Science Iowa minutes
April 19, 2022
4:30 p.m.
Call to order
Dan called the meeting to order at 4:34. Present: Dan Chibnall, Ruth Henderson, Tom O’Donnell, Maurine Neiman, Nathan Steimel and Laurie Neuerburg. Member Cornelia Flora.
Approve the minutes of the March 17, 2022, meeting. See:
Ruth moves to approve; Nathan seconds. Approved unanimously.
Treasurer’s report – Ruth Henderson
We wrote a check to West Des Moines Parks and Recreation for $490 to cover shelters etc. for the Science Festival Trail. We had deposits of $5 and $24.01. Balance is $880.40 in checking and $120 in savings. A donation for $200 is on the way. Receipts went to two people who gave.
Old business:
2022 candidate survey – Tom O’Donnell
Riley Troyer from Connecting Science to Society has designed a nifty interface for the candidate responses. We have multiple organizations on board for the candidate questionnaire. The National Science Policy Network once again has asked us to participate in a nationwide effort.
Science Festival Trail: Updates; contacts for organizations; generating publicity through partner organizations – Ruth Henderson
Ruth has a spreadsheet of organizations we may want to invite. She wants board members to add to it, including contact information. She will write a check for the DNR trailer from her personal account since it is refunded.
Ruth will contact many organizations but there are others she will add. Iowa Public Health Association is a possibility. She also is seeking possible contacts for donations of things like free ice cream. Ruth also is seeking donations from Costco and similar companies. Reiman gardens, the Blank Park Zoo and Science Center of Iowa also are possibilities. Rather than reusable shopping bags, she suggests paper gift bags printed with our logo.
Other contacts updates: Ruth will seek student volunteers seeking silver cord hours, but the timing will be tricky because school will soon be out for the summer. Ruth will look at what she did before and go through the school soon.
Ideas for Facebook/website donation information – Ruth Henderson
If we want to put an incentive, we can put something on social media that directs people to our website to donate; for $20 or more we could send a water bottle. Ruth would be willing to send them out. Tom will write something seeking donations and noting that gifts are tax deductible.
Website updates – Ruth Henderson
Ruth moved things around and there’s now a donations tab at the top. The home page features the mission statement. If we host the candidate questionnaire answers, she suggests having something on the home page that takes them to it right away. After the primary, we would highlight the Science Festival Trail. She will archive old meeting minutes.
Grant applications – Tom O’Donnell
No news. Tom is seeking a way to get foundation information.
Quick reaction advocacy – Tom O’Donnell
Tom is thinking about this. He wants to establish a mechanism to alert members to act. This engagement is key to maintaining and attracting members. It probably would work best to get alerts from other organizations if we can arrange to receive them.
New business
Gmail inbox – Ruth Henderson
There are 350 emails in the inbox and Ruth wants to clean them up. She will seek to unsubscribe from some unwanted emails. She’ll work on granting access to the Gmail account to other board members.
Fundraising – Ruth Henderson
Ruth suggests searching for funds from organizations that donate to nonprofits. She also will work with Dan to see if we can succeed in getting Facebook nonprofit status if he submits the documents.
Member input and comments
Cornelia said she receives grant opportunities and she will forward them to Tom.