CHC Board Meeting: Sept. 10, 2021

CHICAGO HEADLINE CLUB

Board of Directors meeting

Fri. Sept. 10 2021

President Amanda Vinicky called the Zoom meeting to order at 9 a.m. Also present: Madhu Krishnamurthy, Mike Ewing, Adam Rhodes, Tahman Bradley, Molly McDonough, Greg Karp, Robert Elder, Taylor Moore, Alejandra Cancino, Howard Dubin, Suzanne McBride, Olivia Obineme, Jason Martin, Michael Limon, Maya Duksamova, Stacey Wescott, Matt Kiefer, Blair Kamin, Nader Issa, Ash-Har Quraishi and Susan S. Stevens.

Minutes of the last meeting submitted by Susan were approved.

Amanda reported on the SPJ national conference. She noted the proposal to allow communities delegate votes stalled, though communities were given more recognition. A national task force will work on the issue in the coming year, as will our own SPJ-CHC future committee headed by Mike.

Susan recommended that anyone interested in the development sessions and speeches check the many videos at spj.org. Also, student journalists produced about 50 stories and videos at thespjnews.org. There also are tip sheets available at spj.org. These are the meat of the convention – not the sausage-making over delegate numbers.

Amanda encouraged people to sign up for our committees. They are open to all our members, not just board members.

Amanda said we need to quickly solicit a coordinator for the upcoming Lisagor Awards. Also, she said she learned plaque-maker R.S. Owens has yet to mail this year’s awards. She will confer with them next week.

Taylor presented her guidelines for speaker compensation at our programs. Most of the offers are for $100, plus one year’s free membership in SPJ and CHC. FOIAFest is not included. Its organizers can make their own decision. Molly said the Foundation can pay for the memberships. Taylor’s proposal was approved.

Treasurer’s report: Greg said we have $88,871 in the bank. The Foundation has $57,992, He would like to see a year’s budget from each committee chair. He also wants to add both the new president, Amanda, and president-elect, Mike, to the savings and checking accounts. He thinks they can do it individually at Chase branches. Susan will prepare signed meeting minutes for them to print out and present. More from Greg at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11X7lloxVy0e3GmX7owyiRinxpx9Ca5wYjkGaWmxovrc/edit

Watchdog: Jason filed a one-year report with the Driehaus Foundation, which is happy with what we do with their money. He wants to tie investigative reporting grants closer to the Bootcamp next year.

Meeting adjourned at 10 a.m.

Next meeting; 9 a.m. Fri. Oct. 1.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan S. Stevens, secretary