July Citizens for Fairfax Community Meeting Report

Citizens for Fairfax Community, Inc.
7/27/10 Board of Trustees Meeting Report:

This meeting was held as a closed executive session due to the sensitive and detailed nature of the discussion. This is, therefore, a general report which omits certain details.

We started the meeting by confirming that we unanimously agree to pursue the Baptist building exclusively as the site for the community center.

We reviewed our options and prospects for obtaining funding for the purchase and renovation of the building. The bottom-line conclusions are:
(A)   Most of our funding will need to come from private and business donations.
(B)   The planning required for a successful “capital campaign,” the completion of a credible business plan, completion of grant applications, and other aspects of needed research and writing are far beyond the scope of our volunteer-pool’s capacity. This points to the need to hire an experienced consultant to take on the bulk of this work.
(C)   Grants to fund such work are available; but will require (a) that we raise at least 25% of the amount needed through donations or fundraising and (b) that we are affiliated –at least loosely– with a municipality.
(D)   We need to raise a few thousand dollars through donations and/or fundraisers ASAP.

Our next steps will include:
1.   Talk to the Selectboard re the Town going on record in support of CFC’s activities.
2.   Have a conversation with the Church Board / Baptist Trustees in which we update them re our timetables, considerations, etc.
3.   Run a major raffle plus any other fund raising activities we come up with to raise about three thousand dollars to get us started.
4.   Apply for grants to add to the funding for the initial work.
5.   Do the capital campaign, grant applications, etc.
6.   Make an offer for the building. (We need to hold off on this until we nail down a few more of the specifics.)

Next Meeting: Tues, Aug 24, 6:30 PM at the Hunzikers’ home. This is expected to be an open meeting.

Agenda in brief: Reports, discussion and “to-dos” re the bulleted activities listed above.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark Hunziker, Secretary