January 21, 2014
SFZC Board Meeting Abbreviated Minutes (1/15/14)

On January 15, Zen Center’s Board of Directors met in an all-day retreat in the Conference Center at City Center to set goals for the year.  The goals include the following:

Fundraising

  1. Increase board involvement in fundraising. Responsibility: SFZC Board Development Committee.

Financial Sustainability

  1. Develop plan by year’s end for the long range financial sustainability of SFZC. Responsibility: New board task force chaired by Board Chair Larry Bye and consisting of the president, central abbess, treasurer and chair of Finance Committee.

Succession Planning

  1. Strengthen institution-wide succession planning, including addressing residential quality of life issues. Responsibility: Central Abbess Linda Ruth Cutts and the AEG.
  2. Officer succession planning. Responsibility:  Chair and the Governance Committee.
  3. Ensure that selection of new board members advances diversity goals as well as need for fundraising and other necessary skills and interests. Responsibility: Governance Committee.

Senior Living

  1. Advance “Continuing Care Retirement Center for the Wider Sangha” project. Responsibility: President Susan O’Connell and the existing Senior Living Planning Team.
  2. Develop an alternative plan in the event that the CCRC project is not viable. Responsibility: Susan and the existing Senior Living Planning Team.

Organizational Committees

  1. Clarification of how organizational committees function and who they report to. Responsibility: President.
  2. Ensure receive regular board reports from the committees. Responsibility: President.

Sangha Communication and Involvement

  1. Improve communication with both the residential community and the wider sangha. Responsibility: New board task force chaired by Albert Kutchins of the Board.
  2. Increase resident participation in Board work by adding a resident to the Board.  Responsibility:  Governance committee.
  3. Assess feasibility of new volunteer program focused on the offering of technical and project management expertise to the SFZC administration. Responsibility: President.

Information Technology

  1. Development of an information technology plan for Zen Center. Responsibility: President working with Board Secretary Connie Cummings.

Mission Fulfillment

  1. Assessment of SFZC performance against fulfilling its mission and the development of recommendations for the board.  Responsibility:  Strategic Initiative Team.

 

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On Forgiveness

In this letter to the sangha, Central Abbot Tenzen David Zimmerman writes about forgiveness and repair in his own life, and how SFZC is working with former Abbot Richard Baker to reconcile a difficult past and move forward together.