Spring 2017 Board Meeting

The team has been assembled!

On Monday, March 13 Cedar Rapids Ultimate held its first board meeting of 2017 and we now have a record-setting six board members.

I’d like to offer quick congratulations and welcome aboard to our 2017 Board:

• Eric Hart: President
• Austen Bruns: Vice President
• Chris Ryan: Treasurer
• Janessa Weightman: Secretary
• Gabe Etzel: At-Large
• Justin Cohanim: At-Large

Along with extra muscle on the board, we have some folks committed to volunteer on a year-long basis (and we could use a few more if you’re interested).

Feel free to read our meeting notes below to see what was discussed.

Thanks and we hope to see you all at pick up once this snow melts!

Eric Hart, Board President

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Cedar Rapids Ultimate

Board Meeting Notes – 3/13/17

Attendance:

Eric Hart

Nick Ludwig

Justin Cohanim

Chris Ryan (aka Bruce)

Janessa Weightman

Austen Bruns

Gabe Etzel

 

Elections:

• Voted in new board members:
  • Justin C.
  • Janessa W.
  • Austen B.
  • Gabe E.
• Elected Board Members to official positions:
  • President: Eric
  • Vice President: Austen
  • Treasurer: Bruce
  • Secretary: Janessa

 

Treasurer Updates:

• No updates financially, we will have the financial report at the next board meeting in April
• We have approximately 60 discs and many shirts
• We are looking at purchasing a sign/banner to use at marketing events
• We are also looking at creating business cards for CRU to hand out (would include logo, email, and website)

 

Upcoming Events

• Pickup starts the first week in April
  • Pickup will run until fall daylight savings time
• Hat Tournament on June 17th
  • Location and start time TBD
• Youth Camp starts on June 19th
  • This will run for two weeks
• OCO is on March 25th and 26th-CRU volunteers are needed!

 

In addition to the elected board member positions we also have volunteer positions. These volunteer positions can be (but are not limited to) the board members and are a great way to get involved with CRU! Below are descriptions of each volunteer role, who currently fills that role, and the discussion from each section of the board meeting.

 

Open Positions: We currently have two unfilled roles (Social Media Manager and fundraising). If you are interested in one of the open positions please email: cedarrapisdultimate@gmail.com

• Social Media Manager: Boost our online presence by increasing the effectiveness and consistency of our posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a blog hosted on our website
• Fundraising: Plan, organize and implement annual fundraising strategy that builds a sustainable base of donors

 

Filled Positions:

• Programming Director (Eric): Lead, plan and organize Ultimate events
  • Goals for the year are to increase membership
  • Keep tiered structure for weekly pickup games
    • Tuesday: Loose Pickup
    • Thursday: structured pickup
  • Focus on youth camps and opportunities (since the youth are the future!)
• Finances (Bruce): Manage budget, merchandising and tax requirements
  • Our main source of income is donations
  • Our yearly fundraising goal is $3000
  • We would like to do more fundraising events
    • For example: last year we held a viewing party for the College Nationals
  • Also discussed: creating an official budget
• Volunteer Coordinator (Janessa): Recruit, coordinate and supervise volunteers
  • Currently we have two types of volunteers
    • Coaching Volunteers: this would include those who are interested in helping coach at youth camps and other events as well as the helper volunteers who will help keep events running smoothly
    • Marketing Volunteers: this would include volunteers who come to tabling events or help promote Ultimate during other events
  • We are also looking for volunteers to help at ultimate related events in the community:
    • Cedar Rapids Sport and Social: help explain the rules to people new to the sport and encourage spirit of the game to both new and old players
    • Old Capitol: Looking for “field ambassador” volunteers to help report scores and call caps
• Promotions Director (Austen): Oversees the marketing and promotion of events with an emphasis on increasing attendance
  • We are looking for ways to get the word out about ultimate
    • Potentially setting up Kiosks at the mall
    • Working with KZZA Radio or Z102.9 to get more info out
    • Connecting with HS players
    • Working with Bruce (treasurer/finances) to look at cool marketing ideas (including but not limited to: logo’d-koozies, hats, water bottles)

 

• Community Development (Gabe): Build meaningful and beneficial relationships with other organizations in the area, including both nonprofits and businesses
  • The goal is to create lasting partnerships with local businesses, high schools, and youth programs
    • Work with our existing community connections to bring ultimate to HS gym classes
    • Janessa has also suggested doing an ultimate enrichment program with Kids on Course (3rd-5th graders at 3 elementary schools)
    • Eric has also mentioned connecting with Jane Boyd, Boys and Girls Club, etc
    • Gabe works for a youth non-profit and has connections
• WebMaster (Nick): Manage and improve our website, including basic web design and updates when new events, news or merchandise are available
  • Nick: What is the main function of the website? (Discussion)
    • • Source of new info? Getting donations? Recruiting new members? Event registration? All of the above?
    • Using the website as the hub for all of the info which then can be cross-posted to all of our social media accounts.
  • Discussion about communicating event updates: There is an app called “Remind” which Nick will check out (it is a text message based app used by teachers to communicate with students and parents about closures, homework, etc. We could use this for pick-up updates, tournament reminders etc.)
  • Nick will create accounts for everyone on the website and separate email accounts for all volunteer positions
  • Posts (formerly known as blogs):
    • Bruce suggested also discussed doing tournament write-ups to post to the website.
    • Nick can write up copy for us if we send the information.
    • We want to revisit the branding re: “blogs” and instead use posts
  • We have two facebook groups. One is the official CRU page and the other is more discussion based

 

Open forum:

• Discussed creating a tournament team (very c-team-esque)
• “Gabe needs to work on his defense”-Austen
• Discussed the idea of adding in spirit awards at pick-up (and giving away swag for spirit)
  • This would 1) get our logo out with community members and 2) hopefully encourage spirit of the game if there is swag on the line
• We would really like to work on advertising (aka SWAAAAGGGG)
  • Koozies, socks, water bottles, and trucker hats were suggested
• Discussed meeting frequency: Determined that meetings would be monthly on Tuesdays after one of our pick ups.