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EAST TEXAS PFLAG MINUTES

Monday, January 12, 2009


The meeting was called to order at 7:20 p.m. by our president, Brad. We met at the Tyler Unity Center with seven in attendance.

Lou Anne read the minutes from our last meeting, and gave our current balance of $1,287.63.

501(c)3

Lou Anne recently learned our chapter never filed the needed paperwork to qualify as a non-profit organization despite our belief it was done years ago. She requested and received the necessary paperwork from our national office. Brad signed the papers Saturday afternoon and they went in the mail today.

She was assured that the donations given to East Texas PFLAG would still count as tax deductible because the income for our organization is less than $5,000. We simply need to file a Form 1023.

The Articles of Incorporation are all that is now needed to comply with the paperwork needed for an official 501(c)3 status. These must be filed with the state. Brad said he would complete the form "on-line." It requires a check of $25 to accompany the form.

Because a 501(c)3 EIN number would be most helpful in paying for our upcoming Valentine Dinner/Banquet on February 12 at the Holiday Inn, and because it is uncertain we will receive that number in time, Brad will ask National and/or the Dallas PFLAG if we could use their number. The dinner/banquet has been planned by Project TAG (Tyler Area Gays) who is in the process of forming a non-profit organization and does not yet have an EIN number.

Project TAG/East Texas PFLAG February 12 Valentine Banquet/Dance

Gene distributed tickets to the February Valentine Dance/Banquet to those wanting to sell them to friends. All the tickets he brought with him were quickly gone. Everyone is quite excited about this opportunity for gays and their allies in East Texas.

Troy explained that he has set up a PayPal account for those wanting to purchase tickets on-line. They can go to his website at www.tridd.com

Public Service Announcements

Sans introduced the need to reach the public with news about our Valentine Dance and mentioned several options along this line including the use of 30-second PSA's to send to the radio stations. He explained that although radio stations are required to broadcast PSA's (Public Service Announcements) they have the freedom to pick and choose which ones to broadcast. If several were first purchased, then the station would be more likely to run some free of charge.

Many straight allies have friends and/or relatives who are gay and might pay for one or two announcements. Tom spoke up and offered to pay for two. Sans also pointed out that the cost of a 60-second PSA is about the same price as a 30-second PSA. He suggested we purchase five spots and ask the station to broadcast just as many free PSA's. We then talked about PSA's for PFLAG as well as for the banquet/dance.

Straight Allies

Names of possible "straight allies" were mentioned along with a brochure called "Straight for Equality" that can be obtained from our national organization. It was the consensus of the group that we order some of these brochures to share with straight friends.

Lobby Day

Troy urged us to participate in the upcoming March 2 Lobby Day in Austin sponsored by Equality Texas. He explained that he and Lou Anne were two from our area who had attended a previous Lobby Day and praised Equality Texas for the excellent planning, materials and instructions they made available to participants.

Suddenlink

Troy also urged us to contact Suddenlink to request they carry the "Logo" and "Here" channels. There is a link at www.tridd.com to help you reach Suddenlink with this request.

Adjournment

Troy moved at 8:10 p.m. that we adjourn. Nathan seconded. All were in agreement.