18-1: Worship and Prayer
The meeting opened in worship and prayer.
In worship, a Friend offered John 4:19-24: The woman said to [Jesus], “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
18-2: Cuba Yearly Meeting and New England Yearly Meeting Joint Minute
The “Puente de Amor” between Cuba and New England Yearly Meetings has brought forward a proposal for a joint minute of the two Yearly Meetings (attached). Today, we are asked to endorse it on behalf of NEYM. Cuba Yearly Meeting is currently meeting in its annual sessions, and in this way both of our bodies can approve the minute together.
The Board approved. We are asked to hold Cuba Yearly Meeting in prayer, as well as our Presiding Clerk Fritz Weiss, who is traveling in the ministry in Cuba. His written report is attached.
18-3: Welcome
Sara Smith, member of Concord Friends Meeting and Permanent Board, welcomed us to the meeting house and oriented us to the facilities.
18-4: Roll Call
Present: Sarah Gant, Clerk; Rosemary Zimmerman, Interim Recording Clerk; Travis Belcher, Deana Chase, Susan Davies, Jeremiah Dickinson, Darcy Drayton, Christopher Gant, Ben Guaraldi, Ian Harrington, Elizabeth Kantt, Christopher McCandless, Jean McCandless, Sara Smith, Phil Stone, William Walkauskas, Donn Weinholtz, Mary Zwirner
Ex Officio : Noah Merrill (Secretary), Bob Murray (Clerk, Finance Committee), Elizabeth Reuthe (Secretary Supervisor), Shearman Taber (Treasurer)
Guests: JJ Smith, Kathleen Wooten
Regrets: Hannah Zwirner Forsythe, Galen Hamann, Leanna Kantt, Rebecca Leuchak, Gina Nortonsmith, Anna Radocchia, Carole Rein, Fritz Weiss (Presiding Clerk)
Not Present: Kimberly Allen, Tom Jackson, Elizabeth Szatkowski
We prayed together for several friends in the Yearly Meeting who are struggling with ill health, either their own or that of a loved one. In the pain and extremities of life, many of us have deepened our awareness of the sacredness in all life. The Clerk offered a quotation from John O’Donohue, sent to her by a Friend who could not be with us today: “We seldom notice that every day is a holy place, where the eucharist of the ordinary happens.”
18-5: Old Minutes
We approved the Permanent Board minutes of 23 September 2017. The minutes from 18 November 2017 have already been approved.
18-6: Secretary’s Report
Acton Meeting has given NEYM a gift in the amount of $20,000. At the request of the donor, the Board approved designating this gift to the Legacy Gift Witness and Ministry fund.
We reflected on the “eight stages of change” document that our secretary shared at the previous board meeting. Considering the many changes in the Yearly Meeting over the past several years, he asked us where we found ourselves along this continuum—as individuals, as a gathered Yearly Meeting, and as the Permanent Board. We noted that there is always a tension between those ready to move forward and those who still hesitate. We want to remain in loving community with each other through this tension, which requires vulnerability and humility on both sides.
Please see the written report (attached) for full details.
18-7: Archives and Historical Records
Carol Forsythe, clerk of the Archives Committee, gave a brief verbal report. The written report is appended.
Archives Committee has worked at great length on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Special Collections and University Archives of the W.E.B. DuBois Library of the
University of Massachusetts (SCUA) regarding the transfer of our archives to SCUA. The Archives Committee has approved this MOU, as has Rob Cox, Head of Special Collections. Archives asks Permanent Board to also approve the MOU.
The Board approved, with gratitude for the years-long work of the Archives Committee.
Monthly and quarterly meetings who wish to donate records to SCUA may find guidance at the Archive Committee’s page on the NEYM website: https://neym.org/archives
18-8: Faith in Action Committee
During Sessions 2017, we laid down the Peace and Social Concerns Committee, which had not met for many years. At that time, Sessions asked Coordinating and Advisory to discern how peace and social justice work might best be supported in the yearly meeting.
C&A has brought forth a draft Purposes, Procedures, and Composition document for a Faith in Action committee (FIAC).
Many Friends lifted a concern regarding the need for the oversight of ministry. The Board was clear both that this is a valid concern, and also that this concern is not FIAC’s to carry. Oversight of Friends’ ministry should occur at the monthly meeting level. We do ask that, in connecting individual ministers, FIAC ensures that there is a clear understanding of who does oversee their ministry. Concerns and needs will inevitably be brought to FIAC’s attention. FIAC should feel empowered to share these concerns and needs with appropriate parties.
Permanent Board approved the Purposes and Procedures with changes, thereby approving the formation of the Faith in Action Committee. The purposes and procedures will be reviewed by Coordinating and Advisory and brought back to the Permanent Board for review after one year.
18-9: Fund for Sufferings
We revisited the proposed framework for the new Fund for Sufferings, called “Fund for Sufferings–unrestricted.” The Board approved, with minor alterations, and with thanks to those who have worked on this document.
Further, the Board approved renaming the old “Fund for Sufferings” as “Fund for Sufferings–Restricted.”
With the recommendation of the Legacy Gift Committee, the Board approved redesignating $25,000 from the Witness and Ministry Fund to the new Fund for Sufferings-unrestricted.
18-10: Friends Camp
We reviewed a proposed revision to Section 7 of the Friends Camp Governance Document regarding their budgeting process. Friends approved this revision.
18-11: Social Media Update
We heard an update regarding our social media channels from Kathleen Wooten. We have active accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Facebook is our most active channel; we are actively working on increasing our Instagram presence. The report was accepted with gratitude.
18-12: Challenging White Supremacy Working Group
We heard a report from the CWSWG. Their written report is appended. Friends are encouraged to invite the CWSWG to their meetings; curricula and other educational materials are also available. The report was accepted with gratitude.
18-13: Legacy Gift Committee
We heard a report from Jean McCandless, co-clerk of the Legacy Gift Committee. The LGC has $70,000 to give away in the next cycle, and the deadline for spring applications is on March 1. The report was accepted with gratitude.
18-14: Personnel Committee
New England Yearly Meeting is currently inconsistent in its compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Friends Camp is in compliance; the rest of the organization is in non-compliance. The Personnel Committee of NEYM has discerned that refraining from fully complying with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 is not a living witness within NEYM today. Government investigation could prove very costly to NEYM, in terms both of finances and staff time. Personnel Committee recommends to the Permanent Board that New England Yearly Meeting should begin to comply with this law effective immediately. The Board approved.
We will share this decision as part of the Permanent Board report to Sessions in 2018.
18-15: Ad-hoc Long-Term Financial Planning Committee Report
In 2015 Annual Sessions, the ad hoc LTFPC told us, very clearly, that the Yearly Meeting needs a long-term financial plan to successfully connect our vision for NEYM with concrete, fundable, initiatives.
It’s clear to the ad hoc LTFPC that a typical strategic plan would not work for our context. Instead, they have developed a funding, planning, and storytelling “framework” that will help us appropriately distill and collect our vision and work into a small number of themed initiatives.
These initiatives would make a clear connection between vision and action, related to the five institutional priorities NEYM approved in 2015, and be clearly fundable, with a breakdown of each major cost element, a total for the whole initiative, and fundraising goals over the next three years.
The Permanent Board affirms this framework. Using the framework, we asked ad hoc LTFPC to develop 3 to 6 themed funding initiatives to be presented to Permanent Board in May. These initiatives would inform the budgets of future years, with a three year horizon.
We are grateful for all the faithful friends who have developed this work over many years.
18-16: Nominating Committee Reports
From Permanent Board Internal Nominating Committee:
Neil Blanchard (Framingham): Personnel Committee: Class of 2021
Eleta Jones (Hartford): Personnel Committee: Class of 2021
Maureen Lopes (New Haven): Personnel Committee: Class of 2021
Friends approved these nominations.
From Clerks’ Nominating Committee:
Bruce Neumann (Fresh Pond): Rising Clerk: from 2018 through Sessions 2019;
Presiding Clerk: from end of Sessions 2019 for up to three years
Gina Nortonsmith (Northampton): Reading Clerk: from end of Sessions 2018 for up to three years
Fritz Weiss (Hanover): Presiding Clerk: through Sessions 2019 Friends approved bringing these nominations to Sessions 2018.
18-17: Development Committee
Chris Gant, Clerk of Development Committee, gave the Development Committee report. Development Committee asks for approval to engage formally with Everence, a financial services company run by Mennonite Church USA, in the inauguration of a planned giving program in New England Yearly Meeting of Friends. A planned giving program would help support the developing long-term financial plan of NEYM as we work toward the goal of achieving financial sustainability.
Permanent Board approves of Development Committee engaging with Everence to create a draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the company and New England Yearly Meeting. This MOU would outline responsibilities on both sides regarding how the program would work, the marketing and communication support to be provided by Everence, a timeline and rollout plan to be undertaken by NEYM, and other related matters. This is not a contract, and would not commit NEYM to any financial obligation; its purpose is to outline the goals for the planned giving partnering program in light of NEYM’s operational and fundraising goals.
Permanent Board asks DC to bring the draft MOU to Permanent Board for review and approval in May, with the ultimate goal of publicly launching NEYM’s planned giving program at Annual Sessions in August.
18-18: Treasurer’s Report
Shearman Taber gave the Treasurer’s report. This is a very busy time of year for him, and the job is an enormous amount of work. We received his report with gratitude.
The complete minutes with reports and attachments is available for download, below.