OSI-US Board Meeting March 21, 2008
Thank you for your comments, adjustments, corrections.

Present: Peggy Holman, Karen Davis, Lisa Heft, Tree Fitzpatrick, Douglas Germann Sr., Christine Whitney Sanchez -- Absent: Phelim Mc Dermott, Gabriel Shirley, Ed Laboy, John Engle. Notes-taker: Lisa Heft

We began by sharing a moment of silence together.

Check-in: We spoke of looking out the window to see (depending where each Board member lived) a dusting of powdered sugar snow, big pink blossoms on the trees and pink snow falling when the breezes blow, and little tastes of spring poking out amidst rainy windy weather. One of us had been given the gift of a cold from the grandchildren, one of us is looking very svelte, one is renewed by these lovely images of nature during a time of troubles in the world.

News: Peggy is working on an event with the Dalai Lama, who will be coming to Seattle April 11 through 15. Various portions of this free event (sponsored by Seeds of Compassion) will be broadcast in over 20 languages and an estimated 150,000 people will participate. Peggy and colleagues are hosting a reflection and conversation space during this event which occurs parallel to the two days of workshops - to provide a space for those who want to be in conversations with others and reflect on their experiences. Focus of the event is on children and those who touch their lives - particularly the social and emotional education in their lives.

Other News: Congratulations to John - we hear that the Circles of Change video has been translated into Spanish. Our thanks to John, who says that some copies will be available to OSI-US sell as one of our product offerings.

1. OSI-US Annual Give / Gift Letter (Tree, Peggy)

Many thanks to tree for her great work sending out all give / gift letters. All members on the list were emailed this letter. About a 20 % bounce back on addresses that have changed - Tree will at some point in future update the members database.

Actions / Decisions / Agreements :

Keep in bin as Peggy will keep us up to date on moneys raised over the next few months.

2. Chandi’s Request for Funding (All)

Our budget for funding currently is at $6400 US, plus $170 just received since sending out the give / gift letter. Hard to grasp whether what Chandi is doing at the conference is in line with our mission. His abstract was accepted. His budget indicates he is getting some support from OSonOS Australia. Seems a lot to give him when we are not clear that it is directly connected with our mission, and $2000 is a lot. Some interest in focusing on WOSonOS2008 askers, especially this year - the money he requests equals one or two Askers for WOSonOS2008. Chandi got support from us for WOSonOS2008 Moscow 2006, plus a bit from the Access Queen Project (thanks to Tree’s communication with Raffi). This year he has better looking plans, and he responded to Tree’s inquiry with a great bit of detail. Question of how delivering this academic paper expands OS out into the world. Not exactly in line with our mission - discussed how to send supportive ‘no’ to Chandi if we agree is a no.

To revisit our criteria:
1 - Projects that serve underserved areas of the world
2 - Leveraged efforts that reach multiple people, especially in training or other sustaining sorts of way
3 - Situations wherein other groups or individuals have already made investments so that OSI-USA augments rather than initiates projects
4 - Project sponsors and facilitators who will do good work and bring the story back to the larger OS community

Agreed that we need to build in the decision and information about how often we give money to a person / organization who has received funds from us before. We also discussed how Chandi could approach a combination of the communities whose processes he mentions highlighting in his abstract / presentation. We could offer Chandi 1/3 of what he is asking for ($700) and we could help him with outreach to the other methods communities.

Actions / Decisions / Agreements :

Agreement to build something into our website that if you receive funding from us you cannot ask again for 3 years.

Peggy will send him a message explaining we see merit in him reaching through a variety of methods and are willing to pay a third of his whole ticket if he can find funding from at least 2 other methods communities. And to help with that, we will connect him with 2 people in the AI community and someone who can reach out to the Positive Deviance community. Share our gratitude for his continuing engagement and responsiveness.

Christine will look into connection with the Positive Psychology world as well - if she finds, Peggy will send this contact to Chandi as well.

3. Announcement of Request for Funding Proposal Season for WOSonOS2008 2008 (All)

Must do this now - those requesting funding support from OSI-US may need to arrive in San Francisco as early as July 19 or 20 and we would like to let them know of our decisions by two months ahead of travel date (so they have time to apply for visas).

Actions / Decisions / Agreements :

Deadline for receiving proposals will be May 9 (our board meeting for final decisions will be May 16). Budget will be set at our April Board meeting as we also see what additional membership donations come in due to the gift / give letter.

Tree will draft a letter and send to all on Board - she will include the point that those who have received funding are requested not to ask OSI-US again for a period of ‘usually’ 3 years.

Lisa will add this 3-years note onto the WOSonOS2008 event website, Doug will add it to the osworld website.

4. Monthly Meeting Start Time - Change to 1 Hour Earlier (Doug)

10:00 Pacific Standard Time is hard for Peggy, for Christine, an earlier or later (than our current call time) is later. Keep in mind timing and time zones for those Board members (such as Phelim) in other countries.

Actions / Decisions / Agreements :

We will try 10:30 am PST for awhile - 1/2 hour earlier - which helps both Peggy and Christine a bit.

5. Girl Scout Convention Video (Christine)

Peggy and Christine are in communication and will coordinate with Michael Herman to add this to our product list when it becomes available. Question: pricing the same as other video ($40 US)? One idea is to drop the price on that video and offer this one for $40 - we will discuss this next time.

Who can play with Christine on design for the big Girl Scout meeting - which will probably include some version of OS - but they are going to have to tweak it, as they are expecting 10,000 participants. Lisa, Doug and Peggy offered themselves as thinking partners whenever Christine could use another thinker or feedback on design.

Anyone coming to NYC for Phelim’s opera, Satyagraha, opens April 11 in New York City.

Actions / Decisions / Agreements :

We agreed that are all very excited and very proud of you, Phelim.

6. Training Next Generation of Facilitators (Christine)

Christine is now more available to work on things including this topic and will contact Becky.

Kerry’s item has been removed from the bin - if someone else’s passion brings it up, it will arise again.

NEXT MEETING: Friday April 18 10:30a PST / 6:30 GMT (third Fridays) PLEASE NOTE HALF HOUR EARLIER TIME CHANGE

BIN for April 18, 2008 OSI(US) Board meeting:

1. Thank You to Kerry for Board Service
2. OSI-US Annual Give / Gift Letter - funds raised (Peggy)
3. Training next generation of facilitators (Becky, Christine)
4. Girl Scout Convention Video - status, pricing, availability on-line (Christine)
5. Grants and payments to individuals (Doug)
6. WOSonOS2008 Update (Lisa)