Minutes of the 6-21-2010 Board Meeting

Medford Food Co-op
Meeting of the Board of Directors
225 W. Main St., Medford
June 21, 2010

Call to Order: 6:30 p.m.

Present: Augustine Colebrook, Donna Kessler, Tommy Larson, John Miele, and Jim Sims
Absent: none

June 7, 2010 meeting minutes were read and approved.

Old Business:
Fundraising activity by ComNet Marketing Group was reviewed. At this time, 468 out of 978 potential donors have been contacted. Almost $16,000 in new membership money has been received in addition to the numerous potential loan givers identified.

Regarding total fundraising, we have reached approximately $250,000 total, and are halfway to our goal of $500,000.

MFC had representation at the recent Green Expo, as a guest in the JACLAC booth. The information board for the MFC was on display, and had been updated with posters and site pictures. Subscription forms were available for interested patrons. There was a lot of interest in the status and progress of the MFC. JACLAC and their representatives are greatly appreciated for their assistance.

Five copies of the updated MFC Business Plan were printed for investor review. Thanks to Karen Fronek for her efforts on putting the plan together and Pam Ryan of Ampersand Studios for the graphics. Reimbursement of $78.99 is due to Jim Sims for the printing at Pronto Print. The board unanimously approved this expenditure.

Banners and signage for the Riverside location have been designed (Pam Ryan of Ampersand Studios) and produced. Russ Batzer authorized the hanging the signs at the site.

Graphics requirements were reviewed. The board agreed that MFC stickers would be of benefit to marketing and fundraising at this time. Up to $100 was authorized by the board for this effort.

Augustine agreed to contact ProntoPrint, Mike’s Copies, Sign Guy, and SignsNow for potential sponsorships. Our future requirements for printing should be an incentive to develop a long term relationship with a local print shop.

Tommy made preliminary contacts in regards to access of the Riverside property through the WinCo parking lot. Further investigation is required and Tommy agreed to continue to pursue this issue.

The latest lease proposal received today from Russ Batzer was reviewed. Detailed improvement costs provided by Batzer were discussed and priorities made in order to fit this scope of work within the MFC budget. Tommy agreed to set up a meeting with Russ Batzer to finalize the general scope of work required to accommodate the co-op and remain within acceptable budget constraints.

New Business:
John and Jim met with Rhonda Dail (Advertising Account Executive) and Dena DeRose (Advertising Director) of the Mail Tribune to discuss sponsorship and advertising. These representatives of the newspaper indicated that they would be willing to offer a $10,000 advertising sponsorship with three advertisements per week in the Tribune in support of MFC fundraising and development in exchange for status and benefits as a top-tier Founding Merchant Sponsor.  The board unanimously approved accepting and moving forward on this offer. Jim and John agreed to get with Paris Achen to update her on our current progress and possibly develop a news release.

A local attorney, Marilyn O’Connor, who is working on her master’s degree at SOU would like to do a first year marketing plan for the MFC as a class project. The board agreed that this would be a great opportunity for MFC to have additional expertise in this area.

Jim and John met with representatives from Umpqua Bank today to pursue opportunities for a $200,000 line of credit. The bank representatives were very motivated to provide this assistance to provided needed capital for our first year of operations. Top-tier founding merchant sponsor status ($10,000) would be provided to Umpqua Bank if this is agreed upon. Bank representatives are considering this exchange and will reply with an offer soon.

There was discussion of the need to send a letter to our membership relaying our fundraising progress and emphasizing the push for our goal. Jim agreed to work on this communication.

Augustine emphasized the importance of developing relationships with local farmers, and relayed some of their desires to support/sponsor the MFC. The board agreed to think about an appropriate title that represents an on-going working relationship with local small farms.

Adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

Thomas Larson
Secretary