Permanent Board minutes | January 30, 2021

 21-1: Opening Worship and Welcome

After a period of opening worship the Clerk welcomed us to our meeting. We gather today for the conduct of God’s work and enter prayerfully into our task.

21-2: Roll Call

Present: Leslie Manning (clerk), Hannah Zwirner Forsythe (recording clerk), Travis Belcher, Peter Bishop, Deana Chase, Martin Zwirner Forsythe, Chris Gant, Kim Harvey Garcia, Beth Hansen, Ian Harrington, Rebecca Leuchak, Fran Lightsom, Ed Mair, Christopher McCandless, Jean McCandless, Gina Nortonsmith, Bob O’Connor, Anna Raddochia, Carole Rein, John Reuthe, Sara Smith, Elizabeth Szatkowski, Will Taber, Diane Weinholtz, Donn Weinholtz, Morgan Wilson, Kathleen Wooten, Tom Vargo, Mary Zwirner

Ex-Officio: Scot Drysdale (Finance clerk); Noah Merrill (secretary); Bob Murray (treasurer); Bruce Neumann (presiding clerk); Elizabeth Reuthe (secretary’s supervisor)

Visitors: Polly Attwood, Marian Dalton, Jeremiah Dickinson, Melissa Foster, Sarah Gant, Steve Gates, Andy Grant, Lisa Graustein, Elizabeth Hacala,  Janet Hough, Anna Lindo, Frederick Martin, Phebe McCosker, LouAnne McDonald, Heidi Nortonsmith, Suzanna Schell, Nia Thomas, Eleanor Warnock, Charlotte Wood-Harrington, Honor Woodrow, Rod Zwirner

Regrets: Darcy Drayton, Martha Schwope, Bill Walkauskas

21-3: Approval of December Minutes

The minutes from the Permanent Board’s December meeting were distributed for review. With one small correction, Friends approved the minutes from that meeting.

​​​​​​​21-4: Recommendations from the Sessions Planning Team on Sessions 2021

Bruce Neumann, presiding clerk, reported on the planning for Sessions 2021. In order to more nimbly respond to the ever-changing public health situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the planning for Sessions has been taken on by a smaller planning team than in the past, pre-pandemic. This team consists of Elizabeth Hacala, the Yearly Meeting (YM) events coordinator; Rebecca Leuchak, the Sessions Committee clerk; Noah Merrill, the YM secretary; and Bruce. Their full report is appended, and it is intended to be a framework for the planning that will occur over the next six months. It is not, and was not intended to be, a comprehensive plan for what Sessions 2021 will look like.

With sadness, the planning team shared their recommendation for a virtual Sessions again this year. Though we are hopeful about the progress being made on vaccinations there are still a lot of unknowns about the public health situation and the risks of attempting to gather with several hundred Friends. Additionally, given our aging population,  the planning team had concerns about how many Friends would feel safe attending a large gathering even though we yearn to be together in person. Though it feels early to some to be making a decision about a gathering for this summer, the abbreviated schedule for switching Sessions to a virtual gathering last summer really taxed the staff and volunteers responsible for planning. Starting earlier will allow for a less chaotic and more intentional period of planning.

Among the plans already in progress, Friends are excited about the invitation for teenagers to attend programming during the week of Sessions at Friends Camp; the plan for other youth programming to run at different times over the summer; and the intention for programming during the week to be more explicitly multigenerational. The YM will also work to support small local gatherings, as deemed appropriate in accordance with local public health guidelines and the capacity of the YM.

Friends had the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. One Friend asked how hearing accessibility would be managed with a virtual gathering because Friends' differing digital equipment can make sound quality challenging. The planning team intends to devote significant attention to accessibility concerns. Another Friend noted that there are also accessibility issues when we meet in person, at Castleton. We need to continue to ensure that Friends with accessibility concerns are included in the planning process from the beginning so that those concerns can be addressed up front, instead of in response to problems.

The planning team intends to bring a recommendation about both extending our contract with Castleton and extending our site search process at a future meeting.

Friends approved the proposed framework and direction for planning Sessions 2021.

​​​​​​​21-5: Requests for Financial Transactions

Noah Merrill, Yearly Meeting secretary, presented two requests for financial transactions for the Permanent Board’s (PB) approval: an application for a second round of funding from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP); and the transfer and authorization for use of the infrastructure fund. Details on both of these requests are in the appended report.

The first request, for application for funding from the PPP, asks that the PB:

affirms and approves the application by New England Yearly Meeting of Friends for a second-round forgivable loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), for the full amount for which NEYM (including Friends Camp) is eligible under the relevant legislation, up to $150,000. Noah Merrill, Yearly Meeting Secretary, and Leslie Manning,

Clerk of the Permanent Board, are authorized to execute any documents pertaining to this application process on behalf of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends.

Friends approved the request for formal authorization to apply for funding from the PPP.

The second request, for the transfer of funds and use of the infrastructure fund asks the PB to approve the following:

1. ​​​​​​​Permanent Board approves transferring and designating $20,000 from unrestricted operating reserves to the Infrastructure Fund for capital projects, and
2. ​​​​​​​The Yearly Meeting Secretary is authorized to use the Infrastructure Fund to support rebuilding the online registration system for Sessions, and to establish and integrate a new credit card payment processor and payment gateway for NEYM.

Friends approved the transferring of funds and the use of the Infrastructure Fund.

​​​​​​​21-6: Revisiting Recommendation on Stipends

At the Permanent Board’s December meeting the Reducing Financial Barriers to Leadership working group (RFBL) presented several proposals to support diversifying our leadership. Two of those proposals were approved but a decision on the RFBL proposal to give stipends to five leadership positions was held over until this meeting, after a lengthy conversation. Hannah Zwirner Forsythe, clerk of the RFBL working group, reminded the Permanent Board (PB) of the details of the stipend proposal. The proposal from RFBL is appended and details about the discussion from December can be found in PB Minute 20-112.

Friends had the opportunity to ask questions and share thoughts on the proposal since our December discussion. Friends’ feelings on the question of financial compensation for volunteer service continue to be complex. While we recognize the need to more fully support the Friends who do the work of our Yearly Meeting (YM), we wonder whether this specific proposal is the best way to support diverse leadership. We hope that taking on the experiment of stipending these leadership positions will be the beginning of increased support for all committee service.

After some discussion the clerk asked whether Friends would prefer for the rest of this agenda item to be clerked by someone else who would not benefit from the proposed stipend. Friends agreed that it would be appropriate for someone else who was not directly affected by the proposal to clerk and the Permanent Board asked Noah Merrill, YM secretary, to serve as temporary clerk of the Permanent Board for this discernment.

Noah spoke about the sacrifices he observes being made by the many Friends who serve the YM. As we struggle with the proposed stipends it is clear that we need to continue to examine the role of money in Friends’ gifts of service and ministry, both the ways money and our relationship to it constrain us, and how the faithful stewardship of financial resources can liberate us. The particulars may be less important than laboring with how we support one another. We recognize that serving the YM has historically required the privilege of time and money. There is privilege built into the structures of our YM and we seek to make that privilege available to everyone.

The goal of stipends is to liberate Friends from the financial binds of the world. But we also recognize that the proposal is limited—as written it will only benefit five Friends, and the Friends currently serving in those roles are Friends regularly called upon for leadership roles and not representative of the diversity of the YM. If we truly desire a more diverse leadership, we must support Friends throughout their committee service, and particularly early on.

As our discussion continued one Friend identified two competing themes that appeared, both in December's discussion and in today’s: Many Friends have deep discomfort with financial compensation for volunteer ministry, but Friends also feel gratitude for the stipend proposal and an interest in exploring whether the proposal will release more Friends for ministry. Friends long for our radical roots in which support for those called to ministry was dictated not by a YM structure but by a spiritual dedication to part the seas for those who must serve God’s kingdom on earth. Our relationship with the realities of the financial world is complex; we must still try to do God’s work.

Friends struggle to discuss money and our conversation reflected that. But we also expressed a real willingness to experiment with this proposal and to use this opportunity to discern who is truly called to serve and lead, without focusing on whether and what support they will need. We hope that the YM can shift to identifying Friends who are led to serve and then figure out how to support them—financially, emotionally, and spiritually. We are being called to explore what it means to be a community and what it means to support each other in all the ways that we need support.

Noah suggested that we give this proposal preliminary approval and ask a small group of Friends to work out a more detailed proposal to return to the March meeting. Included in this proposal would be an implementation plan grounded in the spiritual underpinnings with which we take on this proposal. In the meantime the Finance Committee can begin the budget process with the stipend proposal as part of the discussion.

We affirmed our support for the proposal and look forward to a more detailed action plan in March.

​​​​​​​21-7: Laying down of Reducing Financial Barriers to Leadership Working Group

Their work being complete, the Permanent Board approved laying down the Reducing Financial Barriers to Leadership working group, with gratitude for their faithfulness.

Bob Murray, treasurer, reported on the Yearly Meeting financial position after the first quarter of fiscal year 2021. His report is appended. Friends had the opportunity to ask questions and we are grateful for Bob’s thoughtful comments and thorough explanations of our financial reports.

​​​​​​​21-9: Finance Committee Report

Scot Drysdale, clerk of the Finance Committee (Finance), summarized his written report on the work of Finance. Finance is currently starting the budget process, and revising their Purposes, Procedures, and Composition, and anticipates Coordinating and Advisory bringing that to the Permanent Board, soon, for our approval.

​​​​​​​21-10: Request from Friends Camp

John Reuthe, clerk of the Friends Camp Committee, introduced a request for financial support from the Friends Camp (the Camp). Background information on the request is appended.

The Camp requests a transfer of funds from the operating division of the Yearly Meeting to the Camp accounts to cover the budget deficit at the end of their 2020 fiscal year. This request comes with the approval of the Finance Committee.

Friends approved the transfer of funds from the operating division’s unrestricted reserves to the Camp, to cover the Camp’s FY2020 year-end deficit.

​​​​​​​21-11: Update on the Call to Urgent Loving Action

Steve Gates, co-clerk of Earthcare Ministry Committee (EMC), and Beth Morrill, clerk of Racial, Social, and Economic Justice Committee (RSEJ), presented a report from the working group tasked with carrying forward Yearly Meeting-wide discernment on the Call to Urgent Loving Action, approved at Sessions 2020. Their report is appended.

The Call to Urgent Loving Action asked Friends and monthly meetings to spend the year in spiritual and intellectual discernment regarding social injustice, including racism and the climate crisis. The working group is committed to helping individuals and meetings with their discernment and are available to present to meetings, to aid with discussions, and have shared many resources on the Yearly Meeting website.

By Sessions 2021 the working group aims to have met or consulted with any and all meetings that are interested, to share minutes that meetings have written, and to have discerned future actions for further seasoning.

Friends received the report with gratitude and had the opportunity to ask questions and share commentary. Friends were eager to understand how this work was being carried jointly by the EMC and RSEJ committees and what outcomes the working group would view as successful during this year of facilitating Yearly Meeting-wide discernment. Friends also expressed an interest in hearing more about the spiritual underpinnings of this work.

​​​​​​​21-12: Right Relationship Resource Group

Andy Grant and Suzanna Schell, members of the Right Relationship Resource Group, reported on the work of their working group since being tasked with helping monthly meetings discern actions and responses to the Letter of Apology to Native Peoples presented at Sessions 2020. The group’s written report is appended.

The resource group has been meeting monthly, in consultation with Bruce Neumann, presiding clerk; and Leslie Manning, Permanent Board clerk. They have worked on updating resources for meetings and individuals available on the Yearly Meeting (YM) website, answering questions from meetings, providing updates in the YM newsletter, and responding to invitations to consult with meetings.

The resource group is available to Friends and meetings as they confront the moral and spiritual pain of our role in the oppression of native peoples and discern ways forward. The group shared that there are many meetings grappling with this work and as minutes are written or actions taken those will be available on the YM website to inform and inspire other meetings.

Friends accepted this report, with gratitude.

21-13: Report from Nominating Bodies

Internal Nominating Committee brought one nomination to the Permanent Board:

• Nils Klinkenberg to Personnel Resources Working Group

Friends approved this nomination.

Will Taber, clerk of Internal Nominating acknowledged that they still have not identified a clerk for the Personnel Resource Group. Internal Nominating hopes that one of the ex-officio members of the group will take on calling a meeting so the group’s work may proceed.

Friends Camp Nominating Committee brought one nomination to the Permanent Board:

• Sam Gant to Friends Camp Committee, class of 2024

Friends approved this nomination.

Leslie Manning, clerk, brought two nominations for a working group of the Permanent Board:

• Amelia (Mimi) Marstaller to Israel/Palestine Working Group, class of 2024
• Scott Rhodewalt to Israel/Palestine Working Group, class of 2024 Friends approved these nominations.

Leslie Manning, as part of the Ministry Transition Team, brought three nominations for the Host Team for the seasonal gatherings for spiritual nurturing:

• Janet Hough as Elder for the Host Team
• Richard Lindo as a member of the Host Team
• Jennifer Higgins-Newman as a member of the Host Team

Recognizing that they do not require formal approval, Friends affirmed these nominations.

21-14: Approval of PPC

As part of the regular review of the Purposes, Procedures, and Compositions (PPC), of the committees and boards of the Yearly Meeting, the Permanent Board received revisions to the PPC for Coordinating and Advisory (C&A), the Legacy Gift Committee, Youth Ministries, and Puente de Amigos. In their preparation for the review of the PPC, which historically has happened for all committees at the same time every three years, C&A has decided to move away from the practice of reviewing all of the PPC at once and move toward a review of each PPC at least once every 3 years, but on a less strict timeline. The goal of the review of PPC has always been to ensure that the approved PPC is aligned with the actual practices of a given committee.

There were several issues raised about the revisions, some about specific wording, and others about committee structures, and the writing of the PPC, more broadly.

When a Friend identified a concern about word-usage in the one of the documents being triggering, and requested that the word be changed, that Friend was invited to send that revision to the appropriate revision committee. We were gently reminded that it is not appropriate to ask someone who feels triggered to take it upon themselves to fix the thing that has made them uncomfortable.