Chicago Headline Club
Board of Directors meeting
Fri. Aug. 3, 2012
The meeting was called to order at 9:05 a.m. Present: Rob Elder, Dan Gire, Flynn McRoberts, Mary Wisniewski, Aimee DeBat, Susan Stevens, Alden Loury, Angela Caputo, Odette Yousef, and by phone Rummana Hussain, Howard Dubin and Beth Konrad. Guest: Casey Bukro.
Minutes of the last regular board meeting and the planning meeting were approved.
Membership: Rummana reported her phone campaign got six or seven lapsed members to renew. Helpers included five non-board members. They made 47 calls. Now targeting non-members who entered the Lisagor contest, maybe 200-300 people. Howard will pay for a mailing to target 100 people who should join. A list will be developed. Alden will do a letter recruiting members. Susan said a national membership drive is coming up, with each member being asked to recruit a member.
President’s report: Alden thanked everyone who attended the planning meeting. He said we still need a publicity/marketing committee. It has a pivotal function. If no one steps forward, he may have to lean on board members as a whole. We also still need awards people. He will be contacting Felicia Middlebrooks and Hugh Delios.
The SPJ convention Sept. 20-22 in Ft. Lauderdale: Alden found last year’s, his first, inspiring. Susan said there are about 100 pro-development programs. Let Alden know if you haven’t been before and would like to go. There might be some discounted registrations. Alden, Howard, Beth and Susan already plan to attend.
Ethics: Casey Bukro, former CHC president and former chairman of the SPJ Ethics Committee, outlined the 11-year-history of CHC’s Ethics Hotline, which he founded. About 1,000 calls have been received, mostly from young journalists who need ethics education. He discussed three recent calls, noting journalism must be ethical to survive. He wants to take the hotline to a new level for the current era with an interactive website. He asks the CHC board for $20,000 of the estimated $35,000 it will cost to start. CHC has not contributed funds to EAL for several years, though the board voted two years ago to appropriate $5,000. This has not been spent. Several board members had questions about updating the plan and lowering the cost, Rob in particular. He noted new board member Tracy Schmidt also might have suggestions. Board members asked Casey to contact the developer of the proposal, former CHC President Ilyce Glink, to answer a number of questions, update the technological aspects of the year-old proposal, and provide a template or mockup or shell on something like WordPress. Casey will do and will report back to the board.
FOI: Alden said the website will be launched in a week or two.
Programs: Odette said she needs help with our 5k team for the Sept. 9 run. Lolly Bowean has been away because of her brother’s illness. Odette has enough runners, but needs a Paypal sort of thing. Aimee will see if Adam can set it up.
Coming up:
Aug. 26 — the Brownlee party and CHC Foundation fundraiser in Evanston. Susan is involved. PLEASE come. Or send a check!
Sept. 13 –An election preview. Former board member Abdon Pallasch is lining up political reporters.
November an SPJ boot camp on technology. SPJ’s Heather Dunn said HQ may be planning a HYPERLINK “http://www.spj.org/spjona.asp” o “http://www.spj.org/spjona.asp” program similar to the JournCamp SPJ hosted in May 2012 in Phoenix. SPJ asks only for promotions help, but you might review the link and send suggestions to HYPERLINK “mailto:hdunn@spj.org” hdunn@spj.org.
National College Media convention Nov. 4 here looking for speakers. Steve Franklin has volunteered. If interested, contact David Simpson HYPERLINK “mailto:dsimpson1958@gmail.com” o “mailto:dsimpson1958@gmail.com” dsimpson1958@gmail.com.
Maybe another Scribe Aid in November, as well as a How to Reinvent Yourself
Mary will work on a climate change program.
Treasurer’s report: Flynn said our J.P. Morgan Chase account July 31 contained $90,128.34. $1,400 came in, mostly for membership dues. Miscellaneous routine expenses. Report was approved.
We voted to pay Community Media Workshop $400 for an ad in their media guide, which we have traditionally done. In return, we will get their guide.
Adjournment at 11:05 a.m.
Next meeting: 9 a.m. Fri. Sept 7 at Bloomberg.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan S. Stevens
secretary