24-71 Welcome
Rebecca Leuchak (Providence) welcomed us to Providence Meeting. This meetinghouse was built in 1951. The previous meeting had been located on Meeting Street.
24-70 Roll Call
The recording clerk, Willa Taber (Fresh Pond), read the roll.
Bold is present in the room.
Susan Davies (PB Clerk), Willa Taber (PB Recording Clerk), Travis Belcher, Thomas Brenner, Darcy Drayton, Martin Forsythe, Elizabeth Hansen, Newell Isbell Shinn, Carolyne Lamar Jordan, Meg Klepack, Frances Lightsom, Edward Mair, Allison Randall, Carole Rein, Kathleen Wooten, Mary Zwirner
Ex-officio members
Marian Dalton (Treasurer), Scot Drysdale (Finance Clerk), Rebecca Leuchak (Presiding Clerk), Noah Merrill (YM Secretary), Jackie Stillwell (clerk of Nominating Committee), Carl Williams (clerk of Ministry and Counsel)
Regrets/Absent
Kimberly Allen, Sarah Gant (clerk, Meeting Accompaniment Group), Morgan Wilson, Diane Weinholtz, Donn Weinholtz, Deana Chase, Christopher Gant, Roger Jasaitis, Bob O’Connor, Anna Radocchia, John Reuthe, Martha Schwope, Liesa Stamm
Visitors
Doug Armstrong, Polly Atwood, Melody Brazo, Kurt Hansen, Janet Hough, Beckey Jones, Kristina Keefe-Perry, Mary Link, Kate Monahan, Jay O’Hara, Robb Spivey, Nia Thomas (Program Director), Pamela Therrien, Phil Veatch, Kim West, Robert Watt, Maille Wooten
24-72 Announcements
Susan Davies (Vassalboro), clerk of the Permanent Board, made some announcements related to the life of the Yearly Meeting and of the Permanent Board. Because Permanent Board meeting agendas are so full and lack opportunities to connect with one another, she has built into our calendar two opportunities for what she is calling Permanent Board Conversations. These are optional meetings where no business will be conducted. The first will be held on Zoom on the evening of October 17. It will be an opportunity to go over the flow of our work for the year and to provide an orientation for our new members. The second one will be in February and more details will be forthcoming.
Anna Fritz, the cellist who performed at Sessions two years ago will be touring New England. Two of her performances will be at Friends School of Portland on October 19 and at the First Universalist Church in Rockland, ME, on October 20. Susan will send details to the Permanent Board announcement list.
Several members of the Coordinating and Advisory Committee (C&A) will be traveling to Fresh Pond Meeting for worship and dialogue at the meeting's invitation.They are grateful for the invitation and are looking forward to the conversation.
Friends General Conference (FGC) is eagerly seeking Friends to help with the planning of the FGC Gathering to be held in Burlington, VT, in July of 2026. Anyone interested can contact Susan Davies, Rebecca Leuchak, or Jackie Stillwell.
The Legacy Gift Committee will not be considering applications for grants this fall as they regroup after 10 years of service. They plan to resume accepting applications in the spring.
24-73 Priorities for the coming year
Susan Davies presented some of the focus priority areas for the Permanent Board and the Yearly Meeting for the coming year. The first is attention to nurturing the spiritual, cultural, and practical foundations of New England Yearly Meeting. This includes nurturing conditions for prayerful discernment and nurturing a culture of inquiry and friendly attentiveness towards each other and our differing perspectives. Included in our foundation is stewarding our youth programs. The second area is our work on development and endowments. The third area is work to strengthen the nominating process. Currently there are 357 slots on the committees and working groups of New England Yearly Meeting. We will be hearing recommendations to improve the nominating process later today. Finally, we need to pay attention to the state of the quarterly meetings. We will have a particular concern for Salem Quarter and the transition of some of its tasks following its sabbatical.
Friends broke into small groups to reflect on these priorities.
24-74 Approval of Permanent Board Minutes from July 18.
Friends considered the minutes from our July 18 meeting. There were some minor clarifications. The corrected minutes are attached.
Friends approved the minutes for our July 18 meeting.
24-75 2024 Sessions Minutes
Rebecca Leuchak (Presiding Clerk) reported that it was her understanding that Sessions minute 24-12 provided that non-action minutes did not need to be approved by the Permanent Board. Some Friends in the room did not share that understanding and expressed concerns about the practice of not providing approval of minutes. It was noted that Chapter 3 of our Interim Faith and Practice states that “Friends have not completed their action until they have approved the minute, and no body of Friends will be better prepared to give or withhold its approval than the one that has just achieved unity of purpose.”
The Permanent Board is cognizant of the difficulties caused by long delays in approving minutes.
The Permanent Board approves the YM Sessions Clerks Table and Presiding Clerk’s understanding that the non-action minutes of the 2024 Sessions do not need to be approved. The Permanent Board also requests that the Coordinating and Advisory Committee consider these issues and bring forward a recommendation for a procedure for approving Sessions minutes going forward. The Permanent Board will also carry forward this concern.
24-76 Friends Camp budget
Noah Merrill (Putney), Yearly Meeting Secretary, introduced the Friends Camp Operating and Capital Budgets, here attached. He appreciates the care and attention that Friends Camp has given to their budgeting process. This budget adds a full-time assistant director role. This will require an update to the Yearly Meeting Personnel Policy. The camp would also appreciate establishing an endowment fund for Camperships.
Kate Monahan, Friends Camp Treasurer, noted that the cost of attending Friends Camp will be going up 7% this year but even with this, she does not know of a camp that is cheaper. She also highlighted that they are making efforts to be more disciplined about budgeting for depreciation.
Friends approved the operating and capital budgets for Friends Camp.
24-77 Yearly Meeting Secretary’s Report
Noah Merrill, Yearly Meeting Secretary, presented his written report here attached. He is glad that there appears to be new energy for development work in the Yearly Meeting. A range of people from high-school age to people in their 80s have put together a $30,000 encouragement challenge to help to continue to rebuild and ensure a stable foundation for the ministries of the Yearly Meeting. There are 3 days left in the fiscal year for people to help meet this challenge. Friends have been generous since Sessions. It looks as though the actual room and board expenses for Sessions will come in close to our projections. Contributions from monthly meetings are also on track to meet our expectations. The Finance Committee will be bringing a report to our meeting in December.
Noah presented a slide show, attached, about establishing dedicated endowment funds for the Yearly Meeting.
He explained that having separate endowments instead of one large one has several advantages. Having large funds without a sense of priorities can lead to conflict. Continuing revelation cannot exist without previous revelation. It helps that we have already said that this is important to us now so in the future we need to consider this in our decision-making. We don’t want to tie the hands of the future but to provide guidance and support. Some people would find comfort in knowing that large gifts would go to a specific need such as youth ministries.
Friends asked, “what does stewardship mean?” In the third world it is a common understanding that money comes in so that it can go out rather than something to be guarded. What does it mean to have faith that what I will need will come to me so I do not need to clutch my treasure so that I will have it later?
Another Friend said that their understanding of the Quaker way is that letting go is the key to our liberation and redemption. Building barns for storage is explicitly rejected in scripture. Are we substituting the pattern of our culture for a new vision that can enliven us and draw in new Friends? Few resources are needed to maintain a cohort of vital Friends. It takes a living room and tea. Where are we placing our treasure?
Perhaps we are called into the tension between these views rather than a binary of one thing or another. Faithfulness may involve both. We were also reminded that if we get this wrong, God will give us opportunities to fix it. With the Legacy Gift Funds, we used some of the money to establish an endowment and some was designated to be fully spent. We were also reminded that capital campaigns cannot come at the expense of current giving. We were asked to consider the amount of work that goes into the giving of gifts, both in receiving it and in sending it back out.
Sessions committed that there be consultation between Legacy Gift, Finance, and others before a recommendation is brought to the Permanent Board in December to provide a solid grounding for the Witness and Ministry Fund. These recommendations will include options for undesignated Legacy Gift Funds. Friends Camp wants to establish a campership fund and a decision at our December meeting would fit with their plans.
Friends affirmed the direction Noah outlined. The Permanent Board expects that specific proposals for endowment funds will be brought to our December meeting.
24-78 Contributions Criteria Working Group
Kathleen Wooten (Lawrence) provided an update on the work of the Contributions Criteria Working Group, here attached. They held a listening session at Yearly Meeting Sessions. They are planning to bring a recommendation to the December Permanent Board Meeting. They would like to hear the results of group discernment from monthly meetings and not just comments from individuals. Starting in December she will be working for FUM and is now an employee of AFSC. She is clear to continue this work until the December Permanent Board meeting, but is concerned that she will not be able to continue because she will have an inherent conflict of interest.
24-79 Nominating Committee Report
Jackie Stillwell, clerk of the Nominating Committee, presented the Nominating Committee Report here attached and the addendum report also attached.
Beth Hansen (Westerly) presented the nomination of Jackie Stillwell to be Supervisor of the Yearly Meeting Secretary.
Rachel Cogbill resigned from the Faith and Practice Revision Committee.
Friends approved the following nominations:
Sessions Planning Clerk: Kristin Wilson (Framingham), to begin immediately. Class of 2027
Sessions Theme & Speakers Team: Minga Claggett-Borne, (Cambridge) Class of 2026
Sessions Theme & Speakers Team: Gail Melix (East Sandwich) 2026
Faith & Practice: Alana Parkes (Beacon Hill) to begin immediately, no term limit
Legacy Gift Committee: Lucy Candib (Worcester) Class of 2026
Legacy Gift Committee: Jonathan Vogel-Borne (Cambridge) Class of 2027
Supervisor of the YM Secretary: Jackie Stillwell (Monadnock) Class of 2027
Youth Ministries: Heather Gray (Framingham) Class of 2026
Representative to AFSC: Bob Eaton (Durham) Class of 2027
Representative to FCNL: Sara Smith (Concord) Class of 2027
Representative to FCNL: John Fletcher (Westerly) Class of 2027
Representative to FGC: Sally Farneth (Portland) Class of 2027
Representative to FGC: Barbara Dakota (Westerly) Class of 2027
24-80 Presiding Clerks Report
Rebecca Leuchak presented the written Presiding Clerk’s report here attached. She apologized for posting these reports to the advance documents at such a late date.
The Permanent Board sent a proposal to Sessions for the creation of a Conflict Response Team. Sessions had several questions about how this group would operate and sent the question back to the Permanent Board for refinement and to bring it back to Sessions in 2025. Rebecca proposes that these questions might be addressed by providing a Purposes, Procedures, and Composition document for the Conflict Response Team. We will also need to address what happens when there is a conflict involving Yearly Meeting leadership. She intends to bring names to serve on a revived Conflict Response Working Group to address these issues to the December Permanent Board Meeting.
Rebecca, along with Noah Merrill, is composing a letter that will go out to support the Indigenous Boarding school Bill HR727. She will also write a cover letter when the Quaker Indigenous Boarding School (QIBS) group has composed their report and is ready to send it to the Secretary of the Interior.
24-81 Coordinating and Advisory Committee Report
Rebecca Leuchak presented the Coordinating and Advisory (C&A) Report, here attached. At the May 11 meeting of the Permanent Board, they presented a long list of things C&A was doing. They were asked to prioritize that list. Those priorities are included in their report to this meeting.
24-82 Changes to the Yearly Meeting nominating process
Jackie Stillwell presented a report from Coordinating and Advisory titled “Recommended Updates and Adjustments to the Yearly Meeting Nominating Process,” here attached. The process of having a Naming Committee to name members to the Nominating Committee has not worked. This proposal recommends that the members of the Nominating Committee be nominated by the Nominating Committee. The clerk of the Nominating Committee will be nominated by the Presiding Clerk and the clerk of the Permanent Board and approved by the Permanent Board. Friends are welcome to volunteer to help the clerks with this process.
Friends approved the changes to the Purpose, Procedures and Composition of the Nominating Committee as contained in the report from the Coordinating and Advisory Committee.
24-83 Stipends Experiment Evaluation working group
Doug Armstrong (Monadnock) presented the report of the Stipends Experiment Evaluation working group, here attached. Martin Forsythe (Northampton) clerked this portion of the meeting since the Permanent Board Clerk and the Presiding Clerk are both stipended positions.
The stipends have not been successful in achieving the goals of diversifying the leadership of the Yearly Meeting. The way to increase diversity is by diversifying the leadership pipeline in the Yearly Meeting and by encouraging long time attenders to become members.
We were reminded that the Yearly Meeting already has other supports in place for service to the Yearly Meeting including providing childcare, travel reimbursement, purchase of computers or other equipment, and waiving fees to attend Yearly Meeting Sessions. How can we coordinate our budget for supporting service and Sessions subsidies? We need to make support for service available in a way that does not require asking for it, as that may cause shame in the people needing to ask for it. Perhaps the Nominating Committee can be provided with a short document outlining the supports for service that are already available so that it can be given to every person when they are asked to serve.
We were asked how we welcome people into our meetings and encourage them to become members since membership is often a requirement for leadership positions in the Yearly Meeting. How do we assist Young Adult Friends in their transition to participating in the larger Yearly Meeting?
It is a sign of hope to try an experiment, to say it doesn’t work, and to be mindful of the impact on Friends on ending this.
Friends charge the Yearly Meeting Secretary, the Treasurer, and the clerk of the Nominating Committee to consult and bring back recommendations to our December meeting on ways we can make service easier and how existing options can be coordinated. This may include changes to our budget to include a way to consolidate the reporting of the expenses for expenditures under the control of the Yearly Meeting Secretary and subsidies for attending Sessions.
Friends approved discontinuing the stipends for leadership positions at the end of the recipient's current terms.
Friends approved laying down the Stipends Experiment Evaluation working group.
24-84 Memorial Minutes
Friends received the memorial minute for Jack Shepherd forwarded to us by Hanover Meeting and Northwest Quarter. Friends also received the memorial minute for Julie Heagney sent to us directly from Framingham Meeting because of the continuing hiatus of Salem Quarter.
Friends approved sending the memorial minutes for Jack Shepherd and Julie Heagney to Yearly Meeting Sessions.