Board Minutes: June 28, 2018

Board meeting minutes 6/28/18

Introductions

·         Alden Community Service Award: The Nation’s Capital Chapter won the Alden Community Service Award at the Alumni Leadership Conference this year! (attach picture of Lauren and John)

Ohiou.org web page update

·         General update

·         Next payment is due in September

·         New Secretary will coordinate with Amanda on how to access this and other accounts.

Transfer of Funds from Operating Account to Scholarship Fund ?

• Transfer funds to scholarship fund
• Rob: in past only kept a couple thousand in the account for down payments
• Move to transfer $8,000k to scholarship fund and keep remainder in operating
• Why not $10k? Balance with potential budget impact of other events like the bus trip
• Cushion for new events/something we haven't tried before

Recent events

·         DC Area Reception for Admitted Students

·         6 or 7 students came and met with folks from OU- finance, housing

·         Lauren, John, Olivia are the alumni who attended.

·         Thoughts about moving it to MD or metro accessible? Know that it is planned by Admissions

·         Earth Day “Bobcats Go Green ‘18”

·         Fun event for cleaning up your local neighborhood

·         5 or 6 signed up

·         Two Trains Running at Arena Stage

·         12 alumni attended

·         Bobcats go to the theatre was super fun

·         Great play, easy to coordinate with Arena Stage and great to support OU alumnus.

·         Golf Scramble

·         13th year hosting

·         Had 28 players

·         Raised $1,250 to transfer to scholarship fund

·         Haven't seen the invoice yet, Tyler will keep an eye out for it

·         Lost the Acura sponsorship, thinking about bringing it back next year

o    May help bump up the numbers to previous years (40 players or so)

·         1804 Party

·         In Crystal City (Highline RxR)

o    Picked it to make it easy for interns, but they did not attend

·         10 alumni attended

·         Softball update

·         Team is 7-3

·         Have 4 games left in the season before the tournament

·         Have had trouble getting folks out because of location, but numbers are about the same (weekends have about 20 people attending)

·         2nd in division so in it for the tournament

·         Won the Ohio Cup!

Upcoming events/calendar planning

·         Brews for Bobcats (July 28)

·         Rocket Frog brewery in Sterling

·         Brand new, opened about a month ago

·         Will be opening for us at 11AM

·         Between 11AM-12PM will have a tasting and will be able to select a brew for a full glass (to keep!) and do tour of brewery.

·         $20 for this event

·         At some point, we will get the Burrito Buggy out here but didn't pan out for this event

·         Will be a food truck so bring additional funds

·         Will have 50/50 raffle (which will include an Athens brick)

·         Bring cash!

·         Sexual harassment speaker (Jenny Hall-Jones, Dean of Students; to be rescheduled)

·         Possibly rename--call it a #MeToo discussion

·         Group on campus that started a task force to combat sexual harassment in internships

·         Dr. Bob Stewart started it (he sent folks to Matt Lauer for an internship)

·         Jenny Hall Jones is still interested in participating

·         Fall Crawl on The Mall (September-October)

·         Planning for late Sept/early Oct

·         Can't use the word shuffle on marketing

·         Need to call it a "Pub Tour"

·         Neighborhood: Capitol Hill

·         Plan to hit up 6-ish bars

·         Travis can help figure out where to get the best deals

·         Baltimore Aquarium

·         Been hanging for a while

·         #WhereIsJustin?

·         Want to get a package together, group rate

·         Family friendly and can subsidize (tier or operational funds)

·         Should we plan it for when it is cold? February/March

·         Nationals vs. Reds (August 5, 60 tickets reserved; pre-game meet @ Bardo)

·         Sunday afternoon game, 1:35

·         Reserved 60 seats, will share on July 1st

·         Tickets paid through Tier funds and available for purchase for $10

·         If we sell out, we can get more

o    Have sold as many as 75 in the past

·         Ohio football game/Bobcat Bash at Virginia (September 15)

·         3:00PM game

·         Planning to have a Bobcat bash at 12:30 at stadium

·         Considering reserving a bus for 50 people

·         Either Franconia/Vienna metro or Mall as the pick up point

·         Will need to leave at around 9:30am

o    Do a Survey Monkey to gauge interest in the bus--will adjust the size of the bus

·         National Cathedral “Gargoyle Tour” (August 25, 2:00, $22; one-hour tour) Saturday

·         20 tickets for the Gargoyle Tour at the National Cathedral

·         Lots of folks were interested

·         $22 for adult

·         Have a small café, with lots of restaurants around

·         Can do a post-tour food for those who want to join

·         Tier funds can pay for it

·         One of alums works in DC United

·         New stadium in SW DC near the Wharf

·         Would we be interested in doing a DC United Game? YES!

·         Will look into it!

Election

·         Nominees

·         Vice President

o    2 year commitment, but then will assume role of President at the end of the 2 year term

o    Tyler will work with new board to best fill this role

o    John will serve as the interim VP

o    If you know anyone who are interested in filling this role, please let us know!

·         Secretary

o    Morgan Stanley, grad 2015, masters in Polic sci in 2017

o    Axios media, HR

o    Started Biotech start up with other OU alum

o    Excited to get more involved in the group

o    John moves, Shara, second, elected!

·         Treasurer

o    Travis Wolf, grad in 2015, Chief of Staff and Producer in DC

o    Did Masters at AU

o    Runs events at university

o    John moves, Heidi second, elected!

Schedule next meeting (end of September?)

Wednesday, September 26th at 6:30PM

Will pick a place in Chinatown

Board Minutes: March 27, 2018

Nation’s Capital Chapter of Ohio University

Board Meeting Agenda

March 27, 2018

Attendees: Lauren, John, Mark, Greg, Joan, Amanda, Whitney

Introductions

• Welcome new attendees
• Student Senate society: Mark and Greg formed society about 5 years or so (2011)
  • About 200 members through Facebook across country
  • They are looking to expand upon their DC Networking week for Student Senate members, many of which are Political Science or Journalism majors with interests in coming DC after graduation.
  • Probably in the Spring, between 30-40 students
  • Would like to organize a time to network with local alum and collaborate with the alumni chapter here in the DC area
  • Limit to Student Senate for first year and maybe expanding based on reaction
• Alumni Leaders Conference in Athens
  • May 18th
  • Adams Hall
  • Up for 4 awards, Lauren Vollberg was nominated for Volunteer of the Year.

Ohiou.org web page update

• General update
  • Still getting a fair number of hits. All newsletters include links to the website.
  • 130 unique visitors in the last 30 days, 265 unique visitors since the start of the year
  • The Welcome Page, Contact, and Events are the top visited pages
• Payment due in September
  • $216 per year
  • Will plan to stay with Squarespace--seems to be working out, despite some spam.

Recent events

• Wreaths Across America
  • About 6 alum attended
• Ohio-Buffalo basketball game watch/Sock Drive
  • Donated 84 pairs of socks to a shelter in Fairfax County
• Volleyball
  • Just wrapped up season and fell to Villanova in tournament
  • 7-1 regular season record and 2 playoff wins makes for 9-2 overall record
  • Go Bobcats!

Upcoming events/calendar planning

• DC Area Reception for Admitted Students (April 15, 1:30, Sherwood Comm. Center, Fairfax)
  • Expecting 42 guests (14 prospective students)
  • Board will provide food and drink- budget $75-80
• Ohio Alumni Association Remote Race (5K/3K run/walk in April; $15 registration)
  • The OU Sports Administration program is organizing a Remote Race during the month of April.
  • Cost is $15 to register: $5 goes to OHIO, $10 goes to a charity of choice.
  • For members of the Nation's Capital Chapter, we would like to donate to the Community Food Initiatives Charity in Athens.
    • When you go to the link to register, under the What's Your Reason drop down menu, we ask that all Chapter participants please select this charity.  You can also designate through the form that they are affiliated with our Chapter.  For more on this charity, visit this link.
    • Follow this link to register and choose "Ohio Alumni Association Remote Race presented by OU-HCOM"
  • Goal to get 200 Bobcats across the country to participate
• 1804 party (April 18 at Crystal City Sports Pub)
  • The intent of this gathering is to celebrate OHIO and Athens for Founders Day.
  • We will invite the 8 interns that are still in town for the Semester in DC program.
  • We will host the event at Crystal City Sports Pub and use tier funding for food.
  • There will be Athens trivia and prizes so please join us there!
• Earth Day clean up (April 22)
  • Is there a park in your neighborhood that you can spend a half/hour picking up trash? Join fellow Bobcats in cleaning up your neighborhood this Earth Day.
    • We are organizing a remote Earth Day initiative: take a pre- and post-clean up picture, post to social media (Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook) and use the hashtag #BobcatsGoGreen18
    • OHIO will send us t-shirts to wear for volunteering, so let us know if you plan to join!
• Sexual harassment speaker (Jenny Hall-Jones, Dean of Students; rescheduled for August)
  • OHIO would really like for us to have this event, but there was a lack of interest in the topic.
    • How can we reframe to still engage with Jenny Hall-Jones? What other topics would be of interest? OHIO folks are thinking about this as well.
    • We would like to engage with local alumni on topics of substance--is there a topic you want to discuss? Let us know!
• Softball ($50/player)
  • Registration for the 2018 season has begun. If you are interested in joining the team, use this link to register. 14 alum have registered so far.
  • The league involves 14 regular season games and a 2 weekend tournament (63 teams, free beer, CCSP supplying the food).
  • We will be posting the schedule for folks to come watch. One weekend to note is the Ohio Cup: June 16th. We will be playing OSU, Dayton, and Xavier.
• Two Trains Running at Arena Stage
  • David Emerson Tony is an actor and OU alum featured in "Two Trains Running" at Area Stage through the month of April.
  • Would you be interested in attending? Please answer our survey here!
  • If we can get a group of 10, we can get a discount: $47.25 per ticket. However, if people are interested we could subsidize with Chapter funding. So let us know!
• Golf Scramble (June 9, South Riding), need sponsors
  • We lost sponsorship from Acura, so if any alumni are aware of a company that would be willing to sponsor a hole, we can share the requisite forms.
  • We are asking each board member to recruit at least one sponsorship for a hole.
• Nationals vs. Reds (August 2-5)
  • In response to the call for more family-oriented activities, OHIO alum will attend the 1:35PM game on Sunday of the National vs. Reds series.
  • We will plan to use Chapter funding to subsidize the tickets and raise money for the scholarship fund.
  • More information will be forthcoming!
• Ohio football game at Virginia (September 15)
  • Athens plans to hold a Bobcat Bash at the stadium
  • Waiting to hear about tickets, transportation
  • Our plan will be to organize some kind of trip
• Fall Crawl on The Mall
  • We would like to organize an bar crawl in September or October on Capitol Hill. Our plan is to focus on 6 bars on one side of the Hill.
  • We are considering designing t-shirts to sell. More information is forthcoming.
• Baltimore Aquarium
  • Tabled
• National Cathedral
  • Rick looking into it and there are couple of different tour options. One option will group times still available is the Gargoyle Tour- Saturday August 25th.
  • Pricing $12 for adults, $8 for kids, under 5 free
  • Would you be interested in attending? Please answer our survey here!
• Burrito Buggy
  • Has been purchased by a few guys in Athens
  • We are looking to bring the Buggy to DC.
  • A couple of OU alum opened brewery in Sterling called Rocket Frog Brewing
    • Looking to do an event with Buggy/Rocket Frog
    • More information forthcoming!

Election update

• Put out feelers on website and Facebook to see if they are interested in running for elected positions
• Lauren will be President
• Roles of VP, Secretary, Treasurer
• Ramp up advertisement to garner interest

Schedule next meeting

James Hoban’s Irish Bar and Restaurant Near Dupont

• June 28th, 6:30PM
• Executive Board elections will happen at this meeting, so we hope to see you there!

Board Elections: 2018 Update

Want to be part of the Board for the Nation's Capital Chapter of the Ohio Alumni Association?  We have an election coming up on June 30, 2018 to fill the positions of Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.  By alumni chapter rules, our current Vice President will become the next President when the current term ends.  Thus, Lauren Vollberg will be our Chapter President beginning July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2020.

We need people who want to be active members of the Board and want to carry on the Chapter through the next two years and beyond.  The roles for each position are as follows:

The President shall

• Represent and serve as a responsible and positive steward of Ohio University.
• Serve as a liaison to the OAA, maintaining at least monthly communication with your liaison.
• Preside over all executive board meetings and general group meetings.
• Be aware of planning and coordination for all events, meetings and functions of the group.
• Establish strategic vision, annual goals and year out event plan for the group by actively engaging the executive board, group members and OAA.
• Keep executive board and group members informed of general Alumni Association events and encourage participation in group and university activities.
• Ensure all Alumni Association and university policies are upheld by group.
• Attend annual Alumni Leaders Conference or designate a member of executive board to attend.
• Complete and submit annual report, year out calendar and award nominations to the OAA.
• Serve as immediate past-president to transition the leadership role to the president-elect upon completion of term.
• Encourage, motivate and seek out potential group members and leaders to actively volunteer with the group and/or participate in group events.
• Serve two year term.

Past President shall:

• Represent and serve as a responsible and positive steward of Ohio University.
• Transition the duties of the president to the new president.
• Assist the president and all officers and chairs for first two months of transition.

Vice President shall:

• Represent and serve as a responsible and positive steward of Ohio University.
• Welcome new members to group.
• Follow up post event with attendees.
• Recruit volunteers to work events (with leadership of special events chair).
• Work with the OAA to support the Office of Admissions with letter writing campaign and volunteers for college fairs.
• Attend executive board meetings.
• Maintain current list of active group volunteers and contact information.
• Fill role of president during meeting absences.
• Assume role of president at end of biannual term.
• Serve two year term.

Treasurer shall:

• Record all financial transactions for the group
• Submit pre-event budget
• Submit and/or approve all group reimbursements.
• Receive and report to executive board on quarterly account reports from OAA
• Direct group (with scholarship chair) in determining scholarship awards and process with consultation of OAA.
• Attend executive board meetings.
• Serve in the absence of the secretary at executive board and general meetings.
• Serve two year term.

Secretary shall:

• Record all meeting minutes for the group.
• Distribute meeting minutes to executive board and OAA within 30 days of the meeting.
• Notify executive board and chairs of meeting dates.
• Attend executive board meetings.
• Serve two year term.

Nominations for the positions of Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer will be accepted through June 20th.  If you have an interest in one of these positions, please email President John Moore at johntmoore@hotmail.com or dcchapterprez@yahoo.com.  All nominees will be asked to draft a short description about themselves, why they are interested in the position, and why they feel that they deserve the vote of Chapter members.  Those descriptions will be posted here so that Chapter members can be knowledgeable about the candidates prior to the election.  

If you have questions about this process or any of the positions, please feel free to email any of the current elected Board members of attend a Board Meeting to see how the process works.  We hope to have a great Board to lead us into the next couple of years and beyond, but we can't do it without you!

Board Minutes: December 9, 2017

Nation’s Capital Chapter of Ohio University

Board Meeting Minutes: December 9, 2017

Introductions

Attendees: John, Lauren, Rick, Nicole, Marjorie, Amanda

Ohiou.org web page update

• Now active; has had over 1,000 visits and over 500 unique visitors
• Ways to promote the page, get people responding to the content
  • Including links in Facebook to the website as well.
  • Quizzes with information on the website, requires them to drive traffic
  • Link to sign up for the listserv on the website
• Create page to advertise for new board members and upcoming election
  • Can create subpages of the board page to meet those needs

Recent events

• Halloween party
  • Ugly Mug in the DC
  • Low turnout, previous year had over 100 attendees, sold 37 tickets this year, Bar was generous about bar sales
  • Made $240 off pre-sales, but owed $75 to the bar, balance of $165, went to the scholarship
  • Next year, might give it a rest and try again in 2019
• Akron-Ohio football game watch
  • At the Ugly Mug, turnout of 12, including two interns
  • Trying to find a new home for sports viewing
  • Cleveland Park: there's a downstairs, pool, near metro; Will find out the name and see if it is a good place
  • Rock Bottom Brewery in Bethesda is also an option
  • Crystal City Sports Pub is also an option
  • Clarendon bars--lots of them
• Toys for Tots Happy Hour
  • At the Ugly Mug, promotion: every person that brings 2 toys gets a free beer
  • Partnered with Ohio Society, OSU, Miami, OU
  • Fairly low turnout, 20 attendees
  • Collected: 60 or 70 individual toys, filled a full bin at a donation site
  • Raised $90 in raffle donated to Toys for Tots
  • Some new attendees, new graduates
  • Worthwhile to get the chapters together more often
    • Union Station: Junior league of Washington does a Holiday Shops event there and it is super fun
    • Union Market also an option
    • Brewery tour
    • Tying it into something more socially conscious, move around to different causes to draw different interests
    • Could put it in a newsletter: questionnaire on the website, on Facebook about what types of events folks are interested in?
• Ohio vs. Maryland basketball game
  • Given the issues around planning it, UMD not particularly cooperative
  • Sold 30 tickets for the suite
  • 30 tickets for general seating, handful of others who bought tix in other sections
  • Net balance is likely to be $0, don't owe anything! School took care of much of it
    • Treated to a visit from former OU president, Roderick McDavis
      • He is more than happy to do an event with our chapter, knows we are one of the more active
    • Game wasn't very close, but it was a good time!
    • Pictures from the game were great--good to attach to future events to show folks what to expect at events

Upcoming events/calendar planning

• Sexual harassment speaker (Jenny Hall-Jones, Dean of Students)
  • In light of Harvey Weinstein/#metoo movement
  • OU likes the idea and Jenny Hall-Jones does this for the students on campus
  • School is willing to help us set up a location for it
    • Our focus will be focusing
    • Date: February 15th, location to be announced
    • Could potentially draw on the other societies (Ebony Bobcats network, Ohio Women, LGBT group)
    • From here, what are some other topics they could pursue?
  • Creating a culture that doesn't support sexual harassment and assault
• Wreaths Across America (Arlington National Cemetery, Dec. 16, 8:30am)
  • Will send another notification this week
  • New security--include in the notice (similar to pro sporting events)
  • 8:30- parade of trucks with the wreaths
  • Layers, gloves, boots
  • Meet by the flag
  • Link to Wreaths Across America website
  • Wreath pick up date in January
• MLK Day of Service
  • Call to Action: Day of Service
  • Partnering with DC United Way on their project on homelessness
  • Nicole to send more information, Amanda to send to the group in a specific email
    • Then can post it to Facebook, website with sign-up URL
• National Cathedral tour
  • Kari and Rick are working on it, talking w/Cathedral
  • When are they least busy? At what point do tickets start to become less expensive?
  • In the middle of fundraising because they don't have enough money to finish repairs
  • $40-60 groups, could dip into tier funding
  • Coffee shop there is very lovely, if you could combine
  • Maybe shift to the late summer/early fall
    • Could send a survey monkey to see if folks would be interested and would they be willing to pay within certain ranges.
• Golf Scramble (June 9, South Riding), need sponsors
  • Rob has negotiated June 9th at the South Riding course (near the Pleasant Valley course where we've been in the past)
  • Need to have a sponsor
    • Generally one of our biggest money generating events of the years
    • Not limited to one field
    • John and Rob will have materials ready soon to share with the group, post and host on website thru Dropbox so the forms are easily accessible for folks in the community (sponsor events, holes)
• Former OU President Roderick McDavis
  • John will email again to gauge interest and timeframe, if he has any ideas on what kinds of events he would like to be part of.
• Basketball game watch/Sock Drive (new location?)
  • Game against Buffalo on a Friday night in January 26th, 6:30pm, CBS Sports Network
    • Location? Lauren to look around for potential locations
  • Bowl game on December 22nd, post on website, Twitter, Facebook
    • Bahama Bowl JPG
    • Penn Quarter Sports Tavern
• Baltimore Aquarium
  • Justin has a happy in the works for Baltimore area folks
  • Will be looking into the Aquarium (could be a good event for February)
    • Tickets aren't cheap so we can see if it is a good use of tier funding
• Capitol Hill pub tour (Tune Inn)
  • John talking to folks at Tune Inn to let them know we are planning such an event in the spring
  • Can other members reach out to at least 1 bar?
  • Six bar minimum, 3 on each side of the Hill
  • Lauren suggested forming a committee, will lead
    • Send an email, to let folks know we are forming a committee, planning for spring, please reach out to Lauren
    • Tshirts?
    • Stamp card?
    • Could be a good opportunity to involve Ohio Society, OSU, Miami, etc
• 1804 party
  • Locations: John  to get in touch with Matt Schultz who is working at a bar in Arlington
  • Networking event
  • Can include the interns who are in DC for the spring
  • April 18th
• Pete Souza (tabled)
• June Board meeting at Irish Whiskey, near Farragut

Discussion of finances, how much to transfer from Operating Funds to Scholarship Fund

• John talked to Tyler, he is investigating what our balances are for our funds
• OAA's accounting office is way behind,
• Last seen, had roughly $12,000 but don't have recent accounting.
• Hold off on voting until we have the actual accounting

Schedule next meeting (March)

Tuesday, March 20th, 6:30pm start, John to look into a location: Cap City Brewery is a possibility.

Board Minutes: September 11, 2017

Nation’s Capital Chapter of Ohio University

Board Meeting Minutes: September 11, 2017

Introductions

• Nicole, John, Jen, Lauren, Rick, Whitney, and Amanda in attendance

Recent graduates

• Tyler sent email with list of five recent graduates who expressed interest in moving to DC.  John emailed them to welcome them to the area and invited them to come out to events, board meetings, and meet fellow Bobcats.  One showed to game watch on 9/8, because she saw Facebook invite.

OU web page update

• The new website will be ready to launch by the end of September and will be hosted on Squarespace. The website should serve as a hub for all things chapter related, including Board information. By hosting minutes, Executive Board position descriptions, and election protocols, we can use it to recruit new board members.
• The Middle Tennessee Chapter has feature called “Alumni of the month” that we should replicate to recognize local alumni. This will be included in the website revamp.

Recent Events

• Softball season: The team made it to the second weekend of the tournament. They went 10-4 in the regular season and 3-1 in the tournament. They raised $500 toward scholarship fund.
• Baseball game (June 24): We sold all 66 tickets, at $10 each. The Tier funding covered the cost of the tickets so we raised $660 for the scholarship fund.
• Alumni Luncheon (September 7)- OU’s new president was in attendance and gave a speech. There was good attendance, including the cohort from the Scripps School of Communications and Journalism who are in DC for a new internship program. In future semesters, we should coordinate with the internship program to set up events. This could include a welcome/ending happy hour for spring semester—we should consider if all students are 21 to determine the venue.
• Ohio vs Purdue Game watch (September 8)- 15 people attended and a number of attendees brought supplies for the drive to benefit Payne Elementary School in DC. While the Pittsburgh chapter won the competition, it was a close race! We also raised $62 in donations for American Red Cross for disaster relief.

Upcoming events

• Halloween: John and Rob are in contact with Paxton to organize the event.
  • The event will be held at The Ugly Mug on Capitol Hill and it is a pretty great deal: $45 early bird tickets and $50 tickets at the door. The ticket price includes an open bar, great live music and a DJ, costume contests, and Athens-themed drink specials.
  • 10% of the bar sales (outside of the drinks included in the open bar) will go to the scholarship fund. See the event on Facebook and get your tickets here. 
• Toys for Tots: This year we want to avoid the White House Christmas Tree lighting and will not want to conflict with the Ohio vs Maryland basketball game on December 7th.  Lauren will check out dates in November and December and work with other chapters to identify a date.
• Ohio vs. Maryland Basketball Game: On December 7th, we will host with OAA a pre-game Bobcat Bash and watch the game. Athens OAA is very excited for the event and we are looking into a suite for the game. More information to come!
• Pete Souza:  Nicole will reach out to Toby and WOUB to see if we can organize an event before Pete leaves DC.
• Dinner with former OU president Roderick McDavis: John is looking into a couple of contacts and will target to have this dinner in approximately six-months (early spring/March).
• New locations for football/basketball game watches: We have heard loud and clear that we should vary the locations around the DMV.  
  • On Oct. 31, OU is playing Miami and we are in discussions about doing a game watch.
  • Early November, there is a week night game against Akron.
  • Rick and Lauren to look at places in MD, like Tyber Bierhaus in Bethesda. 
  • Other options suggested at the meeting include Acre 121, The Goat in Clarendon
  • If you have a suggested location for a game watch, please let us know!
• Baltimore Aquarium: Rick and Justin will coordinate to see the rates for group tickets. We are targeting this spring.
• Volunteer at soup kitchen: Nicole to take the lead on finding an activity for a chapter day of action. OU Alumni can send us t-shirts for the day. Martin Luther King Jr Day/ Day of Service could be a great fit for this event.
• National Cathedral tour: Rick will start looking into it for an April/May event.
• Capitol Hill pub tour: We are thinking about planning a Capitol Hill pub tour that would include a stop at the Hawk and Dove, where we could receive discounts on drinks. While t-shirts didn’t work well last time, we are considering including it in the registration fees, because who doesn’t love a good pub tour shirt? J We are targeting spring/early summer for this event.
• 1804 party: Founders Day is on April 18th (Wednesday) and we are planning to do a networking social happy hour/ speed networking/ meet and greet/ OU trivia. We are currently thinking about locations including The Goat and Hawk and Dove. If you are interested in helping to plan, please let us know!
• Club Hockey will be paying in Annapolis on Sept 30th. We can post on the Facebook page to gauge interest and see if a group wants to carpool together for the game.

Tabled Events

• Newseum tour
• DC pops: a local alum reached out and leads a pops orchestra here in DC. We are waiting to see if there are performances in the next 6 months where we can organize an outing.

Discussion of finances

• We have about $3,900 of tier funding until June 30, 2018. Some of these events could require a fair amount of funding--Halloween, softball, Basketball games. Our goal is to spend down the tier funding and dip into our operating funds as needed.

Elections

• Prior to June 30th, we need to hold elections for VP, Treasurer, Secretary. Lauren will become the next President.
• We need to name an elections supervisor, who helps to recruit nominees for these positions. This person needs to be selected by March so they have 3 months to get nominees in time.  
  • John would be a good fit because serve as past president.
• We definitely want to get new people involved in the Executive Board, as well as the Board at-large to ensure longevity of the chapter.

Schedule next meeting

• Rock Bottom in Bethesda: Saturday, December 9th, 11am. Lauren to call for the reservation.

Board Minutes: March 5, 2017

Ohiou.org web page update

·         To incorporate all the features as discussed to the website (forum, board page, expanded events functionality, advertising), Amanda recommends that we explore new platforms.

o    The current platform won’t allow the level of social media integration, calendar, and forums. Additionally, it requires a site builder download so it is difficult to make quick changes to website content.

o    However, we can add a separate Board page and a page for advertising. While researching a new website, we can make these two changes. If you have website platform suggestions, please feel free to reach out to Amanda (Amanda.e.janice@gmail.com).

Recent events

·         Game watches:

o    Football bowl game watch: some attendance, but happened the week of Christmas.

o    January basketball game watch

o    Sock drive/February basketball game watch: collected 111 pairs of socks for donation to ThriveDC.

·         Wizards/Knicks game, meet with Maurice N’Dour: event sold out (20 tickets) and had the opportunity to meeting with Maurice. Should look into similar events next year and opportunities to work with the Ebony Bobcat Network, who held a similar event.

·         Wreaths Across America: derailed by bad weather this year, but will participate again next year.

·         Washington Policy Forum 2017: had middling turnout, but was held near President’s Day weekend. Good panel and a number of board members represented at the event.

·         2nd Annual Charles Hart Middle School college fair: college fair directed toward 5th-8th graders and OU sent materials to hand out. Unsure of whether events like these fall within the purview of the alumni group (more appropriate for admissions).

·         Singing Men of Ohio: great event and opportunity to build a larger networking event of it in the future (little lead up this year).

Upcoming events/calendar planning

·         Volleyball team: season in progress!

·         Softball team: 12th year for the alumni team. The fees per player have not yet been determined and we will send information as soon as it is available.

·         DC Area Admitted Students Reception (April 2): this event brings together any students who have been admitted to OU in the DC metro area. So far, 13 students (and 38 people total) have registered. The Chapter will provide light refreshments for attendees and area alumni are encouraged to attend and mingle with students and families.

·         Wesley Lowery book: he participated in DC Networking week last year. Amanda will contact Wes and look into developing a book reading/signing at a DC area book store.

·         Air & Space Museum tour: John has been working with our contact to find a date that works. The events should be geared as a family event and we are looking at early May. More information to come.

·         Newseum/Pete Souza: Shara will follow up with OU contact and Nicole for next steps.

·         Nationals vs. Reds (June 23-25): The annual Chapter baseball game will be June 24th at 4:05PM. There will be a pre-game gathering at a location near the stadium. More information to come! Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased here.

·         Golf outing (June 10): Rob Walter is leading this event and has gathered 5 raffle and prize donations. If you know of any sponsors or raffle items, please let Rob know.

·         Volunteer at soup kitchen: Karen has been looking into volunteer options for the chapter including soup kitchen volunteering, backpack drives, and Bread for the City. OAA may have shirts for us for volunteering efforts.

·         Bowling: This has been offered as an option but can be pricey. Two potential places are Lucky Strike at Gallery Place and Bowl for America near Edsall Rd in Alexandria.

·         National Cathedral tour: Rick has a contact at the cathedral so we could plan a tour with a meet-up before or after.

·         Baltimore area events: Justin is leading efforts to ramp-up involvement by Baltimore alumni. He will look into a Happy Hour and Networking event to kick it off (Cocktails and Conversations or Dessert and Discussion were offered as themes, depending on the venue).

·         Other potential ideas: National Zoo meet up (family focused), Potomac Boat Tour, Capitol Hill Pub Crawl.

If you are interested in taking the lead or helping with any of these events, please reach out to John (DCChapterPrez@yahoo.com).

Next Meeting: June 12-4th. Please complete the survey to note your preferred date.