Fundraising & Communications Committee Minutes – 09.21.22

By Lake Country Classical Academy | September 21, 2022

LCCA Board Fundraising & Communications Committee Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, 5 p.m.
St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (in the parsonage) 818 W. Wisconsin Ave., Oconomowoc, WI 53066

  1. Meeting called to order at 5:01 p.m. In attendance: Kristina Vourax (Board FCC chair & LCCA Board President); Tom Gehl (Board FCC member & LCCA Board Secretary); Taryn Whipple (Board FCC member & LCCA Board Member); Margaret Daigneau (LCCA Head Principal); Brianne Host (TLC co-chair); Kristin Franke (TLC co-chair); and Joanne Timmerman (Procurement Lead, Gala Planning Committee).
  2. Fundraising:

a. 2022 LCCA Liberty Gala Debrief/Summary Report – highlights & next steps

1) Discussion on the highlights/main take-aways from this report included:

o LCCA Board Secretary & FCC Member, Tom Gehl, expressed sincere appreciation for the 2022 Liberty Gala planning committee’s hard work. He shared the following observations from the debrief/summary report:

• This year’s gala was extremely successful, thanks to a handful of a few volunteers that planned the event, and dozens who helped on event day, but this success came at a cost – it was lot of stress and pressure on small
group of volunteers. This is not sustainable long-term, and not fair to these volunteers. Therefore, we need to recruit additional volunteers to help with both pre-planning on and on event day.There needs to be one clear leader/committee chair – one person who has the authority to make all decisions on event planning and execution (assign tasks and give directives). We need to give clear direction to the committee chair (create a job descriptions) so that he/she fully understands his/her role. The collective effort in planning this event will be less because roles for each Lead will be clear.The gala committee chair cannot also be a member of the FCC, as the gala committee chair is accountable to the FCC.For all these reasons, Tom recommended we consider hiring a professional event planner to serve as the gala committee chair, which would be a small investment to ensure the long-term sustainability of the event.

o LCCA Board President & FCC Chair, Kristina Vourax, concurred with the suggestion of hiring an event planner and added the following:

• It’s important for the gala committee to have the ongoing support of school administration in the following areas: Event promotion through school communication vehicles; support in all areas of the event where money is exchanges/access to confidential information, such as ticket sales; and volunteer selection for gala committee Lead roles.

o LCCA Board member & FCC Member, Taryn Whipple recommended the

following:

• Hire a One Cause representative to be onsite at the event who can train all volunteers, oversee all functions of the event that are tied to One Cause (check-in, live auction, raffles, check-out) and troubleshoot during the event.

o LCCA Head Principal, Margaret Daigneau, added the following:

  • Most schools that have an employee of the institution who chair/make all of the lead decisions of a larger fundraiser like the Liberty Gala, but due to the fact that we’re not at that that stage/unable to hire an inhouse fundraising/development employee, hiring a professional event planner can fill this role until we’re able to take it inhouse.
  • She will look into making the day of the 2022 Liberty Gala (June 2), which is a Friday, a half-day at school to make it easier for parents and teachers to attend, as well as volunteers. She requested that we set the date for the 2024 gala a Saturday at end of April or early May, which would provide a greater chance for more teacher participation. The FCC was in agreement.

o Tom Gehl made a motion that the FCC bring a formal recommendation to the LCCA board on Oct. 19 that a formal event planner be hired to chair the 2023

Liberty Gala. Taryn Whipple seconded the motion, and the motion passed.

2) Next steps for 2023 Liberty Gala planning:

o FCC to research professional event planners to determine availability and cost and bring a recommendation to the Oct. 19 LCCA board meeting.

o FCC to develop job descriptions/clearly define responsibilities for the gala committee chair (event planner), and then work with the event planner to define the roles/responsibilities of each committee Lead.

o FCC to work with Margaret to identify/secure committee Leads for next year (hopeful that last year’s leads will be willing to help again) by mid-Nov.

o Event planner to hold first gala committee planning meeting by mid-Nov. o FCC to work with school controller, Lori Kaari, to ensure that the gala

budget/expenses are included in the FY2022-2023 budget, which will be presented at the Oct. 19 board meeting.

3. TLC Update

a. Upcoming events include:

  1. 1)  Two restaurant nights – end of Sept. at Culvers in Oconomowoc; Culvers in Hartland in October; Lou Malnati’s – Brookfield and Waukesha (carryout) in November.
  2. 2)  Oct. 8 – Parents night out at Family Tai Kwon Do Champions – $30 per child (5-10) for 30 kids… all proceeds go to LCCA.
  3. 3)  Fall Fest at the East campus on Oct. 22 including fun activities; in conjunction with Holy Trinity’s Trunk or Treat (community event)

b. Discussed need to further define timing and purpose of all fundraising efforts for LCCA (larger fundraising appeals and the Liberty Gala directed by the board vs. smaller events and fundraisers put on by the TLC) – a fundraising calendar will be developed and shared among the FCC/LCCA board, school administration and the TLC.

4. Meeting was adjourned at 5:54 p.m.