The First Tee of the Inland Northwest
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
October 11th, 2016
A meeting of the Board of Directors (the “board”) of The First Tee of the Inland Northwest was held on October 11th,
2016 at Coldwell Banker Tomlinson South in the upstairs conference room.
Directors Present:
Kathy Bixler
Anthony Buergel
Tom Cochrane
Randy Fosseen
Sharon Fosseen
Mike Leslie
Cajer Neely
Sheryl Ossello
Katie Prugh
Steve Prugh
Trevor Shoemaker
Brian Solinger
Steve Storey
Mollie Sweat
Tom Thoen
Bob Witte
Also Present Were:
Bob Heck, Director of Golf/Programs
Kari Lukas, Admin Assistant
Kelsey Parker, Executive Director
Gerry Bulger, guest
Directors Absent:
Yvette Bendickson
Chris Jensen
Ryan Lee
Dave Sposito
Call to Order
Steve Storey called the meeting to order at 12:57 p.m. and Kari Lukas recorded the minutes. A quorum of directors was
present and the meeting, having duly convened, was ready to proceed with business.
Kelsey Parker showed the new The First Tee of the Inland NW Public Service Announcement designed and produced by
Little Fish Productions at the request of the Community Awareness Committee.
Introductions
Kelsey Parker introduced new board members Sharon Fosseen, Katie Prugh, and Cajer Neely.
The remaining board members, staff and guest introduced themselves.
Board Member Responsibilities
Kelsey handed out the Board Member Responsibilities and new board roster and asked the board members to sign and
return the Board Member Responsibilities form prior to the end of the meeting.
Treasurer Report
Board member Anthony Buergel reported that 107 golfers participated in the annual golf tournament held at Circling
Raven Golf Course on September 22nd, 2016. The golf tournament was a successful fundraiser and brought in just over
$20,000 net. The Inlander newspaper provided an in-kind donation of $2,000 of advertising to help with community
awareness of The First Tee.
Treasurer Anthony Buergel handed out the January through November 2016 profit and loss statement, fundraising
results YTD, and cash balance history. Anthony reviewed each category and answered questions of the board.
Tom Cochrane moved that we approve the consent agenda and objectives and Steve Prugh seconded.
Program Director Report
Bob Heck provided a PowerPoint presentation to update the overall progress of registration, financial aid and volunteer
involvement for 2016. Bob stated that, although programs were shy of the 600 participant goal, we should have no
problem meeting that number in 2017 with the start of the Travelling Life Skills Program. The Travelling Life Skills
program did not get up and running this year due to lack of cooperation with the school district and lack of volunteers.
Next year we will be partnering up with Community in Schools who will be a liaison between the school and The First
Tee and help provide volunteers. Recruiting and retaining volunteers continues to be a challenge for programming.
Executive Director Report
Kelsey reported the home office visit on August 31st, 2016 from Hugh Smith, Director of Regional Affairs and Cathy
Wagner, VP of Philanthropy went well. Both Hugh and Cathy were pleased with the number of board members present
at the meeting and had the opportunity to meet a past The First Tee participant now playing golf for U of O and PGA pro
Wendy Ward. They also took the time to tour the 3-Hole Project with Steve Storey, Mike Leslie, Anthony Buergel and
Bob Heck.
Kelsey met with Alan Ross of Ross Printing who prints our giving campaign materials to see about changing our materials
to reduce the price. Together they were able to change the design and reduce the price from $1.00/each to $0.22/each.
The giving campaign materials went out in the mail the week of October 8th, 2016 which is well ahead of last year which
went out at Thanksgiving.
For the last 3 - 4 months Kelsey’s main focus has been the annual golf tournament which was held September 22nd,
2016. Thank you to the committee, sponsors and participants. The fundraiser exceeded the goal and brought in just
over $20,000.
Although Kelsey is not a golfer, she participated in 3 tournaments this summer and has a better understanding of the
golfing “world”. Her team even took 2nd place in one of the tournaments.
Raffle tickets were sold during the golf tournament for a Porsche golf club bag and polo shirts donated by
Porsche/George Gee. Tickets were also sold during a small event September 23rd, 2016 held at Elements Massage.
Porsche matched contributions up to $500 and Elements Massage matched contributions up to $500. Approximately
$1500 was raised from this fund raiser.
Kelsey is taking a leadership class from Bill Wrigglesworth. She attends 2 x month for 4 months.
Kelsey also joined Spokane Kiwanis Club and attends 2 lunches/month and continues her commitment with Junior
League.
Recent grants being written are Women Helping Women, Safeway, and Inland Northwest Community Foundation.
Pacific Mountain Regional Meeting Recap
September 29 -30, 2016
Phoenix, AZ
Bob and Kelsey both attended the Pacific Mountain Regional meeting in Phoenix. Joe Barrow, Chief Executive Officer of
The First Tee since 2000, will be retiring after the 20 year network meeting in Orlando in November 2017.
The Phase 5 goal will be rolled out at the network meeting in November 2017 and it is projected that The First Tee will
have impacted 10 million youth by the end of 2017.
Participant registration and donor and event management will be moving to a new Cloud based software program called
Sales Force. Kelsey was told not to extend eTapestry because of this change. Sales Force will cost $2,500 - $7,000
annually. Participant registration will change over January or February 2017, volunteer/coach management will change
over in 2018 and donor management will change over in 2019. Bob and Kelsey were told to expect 3.2% of the annual
budget to be allocated to technology and software. The question was asked whether or not we will lose the current
participant history we have in Active Network. Bob reported that all participant history will transition to the new
program and that we can expect the transition to Sales Force to be good for our chapter. He reported that we are slated
to transition over in February which translates to opening registration for 2017 2 - 3 weeks later than normal.
Registration normally opens the weekend of the Golf Show which is 6 weeks prior to the start of classes. He is working
with the head office to see if we can move the transition date up to January. We will not be able to use Sales Force for
registration for the Manito Auction in April so considering Greater Giving for this event.
Kelsey attended symposiums on governance and Bob attended symposiums on programming.
Programs
Bob reported new ideas regarding:
 developing after school Life Skills classes at Spokane District 81 schools in partnership with
Community in schools
 modifying league play to incorporate other golf courses to make the league more competitive
 developing incentives for teen retention
 how to incorporate STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in classes
 implementing technology
o tablets
o cell phone apps
o swing assistance
o trackman
 reorganizing the National School Program
o identify participating schools
o reallocating equipment from school not participating in NSP
o foster a NSP champion - Community in School
o pinpoint areas and communities interested in NSP
o implementing DRIVE
We will be evaluated by home office staff in 2017. They will be specifically looking for:
 Life Skills experience delivery
 Building blocks of coaching
 Classes being mastery and activity driven
Program Expansion
It is unrealistic for The First Tee of the Inland NW to expand much beyond our current program locations
and think that it can be run the way our existing locations are being run. Bob is exploring options for franchising
The First Tee of the Inland NW so the participant numbers are reported under our umbrella but the programs
are run and staffed through the golf course.
Governance and Fund Development
BOARD
COMMITTEES
VOLUNTEERS
DONORS
AMBASSADORS
Kelsey learned that committees should not be limited to board members and that governance should be viewed
as a pyramid such as above.
When working and communicating with the above people involved in The First Tee one should not rely on only
email as a form of communication but be willing to make phone calls and meet in person.
Many boards have a set give and get policy. That means each member of the board is required to donate a fixed
dollar amount each year. Our policy is that each board member should give commensurate with their ability.
We celebrate that we have 100% giving on our board.
With fund development Kelsey learned that donors must be charitable - meaning they already give to a cause in
which they believe. They must believe in our mission and they must have connectivity with our board. 65% of
volunteers give monetarily to the organization for whom they volunteer. A goal is to work towards a more
engaging stewardship policy.
Research shows that 2.6% fewer children are playing sports such a soccer and football due to risk of injury,
quality of coaches, cost of participation and the emphasis of winning over having fun. However, participation in
youth golf has increased!
OBJECTIVES - Review of Action Plans
What do we do? Impact youth in our community. Kelsey distributed a handout she received at the regional
meeting that illustrates the impact The First Tee has on youth over time.
We will succeed through building educational programs that are mastery and activity driven.
We need to prioritize items of importance. Kelsey stressed the importance of each committee maintaining their
meeting schedule whether or not she is able to be present. Committees need to be self-sustaining and there
needs to be a clear job description for the committee chair and committee co-chair.
NON- EVENT REVENUE COMMITTEE - Action Plan Review
Discussed the importance of corporate donations and legacy giving as means to prevent loss of revenue when
event fundraisers don’t draw the projected amount budgeted.
Changed fundraising goal projections:
Manito Auction
Golf Tournament
Corporate Contributions
Individual contributions
Grants
$125,000 → $ 100,000
$ 75,000 → $ 42,500
$ 25,000 → $ 67,500
$ 20,000 → $ 67,500
$ 50,000 → $ 30,000
It was discussed that corporate contributors don’t want to blindly donate to an organization. They would prefer
to donate to a specific program the organization wants to implement/