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Alpha Alumni Association Annual Meeting

May 21, 2016 

     

Call to Order
The Alumni Association Annual Meeting, held at John Erickson's business office in Minnetonka, was called to order at 10:00 A.M. by President Mike Dean with Secretary Jim Klang recording minutes.
 
Minutes of the Last Meeting
Minutes from the last meeting held at the 55th reunion were read and approved.
 
Treasurer's Report
John Erickson relayed the treasurer's report submitted by Jason Golde who was unable to attend.  We currently have $6890.28 after receiving $890.24 in dues and scholarship donations and sending $2250 to the UMD Alpha Scholarship Fund. The current dues rate is $30 per year.

Treasurer's Report
 
Old Business
Scholarship
Scholarship Chairman Tom Kraus reported that the scholarship committee selected three excellent candidates to receive scholarships:
  • Isaac Winter - John L. Banks  Scholarship ($4000)                      3.76 GPA
  • Andreas Aristadou - John L. Banks Scholarship ($4000)             3.67 GPA
  • Ahmed Almanaseer - Daryl B. Knodt Scholarship ($3000)           2.56 GPA
Special thanks were extended to Tom and Mike Dean who served on the committee.  Keith Cook suggested that there be a special presentation of scholarship awards, perhaps at a special dinner or their spring banquet.  It was also agreed that the interviews need to be moved to an earlier date so that a proper presentation can be made.  Tom will coordinate this with Bekki Babineau, UMD Associate Development Officer.
 
Communications
Jim Klang reported that the UMD Alumni Association is no longer handling our communications or storing our address database.  We have had to take this over and are now able to send out mass mailings via email using the MailChimp email marketing service together with an Alpha Alumni Association website domain email to achieve browser capability in our mailings.
 
We currently have email addresses for half our membership and it is difficult to get further addresses.  Jim has used a search engine to get unverified regular mailing addresses of nearly all missing members and it may be worthwhile to send out a mass mailing to try to get the address list further updated.  It will cost a fair amount of money and time to send this out to 350 members.  It was agreed to try this if practical.
 
The website which has been inactive since 2010 yielded a large amount of discussion.  The website is under UMD, but they no longer allow anyone outside the school to access it.  UMD essentially wants us out, but efforts to do this through Alpha's former advisor and the UMD IT department have failed. 
 
We need a website, but we first need a definition of what the website is intended to do.  A task force was set up to try to resolve this issue with an approval of up to $1000:
  • Nick Schmidt - Chair
  • Chris Perner
  • Doug Johnson
  • Jim Klang
  • Andreas Aristadou (Active)
Alpha Alumni Association Status
Mike Dean reported that the Association has had problems getting a quorum for teleconference meetings due to the size of the 12 member Board.  This was one of the driving forces for changing the Charter.
 
The Association has been working with the Active Chapter on the marketing program (Al Fahden) and the mentoring program (Dennis Johnson).  
 
The marketing program emphasizes scholarship opportunities, interactions with other organizations and sororities, service and the Kirby Leadership Program.  There is $500 remaining out of the $750 allocated to help the Active Chapter with marketing the Fraternity for rushing.
 
The mentoring program has about 70 alumni members for the Active Chapter to access.  It was suggested that we also might pay for Actives to take leadership courses that will look good on their resume.
 
Active Chapter
New President Isaac Winter reported that the Active Chapter is well respected on campus and currently has 8 members, but 5 will be graduating next year.  Other fraternities have about 20 members.  They will be pushing hard to rush new members next fall and spring.  They are driving for visibility on campus showing their leadership, scholarship, brotherhood and service.  They are in need of banners and posters for fall and spring rush.
 
They are working to implement the marketing program and take advantage of the mentoring program and leadership opportunities including the Kirby Leadership Program.
 
They are also looking to extend their service projects.  UMD has a list of approved service projects that they can take advantage of.
 
Charter Revision and Election Results
Jim Klang reported that the Charter was revised for two main reasons:
  • To streamline the Board operations to 7 members so it can achieve a quorum for business. 
    • Terms for officers and board members were extended to 3 years to get continuity. 
    • An extra advisory group of 5 appointed members was added to achieve the spirit of the original 12 member Board without the quorum restrictions.
  • To elaborate our revised scholarship process to match the 2008 agreement and the working method we have with UMD and the Minnesota Foundation.
The Charter was approved by the voting members on the returned ballots from the recent newsletter.  There was a formatting error in the Charter that was later found.  It was corrected and approved by a unanimous vote.  The amended Charter is now approved as of May 21, 2016.

Alpha Nu Omega Alumni Association Charter 2016
 
The 7 nominations for the Board were elected by the voting membership.
Officers:
  • President - Mike Dean
  • Secretary - Jim Klang
  • Treasurer - Jason Golde
At Large Board members:
  • John Erickson
  • Chris Perner
  • Tim McEvoy
  • Greg Hinds
The extra advisory positions that are appointed by the Board are yet to be finalized.
 
New Business
Alumni Alumni Social Events
The UMD Alumni Association has curtailed virtually all their social events that we also used for Alpha gatherings.

It was suggested that a social event be created around UMD's Homecoming next fall. Also, there was a suggestion for a UMD/UM hockey game.

The lunches are no longer well attended because many cannot get away from work.  It was suggested that a Happy Hour meeting might work better.
A repeat of the Canterbury event was also put forth.
 
501(c)(3) Status
There have been questions whether or not the Alumni Association is still recognized under 501(c)(3) that was granted over 40 years ago.  Nick Schmidt stated the status once granted should be perpetual unless there was a major change in the size of the organization or the target of the moneys.  He said he could check that out to be sure.
 
Adjournment
Following snaps the meeting was adjourned at 12:15.
 
Respectfully submitted, 
James K. Klang
Secretary



 

Save the Date

Alpha Homecoming
 
UMD's Homecoming is Saturday October 15, 2016.  We will have a great location for tailgating in front of the stadium for the football game.  Block tickets are $5-6.  This will be a family friendly event. The Active Chapter will also be using this as a recruiting event. 
 
Prior to the game we plan to have an Alumni Association meeting where we hope to have Gary Holquist, Director of Athletic Development & Bulldog Club, make a presentation on behalf of the Athletic Department.

More information will be sent when plans are finalized.
 
Here is a Homecoming link from UMD:
 

UMD Homecoming 2016









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Alpha Nu Omega Alumni Association · 28W181 Belleau Drive · Winfield, IL 60190 · USA

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