Creative Portland Corporation

P.O. Box 4675 | Portland, ME | 04112 | 207-370-4784 Board of Directors Meeting Wednesday, January 8, 2025 3:30 PM Via Zoom AGENDA 1. Welcome and President's Comments (Herb Ivy presiding) A. Consent Agenda: November Minutes and November Financials VOTE: to accept consent agenda 2. Executive Director Update A. FFAW December & Jan 3rd B. Monday Morning Drop By on January 6 with Eli Cabanas C. Hired Outreach Coordinator/Graphics Designer D. 2024 Fundraising Drive - update E. Grant pursuit opportunities F. CP Gallery 2025 Exhibition planning - 8th juried show 3. Board Business A. Board Retreat planning for Spring B. Fundraising Strategies C. Board recruitment - lawyer/fundraiser D. March 10th City Council Workshop prep 4. FY25 Remaining Board Meetings: Feburary 5, April 2, May 7 & June 4, 2025 Page 1  Creative Portland Board Meeting Minutes Wednesday, November 6, 2024 via ZOOM Attendance: Board Members: Kirstie Archambault, David Brenerman (Secretary), Tae Chong, Lucy Comaskey, Eliza Ginn (Co-President), Herb Ivy (Co-President), Dinah Minot (Assistant Secretary), Councilor Regina Phillips, Dawn Reshen-Doty (Treasurer), Nancy Martin and Matt Schwach Staff: Dinah Minot; Walks Tall Keith Absent: Kate Anker (Immediate Past President), Gib Foltz, Daniel Minter, Lindsay Hancock, Clare E. Hannan, Greg Watson (ex officio) 1. Welcome & President’s Comments (Herb Ivy presiding) (3:31pm) Herb welcomed everyone for our annual meeting and last meeting of 2024. 2. Consent Agenda at 3:32pm (October Minutes and October Financials) ACTION: Vote to approve Consent Agenda: Unanimously approved. Motioned by Ms Reshen-Doty; second by Ms Archambault 3. Ex Com Discussion (3:32pm - 3:35pm) ● Dinah proposed EXCOM Slate for one-year term 2024/25: ○ Herb Ivy, President ○ Kate Anker, Immediate Past President ○ Clare E. Hannan, Vice President ○ Dawn Reshen-Doty, Treasurer ○ Matt Schwach, Secretary ○ Dinah Minot, Assistant Secretary ACTION: Vote to approve the CP EXCOM slate: ● Approved unanimously. Motion First by Ms Ginn; second Mr. Brenerman. Board Business & Volunteer Discussion (3:35pm - 3:40pm) ● Volunteer positions include: Lindsey for Utility boxes, Matt for Dec FFAW, Tae, Herb, David for workshop prep (2/24). ● PPAC has an open seat, appointed by CP. Herb offered to board and then Dinah confirmed that Ronnie Wilson, a CP volunteer committee member, be appointed for the 3-year term. Previous CP seats were held by Dinah, Daniel, Gib and Lindsay. ● Dinah will confirm Ronnie’s appointment at an upcoming meeting with Sean King & Kevin Kraft. David suggested feedback from the CP-appointed rep, and Dinah confirmed a quarterly report from Ronnie. Page 2 Executive Director Update (3:40pm - 4:28pm) ● Dinah & Kirstie shared a report of the successful morning presentation at Visit Portland (at Regency) with 40 reps from member organizations. Focus was on the app and the importance of working together to keep the arts alive and relevant. Happy with Kirstie as the conduit for building collaborations with Visit Portland. ● Video recap of the Arts & Culture Summit reinforced the arts as an economic driver and is now on our website.We did a recap as an executive summary report. Short and long version. Also on the website. ● Portland Media Center will add our Arts & Culture Summit video recap as a bumper segment between their shows. ● The fundraising mailer design was presented for review. The Plan is to mail out on November 15. ● Monday Morning Drop - Nice turnout but not huge. Upcoming sessions with special guests are planned for Jan (Maine Arts Commission grants) & Feb (Justin Alfond- Fork Food Lab building co-op space). ● Dinah finds that the work we are doing in the convening realm is really useful in fulfilling our mission which is to forge partnerships, provide resources and promote artistic talents and cultural assets. ● The advocacy issue is not a “sexy” issue for a sponsor to jump onto. People usually want to put their name on a plaque or a program. We have to appeal for municipal and state funding so we can continue some of these programs. ● The Annual Report will be uploaded along with an agenda for the November 22 meeting. Thank you David & Matt for edit assistance. ● City counselors are usually pretty good about reading our report. Dinah would like to be able to show the 4.5 minute video recap of the Arts & Culture Summit at the city council workshop. Regina says we should ask the Mayor to see what he thinks. ● When we do the 2/24 workshop, we can do a presentation, and the new councilors there will be able to learn about our programs. ● David Brenerman said we have the workshop to do the video if we can't do it in November. ● Dinah reminded the board that as a nonprofit we will file a form 990 with Tabitha at the Swanson Group. Dawn says an audit on 990 should be about every 3 years. ● We are still looking to hire a new Outreach Coordinator. Kail got a full-time job at the Portland Public Library. We are currently interviewing people for a contractor position. ● We have 3 grants that we may be pursuing: MOT Enterprise grant (the app - marketing), Bloomberg Asphalt Project grant (to be considered after we talk with other organizations) ● The City Council recently voted for increased funding of the PPAC. ● Creative Portland is a resource for vetting future public art projects. This topic could be part of our presentation at the city council workshop. We want to consolidate things and make them more streamlined. ● We discussed the CDBG grant at length. In summary, CDBG is really for emergency services and city council priorities; Dinah will be in touch with Rowen. Detailed notes about our CDBG discussion are below. Page 3  ○ Dinah and Matt discussed the CDBG Grant. There is a deadline coming up for that. Matt and Walks Tall attended that meeting. Dinah is going to see if we could get grant support for an extension on our Creative Bus Shelter Initiative to bring attention to different communities. Described wrap around on the bus with information about the artist and the bus stop. With portraits of the artist and a little bit about their background. It would be a mobile art exhibit to extend the bus shelter artwork, spotlighting bus shelter transportation, and reducing stigma about riding a bus. Maybe for the economic development initiative, we could go at it from this angle. ○ Dinah asked if the board liked the idea of extending and enhancing an existing program. ○ Tae likes it, but cautioned that CDBG finding is really hard to get. They tend to focus on basic needs like homelessness services first. Rarely do they provide funding for something like an art project. Tae described the idea of bus tickets for the homeless so they could get to their jobs as an example of something that would be a closer match for CDBG funding. ○ Regina agreed with Tae. These funds go to soup kitchens, homeless shelters, Through These Doors (family crisis), housing… It is for emergency needs and resources. ○ Dinah will be in touch with Rowen. Knowing that CDBG is for emergency services and city council priorities is important to know. ○ Tae said that only one year did they change the economic development funding and that was for Portland jobs. They had to get special permission from HUDD to get alignment for people who needed jobs. This way people wouldn't need to fill out the same application at multiple places. ● Dinah says we’re going to create a holiday calendar. We will advertise it on social media and our newsletter and a separate e-blast. We are at 3,300 downloads for the app. We also have increased traffic on our website. We are always over 50% on our Newsletter. We have stickiness. People keep coming back. We are focusing much more on our streamlined systems to be a useful hub of culling everything together in one place. ● We need funds for another fulltime person. When we have a contractor for only 10 or 15 hours, it's not enough. If we had another full time position, we could really make these tools useful and our resources robust. Board Share (4:28pm - 4:35pm) ● Regina says they'll be welcoming Wes Pelletier (one of the founders of the Democratic Socialist Party), Sara Michniewicz, and Ben Grant to city council. ● Lucy said school is good, very intense. Maine Law, which recently moved locations. The Maine Supreme Court visited her school recently. ● Regina had fun at the Arts & Culture Summit ● Farewell to Maile Buker, who completed her first term. Motion to adjourn by Regina. David second. Approved unanimously. Adjourned at 4:36pm. Meeting minutes submitted by Walks Tall Keith. Page 4 Accrual Basis Creative Portland Statement of Activity Profit & Loss Budget vs. Actual July through November 2024 Full FY25 $ Over % of Total Jul - Nov 24 Budget Budget Budget Ordinary Income/Expense Income 4100 · Operations (unrestricted) 51,834 242,300 -190,467 21.39% 4200 · Programs 7,500 45,000 -37,500 16.67% Total Income 59,334 287,300 -227,967 20.65% Cost of Goods Sold 5000 · Cost of Programs 11,560 47,500 -35,940 24.34% Total COGS 11,560 47,500 -35,940 24.34% Gross Profit 47,774 239,800 -192,026 19.92% Expense 6000 · Marketing 819 7,250 -6,431 11.3% 6100 · Personnel 65,384 170,900 -105,516 38.26% 6200 · Occupancy Expenses 3,382 7,800 -4,418 43.35% 6300 · Travel 0 3,000 -3,000 0.0% 6500 · Professional Services 4,384 34,600 -30,216 12.67% 6600 · Operating Expenses 3,961 15,290 -11,329 25.91% Total Expense 77,930 238,840 -160,910 32.63% Net Ordinary Income (30,156) 960 -31,116 -3,141.41% Other Income/Expense Other Income 7000 · Other Income-Expense 38 50 -12 75.62% Total Other Income 38 50 -12 75.62% Net Other Income 38 50 -12 75.62% Net Income (30,118) 1,010 -31,128 -2,982.03% Page 1 of 2 Page 5 Accrual Basis Creative Portland Statement of Financial Position As of November 30, 2024 Nov 30, 24 Oct 31, 24 $ Change % Change ASSETS Current Assets Checking/Savings 1010 · Creative Portland Checking 52,718 22,568 30,149 133.6% 1011 · GSB Savings 5265 90,529 90,522 7 0.0% 1015 · Petty Cash 1,258 1,258 - 0.0% Total Checking/Savings 144,505 114,348 30,157 26.4% Accounts Receivable 1150 · Accrued Contribution Receivable Total Accounts Receivable Total Current Assets 144,505 114,348 30,157 26.4% Fixed Assets 1400 · Fixed Assets 36,397 36,698 (300) -0.8% Total Fixed Assets 36,397 36,698 (300) -0.8% TOTAL ASSETS 180,902 151,046 29,856 19.8% LIABILITIES & EQUITY Liabilities Current Liabilities Accounts Payable 2000 · Accounts Payable - 939 (939) -100.0% Total Accounts Payable - 939 (939) -100.0% Other Current Liabilities 2500 · Fiscal Sponsorship Liability 67,496 67,496 - 0.0% Total Other Current Liabilities 67,496 67,496 - 0.0% Total Current Liabilities 67,496 68,435 (939) -1.4% Total Liabilities 67,496 68,435 (939) -1.4% Equity 3100 · Unrest'd Net Assets 143,524 143,524 - 0.0% Net Income (30,118) (60,914) 30,796 50.6% Total Equity 113,406 82,610 30,796 37.3% TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY 180,902 151,046 29,856 19.8% Page 2 of 2 Page 6