Meeting Minutes

• Introductions and Greetings
• Her Domain of Austin Incorporation and 501(c)3 Status
• City of Austin Support and Grant Writing
• Board Elections and Committee Seats
• Meetings, Socials, and Events (2002-2003 Calendar)

Her Domain of Austin Incorporation and 501(c)3 Status

We incorporated on April 17th, 2001. Legally, we have 15 months after that date to file for our 501c3 status, which means we'll need to do so by mid-July. Donna passed around the various legal papers and packets we were given by our attorney, Dathan Voelter. Debbie Winegarten offered to help us fill out the paperwork and move the process along. Donna will schedule our first meeting with the attorney during the first week of May, and expects we'll have 2 or 3 meetings with him as the process progresses. The Board will have at least one other meeting, which will be publicized on the list and to which everyone is invited.

City of Austin Support and Grant Writing

Donna updated the board on an issue brought to her by Jim Butler, with the City of Austin. The City has established a Austin Telecommunications Commission, who is investigating non-profits in the Austin area that could use support from the City. We were asked to turn in a budget proposal for 2002-2003, along with a narrative of what HD needs and does. The commission will be looking at these submissions to try and determine where they can try and help non-profits. We turned in the information they requested, and will be keeping in touch with Jim Butler. Donna acknowledges the City's support of Her Domain to date, including the 6 free SXSW Interactive Conference registrations they offered Her Domain, and their general interest in the well being of our group.

Cindy Huyser recapped the work done on grant proposals in 2001 and agreed to try and collect documents from the various women who worked with Laura Ricci to create grants for HD. We understand that upon completing our 501c3, we can revisit these proposals, update them, and begin earnestly looking for grant funding.

We agreed that HD need to have an electronic repository where documents (such as those from the grant process) can be kept. We discussed various technological solutions (keeping docs on the website or looking for a host that handles document management). We did not come up with a solution to this, but recognize it as a needto better enhance board conversations.

Donna agreed to look into our Amazon.com affiliate status and make sure they have the correct address. Since we have not been promoting our Amazon bookstore, and have not had classes purchase books through that portal, we have not been generating funds from Amazon. As classes ramp up for the rest of the year, we expect to use it again and will need to make sure it's still up and contacting the appropriate individuals.

We discussed the need for a Board email list. A list currently exists at Topica, but is very rarely used. We will revive the board distribution list and use it for as much board discussion as possible. Also, Donna mentioned that anyone can join this list, if they first send an email expressing interest and letting the moderator of the list know. Donna agreed to update the current list and to email the listserv with information and instructions.

Board Elections and Committee Seats

We discussed the roles of the various positions and the needs of the group, most of which was sent to the list in an email prior to the meeting. Donna explained that legally we need to have at least 3 officers on the Board, and four positions occupied: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The President can't not act as Secretary, but other positions can be held by more than one board member. For the previous year the board included:

• President: Donna K. Kidwell
• Vice President: Minnie Rangel
• Secretary: Susan Kaczmarzcik
• Treasurer: Minnie Rangel
• Board at Large: Traci Rachal Reese

We discussed the history and original intention of the bylaws. A group of Her Domainer's on the steering committee in 1998 worked very hard (Bi-weekly meetings for 5 months!) to draft the current bylaws. They were based on the bylaws for Girlstart (Rachel Muir gracious gave us copies of the work she had just completed!) We addressed details such as voting, elections, electronic meetings, etc. The board can consist of as few of 3 members (the legal minimum) and as many as 9. Volunteers in various positions can sit on the board, solely determined by consensus of those at the board meeting and the personal preference of the volunteer (we did not want volunteers to have to take a board position). The Board votes on issues where consensus can not be reached, but to date every decision has been unanimously accepted by the board. A quorum is defined as a majority of whomever shows up at a given meeting. We specifically designed HD to ~not~ have members, so we do not, and will not, be a dues collecting organization.

The Board elects individuals for the positions of: Treasurer, Secretary, Board at Large Seats, and Vice President. The Vice President agrees to take over the position of President when her term is up. The President then becomes and advisor to the Board for the following year. It was the steering committee's hope that this structure would: maintain continuity across administrations and time box the mandated effort for any given President. The bylaws do not have term limits, so a standing President can remain in office for as long as she is committed to the position (with the Board approval, of course!). It was explained that if it turns out that this rotation is not a functional process for HDs leadership, the Board can work to amend the Bylaws as they see fit.

The discussed the various positions, issues, and came to a consensus on the 2002-2003 Board:

• President: Minnie Rangel
• Vice President: Debbie Winegarten
• Secretary: Cindy Huyser
• Treasurer: Minnie Rangel
• Non-voting Board Advisor: Donna Kidwell

Two committee seats were filled, with the understanding the these women could sit on the board if they want to. The same invitation will be extended other women in volunteer positions, and anyone on the list can discuss with the Board about a seat. The Board uses its discretion to populate seats, and we try to keep an odd number of women on the board to prevent tied votes.

The new positions are:

• Public Relations Chairwoman: Amanda Cochran
• Educational Administrator: Michelle Michael

Meetings, Socials, and Events (2002-2003 Calendar)

We discussed a potential speaker identified by Karen Kreps, Andrew Dillon, the new Dean of UT's Library and Information Science. We agreed that he would be a great speaker of HD, but have not identified when or where we might ask him to speak with us.

We broke down the calendar for 2002-2003, divvied responsibilities for each month and came up with this tentative calendar:

We discussed the need to keep the schedule on the website and promote events on the list. In the past year, we have not kept to our monthly meetings, but this year's enthusiastic support should enable us to get back on a regular monthly schedule.

We discussed the difference between 'classes' and 'meetings.' Minnie described classes as offering outside the monthly meeting schedule at range from single session offerings (beginning html) to longer sessions that span many weeks and cover in depth topics (programming topics). HD intends to offer classes on technical topics that are relevant to the issues relevant to women on the list.

Donna K. Kidwell