Dear Band Parents and Students,

1/4/2016

Happy New Year to you all and welcome to all the new and seasoned board members. In case you missed it on Facebook or the newsletter, the positions on the board are filled as follows: Tracy Cauble—President [email protected] 541-218-0243 Naomi Bell—Vice President [email protected] 541-441-2317 Jeannie Davis—Secretary [email protected] 541-507-7832 Deanna Huntley—Treasurer 920-420-3944 [email protected] Victory Walker & Candy Stange—PNW (V) 541-285-7674 [email protected] (C)541-761-7754 [email protected] Angie Newton—Trip Coordinator 541-761-9947 [email protected] Shawn Logue—Food Coordinator [email protected] 541-218-4485 Diane Wilder—Auxiliary 541-659-2082 [email protected] Lance Jackson & Christine King—Bingo 541-659-2082 [email protected] Krystal Clark—Uniforms 541-660-6656 [email protected] Elena Borngasser—Communication 541-295-0642 [email protected] Erin Lemoi—Fundraising 541-441-2008 [email protected] John Bell—Props 541-441-2224 [email protected] Marcia Fish—Parliamentarian 541-326-9418 [email protected] To simplify communications, please direct any questions you have with the corresponding board member of that subject (ie Guard items to Diane, prop needs to John, etc). If you have questions that have to do with any board member or their decisions, please direct them to the president or vice president only. If you have questions regarding policies of GPHS, academic decisions or school policies, please direct them to the band director, Joel Naegele. One improvement we are working on is communications. We know kids aren’t the best at relaying information, so we are implementing the “Remind” program for automatic text/email reminders. If you would like to participate, please text to the number 81010 and type @eborn. It will show you are part of the GPHS band boosters. We would also like to make sure we have everyone’s correct emails, phone numbers and addresses as we know many things change during the course of the school year. Please send that information to Elena Borngasser at [email protected]. We want all families to feel welcome into this exciting group and we encourage you to please get involved. All we ask is that if you commit to something, follow through. We know life happens, so just keep in contact as best as you can. We can do it together! Communications will be employed through Facebook, emails, texts, website, snail mail and monthly board meetings, so if you don’t know what’s going on, those are the places to look or you can call a board member. We also will be posting a copy or link to the booster by-laws on Facebook and the website in addition to a timely posting of the minutes from the monthly meetings. The by-laws, treasurer’s report, and meeting minutes are also available in hard copy from a binder in the band office. If you have any questions, suggestions or corrections, you will be able to contact Jeannie Davis, the secretary directly. This year has brought change for non-profit organizations through IRS laws (actually we are late in coming to this). This has changed how we conduct business as a booster organization here forth. These laws can be found at: http://www.tax.gov/NonProfits/FundraisingDonations/FundraisingGuidelinesCharities We have been meeting with counsel for many months and the reader’s digest version on how it applies to us as a non-profit and how we raise money is, essentially, profit that is earned through fundraising must be distributed equally among all enrolled band and guard students. The one exception is for one designated fundraising event annually. That designated event will be sponsorships as it is the highest yielding for those that choose to participate in it. Money raised by students for event sponsorships (such as PNW and Jazz Fest) will be divided with 50% going to the student account and 50% going to the booster account. All the other booster sponsored event earnings will be equally distributed to all enrolled students.

You probably are asking “how is that fair for my family/student to work to help pay for others?” Well, the IRS has left no alternative. So part of the cultural shift in band will be the expectation of each student/family to participate in at least 2 fundraising events per year to distribute the load more equally. When we state “events” this does not mean that you serve one shift at Bingo and an hour at horse races and you are done. This means that if you commit to Bingo, then you are involved for a season as an example. Some may continue to pay their band/guard fees outright and that is fine. We would still encourage you to participate in events to build community and help the program succeed. While change is typically hard, this change could be a positive for all of the band families. Basically, what it means is that the more the boosters earn as a group through all of our fundraising efforts, the more profit there is to share between all students. If we all pull together and work hard at our booster sponsored events, the result could be to greatly reduce band fees that all families need to pay in August. We, the booster board, are feverishly working on major changes in the fundraising choices we make this coming year and are hoping to broaden some existing events while eliminating smaller, less profitable ventures. The greatest hope is that we can have two to three large scale events (such as PNW) and a couple ongoing events (such as Bingo) and that these will financially cover the majority of the students. The board’s goal is to make all student fees attainable because the alternative is truly grim. Without every family volunteering for at least 2 events a year, we run the risk of no longer having a booster club which means every student is responsible 100% for their fees, including raising those fees to cover the food, lodging, uniforms, equipment, props, travel and field maintenance fees (all of which the boosters currently cover). This could possibly be upwards of $700 per student depending on the program needs. None of us want this. As we move forward with fundraising, we ask that you each commit to at least 2 events, because many hands make for light work! Erin Lemoi, the fundraising chair, has put together a finance committee so that we can work together to discover the best, most profitable arenas to raise funds. If you would like to be a part of this high energy group, or just have great ideas to put for the, please contact Erin. Right now, we intend to retain Bingo, PNW, Sponsorships, Horse races and a spring jazz event. Bottles and Cans will be run independently of boosters and you can contact Erin for more details. As we begin working towards this culture and practice shift, please know it will take time to work it all out and we may not have all the answers at our fingertips, but we do have reliable resources working with us to figure it all out. Please feel free to ask questions and make suggestions. You can contact Tracy Cauble at [email protected] or Naomi Bell at [email protected] with your questions or comments. We will all work together to keep this amazing program moving forward and supported with all of your help! Sincerely, The Band Booster Board