Member Expulsion and tracking

Rob raises an excellent question: Have we done this before? His question also logically leads to a follow-on: Why is John insisting we do this?

Have we done this before?

Yes, we voted to expel Ms. Giacomo in May of 2023. Before that, I’m not sure if we ever expelled anyone in accordance with our bylaws. Maybe Bill will remember if there was an instance from our early days. I could also ask long-time president Joyce Faulkner.

Why am I so adamant that we do this?

The simple answer is that it’ll come back to haunt us if we don't.

Perhaps more important than expelling a member is ensuring that we have a system to document inappropriate behavior on the part of any MWSA member so that we have a written record.

Here are a few examples of which I’m aware involving MWSA members who:

  1. Repeatedly impugned the character and integrity of individual MWSA volunteers.

    1. The proverbial nail in Ms. Giacomo’s coffin was her repeated comment regarding Betsy’s gold star mother status: “My response to her was everyone has those kind of stories, and they do.” [sic]

    2. Can you imagine how Betsy felt reading this revolting comment twice?

  2. Sexually harassed a female MWSA member during a conference in Pittsburgh. Because this happened well over ten years ago (2010?), I can’t remember his name. As far as I know, the incident wasn’t documented anywhere (at least where it’s easy to find).

    1. I was present when this person made inappropriate remarks to another attendee in one of our breakout rooms. I don’t remember his exact words, but I remember being shocked when he dismissed another person's contributions, saying something like, “Don’t you worry your pretty little head lady.”

    2. If memory serves, he later made vulgar remarks to other women and did some inappropriate touching of another conference attendee. I have no direct evidence corroborating these allegations.

  3. Drunkenly interrupted an awards banquet by standing in the back of the banquet hall and yelling that since he was the only person who had submitted a book in his genre, he should have won a gold medal (rather than the “Honorable Mention” he was awarded). Our then-president had to physically escort this person out of the hotel. I can’t remember the name of this disruptive member because it wasn’t documented anywhere (as far as I know).

  4. Had repeated verbal altercations with several other MWSA members. Informal complaints were shared, but no record was kept. This person subsequently volunteered to serve on our board, but his name was withdrawn from consideration when his history was revealed by someone who remembered the complaints about his abrasive personality.

 I have no intention of allowing the MWSA board to become a “star chamber” expelling members willy-nilly. Nor should we be in the business of sharing unsubstantiated rumors regarding any member’s behavior. However, I imagine we can all agree that all the above examples should be documented and that at least the first two qualify for expulsion as outlined in our bylaws. The documentation should be completed immediately after the fact and stored electronically where we can easily find it. Otherwise, we must rely on our memories from 10-15 years ago. This record-keeping is vital for our membership secretary—our first line of defense!

 Action Required

Formalize system for tracking membership problems.

Dues Income: Impact and expectations from our tiered membership levels

Since this topic has come up several times, I thought I’d cover some data with the board. Sometimes a video is better than an explanation. ;-)

  • Sorry that the numbers are small and hard to read.

  • I’ve pasted a screenshot of the spreadsheet below (click to enlarge it).

Main Points

  • Our overall annual dues income has been relatively steady since 2018

    • Roughly $16,000 each year

    • Although total dues collected decreased immediately following the tiered membership discounting, our total dues income has leveled out for the past four years

    • Not sure why 2019 was noticeably higher

  • The benefit of the tiered dues system ( 1-, 2-, and 3-year membership with discounts of 0%, 10%, and 20%, respectively) has been worth the cost.

    • As mentioned above, overall income is holding steady

    • Renewal rates for the discounted memberships are high

    • So, we’ve addressed the perennial “one and gone” problem MWSA faced for many years.

  • Although our dues are “future income” (i.e., paid each month during every year), we can adequately plan our budget based on assumed income from dues.

Click to expand

Membership Directory

Due to concerns over privacy, we turned off our published directory.

Now that we have an opt-in system, It’s time to turn it back on to facilitate the “networking” that most of us consider an important member benefit.

Requirements

  • Agree to a system in WA

  • Ensure that it’s located in a secure, members-only part of the WA website.

  • Educate members about the directory

    • How to access it

    • Rules for use & penalties for misuse (i.e., using it to generate or share spam)

    • How to enable their participation, and what details they want to share.

Existing Information & Instructions

Bylaws

Most recent versions (Google Docs & PDF) are in a new “Bylaws” folder. Old versions moved to a separate subfolder (to make it easier to tell which is the current version).

Future Issues/Changes

  • Update who is the 9th voting member of the board. Right now, it’s Founder. Suggest we change to past president—always as a tie-breaker if required.

  • Update at-large board member portfolios?

  • Combine/clarify IV.3 Term of Office of Directors and IV.5.6a Term of Office of Officers.

Membership for Publishers

I think we could re-offer regular membership (the reason I invited Laura to do so), but the only real benefit might be the advertising discount (or maybe a free one once per year).

 As a member, some possible benefits:

  • Ability to submit News & Events (although most members don't)

  • Invite to submit articles to Dispatches

  • Publish free ads, or possibly discounted ads

  • Possibly be a presenter at one of our Writers Education Webinars

  • Have a free "booth" at our conferences

  • As you have already done, give them a space on our Member Resources page

I like this idea:  If the membership were granted to a publishing house, we could fairly easily extend the membership rate for conferences to anyone working there (rather then the first person to whom we granted membership).

[email exchange John and Val]

Joe Badal's $1000 donation

  • Offered during the San Diego Conference

  • Our conferences are the best that he goes to

  • Wants us to use the money to grow membership

  • If gifting/subsidizing membership, he prefers that recipients have “skin in the game.”

    • Use for discount; i.e., new member pays $10-25, he pays $40-25

    • Maybe they write something first.

  • Other possibilities

    • Use for general MWSA advertising (for new members)

    • Use to subsidize “half-off” membership sale. Problem, most new members have a book on the way—would have joined anyway.

    • Offer full-boat membership grants to active duty military (encourage younger membership).

I’d like the board to approve a plan of action during our next board meeting and run it by Joe.

Suggested Plan

○ What: Discount types run concurrently or by month to month and a half (from blast to the end of next month)

○ Types

§ Half-off to WYS

§ Half-off sale for anthology contribution* (if already a member, 6-month extension)

§ Half-off sale for Dispatches article* (")

§ 75%-off (or one-year free trial) for active duty military (verification?)

§ Recruit new at half off, get one-year extension free

§ Limited time upgrade from associate to 1-year for half off

○ How (i.e., must work in WA)

§ Create new level: 1-year special

□ Full membership benefits

□ NO auto acceptance (membership secy approves use of discount codes. Others automatic once payment clears.)

• Dispatches/anthology editors provide discount code after acceptance?

§ Keep track of total discount amount and stop at $1k--or use general funds to continue (after board vote).

How to use the Action Items, Info, and Discussion blog

  • This section of our admin page is in the form of a blog and is meant to replace “management via emails.”

    • Emails included reply-all email trails including board members who weren’t actively involved in the topic being discussed.

    • Reconstructing conversations and decisions proved difficult—often involving going back through scores of individual emails.

  • Topics…

    • are for your information or to provide background before you’re expected to vote

    • are listed in the order created/posted (i.e., not in order of importance).

    • can only be created inside our web hosting website (SquareSpace), so if you’d like to add a topic, please contact John or Val (or use the “Suggest a new topic or action” button on the main admin page).

  • Board members have two ways to contribute or react to the articles: Like or comment.

    • For our purposes, clicking “Like” (the little heart) means you’ve read and understand the info and have no further comments or questions.

    • Adding a comment is self-explanatory… well, except HOW to comment. Here are the steps:

  1. Once you’re inside an individual blog topic, scroll to the bottom of the page and click inside the comment box. (see image to the right)

  2. Write your comments. If you want to add more than a sentence or two, you might want to draft them in your word processor and then copy and paste them into the box. Unfortunately, there’s no capability to go back and edit your comments.

  3. After you’ve written or pasted your comments, click on the black “Post Comment ...” button.

  4. You’ll be asked to enter your name and email. Leave the “Website URL” box blank; it’s not required. (see image below)

  5. Click “Comment as Guest” to submit your response.

Our website works this way (even after you’ve signed in to the admin page) because we’ve opted NOT to set up user names and password-protected sections of the website. Email John if you’d like a more thoroughly geeky explanation. ;-)

Please bear with us as we all learn how to use this new system.

John

MWSA Board: general observations, communication, board meetings, and responsibilities

Val and John’s thoughts about the way our board should function

Stress busting and empathy.

  • MWSA has had many personality conflicts and resignations over the years. Although many volunteer organizations share this phenomenon, I’d like to address this issue as we begin our duties as a board by sharing a few observations, suggestions, and expectations (rather than waiting until our first meeting in December).

  • We all care about MWSA and often have strong feelings and opinions. We’re also human, so we’ll sometimes disagree. Let’s do our best to keep our cool, resolve our conflicts, and collectively make it to the end of our terms together!

  •  If you have a problem, please email or call me. If I’m the problem (recognizing that I’m often the bull in the China shop), please email or call Val. In my opinion, open communication is the key.

Board Communications. The danger of “Reply All” and overflowing inboxes

  • MWSA board deliberations have often occurred via almost interminable back-and-forth email trail sessions for the past decade-plus.

    • Many board members were included in the reply-all trails even though they weren’t involved or interested in the topic under consideration.

    • Often, new topics were introduced into the email trails and subsequently lost in the shuffle. Example: email initially titled "December Board Meeting" includes discussions about the conference and/or other programs and initiatives.

    • Then, once things were somewhat hashed out, reconstructing the dialog and decision-making—which required going back through scores of emails—has proven almost unworkable.

  • To address this issue, Val and I have agreed to try out a new system using the administrative section of our website. The words you’re reading now are posted in this new section.

  • The communication is not one-way. Everyone is encouraged to share their opinions via the comment section included at the bottom of this blog entry (and every topic/subject you see in this section—note the topics to the right of this page).

Board Meetings

  • Board meetings are not the time to learn about an issue for the first time and then vote to do something.

  • A considerable portion of board meetings are dedicated to passing information that, in many cases, might be better handled via read-ahead material.

  • Often, topics of discussion and read-ahead material were disseminated only a day or two (or even a few hours) before the meeting—not allowing much time to digest and consider the issue(s) at hand.

  • Several times, it became apparent that one or two board members did not read materials before the meeting. Val and I aren’t pointing any fingers. Instead, we need to insist that we publish agendas and provide details early enough to allow everyone time to prepare and be ready. Armed with the necessary info, it’s then up to board members to be prepared for each meeting.

Agendas and minutes

  • Val, Jim, and I have created a single document to hold the agendas and minutes of the entire year’s board meetings.

  • We expect this new document will make it much easier to record what we’ve already done and prepare for what we’ll do in the next meeting.

  • The agenda and minutes document is now posted on our admin page (see link at the top of the admin page or click here). Although the two most recent entries are still in draft form, you can check today and see the minutes from our September meeting that you’ll be asked to approve during our December meeting. You can also check out the current proposed agenda for December (which is very much a draft as I write this).

  • More details will follow, and you can expect us to do a quick run-through of our admin page during December’s Zoom meeting.

Online voting to handle pop-up/time-sensitive issues requiring board action, input, or buy-in

  • Although you’ll find out about these issues via email, Val and I would like to try to resolve them online via our admin page (rather than email trails) when possible.                                    

  • As an example, I wanted to try to have the board approve Hugh’s and/or Dane’s conference fee reimbursement. I tried out the new online voting spreadsheet to get everyone’s input, but it didn’t go very well—only four of us voted. Likely, the problem was my failure to describe the process and what I expected.

  • Well cover this system and its spreadsheet later—certainly during our December meeting.

Board member portfolios

  • The duties of our board executive committee (president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer) are pretty well outlined in our bylaws.

  • At-large members do not have specific portfolios or duties, which are neither expressly stated via bylaws nor by tradition. Frankly, this has led to some board members’ involvement in MWSA being restricted to four one-hour-long board meetings each year.

  • Val and I would like to have each at-large member take on at least one additional portfolio during their term in office. Examples might be to either chair or contribute to communications, membership, social media, website, corporate sponsorship and donations, veterans’ outreach, awards, etc. If you’re already interested in helping in a specific area, please let us know. Otherwise, you can expect this topic to come up in December.

Board member participation/work

  • Since it’s our primary membership benefit and draw, our review and awards system is at the heart of what MWSA does. As important as our other programs are, if we were to cease doing reviews and awards, it’s unlikely that MWSA would survive very long without it.

  • Because 1) it’s central to our mission, and 2) checking out as a reviewer only takes about 45—60 minutes, Val and I expect all board members to be familiar with our review and awards system by becoming a reviewer. Reviewing a book or two would be nice, but I won’t hold anyone’s feet to the fire on that.

  • Val and I would also encourage all board members to contribute at least one content item (i.e., Dispatches/email blast/social media/website article) per year. Heck, we’re all writers; we should be able to commit to writing a paragraph or three per year for MWSA. 😉

Your comments, suggestions, and questions are more than welcome!

2024-25 Conflict of Interest Statement

Our bylaws mandate that board members read and sign a conflict of interest statement each year. You do this via the following steps:

  1. Sign in to our admin page (https://www.mwsadispatches.com/mwsa-admin)

  2. Click on “Conflict of Interest” (4th line below page title—takes you to the bottom of the page)

  3. Read the Conflict of Interest document

  4. Click the black “Annual Conflict of Interest Statement” button to complete your annual sign-off form.

Click to see a larger image of this screenshot




Complete (as of 11/18/24): Bob Doerr, Val Ormond, Jim Tritten, and John Cathcart

Write Your Story (WYS)

Program Goals & Overview

2024 WYS in San Diego

Discussion Items

  • Is this program within the scope of our mission?

    • Nearly all current and former board members say, “Absolutely!”

  • Cost/Benefit

    • Val mentions that it’s hard to measure but fully supports

    • John agrees with Val, and I think continued support via our budget at similar levels is justified—especially in light of our large/comfortable cash balance. Also, agree that this program would be a great target for corporate sponsorship.

2025 Anthology

Issues

  • Would you like to have an entry page like Dispatches on the website?

  • Are we ready to start soliciting inputs by 1 Dec (with or without the entry page)?

    • Right now, our contact page sends folks to the Dispatches page for the anthology.

Background & Details

Submission Guidelines: https://www.mwsadispatches.com/mwsa-news/2024/11/mwsa-2025-anthology-submission-guidelines

Request for Proposals: Request for Proposals: Military Writers Society of America (MWSA) 2025 Anthology — Military Writers Society of America

(Older) From Bob:

We need a title that would be relevant to the content/submissions. I am terrible at coming up with titles. Snapshots and Untold Stories are two of our past titles. Both of which were good ones. We normally want our members to write about their experiences or the experiences of someone close to them. Any thoughts on a title?

I would like to open the submission window by Dec 1 and close it by Apr 1. Getting submissions has never been a problem. Finding a publisher could be. We should be able to just cut and paste the Request for Proposals we used for the last anthology and disseminate it as widely as possible. If we can get the final draft to the publisher by Apr 15, we should be able to get it published by Aug 15.

I'll work on finding editor/reviewers to help out, but we'll stipulate the submission should be ready to go before being submitted to us. The submissions will be short so reviewing them usually doesn't take much time.

Please send me your thoughts, so I can give the board more answers than questions at our meeting. Thanks - Bob D

  • Title/Content

  • Editor Volunteers

  • Publisher

Corporate sponsorship/donations

Action

  • Create a board position for corporate sponsorship

    • Neal Kusumoto, the only past incumbent

  • Need a better plan for donations:

    • updated donation page

    • ability/instructions for paying via check

    • New page on what we do with donations—what your donation dollars do, or how your donation dollars can go to specific MWSA programs

Notes

  • See Joe Badal’s donation blog entry

  • Scott Jones, Boeing

    • $1000 donation, attended conference

    • recontact?

2025 Conference

Location and Date

  • UPDATE (12/9): Poll results (25 participants)

    • Click for Poll Summary

    • Location tally

      • Nashville 9 45% (Jim can’t attend here)

      • Dallas 7 35%

      • Kansas City 4 20 % (Rob lives nearby and has offered to help with planning)

  • UPDATE (11/26/24). Only four board members provided input to our methodology, so we’re moving ahead with a poll to ask for input.

    • Only those who plan to attend (plus “maybes”) will be asked to vote.

    • We’ll ask for input on content, cost, and activities during the conference and MWSA programs and benefits (open to all).

    • We’ll take member input to fix and approve the location during our Dec 11 board meeting.

  • San Diego, so now mid or east

    • We traditionally alternate West of Mississippi, East of MS, central US

    • Last 8 conferences:

      • San Diego, CA

      • New London, CT

      • New Orleans, LA

      • Virtual (Covid)

      • “

      • Albuquerque, NM (joint w SWW)

      • Charleston, SC

      • San Antonio, TX

  • Top 3 from conf survey: Nashville, Kansas City, Dallas

    • In the conference survey spreadsheet below, click on “Location Tally” (at the bottom of the spreadsheet) to see the results from San Diego attendees.

  • Vote by membership on location and/or date

    • If we’re soliciting input on the date, I’d ask for a date range: i.e., end of Sept, or mid-Oct, or early November, etc.)

    • Date range constrained by awards schedule—earlier than mid-September tough-to-impossible. December is too busy. Also, need to allow time for travel planning for awards finalists.

  • We need to nail down the location and date soon to allow planning

    • My preference is to have our membership vote by the end of THIS MONTH (November), approve in our Dec 11 meeting, and announce after approval.

  • Organizer? Cathcart if no one else wants to run it.

2024 Conference Survey

 

Budget

12/6 Finance Committee Meeting

We agreed to annual deficits of $2000 to as much as $4000-5000 to whittle down the current $48k cash on hand. We further agreed on a target cash cushion of between $10k and $20k. $20k target.

We also agreed to stop segregating funds into separate programs, awards, and operations accounts. While those budget categories will, in effect, be maintained via our budget spreadsheet, we’ll no longer have to transfer funds between accounts to make necessary payments. We’ll also stop keeping the running totals of each account separately. As a result, from now on, the treasurer will report overall cash on hand (not broken down by the three accounts).

Regarding the 2025 conference, we:

  • Agreed to a new budget line item of “support to conferences” (paid via general funds instead of conference registration fees)

  • Included under this new line item (total estimated $2699):

    • Hotel subsidies to board members working during the conference from general funds (estimated at $1500).

    • $250 for a videographer during the awards banquet

    • A possible subsidy to conference presenters. We agreed that if we could figure out a practical way of providing a 10% subsidy of registration fees (approx. cost $413), we’d present more accurate numbers and methodology to the board for their consideration and approval.

    • $500 to cover any excess conference costs not covered/anticipated by the total income from registration fees.

  • The reimbursement for the hotel and conference fee to the awards director (s) was not included in the new line item because this expense is listed as part of the awards budget (and covered by awards submission fees).

  • Committee members will scrub existing line items in current budget spreadsheet. Hugh will align QuickBooks with these categories.

Action Items (for the above FinComm meeting)

  • Budget Spreadsheet

    • Agree to spreadsheet format

    • one for the finance committee and board, another for public/membership

  • Ways to address deficit spending

  • Ways to address “robust” cash on hand… i.e., deficit spending!

  • Create 2025 budget plan and submit for board vote by the 11 Dec meeting.

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