Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Providence Singers 

Held via ZOOM

September 16, 2024

 

Present.

Mell Roca, Chair. Members: Josh Krugman, Bradford Louison, Terry Karaniuk, Allison Picard, Kyleen Carpenter,  James Burress, Matt Anderson, Matt Balsamo, Alexa  MacMullen and Andrew Broten. Elaine Cunningham, Christine Noel, ex officio.

 

The meeting was called to order at 7: 05 p.m. A motion to allow the minutes of the June 3, 2024, meeting was unanimously allowed. 

 

All of the members introduced themselves to the new members of the Board.

 

Artistic Director’s Report.

 

Christine Noel discussed the following;

 

The Lindemann Performing Arts Center at Brown University will not be available this year for outside groups and thus any plans for the Singers to use it for a performance will have to wait until it is next available, hopefully next year. 

 

Dr. Noel conducted a successful round of auditions. Among the new Singers were seven new tenors and basses. There is a rise in BIPOC interest in the Singers, strengthening and cultivating membership reflective of our community.

 

Dr. Noel discussed the RI Philharmonic’s new dress guidelines and recommended that the Singers adopt similar dress for performances with the Philharmonic and those performances which are self-produced. Highlights of the new dress guidelines are that sopranos and altos may wear jackets and tenors and basses will wear a black suit or tux, with a white shirt open at the collar, with no bow tie.

            

Executive Director’s Report.

 

Elaine Cunningham discussed the following;

 

(From Elaine’s written FY24 Overview)

 

Finance

 

The Providence Singers ended the fiscal year in a solid financial position, outperforming our FY24 budget and ending the year with cash reserves of $93,698. Our investments with Fidelity and the Rhode Island Foundation totaled $320,436.

 

The FY24 Financial Statement (not yet reviewed) shows a Net Revenue of $48,586, which reflects the strong performance of our investments.  Without the investment revenue, the FY24 operating deficit was $6,565—not quite break-even, but a considerable improvement upon the budgeted deficit of $23,127. 

 

Fundraising

 

Donations: Total individual contributions exceeded budget projections by over $15,000, for a total of $90,766. 

 

Program ad sales were stronger than in recent years, with three full-page ads and several smaller paid ads (total of $1,950.) All paid ads resulted from Trustee and Singer connections. 

 

Grants:  We received general operating grants from HMF Foundation, Carter Family Foundation, the June Rockwell Levy Foundation, Blackbaud Giving Fund, and an anonymous grant from the Rhode Island Foundation. Project grants in support of the Considering Matthew Shepard concert included RISCA, Choral Arts New England, and the Providence Tourism Council. 

 

Fundraising events:  401Gives raised $10,455, thanks to a $5,000 matching donation. The annual fruit fundraiser organized by Beth Zarlengo netted over $1,000. The Online Summer Yard earned $196, which has been applied to financial assistance for FY25 Singers.

 

Audience Development 

 

Concert attendance:  Considering Matthew Shepard had the strongest draw, with 685 tickets sold or comped. The combined audience for the two performances of Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil was approximately five hundred. Approximately three hundred people attended A Night at the Opera. The Mozart Requiem community sing drew approximately 140 singers. Audience development efforts for all events focused heavily upon community-building. 

 

Administration Update

 

Website and CRM:  During the early stages of implementing Choir Genius this summer, it became apparent that some of the functions were insufficiently robust, which, combined with the implementation demands and the significant fee reduction offered by current website platform, suggested that keeping the website on the Wix platform for the coming season was a reasonable approach.

 

To handle CRM functions, Elaine will continue to use QuickBooks Online to track donations, and she is working with a volunteer programmer to design a custom solution using a free, table-based app. This will integrate concert attendance, donor history and communications, new donor cultivation efforts, and membership records. This solution will address our needs with significantly reduced resources.

 

 FY25 Plans and Information, Available by request

 

Ad and sponsor solicitation package (print and digital)

Concert promotion materials (print and digital)

Volunteer opportunities

FY25 Marketing Plan

FY25 Resource Development Plan

Social media tracking:  Monthly outreach and audience development/engagement

YouTube tracking:  Video posting schedule and audience development/engagement. 

Online Grant schedule

Online Media Checklist

 

The FY 2025 Budget was shown and discussed, and Mr. Burress moved to accept the 2025 Budget which was seconded and unanimously approved. 

 

Budget and Finance Committee Report.

 

Jim Burress  incorporated the  previous discussion of the Budget as his report.

 

Dr. Noel added to Elaine’s discussion of the trial of the Choir Genius platform and stated that there were functions which did not work well, and she would prefer if Elaine used the other platforms.

            

Resource Development Committee Report:

 

Josh Krugman discussed the following;

 

Goals for individual donations both of Board members and members of the chorus. He discussed  the proposed spring gala benefit  concert for the Singers which is being planned as a recital by a hired artist. Chelsea Balser indicated that she was available, and Josh and Christine discussed the venue options. 

 

Governance Committee Report. 

 

Allison Picard  stated that the Committee will be sending out a survey to the Board members in order to assess individual skills and strengths. She reminded the members to complete the Pledge Form and Conflict of Interest statement. 

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Seeing as there were no further questions or business, a motion was made to enter into Executive Session which was seconded and approved at 7:52 p.m. Executive Session was thereafter adjourned and the Regular meeting was concluded by motion and unanimous vote at 7:56 p.m.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

/s/ Brad Louison

Bradford N. Louison, Secretary

September 25, 2024