Due to the People’s Climate March in NYC in September, the Sierra Club Board of Director’s meeting for that weekend was postponed to October. And since it was scheduled to be our Annual Meeting, that aspect of the meeting was rescheduled for our November meeting.
This post will cover both meetings. Sorry for including so much in one post but there are a great deal of activities occurring and I want to provide you the opportunity to review as much as interests you. While my post is not as official document of the Sierra Club and only my personal observations and notes, I have linked in the official minutes of the October meeting as well as President Dave Scott’s official post. The official November minutes will appear on the Sierra Club website at a later date after they are drafted and approved.
To summarize, we continue to move forward a multitude of initiatives to create a comprehensive vision for protecting the planet from the worst affects of climate disruption, to become a diverse organization capable of building a multicultural movement empowered to achieve our vision in a timely manner by engaging an ever expanding constituency, protecting existing natural areas and designating a greater amount of protected areas and, developing the financial and operational resources to empower our volunteers, staff and the public to be effective in accomplishing our ambitious goals.
Sierra Club BOD meeting notes 11/1/14
President’s Report:
Dave Scott recognized the success of the People’s Climate March and the Celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act and the incredible role that Vicky Hoover has played in protecting wilderness.
Executive Director’s Report:
Mike Brune summarized the impact of his trip to the Canadian Tar Sands and the impact that our work is having.
Treasurer’s Report:
Treasurer, Loren Blackford, reported that we are on target to achieve the major financial benchmarks that the BOD established last year and that the budget process for 2015 is wrapping up. She summarized the major topics that were discussed including how risk to the budget was assessed especially as it relates to major gifts and bequests and the need for us to be flexible so as to be able to adopt to changes both upward and shortfalls. Part of that discussion focused on new initiatives and opportunities especially if revenues improve.
Council of Club Leaders Report:
John Spahr summarized the CCL resolutions that are going to be presented at our next Board meeting in November when the CCL and Board will have a joint meeting at the Board’s annual meeting. 62 Chapters of the 65 are expected to be in attendance at next months’s meeting.
Report on People’s Climate March:
Michael Bosse and Sarah Hodgdon reported on lessons learned: it was a watershed moment in movement building. Success in gaining prominent national media attention. Broad array of participants that were not only the typical white older middle class environmental activists. Sierra Club played a critical role but functioned primarily in the background. We are capable of doing mass organizing around positive actions in this case being clean energy solutions. We did well with working with working with Chapters and partners but that we can do better. The Jemez principals (Http://www.ejnet.org/ej/jemez.pdf) were adhered to and were instrumental to having over 1500 organizations participate and the March’s success.
Beyond Oil Campaign Review:
Michael Bosse reported on the current status of the Beyond Oil Campaign. After the recent departure of Michael Marx, the Campaign manager, Michael Bosse was charged with reviewing the program to analyze it’s strengths and weaknesses and determine how it can be most effective and attract donor support. I have personally been involved with the auto portion of this campaign since the early 90’s fighting for higher fuel economy standards (CAFE) and know first hand the challenges of taking this program to scale. It is not the coal campaign and has very different dynamics. There are two distinct elements when it comes to oil. One is the supply side and doing what we can to keep oil in the ground. That would involve our fight against the Keystone Pipeline which to date has been very successful. The other part is the demand side. We have made some progress in encouraging adaptation of EV’s but a new strategy is being developed to push that even more effectively. As is a plan to help reduce VMT (vehicle miles traveled) with better transportation policies and options. An independent research firm was hired over the summer to help us develop the strategy and the Campaign is currently working on finalizing a way forward based in part on this research.
Agriculture Policy Update:
Vicky Brandon and Bruce Hamilton submitted an updated Agriculture Policy draft for consideration. We discussed whether to discuss the content now before sending it out for comment or to send it out as is. The vote was to send it out as is and for the BOD to discuss the policy after receiving input from the rest of the organization.
Organizational Priorities:
Jesse Simons, Chief of Staff, lead a discussion of the Organizational Priorities document that we developed last year. It was agreed that there were too many and that going forward this document needs to be trimmed down.
Sierra Club Board of Directors Annual Meeting November 21 – 22, 2014, San Francisco
There were some quite satisfying moments at this meeting as we made some very significant decisions on issues that have been developing for an extended period of time. Specifically, we determined what our going forward policy would be on fracking and a timetable for moving beyond oil and converting to 100% clean energy in the electric sector.
We also approved the 2015 budget that continued our investment in our innovative on line initiative and increased investment in our Chapters and Grassroots organization and volunteer development. And as we increase our process of developing accountability throughout the organization, we also agreed to expand this process beyond the staff and chapters to ourselves as well by beginning a process of self evaluation for the Board of Directors.
Overall, we spent a great deal of time on managing and developing the processes of the organization to insure that we function effectively so as to accomplish our mission of protecting the planet’s natural resources. But for me, the highlight of the meeting was the too brief conversation we had with Executive Director Mike Brune about how we are doing on achieving our highest priority of eliminating the emissions of pollutants that are warming the planet.
It would be ideal if we could immediately eliminate all climate affecting emissions since we are already at a point where what is already in the atmosphere will be there for 75 years or more and will have a negative impact. But since that is impossible we are told by scientists that we must virtually eliminate climate affecting emissions by 2050. Despite the recent elections that turned over the leadership of now both houses of Congress to legislators who will do anything they can to undermine our efforts, I am still encouraged that we will continue to make progress in our endeavors over the next two years.
Specifically, our Beyond Coal campaign will continue to stop any new CO2 emitting coal plants and get more existing plants to commit to shutdown. Our Beyond Oil Campaign is being reimagined and in my opinion reorganizing in a way to accomplish its mission. The public is waking up to the risks of fracking and pubic resistance is growing. Let us not forget the 400,000 people that jammed the streets of New York City last September to March for action by world leaders on Climate Change. And, at all levels of government around the US outside of the US Congress, the work of reducing emissions and adopting to the inevitable climate changes is moving forward. States and local municipalities are developing and executing plans despite the abrogation of responsibility in Congress. Even the Chinese government has publicly recognized the climate threat and declared a commitment to act.
So despite the deniers, progress marches on. Granted, we could (and need to) move much more quickly and aggressively to avoid the worst potential consequences that are coming at us. Nevertheless, we have have the increasing support of the American public and are continuing to move forward. And while it is frustrating that we can’t move faster, we’ve come a long, long way and are gaining momentum.
Below is a more detailed overview of most significant items that occurred at the meeting.
1. CCL: Council of Club Leaders. The CCL held its annual meeting in conjunction with the BOD meeting and presented its list of resolutions to the Board for consideration. That list is attached.
2. The 2015 budget was approved and as I described above included our continuing investment in digital strategies and an increased allocation to supporting the chapters and volunteers. It also includes investment in our increasing commitment to our DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) initiative that will progressively move the Sierra Club toward becoming a Stage 5 organization and help us integrate effectively with a broader constituency of the public.
3. Fracking. After a process of developing and vetting an updated national policy on fracking we approved the following policy. My own Illinois Chapter will appreciate the final outcome since as its liaison to the BOD the policy was adopted exactly as was requested of me to convey. It is:
“The Sierra Club is opposed to hydraulic Fracking”
Included with this policy statement is the guidance to the chapters that they should pursue this policy in a way that they consider most effective in their own jurisdiction.
4. Energy Policy. As we continue to flush out and develop our long term strategic plan to virtually eliminate climate damaging emissions from our economy by 2050 we are also developing benchmarks that will be incorporated into the final overarching product. After a great deal of input and discussion we voted in favor of the following two resolutions:
1. 100% carbon free electric energy grid by 2030.
2. 50% reduction in oil consumption by 2030.
It was clearly recognized that these are ambitious and stretch goals and that we currently do not have all the technology or a clear pathway to achieving these objectives. Nevertheless, a strong majority of the BODs voted in favor of both with the confidence that we need to accomplish these initiatives and can and will elicit the support and cooperation of those necessary to make it happen.
5. The Nominating Committee wrapped up its work of developing and putting forward a slate of candidates for next year’s BOD election. The BOD accepted the following slate. The final slate will depend on whether there are any successful petition candidates.
Steve Ma (CA) Margrete Strand-Rangnes (DC)
Joseph Manning (FL) Cliff Cockerham (TN)
Allison Chin (CA) Spencer Black (WI)
Lawson Legate (UT)
6. We had reports from and discussions about the ongoing work of the following task forces:
1. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).
2. Strategic Planning (we agreed to a revised timeline that would have
final approval targeted for the April BOD meeting).
3. Chapter National Task Force.
4. Climate Movement Building.
5. Membership.
In conclusion, you can see that it was a very busy meeting with a great deal of substance. The organization has a lot of balls in the air and a great deal on our plate. As 1000 year climate events continue to occur on an almost yearly basis, the importance of our endeavors takes on increased urgency. While it is cumbersome to marshal all of the resources of the Sierra Club to buy into and consence to a common vision and plan we continue to push forward in this endeavor while at the same time fighting battles every day on the ground. Our staff and volunteers are doing phenomenal work in almost every nook and cranny of the country for which we should be and are so proud.
Together we will prevail. The only question in my mind is how quickly. The sooner the better for all living things on this planet.
Click here to see Dave Scott’s Report: http://blogs.sierraclub.org/change/2014/11/sierra-club-hosts-annual-meeting-and-2014-awards-event.html
SIERRA CLUB Minutes
Board of Directors Meeting November 1, 2014 Sierra Club Headquarters San Francisco, California
Having determined that a quorum was present, President Dave Scott called the meeting of the Sierra Club Board of Directors to order at 9:03 AM PST on November 1, 2014 at Sierra Club Headquarters in San Francisco, California.
Directors present: President Dave Scott, Vice President Spencer Black, Secretary Lane Boldman, Treasurer Loren Blackford, Fifth Officer Susana Reyes; Directors Donna Buell (joined late), Michael Dorsey, Jim Dougherty, Charles Frank, Jessica Helm (via video), Aaron Mair, Robin Mann, Dean Wallraff, Elizabeth Walsh, Chris Warshaw (via video).
Also present: Executive Director Michael Brune, Deputy Executive Director Bruce Hamilton, Chief of Staff Jesse Simons, National Program Director Sarah Hodgdon, Deputy National Program Director Michael Bosse, Executive Office Manager Dassance Raymond, Executive Office Assistant Kylie Nealis, Council of Club Leaders Chair John Spahr, Vice President for Grassroots Network Clayton Daughenbaugh, Vice President of Chapter and Leader Support Debbie Heaton, Past President Allison Chin, and other staff and volunteers.
1. Approval of Agenda
MSC (Mair, Wallraff) the Board of Directors approves the agenda with the following changes: minor adjustments in several agenda item times to create longer sessions for the Beyond Oil review, People’s Climate March Review and Organizational Priorities. The Nuclear Team request will be moved to the afternoon.
All present were in favor. Absent: Buell.
2. Approval of September 25 Board Minutes
MSC (Boldman, Mair) the Board approves the minutes from the September 25, 2014 meeting.
All present were in favor. Abstain: Warshaw. Absent: Buell.
3. President’s Report
President Dave Scott started by acknowledging two recent successes: the People’s Climate March in NYC which had an incredible turnout and the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act including a celebration and meeting in Albuquerque NM with 1,200 participants. He thanked all staff and volunteers involved with making both events successful, including Vicky Hoover who spearheaded Sierra Club’s 50th Anniversary work. Scott went over the day’s agenda which included: a review of the Beyond Oil campaign, the People’s Climate March report, and 2015 Organizational Priorities. The Annual Meeting agenda will include sessions on the proposed energy and fracking policies, review of elections, the Chapter Capacity Wheel, 2015 Budget wrap up, as well as a joint session with the Sierra Club Foundation Board of Directors and the CCL.
4. Executive Director’s Report
Executive Director Michael Brune addressed the Board and relayed the details of a recent trip he took to the Canadian Tar Sands with director Darren Aronofsky and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Along with other trip members, they spent time with Canadian NGOs, exploring the issues surrounding the extraction and transportation of crude oil from the tar sands. They also spent time with First Nations leaders in the area to hear their concerns, stories and opinions, and toured Suncor, one of the largest companies currently mining the tar sands. During the trip Brune and DiCaprio took part in the popular ‘ice bucket challenge’, which they used as an opportunity to call out oil executives. Due to DiCaprio’s fame, the short video got more coverage than anything else in the tar sands all year. Brune and Senior Strategist for Entertainment Relations, Melissa Sun, will continue to leverage star power for our issues when possible.
Following the tar sands trip, Brune and a handful of other environmental leaders were invited to a dinner with the heads of some of the largest Canadian tar sands oil companies to have an informal discussion on similarities and differences in ideas and approaches to the energy crisis and climate change.
5. Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Loren Blackford refrained from detailing the 8+4 during this report since the Finance Committee met with the Board the previous day, and there will be a more formal report during the Annual Meeting in a few weeks. She said the main takeaway from the budget meetings is that we have made a lot of progress since last year at this time. The hard work and budget cuts have paid off and the 5M gap has been closed. We are on track to meet the Board guidelines for unrestricted assets and reserves. Highlights for 2015 include: expanding investment in Digital Strategies work and in the Human Resources department, increasing core
6. Council of Club Leaders Chair’s Report
Council of Club Leaders Chair John Spahr said the he is currently getting ready for the CCL meeting later in November. He sent out the CCL resolutions that were proposed, nine of which were recommended and two that were not. There were several resolutions around fundraising and Spahr has asked Vice-Chair Yvonne Cather to work with Chapter Fundraising staffer Ben Avery to come up with a single resolution. He said that this year the layout of the CCL meeting will be different and he hopes to get more back and forth conversation with the delegates throughout the meeting. Each participating chapter was asked to bring a discussion point, to better understand what chapters are looking for. The pizza night this year is being sponsored by Beneficial State Bank and will include a slide show on the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
Fifth Officer Reyes announced that one of our CCL representatives, Henry Schultz from the Angeles Chapter, recently passed away. She said he had been a wonderful asset to the Chapter and to Sierra Club over the years and a memorial is being planned.
7. Alternate Inspectors for Board Election
MSC (Frank, Boldman) the Board of Directors appoints Sam Booher, Gwen Nystuen and Eric Britton as alternate Inspectors for the 2015 Board Election.
All present were in favor.
8. Ballot Statement Review Committee
MSC (Frank, Mair) the Board of Directors appoints David Underwood, Rebecca Falkenberry, and Charles Schafer as members of the Ballot Statement Review Committee for the 2015 Sierra Club Board Election. David Underwood will serve as chair.
All present were in favor.
9. People’s Climate March Review
National Program Director Sarah Hodgdon, Deputy National Program Director Michael Bosse and Exclamation Points Project Manager Becki Clayborn joined the meeting to give a review of the People’s Climate March. Bosse went over some of the highlights of the report, including how the internal team graded themselves on the below criteria, which was established prior to the event.
- Capable of generating national media coverage – Grade A. There was a large picture of the march on the front page of the New York Times as well as many other national papers.
- Involves a significant number of people – Grade A. There were over 400,000 people present at the march including many young people and people affected by climate destruction such as Hurricane Sandy.
- Reflective of a fossil fuel to clean energy narrative – Grade A. 4,400 news stories on the march mentioned clean energy which proved we can successfully execute positive frame mass mobilizations.
- Clearly defined target and goal – Grade B. It is unclear if the march will be effective in pushing the United States to set emission reduction targets next year.
- Framed as a tipping point associated with achieving an expected victory therefore demonstrating power and momentum – Grade B.
- Builds momentum from event to event – Grade A for building an event brand and engagement, no grade for being a platform for future events.
- Builds movement via strong online/offline pre and post follow up engagement of individuals – Grade B.
- Strengthens relationships with partners/chapters – Grade B. There are opportunities to more effectively engage with partners and chapters in future events.
- Doable – Grade B. It was possible to mobilize resources and set up a team to work on the march without severely impacting other Sierra Club priorities.
A few top line conclusions from the post-march surveys include:
- Many people brought friends and family.
- Roughly 25% of participants had never engaged in a march before.
- The top issues of interest beyond environmentalism included economic justice, racism,
education and militarism.
Bosse said that the moment of silence was incredibly powerful and was intended to recognize all those who have been, and have yet to be, impacted by climate change, especially front line communities.
Hodgdon explained that the People’s Climate March was planned with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) principles in mind. Some of the principles that were incorporated included: being inclusive, emphasizing bottom up organizing, letting people speak for themselves, building just relationships, commitment to self-transformation. In addition, all donor outreach was done in conjunction with environmental justice partners. The march was an open source event, meaning that many organizations could participate and add their own issues to the march platform. Hodgdon said it was useful to have DEI principles guide the process of working with many organizations with different backgrounds. In the end more than 1,500 organizations participated in the march.
President Scott asked whether there was a question of including civil disobedience during the march. Bosse explained that some of the organizing groups decided early on that it would be a family friendly event and that while civil disobedience could happen a different day, it would not be tolerated at the march.
Bosse said that in the future we will want to invest more in how we message to create positive energy around mass mobilizations. There is a hunger in the American population to engage in solutions in a positive way. He said that for future events there are opportunities for improvement, especially around: lead time; partnership engagement with labor, environmental justice and other groups; stronger chapter engagement; more organizers on the ground. He asked the Board to help think of how we can continue to build capacity for chapters to engage in mass mobilizations in the future.
Director Mair requested a future Board conversation around chapter demographics and engagement in local communities.
There was discussion around various chapters’ available bandwidth to mobilize around large events. It is also not clear to those chapters that did participate what follow up activities are recommended or planned and what steps should be taken to leverage relationships with new local partners.
Executive Director Brune encouraged the Board to hold chapters accountable to advancing this work and to support them in finding ways to maintain their current level of engagement on state level policies, while expanding their ability to engage in meaningful movement building. Director Dorsey countered that the issue is the responsibility of the Board and staff and that a longer conversation is necessary to begin working together to find a solution. Other Directors agreed with Brune that the majority of the responsibility for chapter accountability lies with the Board and that the Board needs to find ways to help elevate chapters who may be farther behind
President Scott pointed out that in asking for accountability, we must also be clear in what we want, and agreed that this issue warrants further conversation in the future.
10. Beyond Oil Review
National Program Director Sarah Hodgdon, Deputy National Program Director Michael Bosse and Beyond Oil Volunteer Co-Lead Darrell Clarke joined the meeting for a review of the Beyond Oil Campaign. Bosse began by noting that the Beyond Oil Campaign faced the challenge of integrating tar sands into the People’s Climate March which was focused on jobs, justice and clean energy. With very few resources, the campaign drew on relationships with indigenous groups and leveraged those relationships in a way that was very powerful. Bosse said that it was a good reminder we can create moments of real power with little resources. Bosse also encouraged the Board to review the Conservation Department’s “managing for results” website which has up to date information on all campaign goals and activities.
Bosse explained that he conducted an intensive review of the Beyond Oil Campaign, similar to the review National Program Director Hodgdon conducted for the Resilient Habitats Campaign (now Our Wild America). This review included stakeholder interviews and surveys and was conducted to figure out the next steps for the campaign to ensure success. Bosse noted that these findings are not formally adopted by the Oil Leadership Team.
Some of the strengths of the campaign include: the Sierra Club brand and the longevity of the Club; the Beyond Coal Campaign and Keystone Pipeline campaign have widespread credibility, which transfers credibility to the oil campaign; our grassroots capacity has the potential to impact a range of policy decisions that can affect change like no other organization in the country. Bosse said that the campaign cannot achieve its goals without reductions in oil use in the transportation sector. They hope to come up with compelling and clear graphs that visually show what will happen without a change in course that will help donors to become excited about the campaign. He said that the campaign needs a broader narrative to be effective including finding the intersection between successes Sierra Club is set up for and those that help get electric vehicles on the road. The hope is to find a narrative that contributes to a paradigm shift in the way people make transportation choices.
Bosse said that we need to help people take actions that eliminate the consumption of oil; help to keep oil in the ground; and protect people from the negative health impacts of oil production and usage. Tackling the demand side of oil is not enough; we need to think about how we approach the supply side as well. Lastly, the campaign will need to work towards victories in the tar sands and the Arctic.
11. Agriculture Policy Update
Food and Agriculture Policy Task Force Chair Victoria Brandon and Deputy Executive Director Bruce Hamilton joined the meeting to review the proposed update to the Agriculture Policy. Other members of the team, not present, are: Cosima Krueger-Cunningham, Francis Thicke and Anne Woiwode. The task force used the Agriculture Policy from 1976 as a starting point. Using language from other existing policies and removing some existing language, the task force made changes in the following areas:
Updated sections were developed starting from previous policies or tweaked from previous positions taken by the National Sierra Club or local Chapters. Those include: climate change; local food movement; environmental justice issues; no-till practices; pollinators; CAFOs; groundwater depletion; water; livestock production; genetically engineered organisms; fish farming; bioenergy; and food waste avoidance. Other portions of the general policy have been rewritten for clarity.
President Scott reminded the Board that the decision today was no to adopt the new policy, but to decide how to go forward with the review process. There was discussion as to the best way to submit the updated policy for comment. Some Directors felt that it was ready to be distributed widely as is; others felt that the Board should address its concerns with the policy before it was distributed; others felt that individual sections should be vetted by specific stakeholders before being widely distributed.
Director Walsh spoke out against sending the draft policy for comment at this time. She argued that there are many areas in the policy that need documentation, references and statement of facts. Director Warshaw agreed that it is difficult for non-experts to differentiate between factual assertions and assumptions as it is currently written. Deputy Executive Director Hamilton countered that the team is not prepared to produce an academic paper and that most Sierra Club policies are not footnoted.
Secretary Boldman thanked the task force for the enormous amount of work that went into this document.
In favor: Scott, Black, Boldman, Blackford, Reyes, Buell, Helm, Mair, Mann, Wallraff. Opposed: Dorsey, Dougherty, Frank, Walsh, Warshaw.
12. Organizational Priorities
Chief of Staff Jesse Simons joined the meeting to discuss the Sierra Club’s organizational priorities for 2015. Simons said that the purpose of this session was to engage the Board early in the process of setting 2015 priorities. Executive Director Brune informed the Board that the staff Senior Managers Group (SMG) spent time at a recent retreat discussing possible 2015 priorities. He said that there were three general thoughts that came out of that meeting: the 2014 priorities were too numerous, our climate solutions work must remain a priority, and that we must continue to focus on integrating DEI principles into all of our work.
Simons asked the Board to break into small groups and brainstorm a maximum of four priorities for 2015. There was then a general discussion on themes and priorities that emerged from each group. Brune said that there were different ways of thinking about priorities. Priorities could be specific to different areas of the Club (fundraising, digital work, communications). Alternately priorities could be short-term, achievable goals that you want to remove from the list once you’ve accomplished them. He said that there are three things that are classic Sierra Club goals: make money, save the planet and tune the engine (he attributed this language to Executive Office Manager Dassance Raymond). He said we are always going to have financial challenges, our program work (including lands and climate work) will always be a priority, and as a large and organizationally complex Club, we will always have to work on fine-tuning our internal structure.
The priorities that the Board identified were largely in line with what the staff SMG group came up with: finances, land and climate work, grassroots and DEI strength, movement building, and technical solutions. Staff will take these suggestions and come back to the Board with proposed 2015 organizational priorities.
13. Strategy Discussion with Executive Director – closed session
The Board entered a closed session with Executive Director Michael Brune at 3:31pm.
The meeting was re-opened at 4:30pm.
President Scott relayed a request from the Nuclear Team to be included on the Annual Meeting agenda, for the purpose of raising a proposal that the nuclear campaign be incorporated into a clean energy campaign, listing uranium along with coal and oil as a dirty fuel, and raising other concerns about resources for the campaign.
There was discussion on the appropriate response to send to the Nuclear Team on this issue. It was agreed that this would not be an agenda item at the Annual Meeting.
15. Advisory Committees
After taking a brief poll, it was decided that there would not be a joint Advisory Committee meeting in early 2015.
16. Meeting Wrap Up
President Scott asked the Directors to give their pluses and deltas for the meeting. Directors Warshaw and Helm were appreciative that they were able to join via video, though at times it was difficult to hear. CCL Chair Spahr appreciated the conversations about chapter accountability and priority setting. Director Mair thought it was an effective meeting though perhaps we could have made better use of the time on Friday. Director Buell enjoyed the local farmers market. Director Wallraff thought it was a good meeting all around. Director Mann thought the joint meeting with Fincom was helpful. Fifth Officer Reyes enjoyed the priority setting exercise and thanked Treasurer Blackford for her work on the budget and Fincom meeting. Treasurer Blackford appreciated that questions were sent out prior to Fincom this year and liked the session on priority setting. President Scott thanked Executive Office Manager Dassance Raymond and Executive Office Assistant Kylie Nealis for their superb level of support. Vice President Black appreciated that discussion on strategic and long range issues. Secretary Boldman appreciated the discussion on better integrating movement building with DEI and environmental justice principles. Director Walsh thought the Board was engaging in more productive discussions but that more follow up was still needed. She also appreciated the vegetarian fare. Director Dorsey suggested that a closed session with Executive Director Brune be included on all meeting agendas in the future. Director Frank felt that this meeting had a lot of material to read in advance. He thought it was good to hone in on critical issues that the Board needs to focus on.
The meeting was adjourned by acclimation at 5:03pm PT.
Board of Directors, November 1, 2014
Council of Club Leaders Passed Resolutions:
No. 1
Resolution: Council of Club Leaders Permitted to Create a BoD Questionnaire Subcommittee. (New Jersey Chapter)
The Council of Club Leaders requests the Sierra Club Board of Directors permit the Council of Club Leaders to create a BoD Questionnaire Subcommittee to send out its own questionnaire of up to six questions to candidates running for the Sierra Club Board of Director.
Passed by the Council of Club Leaders November 20, 2014
50 yeas
8 opposes
1 abstentions
No. 3
Resolution: To Increase Chapter Fundraising Opportunities
(Kansas Chapter)
The Council of Club Leaders requests the Sierra Club Board of Directors (1) to revise current limitations on across-the-board fundraising solicitation to members by Chapters beyond the current March Appeal time frame and (2) to lift current restrictions on solicitation at times other than March to only those who have donated to the Chapter in the past three years.
Passed by the Council of Club Leaders November 20, 2014
54 yeas
2 opposes
3 abstentions
No. 4
Resolution to correct chapter contact restriction errors (Massachusetts Chapter)
The Council of Club Leaders requests the Sierra Club Board of Directors to adopt the following resolution
Be it resolved that those responsible for the administration of the club member database shall:
Reverse said “no chapter contact” designations for all members within 120 days unless a specific and verifiable request for said restriction exists.
In the future, refrain from indicating any member as having ‘no chapter contact’ status without a specific verifiable request from said member.
In the future, refrain from indicating any member as having ‘no chapter contact’ status without a specific verifiable request from said member.
Passed by the Council of Club Leaders November 20, 2014
48 yeas
7 opposes
4 abstentions
No. 5
Resolution to provide full searchable donor access
(Massachusetts Chapter)
The Council of Club Leaders requests the Sierra Club Board of Directors to adopt the following resolution
Be it resolved that those responsible for the administration of the club member database shall:
Provide all donor information, regardless of the Sierra Club entity in a member’s record.
Allow this information to be searchable.
Passed by the Council of Club Leaders November 20, 2014
35 yeas
17 opposes
0 abstentions
No. 6
Resolution: Request for National Sierra Club support and funding for a delegation to attend the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – World Conservation Congress (WCC), to be held in Hawaii in September 2016.
(Hawaii Chapter)
The Council of Club Leaders requests the National Sierra Club Board of Directors to support and fund a delegation to the IUCN- World Conservation Congress (WCC) to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, September 1-10, 2016, and calls upon the Board to set aside funds in the 2015 budget for delegate support for the 2016 WCC, as well as a commitment to payment of IUCN dues on a regular basis.
Passed by the Council of Club Leaders November 20, 2014
53 yeas
3 opposes
3 abstentions
No. 7
RESOLUTION: Resolution urging President Obama and all participants of the UN Climate Summit to commit to binding policies concerning Climate Change
(Atlantic Chapter)
The Council of Club Leaders request that the national Sierra Club advocate to President Obama and the United Nations the following proposals in connection with climate change, the UN Climate Summit and subsequent negotiations:
That President Obama should commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030 using the bench mark of 2005 levels. This reduction is to be achieved by energy conservation and efficiency, and increases in renewable energy;
That all participants in the UN Climate Summit and subsequent climate negotiations should support major international funding for climate change adaptation and massive investment in infrastructure for energy conservation, efficiency and renewable energy from wind, solar, small hydro and geothermal sources. The US must lead and contribute to these global initiatives.”
Passed by the Council of Club Leaders November 20, 2014
59 yeas – Unanimous
0 opposes
0 abstentions
No. 9
Resolution: Clarification of Sierra Club Transportation Policy
(San Francisco Bay, Redwood and Loma Prieta Chapters)
The Council of Club Leaders requests the Sierra Club Board of Directors to clarify whether the Club Transportation Policy includes the “Guidelines Adopted by the Transportation Committee,” developed and approved by the Transportation Committee in 1994, as an equal component, and, therefore, a part of the current overall policy (posted together with the guidelines at http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/transportation).
Passed by the Council of Club Leaders November 20, 2014
54 yeas
0 opposes
5 abstentions
