Ĉeestas

• Filipo Dorcas
• Jordon Kalilich
• Fred Meyer III
• Timothy Boronczyk
• Hoss Firooznia
• Timothy Rice

Ĉeestas Sen Voĉdonrajtoj

• Vilĉjo Harris

President calls the meeting to order and declares a quorum. A change to the agenda: Due to a previous vote, Robert’s Rules of Order will be removed from the agenda. The President appoints Jordon to take notes due to Charlotte’s absence.

Submitted Reports

• Google Ads Report 2021-04

Standing Reports

CO Report

Bill asks for the dates of the LK; it is noted that the dates are June 12-19. Bill asks for Phil’s email address for Google Drive. Bill reports no expenditures from the funds this month except for the 777 Fund.

Treasurer’s Report

Jordon does not have a full report but reports the net investment income for the first quarter. Tim B. asks whether it is possible to fund microloans so that our investments have a positive impact on society. Jordon answers that there is likely a higher risk of default, but it may be reasonable if we diversify and limit them to a small part of our portfolio. There is a discussion about the ethics of our current investments. Action Item: Jordon will investigate microloans and ethical corporate bond funds. Phil notes that investing according to the Sustainable Development Goals (such as via microloans) could be considered political and against our bylaws. We might consider creating a special interest group for investing through them.

Google Ads Report

Jordon reports slight improvements in ad metrics from the past few months. Click-through rate is still very good at 11%, much higher than the 5% necessary for Google Ad Grants. He attributes the success to specificity of our message compared to other nonprofits. We have different ad campaigns for people searching different types of keywords, such as language learning, general information about Esperanto, and local groups. We are well within the budget allotted to us by Google Ad Grants.

Old/New Business

Landa Kongreso

Phil states that LK registration should be available by the deadline for UE on April 15. The board discusses the merits of making registration free, requesting donations, or requiring payment. Bill mentions that proceeds from congresses traditionally go into the General Fund. Tim B. suggests that proceeds from this year’s LK go toward making next year’s in-person LK memorable, and raises the possibility of creating a fund for congresses. Bill states that due to the effort required to shut down a fund, a long-term fund is more convenient than one that is intended to be short-lived. He questions the utility of a separate fund for congresses in case the balance becomes negative and suggests that the board vote to earmark a certain amount of money in the General Fund for a future congress. Phil notes that high up-front expenses may make it difficult to have a dedicated fund for congresses.

The board discusses the fact that next year’s LK is intended to consist of sessions at the Montreal UK, so we expect to pay expenses to UEA and have no income. Jordon suggests telling the membership that proceeds from this year’s LK will go toward unspecified future congresses. The board agrees to make LK registration free with suggested donations. Hoss notes that we can reuse last year’s congress page on the website. Registration should be in the retbutiko due to the optional donation; last year’s registration form was a Google form because it was free.

Special Interest Groups

Phil mentions the need to have a list of SIGs on our website with name, description, and contact info for each. Fred shared Charlotte’s Google doc with the proposed policy for SIGs. The board agrees to vote on the policy in Slack and create a page on the website with the policy and list of SIGs. Tim B. suggests the name “community groups” instead of “special interest groups.” The board decides to discuss this further in Slack.

The meeting is adjourned.

Appendix A

There have been no board votes in Slack since the last meeting.