Minutes
The Executive Committee of Democrats Abroad Guatemala Meeting on
Wednesday, September 20, 2023 at 10:00 AM 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 Rep.; Phyllis
MacCartney, Secretary; David Dean, Member at Large; Hyungjoon Jin, Lake Atitlan Meet-Up Chair; Jim
Criste, Treasurer; Rachel Shenyo, Xela Meet-Up Chair
· Call to order 10:08
· Approved minutes from August 16, 2023 meeting and agenda for September 20 meeting.
Treasurer’s Report: September, 2023. The current balance of the DAGT Nation Builder account is USD$529.23, a $10.00 increase in the balance during the past month. There were two (2) individual $5.00 contributions to the account and no expenditures. Of note, the new contributions were both listed as “Split Sustaining”, which means they were regularly scheduled monthly contributions which were split (in this case I assume between the Global Account and the Guatemala Country account). Members making regular, monthly contributions and dividing them between the two accounts.
Jim will be traveling to Washington, DC next week and will stop by Amalgamated Bank to deposit our local cash balance (the shoe box account) to the DA/GT Nation Builder account. John has provided a list of the small donations made prior to the start of the Nation Builder system to provide documentation for the balance. Jim will keep the Quetzales for his own personal use and deposit the equivalent in US Dollars at the agreed exchange rate as a cash deposit to the Democrats Abroad Bank Account at the Amalgamated Bank branch in Washington, DC.
The current “shoebox” balance is GTQ 3,675.20. Today’s exchange rate (19 September, 2023) according to the Banco Industrial de Guatemala website is GTQ 7.87 = USD$1.00. So the USD balance to be deposited in the Democrats Abroad account is USD$467.00. This amount should then appear as a contribution on the Nation Builder account prior to our next monthly meeting. David Dean moved that DAGT donate $300 of its shoebox funds to Global once the transfer is made and officially verified. That means $300 will be deposited to Global and $167 remains in the Guatemala account. Phyllis seconded. The motion carried. This won’t be official until Global confirms the transfer and the funds have been assigned to DAGT.
As always, individuals may donate to our country committee, DAGT, at the following website:
Donate - Democrats Abroad (www.democratsabroad.org/donate_gt)
The Treasurer’s report was approved having heard no objections.
Chair’s Report: The meeting of the DPCA that took place on September 9th; there was a delay in the roll call that added about a half hour. Two of three agenda items were completed. The two DNC elections were completed, but a motion to change the order of the agenda with respect to the 23 resolutions not dealt with in June, consumed the remaining time allotted for the meeting (4am to 7am local time) giving rise to a motion to postpone the meeting for action on the resolutions within the next 90 days. The Americas region elected Miguel Madrigal from Costa Rica to serve out the remainder of Ken Sherman’s term and Julia Bryan of the Czech Republic was elected to serve out the remainder of Martha McDivitt Pugh’s DNC term.
· The next Americas regional meeting will be on October 9th. The Americas Regional Retreat will take place via Webex November 4th and 5th, with the 2024 GPP and 2024 GOTV activities being the agenda items. The full DAGT Excom is encouraged to attend the Americas Regional Retreat.
· Americas GOTV Coordinator, Randi Weitzner (CA) started volunteer training sessions Friday, September 15th. We need GOTV coordinators for Guatemala City, and Lake Atitlan. Go to sandbox.votefromabroad.org to practice using VFA in all states. It’s a great new practice tool.
· CallHub for state elections to NJ, VA, KY, MS, LA. CallHub training sessions available! Go to https://www.democratsabroad.org/phonebanking_training
· Introduction to the GPP September 23 at 1:00 pm Eastern Time. Sign up here: https://www.democratsabroad.org/intro_to_the_2024_gpp2
· Volunteer Norms document is a cornerstone of the organization. Please review at: https://democratsabroad.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/GlobalExcomNotes/pages/7091716097/2023+DPCA+ExCom+Meeting+Documents+Recordings
· John attended the FEC Committee on Legal Compliance and Implementation Issues (CLCII)
meeting on September 13th. The CLCII will again meet on September 29th. The CLCII is exploring ways to make the FEC compliance issues more understandable and workable for DA’s multiple country profile.
· Josh van der Ploeg’s “Give me 10 for Democracy” campaign is up and running. Here’s the link: https://www.democratsabroad.org/gt_split_donation.
- Jarryd Rauch’s contract was renewed. His main focus will be on global fund raising to DA.
- Saturday November 9th the DNC meeting will be held.
- DAGT’s 2023-2025 campaign Be the Future in search of new members and leader development is on hold until after the Global Presidential Primary in March 2024. In place of the Be The Future campaign we will begin to focus on motivating and finding volunteers to help with our GOTV activities and CallHub. Both would be good for invigorating our GOTV efforts in 2024. Kee and John will brainstorm on developing posters using Kee’s Canva skills that we could put out to our membership to recruit more volunteers.
- Phyllis mentioned using Fax Apps to send faxes - David asked who had fax services in Antigua.
Events for 2023
· Los Otros Negros (Afro Jamaican Guatemalans). Gloria Rowe and Roy Hendy would present their life experiences in Guatemala as afro Jamaican Guatemalans, on Saturday, September 23rd, 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm at Casa Convento Concepción.
Other Items: CallHub Country Committee Campaigns. Currently Guatemala has 467 members, at $0.50 per call it would cost DAGT $243 of its own funds to pay for a DAGT country committee campaign. Global CallHub campaigns will probably reach everyone in DA Guatemala anyway. Better for our volunteers to make regional and global campaign calls rather than to our own CC.
Thursday, September 21, 2023 the Hispanic Caucus is holding an online event “Why Your Vote Matters,” Time: Sep 21, 2023 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada). Zoom Meeting Information: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81030719391?pwd=L3hBSjc0SE95aExzRm4zL1FuQ2ZpZz09 Meeting ID: 810 3071 9391 Passcode: 878340
Travel: Jim, USA Sept 25 to o/a Nov 9; David, Roatan, Sept 24 to Oct 1; Hyung Oct 31 to November 11; Phyllis, MX Sept. 27 to October 4; Phyllis, South East Asia Dec 3 to Jan 10; John, USA, Nov 12 to Jan 5.
Next meeting date, time, venue. October 18, 2023 at 10:00AM, via Webex
Adjournment 11:28