March 9, 2022: Global Connections Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
March 9, 2022, Global Connections Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Members in Attendance:
Bob Persiko, Melanie Miller Foster, Kieran T. Holland, Daniel Foster, Shannon Holliday, Maryam Barzegar, Sabrina Lima
Call to order at 7:30 PM by President Persiko. February minutes were approved with no correction.
Reports of officers:
President – Bob noted Sabrina is highlighting individual GC members’ activities, since we still have few in-person activities to report on. He asked members to share with him such activities and he will pass it to Sabrina for publishing in the newsletter. This month’s newsletter will feature Linda Burton and her ELL Fund, along with international children’s day organized by Penn State Global. He also emphasized that each of us can encourage and recruit people to join GC. He shared that he has encouraged people whom he tutors to join the GC English class or group meeting and to become a member. A recent example is a Japanese woman he has been helping with her paper who decided to become a member.
Vice President – Kieran- Shared that he is going to reschedule the event at the Makery for nicer weather. He also shared that there 2 events on the calendar at Ten Thousand Villages where GC could set up an information table. These events can be discussed at the next membership committee meeting (Rita to take note and follow up).
Parliamentarian – Daniel reviewed the amendments to the Bylaws that need approval in the general membership meeting, which had been discussed and approved in previous EC meetings. He also proposed adding a no-notice amendment to the Bylaws for consideration to have built-in tools to make it easier for the organization to amend Bylaws in the future. Under this rule, amendments to the bylaws presented with no notice to the membership can be adopted if 90% of the EC members present approve. The members unanimously approved this proposal and the recommendation by Treasurer Bruce Truitt to (1) eliminate the audit committee from the proposed amendments and (2) substitute periodic attestation reviews (see note below). The package will be voted on at the April 21st general membership committee meeting.
Treasurer – Bruce was absent- no report.
Past president – Melanie- no report.
Secretary – Maryam- shared that the poster of the poetry night has been published in the GC newsletter and by Webster’s café, and the event will be held there on April 9th at 7:00 PM. The event email will be publicized to all members via Wild Apricots.
Public relations, website, and social media – Sabrina will post the poetry night event on GC’s Facebook page. EC members are encouraged to share this posting.
Global Programs – Wenjie Fu is absent. No report.
Reports from the standing committees:
Cultural luncheons Committee – Shannon shared that she is trying to find a way to collaborate with the Red Cross with fundraising for Ukraine. She is exploring when a good time would be for a Cultural Luncheon event in the spring or summer.
Membership Committee (Rita absent) – no report
Program of activities committee (Kieran)- See note on The Makery project above.
Unfinished business:
Action items from the February meeting:
- Bob to arrange with PSU IT for access to emails sent to [email protected] – Action Completed
- Bruce to complete application to the Centre Foundation for Centre Gives – Action Completed
- Bob to check for any requirement for an annual report in the bylaws. Action Completed: we do not need to file an annual report.
- Bob to work with Daniel to set a date for a general membership meeting to approve the amendments to the bylaws. Action Completed
New Business
Centre County Gives –Actions to be taken:
- Approve Bruce’s description of GC to provide to the Centre Foundation (see below)-Approved without objection
- Make a list of project ideas to promote donations for the annual Centre Gives event in May. Melanie crafted the words for “the ask” – what we want to use the donations for, along the lines of making our cultural luncheons accessible to a wider, more diverse audience by providing subsidized attendance fees. Shannon and Kieran will put together an event to stimulate donor giving during Centre Gives. Sabrina will attend workshops to develop PR tools.
- Decide how to publicize this. Sabrina will work on advertising on the GC Facebook page and informing current members.
Meeting adjournment: 8:50
Message from Bruce on the subject of an audit committee
My preferred outcome is that we drop the audit committee, authorize the Treasurer to determine the nature and scope of a periodic review that could be conducted by an outside firm of the EC’s choosing based on at least three candidates proposed by the Treasurer, that the Treasurer serves as liaison to the outside firm, and that the outside firm reports directly to the EC.
The main issue is that we have some $80,000 under the direct control of the Centre Foundation. We cannot control or affect the uses of or access to this money without going through the Foundation and/or its Board, as applicable. Thus, there are compensating and superior controls over more than 90 percent of our assets, and these controls include routine financial opinion audits of the Foundation.
Also, our operating budget is around $5,000. This means we would have an audit committee overseeing an immaterial amount that represents a percentage of directly controlled assets (6.25%) that does not even meet the IRS 10% materiality threshold for audit or change to even a Large Corporate Compliance Program (LCCP), is below the $10,000 deposit limit for IRS audit trigger, and barely rises above the GAO threshold of 3% for planning materiality.
Given these facts, I suggest a review engagement rather than a financial, opinion, or even financial-related audit. A review engagement is the least expensive option under both Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and the AICPA Statements of Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE). An attestation review would still provide an appropriate level of assurance, especially given the insignificance of the probability of control and compliance issues, the role of the EC in operating fund sources and uses control and the immateriality of the amount.
All we need is an external attestation, not an audit or any sort, every 3 to 5 years.
Description of GC for Centre Foundation
Global Connections is a community-based, member-driven organization that builds community across cultures. Together, we unite residents of our community, be they temporary or permanent, to support learning about other cultures, values, and ways of life. Our prime directive is to foster meaningful relationships through service, education, and partnership. Our outreach activities include cultural luncheons, free classes to learn English as a Second Language (ESL), book groups, discussion groups, poetry readings, and a wide variety of cultural, educational, and exchange activities and interactions. Global Connections has space for the creativity and innovation of its members to do worthwhile things to make our community a welcoming one we all are proud to live in.