Creative Portland Corporation — Portland, ME
Date: 2025-01-08
Time: 15:30

P.O. Box 4675 | Portland, ME | 04112 | 207-370-4784


 Board of Directors Meeting
 Wednesday, January 8, 2025
 3:30 PM
 Via Zoom

 AGENDA


1. Welcome and President's Comments (Herb Ivy presiding)
 A. Consent Agenda: November Minutes and November Financials
 VOTE: to accept consent agenda
2. Executive Director Update
 A. FFAW December & Jan 3rd
 B. Monday Morning Drop By on January 6 with Eli Cabanas
 C. Hired Outreach Coordinator/Graphics Designer
 D. 2024 Fundraising Drive - update
 E. Grant pursuit opportunities
 F. CP Gallery 2025 Exhibition planning - 8th juried show
3. Board Business
 A. Board Retreat planning for Spring
 B. Fundraising Strategies
 C. Board recruitment - lawyer/fundraiser
 D. March 10th City Council Workshop prep
4. FY25 Remaining Board Meetings: Feburary 5, April 2, May 7 & June 4, 2025

P.O. Box 4675 | Portland, ME | 04112 | 207-370-4784


 Board of Directors Meeting
 Wednesday, January 8, 2025
 3:30 PM
 Via Zoom

 AGENDA


1. Welcome and President's Comments (Herb Ivy presiding)
 A. Consent Agenda: November Minutes and November Financials
 VOTE: to accept consent agenda
2. Executive Director Update
 A. FFAW December & Jan 3rd
 B. Monday Morning Drop By on January 6 with Eli Cabanas
 C. Hired Outreach Coordinator/Graphics Designer
 D. 2024 Fundraising Drive - update
 E. Grant pursuit opportunities
 F. CP Gallery 2025 Exhibition planning - 8th juried show
3. Board Business
 A. Board Retreat planning for Spring
 B. Fundraising Strategies
 C. Board recruitment - lawyer/fundraiser
 D. March 10th City Council Workshop prep
4. FY25 Remaining Board Meetings: Feburary 5, April 2, May 7 & June 4, 2025




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 Creative Portland Board Meeting Minutes
 Wednesday, November 6, 2024
 via ZOOM

Attendance:
Board Members: Kirstie Archambault, David Brenerman (Secretary), Tae Chong, Lucy
Comaskey, Eliza Ginn (Co-President), Herb Ivy (Co-President), Dinah Minot (Assistant
Secretary), Councilor Regina Phillips, Dawn Reshen-Doty (Treasurer), Nancy Martin and
Matt Schwach
Staff: Dinah Minot; Walks Tall Keith
Absent: Kate Anker (Immediate Past President), Gib Foltz, Daniel Minter, Lindsay Hancock,
Clare E. Hannan, Greg Watson (ex officio)


1. Welcome & President’s Comments (Herb Ivy presiding) (3:31pm)
Herb welcomed everyone for our annual meeting and last meeting of 2024.

2. Consent Agenda at 3:32pm (October Minutes and October Financials)
ACTION: Vote to approve Consent Agenda: Unanimously approved. Motioned by Ms
Reshen-Doty; second by Ms Archambault

3. Ex Com Discussion (3:32pm - 3:35pm)
 ● Dinah proposed EXCOM Slate for one-year term 2024/25:
 ○ Herb Ivy, President
 ○ Kate Anker, Immediate Past President
 ○ Clare E. Hannan, Vice President
 ○ Dawn Reshen-Doty, Treasurer
 ○ Matt Schwach, Secretary
 ○ Dinah Minot, Assistant Secretary
 ACTION: Vote to approve the CP EXCOM slate:
 ● Approved unanimously. Motion First by Ms Ginn; second Mr. Brenerman.

Board Business & Volunteer Discussion (3:35pm - 3:40pm)
 ● Volunteer positions include: Lindsey for Utility boxes, Matt for Dec FFAW, Tae, Herb,
 David for workshop prep (2/24).
 ● PPAC has an open seat, appointed by CP. Herb offered to board and then Dinah
 confirmed that Ronnie Wilson, a CP volunteer committee member, be appointed for the
 3-year term. Previous CP seats were held by Dinah, Daniel, Gib and Lindsay.
 ● Dinah will confirm Ronnie’s appointment at an upcoming meeting with Sean King &
 Kevin Kraft. David suggested feedback from the CP-appointed rep, and Dinah confirmed
 a quarterly report from Ronnie.




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Executive Director Update (3:40pm - 4:28pm)
 ● Dinah & Kirstie shared a report of the successful morning presentation at Visit Portland
 (at Regency) with 40 reps from member organizations. Focus was on the app and the
 importance of working together to keep the arts alive and relevant. Happy with Kirstie as
 the conduit for building collaborations with Visit Portland.
 ● Video recap of the Arts & Culture Summit reinforced the arts as an economic driver and
 is now on our website.We did a recap as an executive summary report. Short and long
 version. Also on the website.
 ● Portland Media Center will add our Arts & Culture Summit video recap as a bumper
 segment between their shows.
 ● The fundraising mailer design was presented for review. The Plan is to mail out on
 November 15.
 ● Monday Morning Drop - Nice turnout but not huge. Upcoming sessions with special
 guests are planned for Jan (Maine Arts Commission grants) & Feb (Justin Alfond- Fork
 Food Lab building co-op space).
 ● Dinah finds that the work we are doing in the convening realm is really useful in fulfilling
 our mission which is to forge partnerships, provide resources and promote artistic talents
 and cultural assets.
 ● The advocacy issue is not a “sexy” issue for a sponsor to jump onto. People usually want
 to put their name on a plaque or a program. We have to appeal for municipal and state
 funding so we can continue some of these programs.
 ● The Annual Report will be uploaded along with an agenda for the November 22 meeting.
 Thank you David & Matt for edit assistance.
 ● City counselors are usually pretty good about reading our report. Dinah would like to be
 able to show the 4.5 minute video recap of the Arts & Culture Summit at the city council
 workshop. Regina says we should ask the Mayor to see what he thinks.
 ● When we do the 2/24 workshop, we can do a presentation, and the new councilors there
 will be able to learn about our programs.
 ● David Brenerman said we have the workshop to do the video if we can't do it in
 November.
 ● Dinah reminded the board that as a nonprofit we will file a form 990 with Tabitha at the
 Swanson Group. Dawn says an audit on 990 should be about every 3 years.
 ● We are still looking to hire a new Outreach Coordinator. Kail got a full-time job at the
 Portland Public Library. We are currently interviewing people for a contractor position.
 ● We have 3 grants that we may be pursuing: MOT Enterprise grant (the app - marketing),
 Bloomberg Asphalt Project grant (to be considered after we talk with other organizations)
 ● The City Council recently voted for increased funding of the PPAC.
 ● Creative Portland is a resource for vetting future public art projects. This topic could be
 part of our presentation at the city council workshop. We want to consolidate things and
 make them more streamlined.
 ● We discussed the CDBG grant at length. In summary, CDBG is really for emergency
 services and city council priorities; Dinah will be in touch with Rowen. Detailed notes
 about our CDBG discussion are below.




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 ○  Dinah and Matt discussed the CDBG Grant. There is a deadline coming up for
 that. Matt and Walks Tall attended that meeting. Dinah is going to see if we could
 get grant support for an extension on our Creative Bus Shelter Initiative to bring
 attention to different communities. Described wrap around on the bus with
 information about the artist and the bus stop. With portraits of the artist and a little
 bit about their background. It would be a mobile art exhibit to extend the bus
 shelter artwork, spotlighting bus shelter transportation, and reducing stigma
 about riding a bus. Maybe for the economic development initiative, we could go
 at it from this angle.
 ○ Dinah asked if the board liked the idea of extending and enhancing an existing
 program.
 ○ Tae likes it, but cautioned that CDBG finding is really hard to get. They tend to
 focus on basic needs like homelessness services first. Rarely do they provide
 funding for something like an art project. Tae described the idea of bus tickets for
 the homeless so they could get to their jobs as an example of something that
 would be a closer match for CDBG funding.
 ○ Regina agreed with Tae. These funds go to soup kitchens, homeless shelters,
 Through These Doors (family crisis), housing… It is for emergency needs and
 resources.
 ○ Dinah will be in touch with Rowen. Knowing that CDBG is for emergency services
 and city council priorities is important to know.
 ○ Tae said that only one year did they change the economic development funding
 and that was for Portland jobs. They had to get special permission from HUDD to
 get alignment for people who needed jobs. This way people wouldn't need to fill
 out the same application at multiple places.
 ● Dinah says we’re going to create a holiday calendar. We will advertise it on social media
 and our newsletter and a separate e-blast. We are at 3,300 downloads for the app. We
 also have increased traffic on our website. We are always over 50% on our Newsletter.
 We have stickiness. People keep coming back. We are focusing much more on our
 streamlined systems to be a useful hub of culling everything together in one place.
 ● We need funds for another fulltime person. When we have a contractor for only 10 or 15
 hours, it's not enough. If we had another full time position, we could really make these
 tools useful and our resources robust.
Board Share (4:28pm - 4:35pm)
 ● Regina says they'll be welcoming Wes Pelletier (one of the founders of the Democratic
 Socialist Party), Sara Michniewicz, and Ben Grant to city council.
 ● Lucy said school is good, very intense. Maine Law, which recently moved locations. The
 Maine Supreme Court visited her school recently.
 ● Regina had fun at the Arts & Culture Summit
 ● Farewell to Maile Buker, who completed her first term.
Motion to adjourn by Regina. David second. Approved unanimously. Adjourned at
4:36pm.

Meeting minutes submitted by Walks Tall Keith.




 Page 4
Accrual Basis Creative Portland
 Statement of Activity
 Profit & Loss
 Budget vs. Actual
 July through November 2024

 Full FY25 $ Over % of Total
 Jul - Nov 24
 Budget Budget Budget
 Ordinary Income/Expense
 Income
 4100 · Operations (unrestricted) 51,834 242,300 -190,467 21.39%
 4200 · Programs 7,500 45,000 -37,500 16.67%
 Total Income 59,334 287,300 -227,967 20.65%
 Cost of Goods Sold
 5000 · Cost of Programs 11,560 47,500 -35,940 24.34%
 Total COGS 11,560 47,500 -35,940 24.34%
 Gross Profit 47,774 239,800 -192,026 19.92%
 Expense
 6000 · Marketing 819 7,250 -6,431 11.3%
 6100 · Personnel 65,384 170,900 -105,516 38.26%
 6200 · Occupancy Expenses 3,382 7,800 -4,418 43.35%
 6300 · Travel 0 3,000 -3,000 0.0%
 6500 · Professional Services 4,384 34,600 -30,216 12.67%
 6600 · Operating Expenses 3,961 15,290 -11,329 25.91%
 Total Expense 77,930 238,840 -160,910 32.63%
 Net Ordinary Income (30,156) 960 -31,116 -3,141.41%
 Other Income/Expense
 Other Income
 7000 · Other Income-Expense 38 50 -12 75.62%
 Total Other Income 38 50 -12 75.62%
 Net Other Income 38 50 -12 75.62%
 Net Income (30,118) 1,010 -31,128 -2,982.03%




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 Page 5
Accrual Basis Creative Portland
 Statement of Financial Position
 As of November 30, 2024

 Nov 30, 24 Oct 31, 24 $ Change % Change
 ASSETS
 Current Assets
 Checking/Savings
 1010 · Creative Portland Checking 52,718 22,568 30,149 133.6%
 1011 · GSB Savings 5265 90,529 90,522 7 0.0%
 1015 · Petty Cash 1,258 1,258 - 0.0%
 Total Checking/Savings 144,505 114,348 30,157 26.4%
 Accounts Receivable
 1150 · Accrued Contribution Receivable
 Total Accounts Receivable
 Total Current Assets 144,505 114,348 30,157 26.4%
 Fixed Assets
 1400 · Fixed Assets 36,397 36,698 (300) -0.8%
 Total Fixed Assets 36,397 36,698 (300) -0.8%

 TOTAL ASSETS 180,902 151,046 29,856 19.8%
 LIABILITIES & EQUITY
 Liabilities
 Current Liabilities
 Accounts Payable
 2000 · Accounts Payable - 939 (939) -100.0%
 Total Accounts Payable - 939 (939) -100.0%
 Other Current Liabilities
 2500 · Fiscal Sponsorship Liability 67,496 67,496 - 0.0%
 Total Other Current Liabilities 67,496 67,496 - 0.0%
 Total Current Liabilities 67,496 68,435 (939) -1.4%
 Total Liabilities 67,496 68,435 (939) -1.4%
 Equity
 3100 · Unrest'd Net Assets 143,524 143,524 - 0.0%
 Net Income (30,118) (60,914) 30,796 50.6%
 Total Equity 113,406 82,610 30,796 37.3%

 TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY 180,902 151,046 29,856 19.8%




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