Minutes

The Executive Committee of Democrats Abroad Guatemala Meeting on Wednesday, July 19, 2023 at 11:02AM via WebEx

Per our bylaws (paragraph 19.3), all meetings are open to all members.

Members in Attendance: John Chudy, Chair; Kee Adams Evans, DPCA Voting Representative; David Dean, Member at Large; Hyungjoon Jin, Lake Atitlan Meet Up Chair; Jim Criste, Treasurer; Phyllis MacCartney, Secretary

• Call to order 11:02 AM
• Approval of minutes of June 21, 2023 meeting and agenda for the July19 meeting was unanimous.

Treasurer’s Report: The current balance of the DAGT Nation Builder account is USD$519.23 This reflects a reduction in the balance of USD$29.77 during the past month. There was a good bit of movement in the account representing donations and expenses for the 4^th of July event. Nation Builder shows a total of 14 donations which we are attributing to the 4^th of July event for a total of USD$323. USD$30 of this total was already included in the balance reported at our last meeting, so that USD$293 was the amount received since last month’s report.

A total of USD$322.77 was reimbursed through the Nation Builder site for expenses related to the 4^th of July Picnic, showing a “Profit” of USD$0.23 for the event. The Nation Builder Report page does not include the information regarding who submitted or received the different reimbursement requests.

In addition to the expenses reimbursed through Nation Builder, there were some additional expenses in the amount of Q230 or USD$30.22, which were paid from the local cash account.

There were also two donations made at the 4^th of July Picnic which were credited to Democrats Abroad Global and should have gone to DA Guatemala towards the event. And because of the way Nation Builder works, we don’t have access to the amounts of these donations. But they would have been at least USD$10 each or a minimum total of USD$20, and would have almost offset the USD$30.22 in locally paid expenses. All in all, the July 4th event was a social success, a very pleasant afternoon, and broke even financially..

As always, US citizens may donate to our country committee, DAGT, at the following website: Donate - Democrats Abroad (www.democratsabroad.org/donate_gt)

Or to Democrats Abroad International at: Donations - Democrats Abroad  (www.democratsabroad.org/donate)

Motion to approve Treasurer’s report made by Hyung and seconded by David. Carried unanimously.

Chair’s Report: The Americas Regional meeting took place online July 10^th, and our new International Chair, Martha McDevitt Pugh, dropped by to say hello. Also dropping by was new International Treasurer, Josh Van der Ploeg, who presented a report on the state of global finances. Josh’s eye-opener report underscored that with only $8,880 on hand, DA global is looking at $75,000 of liabilities coming due in August. Josh did mention that some anticipated revenues are expected over July and early August that would leave the shortfall around $25,000 to $35,000. The new website –  https://www.democratsabroad.org/ - and get-out-the-vote expenses for the 2022 midterms are responsible for the deficit. We all need to pitch in to close the gap.

 Executive Director, Jarryd Rauch, gave pointers on how the sub-accounts and dashboards work.

Also, an Americas Regional Meeting will be held virtually. Suggested Date: Saturday & Sunday, November 4th & 5th, 2023, via WebEx or Zoom.  Purpose: Get to know each other. Discuss, plan and train for the Global Presidential Primary (GPP) and begin 2024 GOTV prep work. Participants: CC and Chapter leaders, team leaders and volunteers. Revisit next month.

John Chudy made a short presentation on DA Guatemala’s use of MeetUp group chairs to lead DA activities around Guatemala, as opposed to using formal chapters as larger country committees do. Link to wiki page with July 10th slide decks and recordings including John’s slides is here. Login user is dems@democratsabroad.org; password: BidenHarris. Link to the meeting recording can be accessed here.

John returned to the DA Global funding shortfall mentioned by Josh during the Americas Regional meeting and suggested DAGT donate-by-transfer up to $250 from its Nation Builder account to DA Global. David made a motion to transfer $250 to DA Global, Kee seconded. In discussion, Jim mentioned that if we found a way to transfer our local currency balance into our Nation Builder account, we could use those funds for this transfer to Global. [Point of reference: John and Jim met with Hope Bradberry on May 5th to discuss ways of transferring our local funds to DAGT’s Nation Builder account. For this, John and Kee compiled a spreadsheet of local donations made from 2018 through 2020 which was provided to Hope who in turn sent it to Jarryd. As of July 16th, nothing had come of that effort.] In response to Jim’s point, John said that right after this meeting he would follow up with Hope. The question was called: AYE, David and Kee; NAY, Jim; ABSTAIN: Hyung (who said he did have not enough information to vote aye or nay), Phyllis and John - NOTE John meant to vote NAY and whose wish to change his vote requires unanimous consent from the body and he failed to ask for that vote thus the measure technically carried.). The chair said the motion failed when in fact it had passed by two Ayes vs. one Nay; nonetheless, the body agreed that the transfer motion will be revisited in August given the three abstentions and after seeking clarification on local funds from Hope, Jarryd and Josh.

Events for 2023

• July 4^th Celebration: Everyone present thought the event was a success. Hyung commented that while it was a great event and attendees seemed to be enjoying themselves, we could have marketed it better (he said lots of folks he knows never heard about it) and that maybe the food could be different including maybe grilled hot dogs and chips or something along those lines. It was a suggestion well received and will be considered for next year’s event. Kee added that while the suggestion is a good one, we don’t have to make any decisions a year in advance.
• Update on 2023-2025 campaign Be The Future in search of new members and developing leaders. Jim said he spoke with the owner of Uncle Sam’s in Guatemala City, and he’s agreeable to have a ticket arrangement we would settle up with after the event. Hyung, who is the chair of this special effort, said he would like some prior organization or strategy before embarking on events. After some discussion, we agreed on three to-do items: 1. Contact all DAGT members under 40 years of age and reach out to them with an email, 2. Contact international schools in Guatemala City, 3. Organize events in our main areas: Guatemala City, Antigua, Lake Atitlán, Xela and Huehuetenango. To Do: John and Kee have NationBuilder clearance for emailing members and will identify that list - Hyung will draft a message that Kee and John will review before sending out to the under 40s. In August/September, Hyung will reach out to International schools to identify contacts for targeting messages to US teachers and US parents. Start thinking about the structure of an event(s) , e.g., a free drink, free snacks, a talk from Hyung about voting and DA. David concurred with Hyung that a committee to plan these actions is needed that would meet separate from the Excom and then come back to Excom to report. Everyone agreed that once actions began a strategy would fall into place.

Other Items:

Global Presidential Primary - John will request the International Chair for Ballots in Spanish for the Global Presidential Primaty

Travel:   Kee, to NM July 25 to August 15; Phyllis to FL, July 5 to o/a September 5; Jim, Tp MX July 27 to August 7; to Honduras August 12 to 21; to USA October. Hyung, USA August 19 to September 14.

Next meeting date, time, venue. August 16, 2023 at 11:00AM, via Webex

Adjournment: 12:39