Friends of the Liberian Basketball General Body Meeting

Attendees:

The meeting was called to order at approximately 8:15 p.m. and Wulwyn Porte offered an opening prayer. FSLB Chairman, Anthony Fannoh reviewed the agenda

In the interest of time, since the meeting minutes of the last general meeting held on July 13, 1008 have already been posted on-line, highlights from the minutes were read and attendees were given an opportunity to ask questions. A motion was entertained, seconded and accepted that the minutes be accepted and entered into the FSLB archives.

Cornelius Pratt, Chairman of the Constitution and By-Laws Committee indicated that he would be unable to stay on the call for the duration and was given an opportunity to provide an update of his committee’s activities at that time. He indicated that the Board of Directors had reviewed the by-laws and made some extensive changes to the document.  The Steering committee will review the document and finalize it so it can be forwarded to the IRS if required as additional information for the 501(c) 3 application. Form 1023 has already been submitted to the IRS and our application would be assigned to a registered agent who will contact Alston Wolo with updates. He further reported that the constitution is part of the by-laws.

Next, Alston Wolo, FSLB Treasurer, presented the Financial Report from the Weekend of July 12^th.  For the weekend, we raised $8,982.69; our expenses were $4,500.89 leaving a net profit of $4,481.80.  T. Harris asked if we had achieved our financial goal and Alston explained that we did much better than the previous year and exceeded the expectations set forth in our budget for the 2008 convention. T. Harris expressed his pleasure with the results and the fact that we made progress, especially as it related to collecting fees from players before allowing them to participate.  A. Wolo also indicated that the third quarter is nearing an end and that the third quarter financial report would be prepared shortly and posted on the FSLB website as has been done with the others.

Anthony Fannoh then provided overall updates on FSLB’s achievements, which include but are not limited to those milestones highlighted on the handouts mailed and emailed to FSLB members and supporters. These include completing some of our short-term goals as the extensive overhaul and improvements to the website, filing the application for our non-profit status, providing structure, transparency and accountability to the organization; developing a project plan for 2008-2009, improving communication to all regarding our efforts (evidenced by the extensive mail and email communications sent recently thanking the members and supporters and updating them on our efforts);  providing training opportunities and opportunities for exposure to the players in Liberia such as Mohammed Jabateh who was given the opportunity to travel to South Africa to attend the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders Training Camp in September of this year and preparing press releases to inform the public of our endeavors. He explained that Isaac Yeah has been a great help to us with respect to circulating our press release – which when circulated to the various news media, will from time to time be tweaked a little and not published verbatim as we presented it. Fannoh informed the group that we have requested a photo of Jabateh and hard copies of the various articles for our files and to be posted on the site.  Fannoh also informed the group that the LBF thanked us for all of our efforts and recently informed us about a new league beginning in December and requested some help with referee uniforms and so forth. Fannoh would like to set up a committee to research the cost of some of these items so we can prepared to purchase and ship them to Liberia.

The members on the call expressed their pleasure with the accomplishments and T. Harris requested that we establish some hard timelines and work towards them. M. Itoka indicated that password protecting the website may not be allowed with our non-profit status. T. Massaquoi explained that, within FSLB, we have 3 categories of members – Full, Associate and Honorary and there may be ways to restrict access to certain types of members and viewers of the site, while still providing full access to its full members. This issue will be researched in more detail by the Website and By-laws committees.

Fannoh then introduced the heads of the subcommittees and asked them to provide updates.   Wulwyn, Chair of the Website committee indicated that the website initially had minimal content based on the level of activity however, in the last year, it has been greatly improved. He thanked those who contributed to the revamping of the site by providing content and suggestions regarding formatting. He indicated that he has also been working with the various committee heads to insure that appropriate information is on the site. He indicated that as we enhance our relationship with LBF, we will be getting more information from journalist and he requested assistance from those who have some expertise in website development.

T-Mom Massaquoi, Chair of the Convention committee indicated that according to the by-laws, the convention is to be held in July of each year. The purpose is two-fold: first, a business forum/working session to discuss issues relative to FSLB and hold elections; second, to conduct fundraising activities such as the games/tournament, parties, etc. The committee was appointed by the Steering Committee and moving forward, by the Executive council.  The plans are to start engaging members now so if people are interested in holding positions within the organization, we know their level of interest.

Edwin Fahnbulleh, Chair of the Ways and Means committee (formerly Chair of Ways, Means and Membership when they were one) updated the group on the status of the membership efforts. The database has been updated extensively and presently lies with eh FSLB secretary. A thank you letter was sent to all members and supporters of our events updating them on FSLB’s activities and plans and encouraging them to join. All dues paying members were sent their official membership cards.  Edwin further indicated that Ways and Means is a very viable committee within FSLB fully committed to its goals. The committee recently provided the Steering committee with an action plan for Membership and Ways and Means and is anxious to begin implementing same. A. Fannoh indicated that those ideas that came out of this committee were incorporated into the FSLB overall project plan along with the other items raised by the Steering Committee.

Alston Wolo, Chair of the Finance committee had given much of his report earlier, while presenting the financial report. He thanked all members for their contributions made thus far and encouraged everyone not to wait until the last minute to pay their dues and that there are provisions whereby individuals can make partial payments throughout the year. He also indicated that there are one or two leaders in the organization who have not paid their dues in full and urged them to do so immediately. A. Fannoh reiterated that if we are going to lead, we must set an example for others.

Volunteers were solicited for the various committees, including the new ones to be added – Communication, Publicity, and Election.  An assistant secretary will also be needed as the workload for the secretary is rather burdensome. M. Itoka volunteered for Membership; E. Hutchins for Convention; S. Koffa for Convention and E. Wilson offered to get back to us. He later volunteered to help with Membership.

The Chairman of the Board, Abue Williams thanked everyone for their participation thus far. The Board recognized that a critical point to move this organization forward was to complete the by-laws and this has now been done and the document forwarded to the Steering Committee. He thanked the board members for their hard work on the by-laws.  He further stated that there is a lot of work to be done and that we have all benefited at some level and have an opportunity now to express our gratitude. All of our services are needed. The Chair informed the group that the Board has received a copy of the project plan from the Steering Committee spelling out the tasks to be completed over the next year and indicated that the board intends to review it and see what we can do to begin implementing the plans. He reiterated that we will need the support of all those on the calls and that we would be calling on many individuals over the next few weeks to assist.

A question and answer/ open forum period followed:

M. Itoka suggested that we explore the possibility of getting people like Quinn Buckner who went to Liberia in the past to help increase the publicity and get LBF and Ministry of Youth and Sports

T. Harris offered to work with Wulwyn on the news portion of the website

T. Harris asked if we will get the constitution ratified at the next convention or whether it will be in force prior to that. The response was “Prior” as it will be ready and in place for the body.  T. Harris indicted that the body still needs to agree to it.

M. Itoka asked if it is possible to establish a direct deposit arrangement with the FSLB account for members to make their contributions on a regular basis.  It was agreed that A. Wolo would make a note of it and look into that option and T. Harris suggested that we would probably have to wait til we have the 501 (c) 3 status in place first.

T. Harris indicated that there are three Old Timer’s Teams all under one umbrella in Liberia and he reminded us that the President of the Old Timer’s Association in Liberia (Jake Kabokole) has extended an open invitation to FSLB to participate in a tournament against the Old Timer’s in Liberia and that they are awaiting a response from us. A. Fannoh requested that he send a formal invitation to FSLB, which will then be presented for consideration by the body. T. Harris offered to pass that information on.