Christ the King-PTO

CKS PTO Board Meeting

MINUTES

March 11, 2015, 1 p.m.     

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­­­­­­People in attendance: Katherine Marsella (President), Mary Ann Lickteig (Secretary), Tara Banks (Treasurer), Angela Pohlen (Principal), Jon Hughes (Development Director), Tracey Whitney (Administrative Representative), Amy Barr (Genevieve’s/Red Barn representative)

1. Opening Prayer

2. Accept February PTO Minutes — Katherine Marsella moved to accept; Tracey Whitney seconded; minutes were accepted.

3. Public Comment

a. Katherine Marsella relayed information from Hillary Booth, who says she has started work on getting CKS a cut of profits from Amazon and that she is working with Jon Hughes on Guidestar. She also is working to get the school a fund-raising evening at Panera. The group decided that asking for Thursday, May 21, the night of our art fair, would be good.

b. Angela Pohlen reported that parent Arline Duffy has researched scrip, a program that gives organizations a percentage of the sale of gift cards to retail stores. The program is labor-intensive and requires one person to acquire, manage and sell scrip, Angela said.

c. Katherine said that if our PTO events raise $60,000, and we divide that amount by the school’s 180 families, we raise $333 per family, an amount she thinks is low. Amy Barr said that school’s fund-raising totals have declined. She said she’s been doing fund-raising in Vermont for 20 years and some schools are making half of what they used to.

4. Treasurer’s Report — Tara Banks reported that nothing has changed from last month.

5. Old Business:

a. Genevieve’s Discussion

i. Amy Barr, the rep from Genevieve’s and Red Barn, said that we had a 54 percent participation rate in our fall sale, much higher than the 30 percent for the average Vermont school. The state average was higher 15 to 20 years ago, she added. We offered items from four catalogs this year; Amy thinks that meant too many choices.

ii. We added frozen food items this year. We sold 155 of those items and earned 35 percent of the sale price. If we had sold 200 items, we would have earned 40 percent.

iii. We earn 50 percent from items in the big catalog. We sold 848 items from that catalog and made $4,500.

iv. From the Essentials catalog, the one with Crabtree and Evelyn and candles, we sold 140 items and earned 40 percent profit.

v. The Taste of Vermont catalog pays us $5 per item. We sold 65 items from there to earn $325. Amy advises keeping this catalog, though, because it offers locally made products and makes our sale unique.

vi. She advises starting our sale on a Friday, running it for two full weeks and ending on the following Monday. Fall is a good time because people are fresh and gearing up for Christmas shopping.

vii. Prize incentives may be despised but statistics show they are effective. Alternatives are Spare Time incentives offered this year. Also, Genevieve’s is working on setting up a program in which the Genevieve’s company would make a donation on behalf of the school to the Make A Wish Foundation chapter we choose. The amount would be based on the amount of our sales. Genevieve’s is based in Massachusetts and is owned by Dan McLaughlin of the McLaughlin Paper Co., Amy said.

b. Silent Auction Update

i. Angela expects a donation, perhaps an autographed script, from the Jimmy Kimmel show. Von Bargen’s will give us a $100 gift certificate and maybe a piece of jewelry. Other possible auction items: Red Sox tickets, a tour of the fire department and a ride on a fire truck, dinner from Starry Night Cafe or Wooden Spoon Bistro, Mahana Magic tickets, VIP tickets for next year’s Cabaret, CKS spirit wear.

ii. New this year: Restaurant Row, a buy-it-now (at face value) collection of restaurant gift certificates; a Wall of Wine and theme baskets filled by parents.

c. Spring Challenge Update — Katherine reported that the web page to add addresses and T-shirt sizes is up and running; we have a DJ and a bounce house from Top Hat; Tracey Quinn will run the barbecue; we are still seeking T-shirt sponsors; and Bryan Yaeger said he will shoot photos free of charge for Spring Challenge, Cabaret and the father-daughter dance.

6. New Business

a. School Board Report — tabled

b. Dennis McNeil concert — Ticket sales have been extremely slow, but Dennis has been gracious about doing the March 19 benefit concert at the Flynn for us anyway.

Meeting adjourned at 2:42 p.m.