2018 August - Board of Directors Meeting Minutes 📝
MEETING NOTES
IN ATTENDANCE: Stephen Janes, Ross Rankin, Katy Rogers, Sonja Magdevski (conference call), Laura Booras, Callie Gleason, Justin Willett, Karen Steinwachs
Item 1: Call to Order
o Meeting called to order (9:10am)
Item 2: Review and Approve July Minutes
o Minutes for July 18, 2018 approved by board
Item 3: Financials
o Financial picture is difficult, but looking good
o Foundation grant is pending
o Need to monitor spending, Financial Committee will do that
o Real money in bank reflected in report
o $30,000/month to keep SBV running
o 360ViewPR payment is $3,500/month and included in report
§ This is value added since firm is taking on more than contracted
o Lease for Ave. of the Flags office expired in July, new lease being signed, $100 more/month
§ $1,200/month
o Month-to-month considered, but signed one-year lease
o Alison does not want to move until BID goes through and in better financial state
o No physical office was researched, but found better to have an office
o $500-$600/month for storage if that route
o More welcoming location is desired-something inspirational
o $275/month for storage holding Vintners Festival items
o UCSB Archive team came to office and took numerous boxes for their program
o AR shows there is $19,000 that we could possibly get
o Sponsors not paying (Union Bank, Blackbird, etc.)
o Ross: Sponsors should be required to pay upfront
o Numerous businesses have not paid their dues
o SBV have attempted numerous times to get people to rejoin and/or pay dues
o 18 accounts on AR: Katy Rogers offers to help
o Katy and Alison will work together to coordinate
o Budget vs. Actual Report: $3,000 under what we budgeted
o Budget gets too close=start invoicing 2019 dues in November
o A pre-letter to members is suggested before sending invoice
o 1st of year possible?
o Likelihood of getting $50,000 grant? Looking good
o Operating costs for Foundation are significantly lower than Vintners
o $98,000 in Foundation bank
o Operational donation back to Foundation after SBV bid goes through
o Other associations have their charitable foundation under same roof and share funds
o Next SBVF meeting is Friday, August 17. This will be addressed
o Have a motion made and vote. Spacing payments is acceptable
o Money can be a Foundation donation
o Falls under mission statement of promote & protect
o $50,000 can be used for a specific need, i.e. PR
o Make sure all onboard and transparent
Item 4: Wine Bid Update
o $15,000 in sponsorship has been raised
o Civitas will start three-month process
o $7,000 of expenses forecasted, but we can work on bringing those down
o $500 donation from wineries to the expenses during the process
o Two meetings for members took place at Sunstone and Grassini tasting room in SB
o Wine Bid committee met before the two meetings
o A lot of same issues came up at both meetings
o Ten-person steering committee with all the Wine Bid Committee participating
o Civitas will need to start work ASAP and get us real numbers
o 1/3 of wineries in SBV, 2/3 out and Civitas can provide real numbers on production
o Per bottle will need thorough investigation
o Efforts of Board, tourism boards, vintners=more aligned than originally thought
o Annual membership form=introduction to bid & thoughts
o Katy: DtC messaging needs to be right
§ For DtC & wine club
o Be aware of creating a competitive disadvantage with BID charge to current customers
o Also need to take new customers into account
o Before and after going through, a detailed budget will need to be established
o Messaging and budget will be crucial and addressed by Steering Committee
o Possible housing options to reduce Civitas expenses: Pence, Imagine, Riverbench
o One or two people in Civitas team coming down
o Tim Snider at Grassini meeting: Tangible efforts for new funding
o Crisis of confidence since numerous promises of SBV rebuild have never followed-through
o Invite all winemakers and not just members to meetings
o Communication to non-members?
o Incentive program for joining SBV?
o Video testimonials instead of text
o Sub committees for each AVA
o Civitas holding informative lunches
o “Elevator Speech” needs to be established
o Is harvest time the best time to get info from vintners?
o Make sure Civitas has a defined schedule and method
Item 5: By Laws Update
o 1996 was last time addressed
o Severely out of date
o Researched many other association’s by laws
o Re-write or come up with new?
o Paso has recent revision and is good
o Need to address new members and requirements
o Membership must vote and realize it is important
o Vote can be done online or at annual meeting
o 2/3 vote to pass
o Motion to revise, yes votes win
Item 6: Conjunctive Labeling Update
o Voluntary at this point, but messaging needs to be right
o Careful on how we proceed
o Start asking people for feedback
o Callie will work with Alison on this
Item 7: Membership Morale Update
o Due to length of meeting, this item on agenda tabled
Item 8: Wine Futures a la “Wine Cask Futures”
o After board meeting, a meeting will take place with Doug Margerum
o Possible attendees: Brian McClintic, Raj Parr, others
o Springtime tasting
o Great SBV recruitment tool
o Proposing $80/ticket for consumers, nice booklet that comes with purchase
o Small barrel lot, special cuvee
o Taste, buy when bottled
o 6 to 12 bottle quantities with discount
o Split % among retailer and SBV
Item 9: Mission Santa Barbara 2018 Update
o Dates are September 30 to October 3
o Invitations have been sent: Fourteen confirmed at this point
o A lot of enthusiasm
o Correspondence to members soon
o Locations and itinerary are pending as well
Item 10: Other New Business
o Santa Barbara County Director of Planning and Development recruitment meetings
§ Alison and Phil attended both meetings. One in SB, other in Santa Maria
§ SBV has recruiter’s contact info. He is encouraging feedback
§ Wine community showed up to both meetings
o UCSB Archive Project Contract
§ They came and took a bunch of items from the office
§ Gifting all archives from SBV to UCSB
§ We are able to get items back on long term loans
§ Rights but not copyright
§ UCSB agreed to give all confidential info back to SBV
§ Motion to allow Alison to sign contract, approved
o PR Status Update
§ Numerous compliments from vintners about performance of 360ViewPR (360)
§ 360 is point for correspondence for SOMM 3
§ Presqu’ile possible venue
§ Need an event that will make a mark
§ Working with Jackson Family on a possible LA premier
§ No distribution at the time
§ Momentum and PR need to be all on board
§ Website is being built, but slightly behind
§ Press Kit: Laura has info, will talk with 360
§ $50,000 grant from Foundation will allow us to retain 360
§ Ross: If loan or line of credit is explored, due diligence will need to be done
§ Alison: Short term loan that we can pay back next year
§ This discussion tabled
§ Celebration of Harvest=Need more people involved
§ We will work with vintners to promote their events
o Strategic Plan
§ A day in November or December will be dedicated to 2019 Strategic Plan
o Other Associations: AVA’s, Tasting Areas
§ We need to help and cooperate
§ Establish sub committees?
§ Departments like a corporation=SBV top?
§ Alternate organizations established for specific reasons
· Increase tasting room traffic, etc.
§ Invite heads of all these organization for an event and discuss
· Inform about BID
§ When BID goes through, offer grants to these organizations through SBV?
§ Possible to co-brand with SBV and the organization?
o New Member Recruitment Event(s)
§ A way to invite vintners that aren’t members to recruit them to SBV
§ Justin, Katy, Stephen offer to host
o Switching Financial Calendar
§ Karen: Dues invoice comes when major winery costs come in
§ New dates proposed for financial year
§ This will be discussed further
Item 11: Meeting Adjourned
o Meeting adjourned at 11:45am