Call to Order and Welcome (Linda Kendzierski, AZADV Board Chair)
Meeting called to order at 7:32 p.m. CST.
Roll Call of Organizational Member (Linda Kendzierski)
Thirty-three delegates attended the meeting with a quorum being 21 people and requiring 27 to pass bylaws.
Conference Rules (Patty Whitecotton, Parliamentarian)
Reading of the conference rules.
AZADV Chair Report (Linda Kendzierski)
Linda thanked the OKC planning committee for all their work in planning and holding this conference.
Oklahoma City Conference Planning Committee (Tim Kouba, Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens)
Tim welcomed everyone to OKC and thanked the committee that he worked with in planning the conference. They are:
• Tasha Dyson, Volunteer Coordinator, Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens
• Steven Hancock, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
• Mary Ann LeFevre, Phoenix Zoo
• Cathy Shade, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
• Pat Statland, Saint Louis Zoo
• Patty Whitecotton, Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens
He reported we had 139 members register for the conference and eight guests. Five of those registered had to cancel their trip. He reported the planning committee met over 38 Zoom meetings.
Report of Officers
Kay Johnson, Treasurer:
Checking account balances as of August 31, 2023.
JP Morgan Chase Checking: $66,718.78
JP Morgan Chase Conference Oversight: $67,026.76
JP Morgan Chase Savings: $11,186.17
JP Morgan Chase Cert. of Deposit: $60,000.00
Total: $204,931.71
The 10-month statement shows a profit of $45,270.00 but there will be expenses hitting in September and October for this conference. Some OKC conference expenses may not be presented for payment by October 31, so would carry over into next year.
Linda Kendzierski, Marketing Chair: Work continues on rebuilding both individual and organizational memberships. In addition, we are in the process of contacting all of our reciprocal facilities to update our reciprocity list. Once that is complete, we will resume reaching out to other accredited facilities to try to secure more reciprocity and discounts for our members.
Our social media presence is continuing to grow. Work has started on creating new videos for our new YouTube channel and increasing our presence on other platforms. Our Facebook Group now has over 800 members. Our admins, Kim Houk and Helen Lee, continue to do an outstanding job moderating the group. They have asked that we recruit another admin to assist them in monitoring the group and handling the group memberships. Anyone interested in this position should contact marketing at azadvmarketing@gmail.com.
We would ask that when you are talking to potential members at your facility, please remind them that the admins cannot approve their requests to join the Facebook group until their AZADV membership has been verified and all three membership questions have been answered. One of the biggest delays in being able to approve members to join the group is that many people do not answer all three membership questions.
Steven Morrissey, Professional Development Director:
Facebook group: The Facebook group continues to be a popular area for sharing resources and news. The Facebook group will continue into the next year and we plan to increase communications and resource distribution using the Facebook group.
Website library: We plan to build out the website library of resources in the members area of the website. The plan would be to have a library for members to access educational resources from a wide range of sources and mediums.
Book Club: The book club continued this past summer with our first book of 2023. The meetings of the book club for the second book of 2023 have been scheduled for December 7 at 7 p.m. EST and December 9 at 10 a.m. EST. The book is called “The Zookeepers’ War.” We plan to continue the book club into 2024 with new books twice a year.
Education Grants: Our new education grant process went into effect this year. Instead of a single submission and deadline window, grants now are awarded on a rolling basis which is first come, first served. We no longer differentiate based on zoo size and there is not a set dollar amount for each grant. Proposals must be for volunteer-involved programs. Please make sure to encourage any potential applicants to submit proposals.
Webinars: Our first webinar of the year was held on September 25. It is our intention to continue with these educational webinars for the membership quarterly. There will be a part 2 webinar similar to the webinar on September 25, held later this year for those that were unable to attend the first webinar. It is our ultimate plan to record these webinars and have them in the resource library of the website. There is a survey currently on the Facebook group regarding future webinars that I encourage everyone to go complete so we can better tailor these webinars to the interests/needs of the membership. The survey will be open until October 15.
Lisa Devos, Membership Chair: As of September 2023, we have 881 individual members, 51 organizational members, with 15 organizations that have not yet renewed. At the 2022 conference in Toledo, it was reported that we had 853 individual members and 50 organizational members. This is an increase of 28 individual members and 1 organizational member.
Possible contributing factors to the decrease may include: aging membership; changes within organizations to staff and programs; and economics (fixed incomes, lack of disposable income, tight budgets).
Shari LaRue, Secretary: The board continues to meet via Zoom every month. The board agendas and minutes are kept on AZADV Google drive where all board members can edit them until they are approved at the following month’s meetings. Google drive provides us with the ability to save records that can then be accessed by all board members.
Andrea Hunter, Newsletter Editor: From 2022 to 2023, our membership numbers increased to the point that we can no longer use the free version of MailChimp that we’ve been using to send Symbiosis electronically. This, coupled with the fact that the back-end of the current AZADV website is very, very user unfriendly, we’ve decided to migrate the website to Weebly, which hosts the conference website. The current website was created for us by Gravity Works Design & Development many years ago and since then, website-building and hosting services have become more robust, convenient and affordable. Using Weebly means that more board members will have access to make edits to the website, we’ll be able to manage our membership electronically, renewing membership and purchasing pins and patches will be more streamlined, and it will cost less than our current web hosting service.
We’ve also decided to change the timing of the Symbiosis issues. Currently, it’s sent quarterly in January, April, July and October. Since the annual conference is traditionally in October, it’s become necessary to send out a supplemental issue with suggested bylaw changes and board elections since this information needs to be to the members at least 60 days before the conference. The board is currently in discussions about the exact nature of the change, but the mailing dates will be pushed by at least a month for each issue beginning in 2024. We are, as always, in need of content!! Suggestions for content include zoo happenings, asking members to send in announcements of animal births, zoo habitat changes or new additions, and articles on innovative docent programs. Watch Symbiosis for the new mailing dates.
Ellen Kulie, Director, Conference Advisory: Ellen thanked everyone for being here and promoting AZADV. Conferences are the best time for Ellen to reach out to members and get leads for future conference sites. She looks forward to chatting with you this week. We have a fabulous week ahead of us. It couldn’t have happened without the awesome conference planning committee members. They met online over 38 times to plan this conference for us. Please recognize:
• Tasha Dyson, Volunteer Programs Manager, Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden
• Steve Hancock, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
• Mary Anne Lefevre, Phoenix Zoo
• Cathy Shade, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
• Pat Statland, Saint Louis Zoo
• Diane Tyk, Milwaukee County Zoo
• Patty Whitecotton, Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden
• Conference Chair, Tim Kouba, Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden
Thank you to this wonderful team! Serving on the planning committee is a great way to build a network with your fellow volunteers. If you are interested in conferences, whether serving on the committee or finding out how your organization could be the conference site, chat with Ellen this week. She is giving a presentation on hosting a conference at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and invites you to attend. Ellen looks forward to your feedback on what is important to you when you choose to attend a conference.
For future conferences she is working with the visitor’s bureau of a western city for 2024, and an East Coast zoo has asked about hosting in 2025. We have a commitment from a Midwest zoo to host in 2026. Drum roll please…our 2026 conference will be in Kansas City, Missouri! Thank you to the Kansas City Zoo and Aquarium for their commitment to AZADV.
Vote on Proposed Budget
The delegates and board unanimously approved the new fiscal year budget as presented to them.
Committee Reports
Bylaws Committee: (Judi Longmeyer, Phoenix Zoo)
In her absence, Linda K. reported there were no amendments proposed this year.
Education Grant Committee (Carolyn Farnham, Potter Park Zoo) In her absence, Steven Morrissey reported that the education grants are now on a rolling deadline. The first ones in are the first considered. When the $6,000 available is awarded, that is it for the year. He encouraged everyone to speak at their respective zoo or aquarium and encourage members to apply.
Nominating Committee (Debbie Maruffi, Cincinnati Zoo) Debbie thanked everyone on the nominating committee. She presented the slate of current board members and asked for nominations from the floor. Vicki DeFalque from the L.A. Zoo was nominated from the floor for membership chair. A motion was made to vote on the complete slate as presented. The motion passed unanimously and the vote was unanimous for the 2023–2024 board.
Nominations for the 2022–2023 Nominating Committee:
Members not eligible were read. The new nominating committee is: Patti Whitecotton, Chair; Ronit Kalmanor; Van Harris; Pam Hancock; Toy Marie Paddock; and alternate Susan Gingrich.
Unfinished Business: None
New Business: None
Announcements: Linda announced we are building up a photo library for the website and other platforms. If you have a great photo to share, please send it to Linda K. at azadvmarketing@gmail.com If your photo has any humans in it, please get a release from each individual in the photo.
Adjournment at 10:25 p.m., CST