Oregon Lavender Association Board Meeting Minutes Tuesday, April 4, 2017 7:00pm 8:30pm Board Members Present: Chris Mulder, Michael Lemmers, Robin Foleen, Steve Seymour, Dan Callen, Karalee Mitro, Carol Tannenbaum, Gene Schmidt-joined after meeting started Board Members Absent: Mary Jabs Guests Present: Nicole Callen Board Meeting Minutes: February 7, 2017 Steve - moved that the minutes be approved Carol - seconded the motion All board members approved the minutes, as written Membership update: Karalee Total Membership 85 o 26 Promote With Us o 13 - Grow With Us gained one, another two did not renew o 46 Relax with Us six new members since last month Four new members, all Relax with Us, noted here, paid through the website in March, prior to Member Meeting in April. Karalee s hard drive crashed, she lost OLA records, will be working with hard copies up through the middle of April Bonnie will be able to help, once they have moved to their new home Financial Update: Michael Check for $950 was received from Willamette Valley Lavender Festival o Robin - a thank you letter will be sent to Willamette Valley Lavender Festival in C/O Marilyn Kosel, to her address Operating margin for remainder of the year is approximately $3,000 Expected invoices of $1,000+ from Marilyn and insurance invoice for approx. $800+, and additional website charges coming this year The OLA fiscal year runs with membership renewals from, October 1st September 30 th Michael filed IRS form 990-N for OLA on 04/09/17, for fiscal year 10/01/15 09/30/16 The OLA attorney in Newberg, (name not mentioned), called Michael to inquire why OLA needed him? o Attorney s only duty was to file the OLA forms to the State Corporate Division, (annual fee $50) Michael will file now and send in the form and Corporate fee for OLA o Registered Agent name has been changed to Chris Mulder, OLA President Marketing Report Dan Facebook: o Likes going up, Nicole is doing 12 posts per month o Posts in May will be about the farms o Will focus on updating the Press Releases o Press Release Volunteer sign up form was at the April 1st Membership Meeting Instagram: o 90 followers currently, Dan will graph month to month, in the future Growing organically Page 1 of 6
Web Traffic: o Google analytics flat in February and March overall, including Sequim o 2016 shows and up-tack in April and May o 80% new visitors o Minutes per visit is 2:35 o 75% are female visitors o 30% are between 25-34 years old OLA Public Newsletter Chris Currently 841 subscribers, distribution is continuing to grow Chris has given Dan two zip drives from Amy, which include downloads, (OLA Dropbox and her computer), of all files for the Destination Guide design, development and layout Dan will hand the two zip drives over to the future Destinations Guide designer Dan has not heard back from Amy regarding how to access the OLA Dropbox or add access for Board and marketing members Michael it has to do with giving permission to share, possibly from the designated owner of the Dropbox Chris Cheryl Wilson set up the OLA Dropbox initially and she is listed as the owner, OLA needs a new owner to be listed, someone to help to get OLA Dropbox access for Board members Karalee had access, will need to gain access again, for the Photo Contest. She was originally given access by Bonnie Rinaldi, as membership chair. Chris has received one USB stick from Cheryl, with Photo Contest info from the OLA Dropbox Michael got into the OLA Dropbox, (during this meeting). He confirms that Cheryl is still listed as the owner and the following members are listed as having access: Bonnie, Carol, Steve, Nicole, Michael, Marilyn, Karalee, Dan and Chris. Action: Chris - will mail the USB stick, with photo contest/watermark boarders, to Michael Website Update Chris, All Board members were asked to test the website o Michael no problems o Karalee changing password is a problem Chris asked three new OLA members that signed up to help, to do some testing Their suggestions were sent to Laurel, changes were made (not described) Public side good comments overall Member side problems with passwords and: Members portal Finding way through members side, in general Placing product orders Provide training sessions for members, as needed Members side described as clunky, difficult to navigate Website is slow to load probably due to all the photos, high resolution slows the loading process No automatic sign-out when you leave the site, need to click sign out Closing the browser does not close the session Mobile Access different situations with different phones = different results (information and photos seen are different) Page 2 of 6
Dan We need to run with what we have now. With analytics, we will learn what is being used and we can send these to Laurel with the platforms that will need to be focused on later. Get through the lavender season, since we have no budget for enhancements. Action Item: Karalee Update photo contest page on OLA website, download last year s photos onto a zip drive/usb sticks to make more space in OLA Dropbox for this year s photo contest entries. Photo Contest and Paint Out: Laurel has instructed Karalee how to add the participating farms to the Photo Contest list Need to contact member farms that want to participate in the Photo Contest, ask them to update their websites so their hours, days, contact information and directions are correct Dan met with Virginia Boon at the member meeting. She likes to design websites and would also mentor new farms, if they need website help Action Item: Chris Check with Virginia on her availability to help with website, (she signed up to volunteer to help, at the April meeting). OLA Branded Products: Chris Lavender Chocolate Bars 136 left to sell, pre-orders have been filled Tote Bags 40 requests will be filled from the remaining tote bags from last year s order, leaving OLA with 7 to give for new members o John will remove tote bags from the website Marionberry Jam ordering dilemma: o 47 cases have been ordered by members to date, that is not enough to meet the minimum order (75-85 cases) of jam from Columbia Empire Farms o Chris has talked with Mike Farley from Sundance Lavender He has in stock, 11 cases of his Marionberry Lavender Jam and 25 cases of his Blueberry Lavender Jam He is offering them at $50 per case, with or without the Sundance label o Mike Farley uses Berry Noir, (Newberg company) he is asking them what their minimum order would be, if OLA placed an order with them, since OLA can supply the bud. Issues to consider: What would OLA make from the jam? Would the new jam recipe be liked? Could we get the jam in time to fill the standing orders (47 cases)? Mike s recipe and the OLA recipe use Provence buds, his is not strained Current jars available would be good through what date? (best by date?) Mike s recipe, jars and label size are different than the OLA s Mike uses a separate label maker and attaches the labels himself OLA can t use Mike s label or the Columbia Empire Farms label for OLA jam (a new label would have to be designed and attached, if Berry Noir makes the jam for OLA) Chris has requested Sundance Lavender jam samples to taste and compare the two recipes for Marionberry Lavender jam o Carol Is this something that will not happen this year? Do we need to form a committee to on how to do it? o Chris will email the board, once she hears back from Mike, with additional information from Berry Noir and label options. The OLA product committee will meet to discuss what can be done. Page 3 of 6
Lavender Essential Oils Showcase: Michael Marilyn has secured a place for the Essential Oil Showcase at the Willamette Valley Lavender Festival in July Idea is to start really small, stay entirely focused on lavender this year o Invite people to submit their lavender oil, award lots of ribbons o Goal is to find good oil in the six categories that were discussed at the Members Meeting in April o Look for a champion oil from each category these will be the lavender oils showcased to the public Promotional aspect who is producing these oils and how do you get them o Carol why are they limiting submission of oils produced, to last three years? Actually started with 1 year, but broadened the vista o Michael - All oils are being submitted to Janna Liewergen, the committee will: Separate into uniform vials and label and number them for the competition, by category Judging will happen in June at RavenCroft National interest, not just OLA interest o Information has been sent out to a list about four times longer than the list collected at the OLA membership meeting Judges Michael, Janna, whoever else wants to participate, done by the method described in the documentation Judges will be disqualified from submitting oil to the competition No judges are trained yet Judges from outside the region will be welcomed, only if they will follow the guidelines laid out during the OLA members meeting No other US or international organization has been willing to make public their criteria for judging lavender essential oil The committee is going in the opposite direction, by laying out the criteria for the judging up front, then everyone will know the criteria to be used Entry information will be stored, important for future Everyone who submits oil will receive a certificate or ribbon to show participation All questions should go to Janna regarding this event Michael will answer questions about oils, in general Those interested in participating in any way, contact Michael OLA Photo Contest Karalee will do a Facebook post closer to bloom time, currently, there is nothing to take photos of at most farms last year, the end of May, was the earliest bloom time ever flyer will be emailed to photography shops in the greater Portland area Facebook posts, and repeat info from other years People s Choice Award was new in 2016 and will continue this year Page 4 of 6
Grant Committee: Carol Carol talked with Bonnie about the grant she wrote for OLA in past. Carol attended the Travel Oregon Meeting - their opening for new grants is July 1 st (has not changed). Travel Oregon and Willamette Valley Visitor s Association Marketing Plan A spokesperson at that meeting, from The Oregon Garden, would be happy to display the OLA Destinations Guides Action Item: Carol will send Michael the name of the person at The Oregon Garden to get Guides to them for display. o Idea: can we, OLA, collaborate with the Oregon Garden to showcase lavender in one of their gardens? o This could be a way to showcase the lavenders that are being developed in Oregon. OLA Board members think this is an excellent idea to pursue. Mentorship Committee: Carol, Karalee, Steve Action Item: Steve - put together a booklet to help new members o Who will be available to be a mentor? (get a list of OLA members) o Ideally have people on a list who can advise and help new members Public Emails: Karalee Individual feedback regarding which farms will be open to the Plein Air painters for the Paint Out contest on their farms o Marilyn handled it last year o Chris is already getting inquiries from the public List on OLA website needs to be updated, so we can refer pubic to the list, public can contact the farms that are listed on the Paint Out/OLA website page, and view different location options Received a request from the Australian Better Homes and Gardens magazine for a photo to represent the OLA Farm Tour for 2017 (Chris sent Karalee photo that has been used before, that is watermarked). Shortbread Orders: Chris Need $1,000 minimum ordered, to place an OLA group order for cookies Currently have orders totally $610 Action Item: Karalee - send reminder to Promote members to place orders before May 8 th Reminder E-mails to Send Members: Karalee Quarterly membership meeting dates and locations confirmed o Carol, due to charges, the sites that Carol looked at for OLA October meeting will not work. This confirms that 4 th quarterly membership meeting will be October 22, Sunday, 1:00 5:00 pm, at the Chehalem Cultural Center in Newberg, room is reserved o The August 25 th meeting will be at Eagle Creek Lavender, Mary and Bill Jabs will give a tour of their farm and host, meeting will start with a potluck lunch at 1:00 pm Meeting Adjourned: 8:30 pm Minutes submitted and recorded by Robin Foleen and edited by Chris Mulder Page 5 of 6
Page 6 of 6