’t sure how far along
Bangura got with the effort and stated that “On the advice of the representative, we should just refine the
letter and re-apply to the RPF.” It was noted that Vena’s email provided a link to current VA data for 2020.

 

4) Scholarship program discussion for 2023/2024 school year Amounts and numbers?
    a. Review what was done last year
    b. Change to previous year
    c. Date to announce / application due date

 

Collyer spoke about the previous scholarship program. He advised members that the old scholarship
application can still be found on the website for members to review while determining how to proceed with
the 2023-2024 program. He added that spreading the word about our program should be easy with the local
newspaper and radio stations help. They have been very big supporters of the RWF so far and the main reason
why (he believes) we only had one applicant for the last cycle was because we got a late start on piecing it
together and filling in the (overworked) guidance counselors with each school/district.
All members agree this will be an ongoing discussion.
 

5) Added Action item. Add McConaghy to bank accounts: Inadvertently forgot to address. Later a
consensus was reached via text thread with Hugle making a motion, Olson seconding the motion and
members agreeing in the affirmative to add McConaghy as a signer for the accounts.

 

Financial Update: (Treasurer Report)
Checking Account Balance          $2,367.64 Check #112 for $350.00 cashed (2024 Heroes Banquet)
Savings Account Balance:      + $14,116.00
Total Monetary Assets                $16,483.64
 

Note: Bret will execute $1000.00 donation to website via credit card for Navy Seals Foundation.
Note: $300.00 continuing donation just received from Local VFW, not deposited yet.
 

Fuller moved to accept the report with Hugle seconding the motion. The vote to accept the report was
unanimous.

 

Anything Else/General Discussion: (for the good of the Foundation)

 

Next Meeting: In person, November 18 or 19, TBD
 

Meeting Adjourned: 1410