Originally posted as A/M - SCWP, 26 December 2007 on Google Docs

In Attendance

• Daniel
• Tim
• Jessie
• Yukta

Agenda/Minutes

Meeting start time: 20:25 PST

Report on previous action items - 10 min

• Establish timeline for Water Book (Jessie, Tim)
  • 12/27: Learn to use SKYPE; send out email inviting added NGOs to
  • 12/29: Start calling NGOs for invite to attend conference/write chapter for book
• Research NGOs (Everyone)
  • Keep researching!
• Start background research on water issues in India, and Sadhana Village in particular (Everyone)
• Look into larger organizations that would help with workshops (Everyone)
  • Arghyam: Check it out on the database
• Recording equipment for a conference (Daniel)
  • Look into sound equipment for the conference hall
• Bios (Everyone that hasn’t done one)

Conference afternoon workshops - 10 min

• Attendance Cap: 200 people?
• Technical (CAWST)
  • Who will coordinate this?: Yukta will take on correspondence; Daniel will forward information
• How do we want the afternoon to look?
  • Workshops to be run by organizations, legal speaker, NGO activist
  • Get an update from Joey as to the speakers/workshops
• Legal (Transparency International? or eLaw.org?)
  • Daniel’s aunt has contacts to the later; he’ll contact if he finds them appropriate
• Workshop themes: technical, legal, cultural (UWC, Sadhana, WDA), financial

Calling NGOs - 7 min

• Target max number for database: 65 NGOs
  • Tim: email 35 by 5:00pm on 12/26
  • 20 calls by everyone to the most legitimate NGOs
• Who is going to split up the list?
  • Everyone: add promising NGOs we will recruit most stringently to another database
• Start Tuesday (after newyears)
• What are we going to say?
  • Introduction: reference WDA and ask if this is the correct person to speak with
  • Explain conference: ask if they would be interested in attending
  • Explain water book: ask if they’d like to participate in that as well; deadline for chapter on first weekend in February
  • Request what is the best way to stay in contact (phone/email)
  • Request contact info: name, phone, email, mailing address, SKYPE
• How to use our Skype account intro (Daniel): skype.com, install
  • Logging in: username = whitmandirectaction, passord *see googledocs “online accounts”
  • Dial out
  • $0.17 a minute, use credit card to buy (or PayPal)
  • Leaving our Skype name or conference@
  • Potentially using Jajah as well?
• Taking notes during the call and emailing to the studygroup@ (Tim, Jessie, Daniel) , conference@ (Joey, Yukta), or book@ (Tim, Jessie, Daniel)
  • Subject line: CALL + name of organization
  • See which ones Joe wants to be on
  • core@ listserve (Tim, Jessie, Daniel, Joey, Yukta, Joseph)

Grass-roots awareness and advocacy - 12 min

• Create a list for what we need help with: googledoc
• Look at Indian networking websites: face-book, school websites, etc.
• Using Indian nationals such as Nishchint
• What exactly do we need them to do?
  • Spread the word about the conference
  • Visit NGOs in Bombay area and try to recruit their attendance
• Seeking out partnerships online via Idealist.org and other volunteer sites
• Becoming a Blue Planet Venture

Conference speakers: Joey needs to send in bios before we make a decision - 5 min

• Yea or nay on Mr. Sebastian?
• Medha Patkar?

Adding/ refining the website - 3 min

• Daniel needs help, everyone is developing their individual areas of expertise

Retreat in January - 6 min

• Points of retreat:
  • Discussion of next year’s project
  • Bonding
  • Developing the long-term structure of WDA
• Joe to help organize?

Originally posted as A/M - SCWP, 12 December 2007 on Google Docs

In attendence:

• Yukta
• Jessie
• Tim
• Daniel

Agenda/ Minutes:

Bookkeeping

• facilitator?
• note taker?

Water Book - questions to answer:

• Who’s taking the lead?
  • Jessie and Tim
• How many NGOs do we want?
  • Roughly ten?
• How long is the book going to be?
  • Shoot for 3-5 pages per NGO
  • One hundred pages
• What type of stories do we want? Format
  • Template to work off of? Standardized with questions, but as loose as possible
    • What has worked for them? What has not worked for them?
    • History of the NGO
  • If the NGO doesn’t have the resources
• How is it going to be published?
  • Lulu.com if it is cheap enough
  • Using Whitman resources
• Where are we going to send it?
  • Primary purpose is to educated NGOs on what others are going
  • Bring other copies to India as a secondary to hand out to government officials, etc.
• How are we going to translate it?
  • Yukta isn’t that worried about getting it translated; we probably only need to think about Hindi
• How does Daniel fit in?
  • ?

Study Group

• Any news?
  • UWC is synthesizing the survey to one page
  • Probably going to be implemented in January
  • Figuring out the focus groups after that
• plans for over winter break
  • start background research, knowledge share, synthesize for website?
• Jessie and Tim will be taking over after Winter Break

Conference

• Who’s taking the lead?
  • Yukta and Joey still
• Confirm speakers
  • Joey talking to speakers during break and drafting titles for presentations
  • Working on developing the topics for presentations
  • Need bios for speakers
• Conference hall
  • Holds 900 people
• Discuss afternoon workshops
  • Technical (CAWST)
  • Legal
  • Financial
  • Cultural (WDA, Sadhana, UWC)
• Lunch catered?
  • Networking sessions, freeform
• Logistics
  • Recording/ videotaping?
  • conference packets
    • list of all attendees w/ contact info
  • How are travel scholarships going to be done?

General

• describe NGO list
• establish communication channels for over winter break

Action items

• Establish timeline for Water Book (Jessie, Tim)
• Research NGOs (Everyone)
• Start background research on water issues in India, and Sadhana Village in particular (Everyone)
• Start contacting NGOs
• Look into larger organizations that would help with workshops (Everyone)
• Recording equipment for a conference (Daniel)
• Bios (Everyone that hasn’t done one)

One of my side projects for the past month or so has been looking into what it will take to make Whitman Direct Action into a legitimate non-profit. We currently hold our status as an organization through being an ASWC-sponsored club and, correct me if I’m wrong, a project under Joe’s synagogue, the Havurah, in Ashland, Oregon. Donations made to WDA go through the Havurah so that the donor’s generosity is tax-deductible.

This system has worked for our past projects, and is working fine for our current project, but isn’t the best long-term solution because it’s dependent on Joe’s connection to his willing and flexible synagogue. Seeing as he’s a senior this year, it might even only work for this project cycle.

There are many potential solutions, however, so it shouldn’t be too much of a hang-up. Worst-case scenario is that we have to move funds through ASWC. The best of these solutions, I would argue, is to incorporate WDA as a non-profit and do it all ourselves. Although this would require a bit more logistical effort than we’ve had to put forth previous, I believe both the process of incorporation and the organization we design will help ensure WDA’s overall longevity.

That is, if we don’t get absorbed by the college at some point in the process.

From my research, the most significant steps towards incorporating WDA as a non-profit are these:

• Recruiting a board of directors. A board of directors is a crucial component in maintaining an organization over the long-term. Members are usually elected for terms over several years and thus give informed guidance to new, potentially confused members.
• Drafting articles of incorporation. In layman’s terms, this is the application to the state for non-profit status. It is also likely the document which requires amount of legalese.
• Writing bylaws. The bylaws, in brief, outline how the organization should optimally run. They include instructions for choosing new board members, how often meetings should be, etc. Although this runs, in someways, counter to the way WDA has wanted to exist, it would probably be possible to draft these bylaws to reflect our current values.

Other steps include filing tax forms and drafting a two-year budget, but the steps above are probably the most important and time-consuming.

At this point in time, the very first step is determining whether we, as the organization we are now, think this is a worthy cause to pursue. It will require everyone’s effort, although some more than others, and more importantly everyone’s support. Sometime after that we’ll need legal assistance to write legalese, but that will happen when we know what we want to translate.

Good resources on this process:

• Whatcom Council of Nonprofits - How to Start a Nonprofit
• USDA Rural Development - 501(c)3 Fact Sheet

As the title says, today marks the day that the initial round of conference invites have been sent. They aren’t formal invites yet, but rather letters asking for help in finalizing the presenters’ topics and the focus of the afternoon workshops. Out of 15 or so emails sent, only three bounced; I consider this to be a great success. We’ll see what sort of actual return we get next couple of days, eh?

We sent electronic letters to these organizations:

• B.G.M. Social Service Centre
• Centre for Rural Education and Development
• Chandgaon Gramvikas Pratisthan
• Green Destiny
• Indian Institute for Rural Development
• Institute for Youth and Development
• Institute of Sustainable Development, Environmental & Scientific Research
• Karnataka Watershed Development
• MEDC - Maharashtra Economic Development Council
• National Centre for Human Settlements & Environment
• Project WHY
• Sadhana Forest
• Samuha
• Swastik Health and Education Society
• Tagore Society for Rural Development
• Vasavya Society for Rural Development
• Vidyanagar Nature Club
• WaterAID India

If you don’t see an organization that should be listed, please let us know.

From an article published yesterday:

Whitman Direct Action embodies all that Whitman promises to foster: creativity, leadership, intellectual vitality, service and global awareness.

and

WDA is unparalleled by any established Whitman program in that it is run entirely by students and it merges study abroad concepts with community service ones.

Congratulations! Let’s continue spreading the word!