2006 Summer BOD: Sweet Briar College

May 2, 2022

Sally Guy held her first summer board retreat at Sweet Briar College. She opened the meeting by reviewing plans to implement GCV’s first strategic plan, beginning with changes to board member responsibilities. Immediate Past President Deedy Bumgardner led strategic planning during her two-year term and gave credit to Catherine Whitham, Mary Hart Darden and consultant Lee Switz for developing the final publication, Planting Perennials, which Catherine then reviewed with board members.

Second Vice President Kim Nash reported (according to Kim, perhaps the first ever report by a GCV Second Vice President) on her new responsibilities as liaison to committees in areas related to education or enrichment.

Sally Guy reported that the Corresponding Secretary would assume responsibility for membership and would coordinate regional meetings for new members.

Director at Large and liaison to Flower Shows Mary Nelson Thompson presented a comprehensive report to explain the importance of the shows in the interdependency of our GCV goals, to relate the positive changes recently implemented by the Flower Shows Committee and to make suggestions as to how the GCV can show hostess clubs more support. Following her report, the board engaged in a lengthy discussion regarding flower shows and concluded that the shows should be evaluated by an outside consultant.

The Development Committee presented ideas for increasing the Garden Club of Virginia Endowment to at least $3 million, as recommended in the strategic plan. The board approved a motion to include remittance envelopes in each of the four Journals, beginning September 2006. The committee also felt the effort would require a part-time employee to focus on professional level fundraising and to assist with publication of the proposed GCV Year in Review. Further discussion was to take place in Finance and Investment committees. A final suggestion to broaden funding appeals was based on members’ stated preference to support GCV in areas related to conservation. In closing, Catherine announced a $74,000 gift to the GCV Endowment from the estate of former GCV President Dorothy Douglass Kellam.

The Kent-Valentine House Committee reported on a note from a Kent family descendant expressing a wish to donate portraits of Horace and Elizabeth Kent and others to the Kent-Valentine House, requesting that the portraits be hung in the original part of the house.

The board approved motions to fund the cost of expanding the September 2006 Journal to include a list of annual donors, to increase fees for Annual and Board of Governors meetings from $100 to $125 and to hire consultant Beth Morchower to study flower shows.