Master Gardener Foundation of Washington State
Executive Board Meeting
February 5, 2024

Held on Zoom

ATTENDANCE

Present were: President Tana Hasart, Exec VP Cathi Lamoreux, Secretary John Strong, State Program Lead Jennifer Marquis, Debbie Benbow, Erin Hoover, Kitty Linden-Ness.

OPENING

President Tana opened the meeting at 5:00 pm, immediately following a listening session for the full board regarding recent developments in the Endowed Chair Campaign. A discussion about that session ensued.

  • It was good to see many new faces, many of whom were unaware that the endowment, even if completely successful, would not pay for a full time faculty member.
  • There was no push-back, frustration, or anger expressed.
  • Several said that they didn’t know much about the campaign, and didn’t remember ever being approached for a donation.
  • Some did not understand how an endowment is structured, and thought the entire principal could be used.
  • Tana will listen to this meeting’s recording and prepare a complete report.
  • We should prepare talking points for state foundation representatives to take back to local chapters.

NWFGF

Jennifer says that plans are nearly complete and we “are rarin’ to go” for our booth at the NW Flower and Garden Festival. Preparations for the booth setup, printing, banners, etc. are in the works.

The ticket purchase link for MGs to use, that is designed to pay a $2 commission to us, should be announced much earlier. Many MGs had already made their ticket purchase prior to knowing about that special link.

A number of WSU and CAHNRS leadership and county program coordinators have indicated they will attend the Festival.

AEC

Cathi is excited about the progress made in planning our 2025 conference. At least two chapters have committed to hosting regional watch parties, and three others are close to deciding.

RETREAT REFLECTIONS

How do we right-size the work we committed to during the recent retreat in Ellensburg? There are a lot of goals, and we need to be able to prioritize and regularly review our progress. It’s important to complete as much as possible, without giving short shrift to any of them. We should set up a parking lot for goals we don’t feel we can get to at first.

We found that we struggled with the process of creating SMART goals according to our facilitator’s definition. Some seemed to be more like action steps, rather than goals. While the two smaller groups were productive, we would have liked to come together as one group also.

Tana notes with pleasure that six local chapters’ officers have approached her for guidance from the state foundation in a number of areas, especially strategic planning.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at about 6 p.m