General Secretary

Mid-November 2019

Business and Finances:

• Our annual audit field work was completed this week. This year new requirements in audit format are in effect and we have different people in the controller role. The process has been smooth so far. 
• Key staff, governance and granting group members have been meeting, talking and sharing documents to resolve issues and support the highest effectiveness of the Greenleaf Fund which supports those who are aging. 
• PYM staff, archivists from Swarthmore and Haverford College Libraries and members of the laid-down Record Services Group are making plans for supporting PYM’s and monthly and quarterly meetings’ archival processes. 

Program and Ministry:

• Continuing Sessions was held at Arch Street Meeting House.  Reports and minutes are posted on the web (www.pym.org/news). 
• We launched the Quaker Self Portrait project which includes a census of how many people are attending our meetings on Sundays and an invitation to share what our meetings look like with selfies, quilt squares or any way a meeting would like to (haikus?!).  It also included a “soft launch” of an invitation to individual Friends to share more detailed demographics such as race and gender identity in order to create a baseline of our community demographics. 
• We hosted 15 Friends at the first Friends in Fellowship this year with Taiya Smith (Solebury Meeting) speaking on carbon pricing and climate change. Tayia is a highly regarded China expert specializing in climate issues. She was key to designing and managing the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) under Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson. During Obama’s presidency she served as the point person on Darfur, working with the Sudanese government and rebel factions. She has also been a Presidential Management Fellow in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (based in Washington) covering Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire. 
• Held a first meeting of key Friends to explore how Philadelphia Yearly Meeting can enhance and sustain new and important expressions of Quakerism, under the direction of the Quaker Life Council.  
• The Community Engagement staff team met with staff at Pendle Hill to continue relationship building and seeking opportunities for collaboration. 
• Middle School Friends had a wonderful Fall Gathering at West Chester Meeting, 10/18-10/20.  
• Young Adult Friends is continuing ministry in migrant justice through involvement in “Drive PA Forward Campaign” connecting with YAFs who work with New Sanctuary Movement and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
• Young Adult Friends Leadership has changed. Here is the new lineup. This new group will have dinner at Friends Center after Thanksgiving.  
  • Clerks: Mary Tierney and Catherine Campbell.  
  • Pastoral Care: Eleanor Barba and Kimani Keaton.  
  • Recording Clerk: Carl Stanton.  
• Young Adult Friends met at Pendle Hill on Thursday 11/14. 
• Quaker Life Council has asked for support in the process of recruiting members for the Sessions Coordinating Committee and the Program Committee. If people have ideas of who could serve on either one, please contact Zachary Dutton. 

Communications and Technology:

• We initiated new tech to track traffic on our website. 
• We added a “Quaker Directory” (https://www.pym.org/quaker-directory) to the website (this is an ongoing project). 
• We started using a news aggregator tool (Feedly) to find Quaker news from around the world. 
• A report and minutes from Continuing Sessions was up on the PYM website within a day of the event with both a news article on the morning program and the finalized minutes posted Monday. Our news feed featured the work of the group of Friends who volunteered at Annual Sessions to help in anti-racism work. Later that week, we pushed out antiracism information and tools in the weekly email.   
• Staff training on an integrated Salesforce email system was given.  

Staff and Administration:

• The Executive Director of Arch Street Meeting House (ASMH), Lynne Calamia, resigned after nearly seven years of service. During that time historic preservation of the meetinghouse property became paramount and we secured funding for improvements to our interpretational programs. Lynne created important partnerships with the historical community and led the campaign to have Arch Street Meeting House named as an International Site of Conscience. 
• Caroline Boyce, of Inter-Mission LLC is serving as Interim Executive Director at ASMH and is supporting the board in the search for the next Director. 
• Lucas Richie began working with PYM as the Grants Associate (following the promotion of Nick Gutowski to Director of Grantmaking).  Lucas brings recent experience with the Bread & Roses Community Fund and with Quaker Voluntary Service – as well as with PYM. 
• We are in the final stages of the search for Middle School Friends Program Assistant, Children & Families Program Assistant, and Events & Resources Coordinator. The Advancement & Communications Coordinator search is in full swing. The searches for program and development positions at ASMH have been suspended while the Executive Director search is prioritized; interim support options are being explored. 
• Staff made waffles for lunch in the GenSec office one afternoon. 

Inclusion and Anti-Racism: 

• The Associate Secretary for Program & Religious Life and the Youth Religious Life Coordinator attended Niyonu Spann’s Beyond Diversity 101: Race training at Pendle Hill the week of 10/22.  They shared their experience with staff over lunch. 
• Staff has explored how we want to arrange support for ourselves as we engage in anti-racism and inclusion training and taken steps to put that support in place. 
• The General Secretary was invited by the Pastors Wives of the Church of God in Christ in the Pittsburgh region to accept an award for Quakers for our historic work in anti-slavery and to provide the Response to the Opening Remarks at the awards dinner.  She offered remarks on our complex history and continued need to address racism.  Friends from Pittsburgh Friends Meeting were invited to attend, and several did. 

Staff visits: 

• Melinda Wenner Bradley, Youth Religious Life Coordinator, visited the Chester Quarter retreat and presented about support for youth and families in local meetings. 
• Melinda visited Gwynedd Meeting for worship and led multi–generational program on 10/27.  
• Grace Sharples Cooke visited Third Haven and Chester River Meetings, and had lunch with Friends from Upper Darby Meeting. 
• Christie Duncan-Tessmer, General Secretary, attended FGC’s annual meeting of the Central Committee. 
• Christie attended FCNL’s annual meeting. 
• Christie attended the Friends Fiduciary Investment Committee meeting and Finance Committee meeting. 

Mid-September 2019

Business and Finances:

• The 2019 fiscal year is drawing to a close with 92% of the year complete as of August 30.  Support & Revenue is close to budget.  Expenses are trending below budget.
• The final appeal is in mailboxes and final email campaign is underway and we look on track to meet our Annual Fund goal of $300,000. Some highlights include: donors who gave this year and last year increased their gifts by an average of 7% and out-of-state donors increased giving by 9.5%; so far this year 206 Friends who had lapsed in giving gave this year – and gave $44,878; one of the email appeals will also remind Friends to give to their monthly meeting.
• PYM’s auditors did a week of planning in August in preparation for the November audit.  This year PYM will be implementing changes required by the FASB’s (Financial Accounting Standards Board) Accounting Standards Update 2016-14, Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities.  The title is more formidable than the actual changes.  Mainly, the three-column audit presentation format of recent decades, Unrestricted, Temporarily Restricted and Restricted, is being replaced with two plain English columns, Without Donor Restrictions and With Donor Restrictions.  It should make PYM’s financial statements more readable and informative.
• Over the summer we explored The Reinvestment Fund as a prospect for PYM investments in order to increase the impact of our investments. In particular we are investigating their community development bridge loan fund which would lend to projects such as community health centers, child care centers, and affordable housing.  Many community development projects include funding sources that will only pay in over time or on project completion.  These projects may have little access to other financing.  A bridge loan allows them to move forward and creates jobs.  PYM would invest through Friends Fiduciary.  The prospect was well received at Sessions and Admin Council will make a progress report at Continuing Sessions in November.
• The Legacy Fund is launched with four gifts – total collected $71,749. What is the Legacy Fund? This is a named gift that conserves principal and generates income in perpetuity. It also makes room for the life stories of Legacy fund donors, the listing of donor names in the annual report, and the placement of these stories on our Website. In time, hundreds of Friends lives, their contributions to humanity, their communities, and the Quaker faith will be documented by the reporting we automatically do around this Legacy Fund. Initial gifts are in the names of Kirk Norris, Charlie Ufford, S. Francis Nicholson and Anne Hollingsworth Thomas Moore.

Program and Ministry:

• The funding cycle has begun for collaboratives, sprints, and other groups in the PYM who can request funding for projects from the Quaker Life Council. A housekeeping email went out detailing the process for applying and other supportive resources for PYM groups.
• The core team of staff who support PYM programs is called the Community Engagement Team; this team sets goals for the year in September. One of the team goals is to spend time articulating clearly the Quaker tradition so that staff can speak about it positively and confidently in the course of running programs and talking about Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
• Young Adult Friends have had a leadership transition, and staff have supported them through developing a new clerking team.
• August and September included many events for youth and families: a Family Play Date, Young Friends Late Summer Gathering, Young Friends Peace Fair, and the Quaker Family Meet Up.
• Our first reception for supporters was held at the General Secretary’s home. 24 people came, enjoyed fellowship and shared their thoughts about why they give to PYM.

Communications and Technology:

• We have evaluated and re-valuated which email system to integrate with our database. We settled on a program called Pardot and have carefully been setting up the behind-the-scenes infrastructure, testing it and creating templates that provide a structure and recognizable look and feel.
• The online registration form for annual sessions is being rebuilt, and our staff who run the registration process attended a training on the registration program to learn more about how to facilitate an efficient and effective process.
• Interesting web fact: PYM.org became an unlikely internet star in September. We are the first resource that comes up when people do a google search for resources on how to open a spiritual retreat. This is bringing 5000 hits a year on this topic and it comes from all over the world. Check the page out yourself:

Staff and Administration:

• The Director of HR and Inclusion has resigned that position but is maintaining support for two key projects during the interim period. We will post the position at full time as we’ve learned it requires 35 hours a week to meet the goals of the job.
• The Executive Director of the Arch Street Meeting House is on a temporary leave through mid-October. An Interim Executive Director is maintaining stability for this time period.

Inclusion and Anti-Racism: 

• Following the past year of staff work to identify goals for anti-racism and inclusion work we have developed a relationship with Prototype Entities to support us in moving forward. Prototype Entities is the organization that was recommended by the Multicultural Audit Steering Committee to provide an audit for PYM.
• The planned work with Prototype includes training for all staff and for supervisors, coaching for key staff, establishing a baseline of staff experience and developing a climate survey tool that can be used every six months and a review of the policies, procedures and documents in place.

Mid-May to Mid-June 2019

Business and Finances:

• Completed the FY 2020 Draft Budget for Finance Committee, which will recommend to Admin Council that it be shared with the monthly and quarterly meetings.  A final Proposed Budget, adjusted for any new information, will be completed in early July for approval at Annual Sessions. 
• Stewarded two bequests from Friends who are no longer with us. One of these is directed to the new Legacy Fund.

Program and Ministry:

• Annual Sessions registration is live! Register and find out details at www.pym.org/annual-sessions.  
• We’re coming into the home stretch before our Quakers Got Talent fundraiser on June 17th.  This month we nailed down a diverse roster of performers for the show; supported the YAF QGT pre-party with the support of a donor to cover partial costs; mailed publicity to monthly meetings, and all Quaker schools (some placed ads), met our goal in advertising in the program and secured the gift of a pair of earrings (value $3000) for our Quakers got Talent auction. 
• The dates for PYM Programs are set for September 2019 through July 2020. There are around 40 programs that range from camping sleepovers for families to skill building on property issues to gatherings for monthly meeting clerks.  See the PYM calendar for upcoming events  
• We laid the groundwork for the first effort to bring together PYM Friends who represent us to other Quaker organizations so they can know each other, PYM can hear what they are working on and they can hear PYM’s priorities. 
• The first Quaker Institute was held at Pendle Hill, which PYM program staff helped frame and facilitate in collaboration with Pendle Hill.  The PYM Youth Religious Life Coordinator facilitated the workshop titled “Recognizing the Gifts of Young People in Community and Worship”. PYM communications collaborated to promote awareness of the Quaker Institute with a news story plus regular inclusion in our PYM weekly email featuring news and events. 
• The Youth Religious Life Coordinator trained with Interfaith Philadelphia to become a facilitator of “Civil Conversations” for youth. https://www.interfaithphiladelphia.org/facilitator-trainings 
• Several staff met with David Johnson, author of A Quaker Prayer Life, to talk about the movement of spirit amongst young adult friends in the world. David is travelling in North America for 4 months. 

Communications and Technology:

• The June issue of “Tote Bag” – an electronic newsletter resource on religious education was published.  
• Designed materials for the Quakers Got Talent event including a poster, ad book advertising campaign, and program. 
• Designed and mailed compelling tri-fold publicity for Annual Sessions. 
• Our new database provided all the data it is meant to provide for the spring fundraising campaign – this is the first time we’ve relied 100% on that resource.
• We developed a plan for managing the data held in our communications tool, Constant Contact, as we shift to reliance on one database, Salesforce. 
• We laid the groundwork for a new communications tool that synchs with Salesforce and successfully tested it with two emails to the group of people who are identified in Salesforce as Bridge Contacts. 
• Repaired new web defect that made it impossible to submit news or events to our website.

Staff and Administration:

• PYM’s Young Adult Engagement and Sessions Coordinator has enrolled in school and will vacate the Session Coordinator role effective 8/2/2019.  She will remain with PYM as the Young Adult Engagement Coordinator in a part-time capacity.   
• The position “Transitional Meeting Engagement and Data Coordinator” expires at the end of the summer.  This position was created as a temporary way to explore what kind of staff support we need in the new Advancement & Communications department.  This change together with the vacancy in the Sessions Coordinator position, also happening at the end of the summer, created space for implementing some new positions. Two positions are in the works.  One is a full-time position to coordinate events (including Sessions) and resources.  This will allow the sessions support to be part of a full-time position and also allows us staff capacity to curate resources from monthly and quarterly meetings to make them available across the yearly meeting and to keep our website current with resources for addressing racism and racial justice and events and trainings on anti-racism that PYM Friends could attend.  The other position is a part-time, benefits-eligible position to deepen the bench on our communications and fundraising activities. 
• Staffing plans are in use for vacant youth program positions, drawing mostly from a reserve of program staff.  A temporary sessions assistant has been hired for Annual sessions and recruitment is ongoing for a Middle School Friends Assistant and Children and Families Assistant. 
• We talked with three different consultants about helping us to manage recruitment for open positions.  We sought an organization that could reliably use approaches that would help us with increasing the amount of diversity in our candidate pools. As a result, we are looking forward to working with AFSC’s HR department again.   

Inclusion and Anti-Racism: 

• The National Council of Churches hosted a semi-annual Jewish-Christian Dialogue at Mother Bethel AME Church on anti-Semitism and racism.  The General Secretary was invited to speak on the experience of a faith community in engaging in anti-racism work. 
• The General Secretary and the Director of HR and Inclusion continued conversations with Prototype Entities about training and other opportunities for staff and/or the wider community. 
  • Staff meetings are held every other month; in June our meeting was five hours long and focused mostly on the inclusion and anti-racism work we’re doing.  In particular we: 
  • Heard from the Operations Team (Senior Staff) about their experience with holding space for reflecting on racism and other oppression we observe or experience in Quaker community. 
  • Considered if we want to hold that same kind of space for all staff and if so what would it take to do it in a way that is generative and expanding. 
  • Considered what kind of training we want 
  • Learned about Diversity Statements and began a process of writing one for ourselves 
  • Reviewed all of the other conversations and steps we’ve taken in this direction and then identified what we have the most energy for going forward. 

Visits to Quaker Meetings and Organizations:

• Many staff visited The College of New Jersey on June 11to prepare for Annual Sessions  
• Melinda Wenner Bradley, Youth Religious Life Coordinator, visited Medford Meeting June 9. 
• Meg Rose, Young Adult Engagement and Sessions Coordinator, and Zachary Dutton, Associate Secretary for Program & Religious Life, attended Sunday of Continuing Revolution with Young Adult Friends at Pendle Hill.  
• Grace Cooke, Associate Secretary for Advancement & Relationship, visited Quakertown Meeting 
• Christie Duncan-Tessmer, General Secretary, attended the board meeting and the finance committee meeting of Friends Fiduciary and the board meeting of Friends Center 
• Christie met with the heads of other Quaker organizations for a half day meeting focused on courage and on relationship 

Mid-April to Mid-May 2019

Business and Finances:

• The company that printed the 2018 Faith and Practice has been sold and its distribution subsidiary declared bankruptcy. We’ve moved the remaining copies of Faith and Practice to FGC’s QuakerBooks, where they are available for purchase.
• The second quarter was closed and a report completed.
• New templates for PYM’s accounting software can now generate reports automatically without human manipulation and formatting. The March 31 report was generated entirely from the accounting system. The Controllers from YPTC also wrote a new forecasting function that predicts trends, factors in seasonality (Annual Sessions only happens once, in July, while some of our biggest expenses, e.g. staff, rent, are steady throughout the year) and weighs the risks of not meeting budget.  The projected trends seem to be accurate so far.  We’re on the road to a more efficient, easier and more informative way of tracking our finances.
• The first pass of the FY20 budget was done and has us at a good starting point.  In the next few weeks our new budget model will help us move the preliminary budget to a firm proposed budget for Annual Sessions.
• Planning for a kitchen at Arch Street Meeting House that meets the needs of staff and the monthly meeting is moving forward with a meeting between the space designers, kitchen equipment experts, the MMFP clerk and Arch Street Meeting House staff.
• Burial grounds from the 1600’s, one of which was Quaker, are likely to be disrupted by construction in the Schuylkill Yards project. PYM was briefly mentioned in a May 2 Inquirer story on the topic. We have been invited into conversations with the construction company, which is also consulting Quaker burial ground scholars.
• We got the spring appeal out the door.  There were unanticipated data problems that took some hand-fixing and caused slight delays.

Program and Ministry:

• 40 youth (MSF and Young Friends), four youth programs staff and seven wonderful volunteers attended the retreat weekend at Camp Swatara with Caln Quarter. Staff led a workshop titled “Hand in Hand: Supporting young people and their spiritual journeys.”
• 31 participants attended the Spring Family Overnight at Camp Dark Waters.
• 42 people attended the Friends in Fellowship National Trail network talk with Steve Elkinton at Arch Street Meeting House.
• 50 People attended the Friends in Business event that focused on the Friends Education Equity Collaborative.
• 65 Friends attended the Legislative Policy Collaborative all-day event at Friends Center on May 4th that included speakers from FCNL.
• About 20 people participated in a conference call with Church World Service on Refugee and Migrant Justice on April 16.
• The ‘Quakers Got Talent’ event was publicly launched. Date is June 17.
• The Land Acknowledgement practice for all PYM Sessions is now the responsibility of First Reconciliation Collaborative.
• Youth staff facilitated a program for Brooklyn Friends School’s 7th Grade at Arch Street Meeting House, which included learning about the diversity of vocations and witness among Friends and semi-programmed worship with a Faith & Play story.
• Our standard Program Evaluation questions have been updated to integrate results of a Pendle Hill study on program evaluation funded by the Shoemaker Fund.
• We’ve re-publicized the availability of childcare for councils and availability of providing Quarterly Meetings with approved childcare providers (at the expense of the meeting).
• The restoration work at Millington Burial Ground is complete. As reported and warmly received at 2018 Annual Sessions, PYM plans to give the old Quaker burial ground in Millington, MD, to the Town of Millington to preserve and use as an historic site and green open space. The Town had asked PYM to make certain improvements and PYM engaged conservators to clean and reset the burial ground’s small number of headstones and refurbish an historic wrought iron fence.  That work was completed in early May with the reinstallation of the fence.  Admin Council’s Property Committee continues to work on the conveyance of the property and expects to report to Annual Sessions this summer. (See picture below).

Communications and Technology:

• Much of the final writing and beginning layout for the next print version of Faith In Practice was completed. It features illustrations by the same Quaker artist whose work is in the appeal.
• We fine-tuned a plan (with an 11-tab spreadsheet) for how to move forward each of the nine areas of the database (such as demographic data details and integrating email) in a way that doesn’t step on its own feet or burn up staff time.
• We completed the background, infrastructure work for moving all employee electronic files, dating from the present back to the 1990s, to the cloud.
• We purchased and installed a budget model for our MIP/Sage accounting software.

Staff and Administration:

• Youth Engagement Coordinator title has changed to Youth Religious Life Coordinator. Staff believe that this title more accurately reflects the role and responsibilities of this position.
• Support for recruitment and perhaps other duties are being thought out.
• The current Young Adult Engagement & Sessions Coordinator is resigning the Sessions Coordinator part of her position and will remain on as Young Adult Coordinator part-time while attending school. The scheduler for Arch Street is moving on to another (full-time) position, her last day is May 17.
• We onboarded two casual staff, one a child care provider and one assistant for Sessions.
• We increased numbers in the Childcare Assistants Pool and strengthened the procedures on childcare to make them more broadly inclusive and take the needs of parents into account.
• The Youth Religious Life Coordinator got certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid. All youth staff will complete this training next.
• The 1:00 Wednesday open-door staff check in time has been used for: a discussion about the clerks’ letter to PYM and the reaction it’s getting among staff and in the community, reviewing the budget practice, and discussing social media.

Inclusion and Anti-Racism: 

• Ops Team has included an agenda item on inclusion and anti-racism for each monthly team meeting. It is a place where we discuss our own observations and experiences.  Over time, the conversation gets deeper and more varied.
• We need additional support with the tasks related to recruitment for open positions. This is a key point for making room for inclusion work.
• We talked with the CEO of Prototype Entities, the consultants recommended by the Multicultural Audit Steering Committee, to explore what they offer that could meet the needs and interests of staff.
• Our onboarding has become much more complete. It includes meeting with the supervisor, HR staff, Associate Secretaries and General Secretary for all staff, and with the supervisor, HR staff and General Secretary for part-time, as-needed staff.  In addition to standard things like HR policy and staff meetings, new staff learn about the budget, all the programs we support, how communications happen, how staff learn about what’s happening in PYM and who to talk to when you have a question or different perspective on what’s happening.

Visits to Quaker Meetings and Organizations:

• Melinda Wenner Bradley, Youth Religious Life Coordinator, attended the Committee on Friends Education religious life gathering at Lansdowne Friends School.
• Melinda attended a Good Friday service with Friends at Mullica Hill Meeting.
• Melinda shared a presentation at West Chester Friends School about her travels among Quakers in Kenya.
• Melinda participated in a QREC Conversation Circle on supporting Quaker Parenting.
• Wendy Kane, Transitional Meeting Engagement & Data Coordinator, visited Solebury Monthly Meeting. We’re sending a save the date type postcard for sessions which has been in design this week.
• Christie Duncan-Tessmer, General Secretary, attended Freedom Seekers Memorial event at Providence Meeting.
• Christie visited Reading Monthly Meeting.
• Christie met with Doug Bennet (President Emeritus, Earlham College), the General Secretaries of other Northeast/Mid-Atlantic yearly meetings, the heads of FGC and Pendle Hill, Steven Lawrence (pastor of White Rock Baptist Church, Convenor of New Conversations on Race and Ethnicity), Mikal Anderson (Founder & CEO of Prototype Entities).
• Christie and Linell McCurry, Associate Secretary for Business and Finance, attended Fairhill Burial Ground’s 25^th anniversary celebration.

Mid-March to Mid-April 2019

Business and Finances:

• We evaluated our Operating Reserve status and it is holding steady. Last year, after PYM met its Operating Reserve goal of $1.2 million the Finance Committee approved a rubric to apply on an annual basis to ensure the Reserve is not becoming underfunded or overfunded.  This month we reviewed it and found that the Operating Reserve is at 97% of six months of annual operating expenses for the fiscal year just ended ($1.29 million) – an excellent result. [for more details about the operating reserve go to the end of the report]
• We expanded our accounting software to include a budgeting module which will allow us model different options, provide needed historical data to department heads for their budgeting purposes and upload the approved budget at the touch of a button, saving us literally weeks of work.
• We prepared 2018 financial statements for the audit of the Friends Pension Plan. PYM administers the Plan which is a multi-employer plan sponsored by PYM and FGC and covering several other Friends meetings and organizations.
• Wrote and designed the spring appeal with a theme of water and featuring illustrations by a Quaker professional artist (they are beautiful!). Final personalization and segmenting will be completed midweek and they’ll be in the mail before the next monthly report.
• The 2018 Annual Report was mailed it to all PYM donors. This is the first time all donors have received an annual report.The Annual Report was also sent as part of the annual covenant outreach mailing to monthly meeting treasurers. The mailing also included a gift of the new Faith and Practice.

Program and Ministry:

• 117 Friends from 50 Monthly Meetings, including 30 youth attended March 23 Continuing Sessions in Reading Pennsylvania.  The logistics were more complicated than previous Continuing Sessions featuring an action on site against the Berks County Residential Center (Family Detention Center), youth programming at Reading Meeting and Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business held at Miller Center for the Arts.  A report of the day, a story about the action and business minutes are online.  Participants were sent an electronic invitation to provide feedback about the day. 15 staff members worked hard to ensure that the 3-site Continuing Sessions held in Reading was a success.
• On Sunday, March 31^st Birmingham Meeting hosted PYM’s second 2019 Friends in Fellowship event, welcoming 100+ F(f)riends to worship, followed by a talk the Director of the Hagley Museum and a tour of William Brinton House. [learn some Quaker history from the event at the end of this report!]
• Tote Bag, a monthly e-newsletter with resources for religious education and families was sent to over 1100 subscribers on April 1.
• Quaker Family Meetup event for PYM families was held on April 6 at Princeton meeting featuring an afternoon of fellowship, play, worship sharing, and spiritual refreshment. And snacks.
• Teachers at Goshen Friends School participated in an in-service about Quakerism and nurture for children’s spiritual lives facilitated by PYM staff.
• An online conversation with Youth Coordinators in Quarterly Meetings was organized and facilitated by PYM staff.
• Many, many quilt squares have been received by meetings and other Quaker groups (like our Young Adult Friends)!
• Resource Friends worked with and supported two meetings which have a concern for worship and care of members.
• Princeton Meeting had a workshop on Quakerism, its past and its present facilitated by PYM staff.
• The inaugural Collaborative Housekeeping Newsletter was sent out to Friends who are involved in PYM Collaboratives. The newsletter contains information relevant to collaborative resources, support, and time frames for submission dates to support their work.
• Annual Sessions 2019 – There’s always something on staff desks about Sessions. Some of the details being worked out right now are logistics regarding space, dining choices, and program.
• Monthly/Quarterly Meeting Bridge Contacts now number 28; a group of Bridge Contacts convened at Continuing Sessions to help shape the PYM program with Meeting and Quarterly Meeting input.

Communications and Technology:

• We received information from 36 meetings to allow us to be able to communicate with Friends from those meetings more reliably and to connect them to programs and events in our community. This year we initiated a new way of doing this which is far less time-demanding of Friends in the meetings and puts the onus instead on the PYM office.
• Nearly 500 Friends responded to our request for contact information updates which has been entered into our database.
• In addition to the Spring Appeal, mentioned above, we designed and sent information on Refugee and Migrant justice and Eco-Justice initiatives. We collaborated with Young Adult Friends to design the butterfly-themed posters “No Cages No Walls” for the worship action at Berks County Residential Center.

Staff and Administration:

• Identified a source for mandated reporter training for Program & Religious Life staff. In-person training will be scheduled for September 2019.
• Onboarding is a key aspect of our staff and inclusion work because this is where employees begin to understand what we do, why we do it, and how we work together. We are continually strengthening and refining it.  This month we clarified how staff who are only occasionally active, like babysitters, are onboarded.
• The Children and Families Youth Program Assistant position is turning over. Interim support is being identified.
• We are still recruiting for Event Support Staff for Arch Street Meeting House.
• We turned the annual staff chili cookoff into a retirement party for Carol Walz and, with a mix of joy and sadness, celebrated her 24 years of skilled and dedicated service to the PYM community as Director of Grantmaking. Her successor, Nick Gutowski, is on parental leave with his new daughter.  We have an experienced grants administrator coming in on a part-time consulting basis until Nick’s return.

Inclusion and Anti-Racism: 

• Based on conversations in staff meetings and the climate survey that was conducted in the fall, the Operations team (senior staff) has committed to five practices including improving Onboarding, reviewing and revising policies, recognizing and discussing patterns of diversity, providing culturally competent supervisor training and learning from assessment tools.
• The staff as a whole has begun identifying what we will all commit to, based on the climate survey, previous work and facilitated discussions with the Director of HR and Inclusion. This process will be ongoing.
• The General Secretary was appointed by the National Council of Churches to their newly re-established task force on ending racism.

Visits to Quaker Meetings and Organizations:

• Christie Duncan-Tessmer, General Secretary, attended the FWCC Section of the Americas Section Meeting in Missouri.
• Christie attended the National Council of Churches board meeting.
• Christie attended the Interfaith Philadelphia Religious Leaders Council meeting.
• Christie visited Reading Meeting for worship and business meetings.
• Grace Sharples Cooke, Associate Secretary of Advancement & Communication, attended Birmingham Meeting for worship and the Friends in Fellowship event.
• George Schaefer attended Abington Friends School’s Quaker Day.

Further notes (referenced above)

• Maintaining an operating reserve is a nonprofit best practice. Operating reserves help organizations weather change and adverse economic conditions until they can adjust their operations.  PYM’s reserve helps ensure our financial stability and long-term sustainability.  To “refill the granaries” after the 2012 financial crisis when we spent down our reserves, PYM used surplus budgets for several years and dedicated the surplus cash to building the Operating Reserve.  When Annual Sessions first approved the reserve in 2014, the goal of $1.2 million represented six months’ worth of PYM’s operating expenses.
• The Friends in Fellowship event included a “surprise reveal” of original research on Quakers conducted by the Hagley Museum. The Duponts were originally drawn to invest in the Brandywine region because they admired Quaker principles and respected Quaker talent and integrity. Research revealed that Alfred Dupont was the mysterious supporter who loaned $1200 to underground railroad stationmaster Thomas Garrett, so Garret could discharge a court-assessed $1500 fine for his material support to a group of enslaved people escaping from bondage.

Spring

To what purpose, April, do you return again?  Beauty is not enough.

You can no longer quiet me with the redness  Of little leaves opening stickily.

I know what I know.

The sun is hot on my neck as I observe  The spikes of the crocus.

The smell of the earth is good.

It is apparent that there is no death.

But what does that signify?

Not only under ground are the brains of men  Eaten by maggots.

Life in itself

Is nothing,

An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.

It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,  April

Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Mid-February Through Mid-March 2019

Business and Finances:

• PYM has been using the services of Your-Part-Time-Controller (YPTC) since November. YPTC identified and implemented a range of process efficiencies in closing the books for quarter ended December 31, 2018.  Based on the updated process we expect to generate financial information more quickly and easily than in the past.
• The 2019 Annual Report was completed.

Program and Ministry:

• Preparation for Continuing Sessions has been a primary focus including:
  • Programs for children and youth
  • The action happening at the beginning of Continuing Sessions, which will be largely worship, bringing together young adults from across our geography. This is a way in which recent shifts in the young adult engagement have allowed PYM and young adult Quakers to reach a much broader audience of Quakers and Quaker-interested people
  • One Quilt One Yearly Meeting will be featured at Continuing Sessions as well. Meetings are sending in their quilts, receiving support from our Community Engagement Coordinator, and are invited to bring finished squares to sessions.
  • Lunch for the Bridge Contacts at Continuing Sessions will start building community and shape a newfound role for them
  • Three locations for conducting Continuing Sessions were visited (Miller Arts Center, Reading Monthly Meeting, and the Berks Detention Center).
• The Pastoral Care Thread Gathering drew 35 attendees, focusing on care through a multigenerational lens. It has received very positive feedback so far. Members of program staff worked to prepare and conduct workshops related to pastoral care & ageism, pastoral care for youth and families, and pastoral care for young adults.
• Our “Aging in the Light” program presented workshops that included how to build an aging resource team at Quaker meetings.
• Our first Friends in Fellowship event titled “About Faith” featured a moderated discussion with panelists Marcelle Martin, Steven Davison, AyishaImani, and David Watt. Fifty people were in attendance.
• The Friends in Business planning team was expanded and the group met to consider additional or alternative opportunities for the Friends in Business program.
• Our Grantmakers Luncheon, a semi-annual gathering of Friends who serve on granting groups, heard reports from many groups and celebrated Carol Walz’s 24 years of service to PYM granting.

Communications and Technology:

• Launched the component of our database that supports all of our grant work!
• Began a new way of doing bulk updates of our database with a consultant funded by a donor.
• Verified that our website is enabled for the blind and initiated planning on how to boost that capacity.

Staff and Administration:

• Recruitment & Onboarding:
  • Recruitment for Arch Street Meeting House Events Support Staff position is underway.
  • Onboarded new Childcare Assistant using the full onboarding plan – it is a shift to provide such multi-faceted connections with a very part-time position. As a reminder, the new onboarding process focuses on welcoming the employee, ensuring they have all the tools and support needed to get started and be successful in their job and builds an inclusive and cohesive work environment as staff members have a role in supporting the new employee.
  • Contracted with an employment agency to secure support for granting activity on an interim basis while permanent granting staff are out of the office on leave or retirement for an extended period this spring.
• Collaborated with the Youth Program staff and identified training priorities. These are mandated reporting, Food Safety and Mental health First Aid. Significant consideration is being given to scheduling to ensure trainings are accessible. Several online options have been identified.
• Collaborated with the Youth Program staff and identified training priorities. These are mandated reporting, Food Safety and Mental health First Aid. Significant consideration is being given to scheduling to ensure trainings are accessible. Several online options have been identified.

Visits to Quaker Meetings and Organizations:

• Grace Sharples Cooke, Associate Secretary for Advancement and Relationship visited Third Haven Meeting to facilitate strategic conversations about long-term planning.
• Grace worshiped at Camden Meeting in Delaware.
• Christie Duncan-Tessmer, General Secretary, worshiped at Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia (Arch Street).
• Christie worshiped with Westfield meeting and attended the Haddonfield Quarter business meeting.
• Grace, Christie, Lynne Calamia, Executive Director of Arch Street Meeting House and Carol Walz, Director of Grantmaking visited Haddonfield Quarterly Meeting’s program. Lynne and Carol led sections of the program.