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MINUTES OF MACA BOARD MEETING – 9/20/2015
President N. Smolensky called the September Board Meeting to order at 4:34 PM at New England Sports Academy in Westwood. Seven people were in attendance: President Nathan Smolensky, Treasurer Robert Messenger, Clerk Nicholas Sterling, and Directors Jeffrey Caruso, Paul Arond, Steven Frymer, and Stephen Dann.
Minutes of the July Board Meeting were distributed by N. Sterling, and a couple of minor corrections requested. * * MOTION made by S. Dann and seconded by R. Messenger to approve the July Board Meeting Minutes; with 2 abstentions, the MOTION passed. * *
Treasurer’s report, covering the period May-July 2015, was read by R. Messenger:
(a) (i) (1) Net income of the General Fund this period as of 7/31/15: $4113.35. (2) Net income of the General Fund this period as of 7/31/14: $3008.75.
(ii) (1) Special Fund income this period as of 7/31/15: $315.70, with $128.03 dividends. (2) Special Fund income this period as of 7/31/14: $229.96, with $121.01 dividends.
(iii) (1) Special Fund expenses this period as of 7/31/15: $308.83. (2) Special Fund expenses this period as of 7/31/14: $153.19. (iv) (1) Special Fund net income this period as of 7/31/15: $6.87. (2) Special Fund net income this period as of 7/31/14: $76.77.
(v) May-July 2015 Changes in Fund Balances: $4120.22. (vi) Total Assets as of May-July 2015: $75976.84. (vii) Reserve for Chess Horizons Expenses: $1545.00 (or $515/month). (viii) Reserve for Tournament expense: $1100.00 (prizes for Most Interesting Games from the 2015 MA Open that were not awarded until September, 2015).
(b) R. Messenger reported that he had not yet set up the bank annuities voted in at the last Board Meeting, but he would aim to do so before the end of the next Board Meeting.
Tournament: (a) R. Messenger reported that the New England Open made a profit of $2032.64, up from $849.07 in 2014, and had 263 players (129 adults and 134 Scholastics), up from 177 in 2014. The Scholastics number alone nearly doubled from last year. Part of the reason for the big jump was the extra publicity R. Messenger did (extra postcard mailings to Scholastics) thanks to a $500 grant for increased publicity from NECA voted in at its 2014 Meeting. $4000 in prizes were awarded (the same as last year), plus $120 in Blitz prizes. The site was judged as excellent (far more convenient than the Leominster hotel) except for the misfortune of a great deal of noise (mostly music and motivational speeches) from the adjoining room and the hotel lobby.
(b) Two upcoming Tournaments: (ii) Greater Boston Open, 10/18/15, at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough; (iii) Pillsbury Memorial, 12/6/15, at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough.
Scholastic: (a) S. Frymer reported the upcoming Scholastics calendar: (i) 1st Spiegel Cup Qualifier, 10/4/2015, at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough; (ii) 2nd Spiegel Cup Qualifier, 11/8/2015, at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough;
(iii) Fall Team Tournament, 11/22/2015, at the Holiday Inn in Boxborough; (iv) 3rd Spiegel Cup Qualifier, 12/13/2015, at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough;
(v) Winter Team Challenge, 1/24/2016, at the Holiday Inn in Boxborough; (vi) Hurvitz Cup, 4/3/2016, at the Holiday Inn in Boxborough.
(b) Three other events need to be scheduled: (i) The Gus Gosselin Grade Championship may be scheduled on 1/3/2016 at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton. (ii) The 4th Spiegel Cup Qualifier may be scheduled for the first or second weekend in March. (iii) The Spiegel Cup Final will be scheduled in late March.
(c) The first Spiegel Cup Series was held that day at the Papa Gino’s in Waltham. About 30 players attended, and the space proved too limited to accommodate such a large group and the regular crowd of restaurant customers.
(d) Additional Spiegel Cup Series events are scheduled for 11/15/2015 in Lynn, 1/17/2016 at NESA, and 1/31/2016 at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton.
Membership: (a) R. Messenger read the Membership numbers as follows: Adults: 213
(+2); Junior 450 (+22); Life 205 (=); Affiliate 7 (=); Complimentary 1 (-10);
D. Library 5 (=); D. Subscriber 14 (=); Exchange 15 (=); Library 1 (=); Prison 345 (+24); Subscriber 9 (-1). Total change in Membership and Subscribers: +37.
(b) Most of the additional Junior Members signed up at the New England Open.
(c) The drop in Complimentary by 10 accounts for N. Smolensky’s deciding not to receive 10 issues of _CH_ from MACA any longer so that his home address does not appear on copies that he gives out.
Publications: (a) N. Smolensky reported that the next issue of CH was in progress; he was planning to include games from the 2015 MA Open as well as a large assortment of unannotated games. Once he gets all the scores of the Most Interesting Games entered, he can include those as well. In general, getting timely contributions from columnists has been a big problem. (b) R. Messenger said that this issue would need to be a double issue because we had already missed our deadline for a single Summer Issue three months ago (today was the day a single Fall Issue would have to come out). N. Smolensky said that he would prefer to work out a schedule that would allow him to get four single issues out.
Promotions: (a) N. Sterling read the following report submitted by Promotions Chair Edward Chiu:
“The Promotions Committee continues to support the efforts of various MACA committees with marketing of activities and events.
“We continue to leverage social media to build the brand and image of chess in Massachusetts as a fun activity and a positive environment for people of all backgrounds and interest level.
“Various members of the Committee independently spread the word about NEO in July/August.
“We launched a photo submission campaign during the summer, where individuals or organizers can send photos of their chess activities to photos@masschess.org to be shared across the different channels (social media, Chess Horizons or website). We received a number of pictures that were posted. Please visit the different pages to view them.
“Edward touched base with Johnny Sadoff regarding his comment about Hubspot at the last meeting. Hubspot has a social media management software offering that allows clients to manage multiple social media accounts. There are a number of vendors similar to Hubspot (e.g. Radian 6, Sprinklr, Cision, Brandwatch, Sysomos, etc). These vendors charge a monthly subscription fee for the software.
“Tiffany also added MACA's Twitter feed to the homepage.”
(b) S. Dann raised the following questions that will need response from the Promotions Committee: (i) Will other vendors besides Hubspot be used or considered? (ii) Will Tiffany research and release the figures of how often the MACA website is read (an impression exists that the MACA website is hardly ever consulted)? (iii) Were photos actually submitted and published, and has credit been provided for those photos? (iv) Will links be published either on the website or on Facebook of MA-player-related news events, such as about Sam Sevian or the Zhao brothers?
Education: (a) N. Sterling reported that he has reached out by e-mail to the coaches listed on the MACA Coach/Instructor website to ascertain which ones would like to receive requests for instructors, especially after-school weekly classes in schools (Recreation Department or Community Education programs). This way he will have responses to these requests when they come to him through the website portal. Gradually the Education Committee needs to increase the list of contacts. R. Messenger said that individual ones could be reached by phone.
(b) N. Smolensky said that he would continue the educational work he has started in Medford that was recently published on Facebook.
(c) N. Smolensky also said he was getting ready to locate the pilot schools for the MACA Early Education Initiative (for which the acronym MEETTI is the alternative name used by the MACA Board internally).
(d) S. Dann asked whether the Education Committee will hold an Expo in 2016 in Boston in January (Danny Kopec will be at the Boston Chess Congress to do game reviews). N. Sterling said he will reach out to his list of Education Expo contacts to see if anyone will be interested in putting anything on display.
Old Business: N. Smolensky said that the Boston Red Sox may plan a chess event next spring.
New Business: (a) * * ADVANCE MOTION (915-1) made by S. Frymer and seconded by R. Messenger: “Moved, to transfer $2000 from General Funds to the Life Membership Account.” The argument in favor was that the Life Membership Fund, no longer funded by investment income as was the case before 2008 (when MACA liquidated almost all of its market investments), needed some extra income in order not to run dry (it is not funded by Membership dues) in covering expenses for mailing CH to Life Members. However, the argument against was that this was not an urgent need because the Life Membership Fund would not be exhausted for another 15 years. S. Dann MOVED THE QUESTION; the VOTE was taken; with three votes in favor, three against, and one abstention, the MOTION was defeated. * *
(b) * * ADVANCE MOTION (915-2) made by S. Frymer and seconded by R. Messenger: “Moved, to transfer $2000 from General Funds to the Prison Fund Account.” The argument in favor, which was seen as compelling, was that most prisoners are indigent and cannot pay even a modest sum for a Membership or CH copy, so that this is a worthy charitable effort (and is paralleled by a similar USCF program) to mail magazines to prisoners. At present the program is kept afloat mainly with outside donations, and CH’s main expense is the fixed one of getting it edited and printed, not the incremental one of mailing it to recipients. P. Arond MOVED THE QUESTION; the VOTE was taken; the MOTION passed UNANIMOUSLY. * *
(c) * * ADVANCE MOTION (915-3) made by S. Frymer and seconded by R. Messenger: “Moved, to transfer $1000 from General Funds to the Living Memorial Fund Account.” Once it was determined that LMCF had over $16,000 in balance, the MOTION was seen as unnecessary and was WITHDRAWN. * *
(d) * * ADVANCE MOTION (915-4) made by S. Frymer and seconded by R. Messenger: “Moved, that MACA reimburse NECA for the publicity expense
NECA incurred for the 2015 NEO.” This would restore $500 to NECA’s rather slim $5500 treasury and bring its balance back up to $6000, and would help fund the 2016 NEO should NECA choose to run it on its own. N. Smolensky MOVED THE QUESTION; the VOTE was taken; the MOTION passed UNANIMOUSLY. * *
(e) * * ADVANCE MOTION (915-5) made by S. Frymer and seconded by S. Dann: “Moved, that MACA Tournament Committee review options for organizing the 2016 NEO at the Holiday Inn in Boxborough.” The purpose of this Motion is to provide a MACA-based back-up proposal to NECA’s proposal to run the 2016 NEO with its own money, based on Alex Relyea’s request not to have to spend his own money should he organize the 2016 NEO. S. Frymer opined that NECA in fact is not really flush enough to handle an expensive tournament on its own. The assumption behind this MOTION is that no other bids will come in before the deadline of 11/1/2015.
N. Smolensky MOVED THE QUESTION; the VOTE was taken; with one vote against and one abstention, the MOTION passed. * *
(f) (i) * * ADVANCE MOTION (915-6a) made by R. Messenger and seconded by N. Smolensky: “Move to reimburse Percy Yip up to $500 in travel expenses for Carissa Yip to play in the World Youth Championship in Greece in October and November 2015, provided that she plays in the tournament.” (ii) AMENDMENT (915-6b): “Move to reimburse Ms. Zhao up to $500 in travel expenses for Winston and Maxwell Zhao to play in the World Youth Championship in Greece in October and November 2015, provided that they play in the tournament.” The purpose of the MOTION and its amendment is to provide merit-based support for MACA Scholastic players in specified overseas tournaments, such as the Denker, Barber, National Girls’ Invitational, and World Youth. S. Frymer MOVED THE QUESTION; the VOTE was taken; with one abstention, the MOTION passed. * * (iii) It was stated that there should be a more regularized process for granting these travel rewards, including a formal application process.
(g) * * ADVANCE MOTION (915-7a) made by R. Messenger and seconded by N. Smolensky: “Move to authorize the Tournament Committee to organize the Massachusetts Senior Open as an annual championship tournament open to players aged 50 and above.” MOTION (915-7b) made by J. Caruso and seconded by R. Messenger to POSTPONE MOTION 915-7a until the next Meeting. The VOTE was taken; with one abstention, the MOTION to POSTPONE passed. * *
(h) * * MOTION (915-8) made by N. Smolensky and seconded by
S. Dann, with a FRIENDLY AMENDMENT by R. Messenger, to authorize the MACA President to spend up to $150 to acquire a post-office box in Harvard Square in Cambridge to be used as the official address of MACA. The purpose of this MOTION is to relocate the official address away from R. Messenger’s address (in NH) and from George Mirijanian’s address in Fitchburg (he is no longer on the Board) and from
N. Smolensky’s address (so that the official address is not pinned to a specific Board Member), all of which have been used in the past. The Cambridge P.O. box will be reasonably convenient for a few Board Members to check regularly so that important documents (such as IRS) are not overlooked. The projected cost is $102/year. The VOTE was taken; with one abstention, the MOTION passed. * *
President N. Smolensky adjourned the September Board Meeting at 7:59 PM. The date of the November Board Meeting was tentatively set at Sunday 11/1/15 with time and place TBD. [CLERK’S Note: The date was subsequently changed to 11/15/15, and the time and place were set at 4:30 PM at New England Sports Academy in Westwood.]
Respectfully submitted,
Nicholas Sterling, Clerk
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