BOARD Meeting Agenda – September 26, 2024, 10:00 AM – NOON, Zoom Link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82473451988?pwd=01mGvLagM3whZoYuj1ypAZIkaR060x.1
Meeting Call-In Number: 1 929 205 6099 Meeting ID: 824 7345 1988 Passcode: 736190
Directors are reminded that all Able Trust Board and Committee meeting are open and publicly noticed. Under Florida Sunshine Law, any meeting of 2 or more Able Trust Directors must be publicly noticed. Directors are prohibited from discussing Able Trust business outside of official meetings of the organization. Directors are reminded of conflict-of-interest provisions. In declaring a conflict, please refrain from voting or discussion and declare the following information: 1) Your name and position on the Board, 2) The nature of the conflict, and 3) Who will gain or lose as a result of the conflict.
I. II. III. Call to Order (5 Minutes) Roll Call and Establishment of Quorum Approval of Agenda – Action
IV. Consent Agenda – Action (5 Minutes)
a. Acceptance of May Meeting Minutes
b. Acceptance of Banking Services Committee Minutes
V. Financial Reports – Action (15 Minutes)
a. FY 2023 – 2024 4th Quarter Finance Reports
i. Profit & Loss Sheet
ii. Balance Sheet
iii. Budget to Actual
VII. Program Updates – (1 Hour)
a. FY 2024-2025 – HSHT, Futures in Focus, Program Evaluation
b. HSHT 30th Anniversary & DEAM
c. Major Gifts Campaign - Overview & Video - Institutional Case - Case for Support - What’s Next
VIII. Presentations (30 Minutes)
a. VR Report
IX. New Business Public Comment Adjourn
NEXT Board Meeting: January 30, 10:00 AM - NOON
Pg. 1 – 5
Pg. 6
Laurie Sallarulo, Chair
Chip Byers, Secretary
Laurie Sallarulo
Laurie Sallarulo
Doug Hilliard, Treasurer
Delia Finnerty, Law, Redd, Crona & Monroe
Pg. 7 – 11
Pg.12 - 13
Pg.14-17
Pg. 18-25
Joey D’Souza, Senior VP
Tracey Lowe, VP Strategic Communications
Donna Wright, VP Marketing & Development
Joey, Senior VP
Allison Chase President & CEO
Donna Wright
Michael Newsome, VR Bureau Chief, Bureau of Vendor and Contract Services
Laurie Sallarulo, Chair
Please Note: Agenda subject to revisions and additions per the discretion of the Chair of the Board of Directors. Notification will be sent of any such revisions or changes. Members of the Public: Please notify Arnaldo Ramos at Arnaldo@AbleTrust.org if you wish to make public comment on particular agenda items no later than 1-hour prior to beginning of the meeting.
Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation, dba The Able Trust DRAFT - Meeting Minutes
Board of Directors Meeting – May 15, 2024, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Virtual Meeting
Members in Attendance
Members Absent
Staff in Attendance
Todd Jennings, James “Chip” Byers, Lori Fahey, Doug Hilliard, Stephanie Westerman, Dr. Mavara Agrawal, Laurie Sallarulo, Victoria Gaitanis, Alexis Doyle
Allison Chase, President; Arnaldo Ramos, Office Administrator and Executive Assistant to the President; Donna Wright, Vice President of Development & Marketing; Joseph D’Souza, Sr. Vice President; Tracey Low, Vice President of Strategic Communications; Justin Adams, Communications Manager; Coleen Agner, State Director of HSHT; Leanne Rexford, Director of Partner Relations
Others in Attendance Terry Hoffman, Kimberly Richey - Sr. Chancelor DOE, David Chappell DVR General Council, Cindy Walker - RAC
Item
Action/Discussion
I. Call to Order Laurie Sallarulo, Board Chair called the meeting to order at 09:05a.m.
II. Roll Call and Establishment of Quorum
III. Approval of Agenda –Action
IV. Approval of Consent Agenda – Action
a. Acceptance of December Meeting Minutes
b. 3rd Quarter Finance Reports
i. Profit & Loss Sheet
ii. Balance Sheet
V. Action Items (30 Minutes)
Chip Byers, Board Secretary completed roll call and a quorum was established at 9:07a.m.
Motion to approve the agenda, first by Director Todd Jennings and seconded by Director Doug Hilliard.
Consent agenda approved first by Director Todd Jennings, and seconded by Director Lori Fahey, motion carried unanimously
a. FY 2024-2025 Draft Budget Director Doug Hilliard provided a brief overview of the budget process for the board. The budget is driven by the Able Trust team reviewing expenditures as well
as making projections for the upcoming fiscal year based on the planned work to be done. President Allison Chase also drafts the budget and shares it one-on-one with board members. Once it is in the clear, it goes to the Chancelor over at the Dept. of Vocational Rehab (“DVR”) for review. It then goes to the finance committee for final review before it being presented to the full board for review and approval. Last, the draft budget goes to the Dept. of Education (“DOE”) for final review and approval.
President Allison Chase followed by sharing highlights on the budget:
Income
• Lines 2-4: Cash on Hand, $338,830.00 is what we expect to have at the beginning of the fiscal year.
• Line 7: New Grants, $200,000 in estimated in the upcoming fiscal year.
• Line 8: Project Based Revenue, second year of funding VR Federal Grant “ArtCIE”, for moving Vocational Rehabilitation clients into competitive employment in the art industry. The Able Trust has been elected to administer the subgrantees. Projected funds to come in $1,150,840.00.
• Line 9: Sponsored & Unrestricted Gifts – Projected effort on raising funds through the Major Gifts Ramp Up campaign $500,000.
• Line 10: State Appropriations & Other Federal/State/Local Sources
o $2,418,000.00, this is to fund and support the High School High Tech (“HSHT”) program, which is a reoccurring fund.
o We also requested and received $300,000 to expand the Futures in Focus program that we established in partnership with Consortium of Florida Education Foundations, which has 7 sites running, and we project expanding up to 20 sites this upcoming fiscal year.
o Additionally, we have $1,400,000, which the Able Trust did not request, but was given for a special project created by the speaker of the house. The Department of Education is currently in communication with the speaker of the house negotiating what this work will entail as there was no proviso language provided. Based on the information available, this would be like the ArtCIE program where we would be administering the funds to support this project. We anticipate having a signed contract by the end of June.
• Lines 11 & 12: Investment Withdrawal State and Private
o Recurring line items, withdrawal from the endowment and investment funds. A few years ago, we implemented a spending policy to reduce the withdrawal amount yearly by a percentage point till we reached 5% at which point we would reevaluate to determine if this is the appropriate amount.
Expenses
• Line 24: Grants to Sites (HSHT)
o Increasing from $946,000 to $1,034,000 as we are adding 2 new sites. Part of this funding will come from federal monies and the remaining will come from fundraising.
• Line 26: Project Venture
o We have made the decision to discontinue Project Venture for the coming year. Although it has been great to do, we have learned from the sites that it really pulls from the resources and time meant to be used for HSHT’s focus and services.
• Line 29: HSHT Ambassadors Program
o Decreasing from $250,000 to $175,000 as we believe we can replicate experiences like the one held with Advent Health at the Orlando Magic vs. Miami Heat game. We had the ambassadors, their parents, potential program partners, and prospective donors in one room to really market and showcase how the DVR and HSHT has impacted their lives.
Motion to recommend this draft budget to the DOE and DVR. Motion made by Board Chair Laurie Sallarulo; motion seconded by Director Lori Fahey. Motion carried unanimously.
Discussion Items – Full Board (1 Hour 15 Minutes)
VI. President & CEO Annual Evaluation Board Chair Laurie Sallarulo commended President Chase on her leadership, work, availability, and openness to suggestions made by the board. She also brought forward the following two topics of conversation:
• Bonus recommendation for last year’s performance;
o Board Chair Laurie Sallarulo pointed out that President Chase has not had a salary increase since 2020.
o Research provided reflects that an appropriate salary range for CEOs of a foundation is between $150,000 - $230,000
o Bonus recommendation discussed is 15% of the current salary of $135,000, which would be a $20,250.00 bonus.
o Had the organization been giving President Chase an increase yearly since 2020 at 5%, she would have been at around $27,000 in bonuses cumulatively.
Note: The organization has budget specifically for bonuses, raises and salary adjustments.
Motion to approve first by Director Lori Fahey, seconded by Director Dr. Mavara Agrawal. Motion carried unanimously.
• Salary increase adjustment recommendation for the coming year;
o Had President Chase received a yearly raise of the minimum 3% from $135,000 since 2020, she would have been at $151,942. What was discussed by the Executive Committee was to arrange between 5% - 7.5% increase.
Board Chair Laurie Sallarulo recommended to give a 7.5% increase to the existing salary of President Chase of $135,000, bringing the salary to $145,000 getting her closer to where she would be had there been yearly
VII. Presentations
a. Program Evaluation
i. High School High Tech
ii. Futures in Focus
b. Responsibilities of a Florida Direct Support Organization
c. VR Updates
increases since 2020. Motion made first by Director Doug Hilliard, seconded by Director Todd Jennings. Motion carried unanimously.
• Setting a date for the next Executive & Finance Committee meeting to outline goals and expectations for the upcoming year;
President Chase requested to make an amendment to the current agenda to jump to the presentations as we were running behind. Director Lori Fahey first made the motion, seconded by Director Doug Hilliard. Motion carried unanimously.
President Chase introduced Dr. Cindy Walker from Research Analytics Consulting (“RAC”), who was awarded the contract through the request for proposal (“RFP”) process to evaluate the HSHT and Futures in Focus programs over the next year. Dr. Walker shared the RAC presentation which spoke to the history and mission of RAC and highlighted the evaluation process which would measure data collected from program participants and the organization ensuring to ensure the work is in line with the standards and requirements in place by the authorities that govern the Able Trust. A copy of the proposal was provided in the meeting materials to the board.
President Chase introduced the DVR’s General Counsel, David Chappell who at their statewide leadership conference shared important information on the responsibilities of Florida’s direct support organization. Mr. Chappell shared a presentation entailing statutory requirements and definitions of what a direct support organization is to better define and the relationship between DVR and the Able Trust.
Interim Director Victoria Gaitanis presented updates and new developments within DVR. Ms. Gaitanis provided the following:
• Overview of DVR
• Goals, Processes, and Priorities
• State of the state
• Other related updates
VIII. President’s Update
a. FY24-25 Strategic Plan Goals & KPI’s
b. Major Gifts Campaign
President Chase shared that this coming fiscal years goals along with each priorities key indicators:
• Priority 1: Expand youth programs to serves 5,000 students annually by FY27-28
• Priority 2: Secure a more diversified funding base to ensure organizational stability and achieve exponential impact. Raise $26,000,000 in 4 years.
• Priority 3: Provide focused support to DVR.
Donna Wright, VP of Marketing & Development, spoke on the planned work being done through the Major Gifts Campaign to expand and increase prospective donor activity and partnerships.
• Theme: “Crossing the Stage”, referencing graduation, or going from one phase of life to another.
• We are doing this to move the needle to tap into these resources that Major Gifts offers and secure investments from donors to continue pushing competitive employment and education of persons with disabilities as well as support DVR.
• September 12th, 2024 - will be the Major Gifts “Awareness Event”, where we will be sharing our case for support with prospective donors/partners in the Tallahassee area.
• October 2024-March 2025, board members to meet with any of the potential prospects.
• April 2025 – Major Gifts “Ask Event”
• June 2025 – $500,000 goal
• October 2025 – Campaign Celebration Event
Information Items N/A
New Business N/A
Next Board Meeting Virtual Board Meeting on September 26, 2025 at 10a.m.
Adjourn Board meeting adjourned at 11:52a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
James “Chip” William Byers IV, Secretary
