2018 July - Board of Directors Meeting Minutes 📝
MEETING NOTES
IN ATTENDANCE: Stephen Janes, AJ Fairbanks, Ross Rankin, Katy Rogers, Sonja Magdevski, Norm Yost, Laura Booras, Callie Gleason, Justin Willett, Karen Steinwachs (phoned in)
Item 1: Call to Order
o Meeting called to order (9:10am)
Item 2: Review and Approve May & June Minutes
o Minutes for May, 2018 & June, 2018 approved by board
Item 3: Board Member Re-Introduction
o Present board & members of Santa Barbara Vintners introduced themselves.
Item 4: Board Expectations
o Leadership starts at top
§ Members of the Board are role models
§ Lead by example
§ Reminder to review Board Expectations
o Board Core Values
§ Operate under the values and follow for guidance (see Stephen’s handout)
§ Fall of 2018: Updated/New strategic plan
§ How we should proceed as an organization
§ Job description of Alison and Phil (SB Vintners)
Item 5: Financial Update
o Review of current financials provided by Alison
o Profit & Loss, Budget vs. Actual
§ 1st column=Actual Money, 2nd column=Plan, 3rd column=Money over/under budget, 4thcolumn=% over/under budget
§ 3rd Column: $9,800 from Marketing and $50,000 grant from Foundation are missing
§ Unexpected cost: Phil’s personal laptop he was using for work broke
o Profit & Loss, By Class
§ Chart of accounts=breakdown of costs
§ Retooled the classes for Quick Books
§ Operational Costs=What it takes to keep lights on
§ Admin & Marketing=Not events
o Balance Sheet
§ $26,770 projected money coming in
o Statement of Cash Flow
§ Missing the projected money ($26,770)
§ Missing the Vintners Foundation Grant ($50,000)
§ Costs $20,000-$25,000 to run Vintners monthly
§ Loan/Line of credit from members of Vintners or bank (if possible)
§ Invoice early (November) to get cashflow earlier
§ $50,000 grant from charitable arm of a vintners association=possible since it’s common by most other vintners organizations in our situation
§ Current state of budget is preventing Vintners in participating in a lot of events without making “Pay to Play”
o Discussion on efforts to reach out to past members
§ We’ve reached out multiple times via e-mail/phone
§ There have been efforts to get past members back (meeting in person, call, e-mail)
§ How do we respond?
· Speak to their individual issues, what we can do for them
· “What have you done for me lately” is common theme of unhappiness
· Some like being convinced and are open after talking with SB Vintners
§ Ross: Expectations are two festivals, but these ventures are losing money. Wineries will come back.
§ Festivals disrupt normal operations of SB Vintners staff by multiple months, which does impact the Profit & Loss (by Class)
§ Laura: Focus on members we currently have
§ Sonja: We need to have better events
§ As a board, if you have a connection to a winery not in SB Vintners, reach out to them. See if you can advocate on our behalf
Item 6: Wine Bid Update
o Currently pursuing sponsorship
§ Bank of Marin=asking for $20,000 for feasibility study
· They would want direct contact with our members, headline sponsorship on all Wine Bid functions, etc
§ Hotels did not have to do feasibility study since their numbers are so easily tracked. Our situation is different and requires the study
§ Phase 2: $50,000-$70,000 will be on legality
§ Our bid is larger than the hotel bids
§ Independent study to look at bottles sold
§ It’s possible some of the feasibility study can be done internally
§ Agreed that sponsorship is best option so experts can focus and guide us on what to do
§ Celebration of Harvest Weekend: Solvang Conference & Visitors Bureau donating 10% of proceeds from inaugural Solvang Grape Stomp towards our Wine Bid
§ Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce sponsoring $2,500
§ Bottles vs. dollar sold: based on sales tax=easier to track/report (DtC/Wine Club only)
§ All terms of wine bid are negotiable and do not need to be set so early in process
§ Results from Civitas study can be presented to membership and should be reassuring
§ Experts from Civitas will save us time in long run
§ Alison already approaching local government to start process
§ Charitable arm of this wine bid could help with government
§ Imperative we focus on wine bid, timelines, etc=priority for Alison
§ Further discussions on wine bid tabled for new committee on the subject
Item 7: Education Update
o AJ: Working with Allan Hancock College for harvest focused classes
§ Dr. Koch to confirm
§ SB Vintners weekly newsletter: List all classes
Item 8: Membership Morale Update
o Get members together in informal settings=learn more about each other
§ Winemaker, staff=learn what is going on in county
o Membership Educational Tastings
§ Discussion on venue, winemaking, variety being showcased
§ Justin: “Legacy Wines” at future tastings=use as reference point during blind tasting
§ Involve business members to tastings=good selling point
Item 9: Committees and New Committee Chairs
o Following committees established:
o Finance Committee
§ Ross Rankin, Stephen Janes
o Marketing & Events Committee
§ Stephen Janes, Sonja Magdevski, Peter Work, Callie Gleason, Laura Booras
o Membership Education Committee
§ Charles “AJ” Fairbanks, Peter Work, Phil Carpenter
o Membership Committee
§ Stephen Janes, Charles “AJ” Fairbanks, ALL Members
o Membership Morale & Recruitment Committee
§ Sonja Magdevski, Norm Yost, Karen Steinwachs
o Government Affairs Committee
§ Denise Shurtleff, Karen Steinwachs
o Ad Hoc Committees:
o By Laws Committee – Stephen Janes, Ross Rankin, Karen Steinwachs
o V-Bid Committee – Alison Laslett, Justin Willet, Callie Gleason, Laura Booras, Katy Rogers
o Conjunctive Labeling – Stephen Janes, Sonja Magdevski, Callie Gleason
Item 10: Events in 2018-2019
o MissionSB
§ Focus on trade that never have been to Santa Barbara
§ September 30, 2018-October 3, 2018
§ Participation fee from wineries: $1,500
§ VisitSYV to help in securing gratis hotel rooms
§ Effort to create ambassadors for Santa Barbara in new markets
§ Considering different priced packages for all wineries
§ Involving local farmers, vendors, music
§ All AVA’s to be covered
§ 30-35 participants: travel, accommodations, food covered
§ Seeking sponsorship to help: airlines, etc
§ Sonja to help Stephen and Chad Melville with planning
o Celebration of Harvest Weekend
§ October 12-14, 2018
§ Working with Solvang Grape Stomp
§ Cross promotion on all our calendars, dedicated web page, social media
§ SB Vintners PR Firm, 360ViewPR will also help
o Taste of the Valley
§ Columbus Day weekend, 2019
§ Work with VisitSYV to get all towns involved and create numerous events
§ Meetings to begin shortly after this board meeting with VisitSYV
o Vintners Festival 2019
§ April 13, 2019
§ Beneficial to valley: hotel rooms booked, restaurants full, etc
§ 1800 potential attendees
§ Feedback has been mixed among members, customers
§ Major time consumption on SB Vintners staff
§ Whole weekend of events instead of grand tasting?
§ Charity tied to event? If so, Vintners Foundation should be involved
§ After 5 Miler, Vintners Foundation will not have any major event on schedule for 2018
§ Committee to be established for Vintners Festival: Motion to vote on committee, board votes, committee approved
§ Committee to be established for proposed Barrell Auction: Motion to vote on committee, board votes, committee approved
Item 11: Other New Business
o Phil: Interest in Stormwater Permit Compliance training?
§ No interest at this time. Katy suggests Phil get Los Olivos Chamber of Commerce involved
Item 12: SB Vintners Archive Program
o UCSB representative Danelle Moon, Bob Lindquist, Qupe Winery, Megan Bravo, Folded Hills
§ Proposing a historical archive of Santa Barbara wine at UCSB with participation from SB Vintners
§ Bob has material in his personal possession, but hoping SB Vintners can help with items at office and storage locker
§ Alison and Phil agree this is a positive venture and will gladly open doors
§ Wine Institute is disbanding library and items will be given to UCSB
§ Special collection to be established which will allow anybody to view and use, but not check out
§ UCSB has a large digital lab to use in partnership with this venture
§ Danelle has offered a tour of campus, library, etc to board
§ Phil will work with Danelle on future visit(s)
Item 13: Meeting Adjourned
o Meeting adjourned