May 21, 2025

Master Gardener Foundation of Washington State
Board Meeting
May 21, 2025

Held on Zoom

ATTENDANCE

Officers present included President Tana Hasart, VP Cathi Lamoreux, Secretary John Strong, Treasurer Gilbert Plascencia, and State Program Leader Jennifer Marquis.

At the meeting opening, there were 16 chapters represented by 29 members in attendance. (Several more members joined the meeting late.) A quorum was met!

OPENING

President Tana opened the meeting at 4:00 pm. She then discussed representatives’ roles and responsibilities as board members in our foundation. Members will be involved in adopting our actions, caring for the foundation’s financial matters, participating on committees and as officers, sharing their skills, and helping to improve our organization.

Board members enhance our board’s standing, representing us to WSU, our local foundations, and to the public. The executive committee hopes you can find your way of participating!

POILICIES & PROCEDURES

Cathi reports that the committee has completed work on our Policy & Procedures document, and on a one-pager that describes what a P&P document should contain, and its purpose. Having this makes us compliant with many business, legal, and government guidelines; it makes us accountable and transparent. It provides how-to’s so that future leaders have a guide to performing their duties. It is also useful in resolving disputes about how our board operates.

The P&P document will be posted soon to our website, in the Documents page.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE

Inasmuch as we must form this ad-hoc committee to begin work on filling a slate of nominees for this fall’s elections, Tana invited two of us to describe how they perceive their roles as a member of our statewide organization.

Mike Peronto (Pierce) noted that he is not officially a member of our state foundation board, but that much of his volunteer time is filled with statewide tasks. His reasons for this service are summed up in three facts:

  • There are lots of very good people throughout our organization, and working with them is enjoyable, and he learns and gains from those relationships.
  • The networking opportunities in meeting and working with volunteers from around the state provides the opportunity to learn and share better practices.
  • While focus on one’s local county MG group is necessary to attend to local matters, as a statewide group we have far more influence on our society. Working together with a group of 4,000 makes us a more formidable messenger in matters of science-based education and environmental stewardship.

Joyce Frazier (Pierce) noted that the sharing she has experienced with volunteers in her statewide work has be fun, informative and valuable.

Cathi Lamoreux, in her role as Vice President, is responsible to convene an ad hoc committee to bring nominations to the floor. She needs 3 to 5 volunteers to serve. Once their work is complete, they are finished, and the committee disbands.

The timeline in our bylaws calls for this committee to form by March. There were no volunteers at that time, so it is urgent that we have some now, in order to bring a slate to our July meeting.

This call for volunteers brought responses from Honey Niemann (Jefferson), Kim Olafson (Snohomish), and Peggy Madonia (Asotin-Garfield.) Thanks to all three of them! If anyone else should want to help, they may contact Cathi in the coming days.

MOA REVIEW

Tana thanked the volunteers from Whatcom, Pierce and Clark Counties who helped revise the existing Memorandum of Agreement between the Foundation and WSU Extension to generate a useful template. They worked diligently to craft specific but flexible wording in this tool.

Their work has now been submitted to the WSU Contracts office, and response from them is expected in the coming days.

jennifer noted that the committee created explanatory documents for the MOA, describing the purposes behind each part of the proposed MOA, and compared old and new language, explaining the rationale for each change.

Three key points formed the background for this work:

  • Foundations exist for the sole purpose of supporting the Extension Master Gardener (EMG) Program.
  • There are NOT TWO groups representing foundation and program separately. Instead, all volunteers wear their EMG hat while working on either program or foundation tasks.
  • We travel at times in two separate lanes as we make decisions – – Program and Foundation. Program must always be aware of and respect the ability of Foundation to provide support. And Foundation must include Program staff in its decision-making.

It is important to understand that when the final MOA comes to be, it may create a need to modify bylaws, and even Articles of Incorporation. The MOA supersedes bylaws.

Tana noted that once our template has been reviewed by WSU and they have sent their proposed final document, we will obtain independent legal counsel to review it and suggest any further negotiation that may be necessary.

When the final agreement is signed by us and WSU, it will be available to local chapters who may want to use it as a guideline in their own MOAs with Extension.

The goal is to have the process complete in very early 2026. This process will likely push the schedule for our chapter charter renewals.

STATE PROGRAM REPORT

GREEN SCHOOL

The last parts of the planning for this in coming along. Wednesday, the local Program Coordinators will see details. Marketing is underway. Instructor recruitment is nearly complete. The Q&A and Tech teams remain to be recruited. Local county training plans are underway.

The new textbook is nearly ready to publish. Final formatting to make it fully accessible needs to finish before it can be made public. When it is published, it will be available to all current master gardeners free of charge!

WSU BUDGET

The President of WSU just sent a letter to faculty and staff announcing permanent budget adjustments to be made July 1, 2025. Changes in federal funding, recent state budget reductions, and declining student enrollment are causing hard decisions to be made.

Details of cutback in Extension and Master Gardener funding are not known yet. But, as our Dean said recently, “we are tenacious.” Whatever happens, we will come out OK on the other side.

FINANCIAL REPORT

Gilbert presented the financial reports for April. Not much activity. He noted some revenue increase in the form of AEC sponsorships from local foundations.

It is time to organize an ad hoc team to perform an internal financial review of the activity in 2025. Erin Hoover will chair that group again, and needs a couple more to assist. Peggy Madonia volunteered. Another one or two would be helpful. Please spread the word, or consider raising your hand! This work only takes a few hours, and is done completely online.

AEC UPDATE

Cathi reminds us that registration opens on June 1st.

There is only one open speaker spot. We need someone to present on composting.

Shared Learning Experiences (SLEs) are a new feature of this year’s event. Six counties have stepped up to host one. Those counties should be sure to get word out to other invited county volunteers to attend.

Debbie has created several AEC Zoom backgrounds. You are urged to download one and use it whenever on Zoom, to help us market the event.

Registrants will be able to view sessions online all the way through the end of February. Registration costs are:

Early Bird (month of June): $109 for MGs $129 for public
Standard (July 1 – conference): $129 for MGs $139 for public
NOTE: Master Gardeners from any state are eligible for the discount rate.

ADJOURMENT

Tana will be sending a simple one-question survey soon, asking each of us to note fund-raising activities conducted by our local foundations. This information will be shared to all chapters.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 pm.