Last night was another meeting of the Board of Directors. I missed it. Not being on the Board means it isn’t mandatory. I am however the fundraising chair and in this capacity I felt I should go. Except I have no voting powers. That is fine for right now. I am very busy trying to finish a large commission, moving out of our house in LA and confirming another commission. I had requested an informal meeting with the members on my committee two weeks ago and all but one could make it. I was prepared to meet with the one member and then make notes to pass around via email to the other members.
Besides, my car was my wife’s this week because she had slid off the road a few days ago into an embankment and needed my car to go to work down in LA, but fortunately only (haven’t really driven it) the front bumper was damaged. This evening the weather came in and it was very dense fog and slight rain, add to this I was feeling pressure about quitting the progress on the painting, which I am having a hard time staying motivated by anyway, and I decided not to go.
EARLIER:
About two days ago I did some research on the Internet about how to fundraise for a non-profit and coupled with what I found and my own extensive experience with non-profits such as The Braille Institute, ChildHelp USA, The Progeria Foundation and others I wrote up an outline for the members to look at and respond via email. Not one response either about the content or for that matter acknowledging they got the outline. Then on top of that I decided to introduce myself to the President of The Network via an email. (I still haven’t been told precisely why there are two entities, The Mountain Arts Network and The Mountain Arts Gallery).
I know, you are saying it is obvious, and it is, but I need to know without assumptions, primarily because as a fundraiser I have to have all facts and current figures with me when I approach someone for money.
The email I wrote to the President was forwarded to two of the ladies in the group, one of whom is on the Board and the other isn’t, and the lady on the Board never answered her part of my questions.
I now see the problems I have heard about from the moment I joined. It is run haphazardly. No central authority. They have meetings but they don’t seem to understand that someone (the President, maybe?) needs to oversee the projects and coordinate so as not to allow one area to mismanage the reputation and progress of the Network/Gallery!
