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The third meeting of the Y62 Class Council convened at noon on May 1, 2010, in the Saybrook Room of the Yale Club of New York City.  Class Secretary Jim White presided. Attending in person were class officers David Honneus (Treasurer) and Mike Kane (Corresponding Secretary), and Bob Oliver (50th Reunion Chair), Larry Lipsher, Bill Weeden, David Scharff, Steve Danetz, David Finkle, Kirk MacDonald, and Bo Rodgers.  Jennifer Julier of the AYA also attended, as a guest of the Council.  Jennifer is the officer responsible for AYA relations with our class, including for our 50th reunion.  Participating by telephone were Al Chambers, our class delegate to the AYA, Jim Wechsler, and Bill Reilly, the gift chair for our 50th.

After welcoming everyone, Jim White called for reports from the class leadership. First, David Honneus submitted a financial statement covering the period July 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010.  The class treasury (administered by Yale) is healthy.  We started the period with a credit balance of $69,245.  Income, consisting of class dues of $33,236, plus interest of $3,143, brought our total before expenses to $105,625.  Our expenses during the period were $8,671 so the March 31, 2010, balance was $96,954.  The largest expense item was $5,522 paid to Yale for the Yale Alumni Magazine. David also distributed data showing a stable pattern of class dues payment, 37% in both 2008 and 2009 and 38% so far in 2010. The data showed 307 dues payers, with 42 payers contributing at the “50th reunion sponsorship” level of at least $350.

Reporting on behalf of Bill Boyer, Y62 Chair of Yale Alumni Fund Agents, Jim White reported on the progress of our class YAF giving through April 26, 2010.  To that date, $182,000 had been given, 98.3% of our $185,000 goal,  and a participation rate of 40% (290 donors out of 733 solicited).  The target participation rate set for this year was 43%, reachable with 25 more donors by June 30.   According to Ms. Julier our participation rate is consistent with that of the classes surrounding us and is about the same rate as Y62 giving in 2008 and 2009.

Corresponding Secretary Kane’s report followed,  noting continuing progress in upgrading graphics and content of  the class website  www.Yale62.org and reporting generally favorable responses to the site’s new look.  Recent data showed that “readership” of the web site had averaged 300 in the weeks the web site was posted and 25 in other weeks, which compared favorably with readership in past years.  The Chairman observed that future website  postings should prominently feature news of the 50th Reunion and the New York 50th birthday mini-reunion (see below).  Kane reported that the Yale Alumni Magazine 2009-10 deadlines for class notes had all been met and our allotted space fully used.

Al Chambers reported next, noting that a detailed report on his attendance at the annual AYA meeting in November was posted on our website in January and can be found there archived currently.  He commented that the AYA meetings continued to be well organized and productive events, also that the previously discussed “cohort” reunion concept (which the Class Council was opposed to introducing for our 50th Reunion) has been shelved indefinitely.

Kirk MacDonald and Bo Rodgers then reported on their plans for the Y62 “70th birthday party” mini-reunion to be held October 14-17, 2010, in New York City. Council members commented at length on options for housing, entertainment and logistics, with these and other features to be resolved in the coming weeks by Rodgers and McDonald.  There was agreement that rooms needed to be reserved now for the Fall weekend, with several midtown clubs identified as preferred locations.  A boat tour of Manhattan Island, with dinner, was discussed as an attractive highlight for Saturday evening.

Next on the agenda was discussion of the e-mail pilot project.  Jim White explained that following a recent process of correcting wrong email addresses in our files, there was still approximately 35% of the Class, or some 260, unreacheable by email because we lacked their addresses.  He reported that he and Kane had separately conducted successful telephone campaigns in 2009 aimed at completing missing email addresses from, respectively, greater Washington, DC and Massachusetts residents.  Based on that experience and recognizing the importance of email communication as the 50th draws closer, the members agreed to expand the effort to cover the 260 or so classmates for whom we still do not have an e-mail address; Jim then asked for volunteers in that effort and Council members Weeden, Honneus, Wechsler, Danetz stepped forward, joining Richard Davis who had previously volunteered; more volunteers are needed and Jim said he would lead the effort to put together a team.

The final agenda item was Bob Oliver’s report, which showed he was already deeply engaged in the planning process.  He touched on a multitude of topics, including possible activities, panel discussions, food and budgeting.  Jennifer Julier commented that the size of the class fund appeared ample to cover any likely shortfall between reunion fees and expenses.  She shared with the Council a summary of revenue and expenses for the  50th reunions of the  YC Classes 1950-59, which indicated that class funds were tapped for an average of $66,000.  Bob noted that commencing this year he planned to visit the 50th reunions on campus  and assess with a view toward identifying best practices and gathering other ideas for  our class.  In response to a question Bob said that neither the exact date nor the residential college venue for our 50th had been determined. Ms. Julier said the likely dates would be either the last week of May or first week of June, 2012, and  added this should be scheduled by the AYA next February.

The meeting adjourned at 3 PM with the Secretary reminding all to plan to return for the 2011 council meeting, which will be held on a Saturday early next May.

Signed,
Mike Kane, CorSec.
May 13, 2010

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