SUMMARY OF MEETING OF SUSILA DHARMA (BRITAIN) HELD ON 10TH FEBRUARY 2007
We were grateful for the support of Daniela Coles and Martin Amos, National Helper and Kejiwaan Councillor, at this meeting.
Laura Lesley is standing down as Chair at the AGM in August, and the Board would be pleased to hear from any member who would like to test, either to become a Trustee or Chair.
Thank you letters have been sent to all our regular donors during 2006, and thanks are due to Robin Jones for his co-operation in this exercise.
There are other areas of admin. where practical support would be very welcome, such as keeping a spread sheet up-to-date with details of projects, payments made, reports received etc. Anyone who feels they have expertise and time to spare, please contact a Board member.
The Board agreed to make the first half of our contributions to Mithra and SDIA for 2007. That is, £3,500 in each case.
It was also agreed to honour our pledge to Clearpath International to donate £2,500 this year.
The Board agreed to contribute £1,000 towards an evaluation exercise for Associacion Vivir in Ecuador to enable it to be implemented in other countries and areas. More funds are needed for this.
The target figure for relief of the floods in Jakarta has now been met due to a generous donation from Japan.
The Board has agreed a short questionnaire for anyone who feels moved to raise funds for a project which is not known to the Board. The aim of this is to explore the viability of the project and its financial credentials so that sums are not raised which cannot subsequently be used for the original purpose. If members want to work through SD(B), we request that they approach a member of the Board before putting out an appeal or running fundraising events.
The Board is keen to improve its marketing, fundraising and website. It is hoped to work jointly with SDIA on some or all of these improvements.
Since Group Chairs are voting members of SD(B), it was agreed to keep them better informed by sending them the SDIA e-news, via Alexandra Martin.
The Board discussed our contribution to the Thank You celebrations in August. It was felt that these should be FUN, with as much involvement as possible from other wings, and a very light touch with publicity for SD. These are still to be finalised, but ideas that were floated include an evening of live music from around the world, an auction, and a ‘pub’-type quiz – not all the questions about SD projects !
Sjarifah Roberts is organising a fundraising effort at Thank You. She invites artists of all kinds to donate a piece of work (painting, needlework, collage etc.) no bigger than a CD case to be sold in aid of SD(B).
The next meeting is at Loudwater on 19th/20th May 2007.