Board member at large. They present Abuela's Pantry on Friday afternoons.

Erika Delgado Aceves was born in San Francisco to two Mexican immigrants who didn't meet far from BFF.fm's headquarters. Erika has lived a nurtured, creative life and has found safety within BFF.fm and the art community it has brought together. As a queer, first-gen, disabled creative with the privilege to have a platform, Erika has devoted a large portion of their life to sharing the mic.

They are a California College of the Arts alumni, a South San Francisco resident with SF Mission roots.

The BFF.fm board of directors guides the strategic direction and long-term sustainability of the station to advance our vision of building powerful community radio for San Francisco. The board’s leadership helps ensure that our mission, values, and our superpowers of positivity and inclusion are embodied in everything we do.

Next Meeting

The BFF.fm Board of Directors meets monthly on the second Tuesday of the Month. The next meeting will be on Feb. 11, 2025 at 6pm.

Google Meet:

Public attendance of our board meetings is welcomed. Upon joining, your microphone will be muted and we kindly ask that it remain so to avoid disruption. Each meeting includes a dedicated opportunity for “Public Comment”, during which you will be invited to contribute.

Executive Director. BFF.fm founder.

Amanda Guest is the founder and station manager of BFF.fm. She has been involved in college and community radio since 1994, becoming a DJ on WMWM 91.7fm as a freshman at Salem State University. Amanda launched BFF.fm in 2013 out of a love of indie music and community radio, and because she wanted to create a place where a whole new generation of post-collegiate music nerds could unite and geek-out over awesome new music.

After all these years and changes in how it's delivered — from terrestrial broadcast to online streaming — Amanda still believes in the power of community radio to play a positive role in our local music scene.

Amanda presents the BFF.fm Top 30 and Radioculars on BFF.fm.

The BFF.fm board of directors guides the strategic direction and long-term sustainability of the station to advance our vision of building powerful community radio for San Francisco. The board’s leadership helps ensure that our mission, values, and our superpowers of positivity and inclusion are embodied in everything we do.

The Secretary of the Board ensures all rules and bylaws are adhered to by the board during meetings and are reflected in the implementation of board decisions. The secretary is also in charge of all of record keeping and maintenance of any important documentation.

Responsibilities

Attending and recording all BFF.fm board meetings

• Creating and distributing meeting agendas prior to each board meeting, based on feedback from the President/Executive Director and Board Chair.

• Distributing key documentation to all board members

• Recording minutes at all board meetings

• Ensuring all documentation related to BFF.fm is safety stored and filed in a timely manner

Maintaining accountability of BFF.fm as an organization

• Ensuring all BFF.fm activities and items brought forward for voting are in compliance with the Best Frequencies, Inc. bylaws before proceeding

Being an ambassador of BFF.fm and advocating its mission to internal and external stakeholders

• Cultivating and soliciting individual gifts

• Contributing towards ongoing recruitment of board members

• Participating in an annual performance review of the President/Executive Director

Board treasurer. Hosts audiosyncrasies, Fridays 9-10 pm

I was born and raised in Los Angeles and spent time in college riding bikes and listening to music instead of studying, paving the way to becoming the person I am today. I have professional experience working with public transit agencies, non-profits and government agencies. For the past 8 years I have worked in the appraisal industry, where I have to keep track of market trends, capitalization rates, property tax laws and keep track of rental rates, expenses and construction costs in various spreadsheets and programs to determine the value of residential and commercial properties. Much like one of my favorite bands and genres (Pavement/slacker rock), I hope people describe me as laid back and relaxed but also know I have the chops to handle the responsibilities thrown my way.

Chair of Fundraising Committee

Clair McDevitt has spent most of the past 20 years living in San Francisco, where she has worked in communications and fundraising roles in the non-profit sector. Most recently, she was the communications manager for the Low Income investment Fund, where she wrote about all facets of community development with a focus on the interconnected housing and economic opportunity challenges facing the Bay Area.

Clair wrote her first letter to a radio station DJ in 1987 and has spent much of her free time since listening to the radio. She’s been a long-time listener to BFF.fm and a volunteer since December 2020, helping the station win its first-ever grant and providing other fundraising and sponsorship support. Clair hopes to use her time on the board to help support San Francisco’s music and culture scene and provide more opportunities for diverse voices to access community radio.

When not listening to the radio, Clair is a cyclist, avid SF Giants fan, and human to a very good dog.

Co-chair of the board, vice chair of the board. Marketing committee co-chair

The BFF.fm board of directors guides the strategic direction and long-term sustainability of the station to advance our vision of building powerful community radio for San Francisco. The board’s leadership helps ensure that our mission, values, and our superpowers of positivity and inclusion are embodied in everything we do.

The Treasurer of the Board is responsible for the accounting and banking for BFF.fm, while always thinking about how the organization’s finances connect with the overall mission.

Responsibilities

Attending and contributing to all BFF.fm board meetings

• Distributing key financial documentation to all board members, including Profit and Loss statements, and financial projections

  • Being prepared to explain all outstanding debts and bills at any time

• Maintaining a close working relationship with other key board members to provide financial documents upon request for purposes of grant writing, external communications, development of board agendas, and record keeping

Maintaining accountability for the BFF.fm’s financial state, and ensuring the organization’s financial solvency

• Managing cash flow and reconciling bank statements

  • Making recommendations based on financial trends within the organization such as payment schedules

• Conducting an annual audit and preparing the audit report

Being an ambassador of BFF.fm and advocating its mission to internal and external stakeholders

• Cultivating and soliciting individual gifts

• Contributing towards ongoing recruitment of board members

• Participating in an annual performance review of the President/Executive Director

Agenda

• Review Agenda & Vote

• Vote to approve previous minutes

Present: Eddie, Noel, Mai, Forrest, Will

Absent: Ben, Ian, Tom, Amanda

Convened at 7:35 PM

Forrest - Sustainer update, we are ahead on dollars but behind on people

Birthday lead in - pledge drive, etc.

Mai asked if we would accept donations in kind - Forrest isn’t opposed but how would we turn that into a benefit for the station. Mai - is there anything we can do to convert them if they decline? Will - can we get them to sign up to be a bestie? Mai - Maybe we set up a business bestie for $25 a month?

Forrest - other community radio gathers quite a bit in donations basically because they go out there and ask for it. Mai - we need to build relationships. Forrest - are there any small actions we can take to get there from here? Mai - we should write thank you notes Forrest - we have a volunteer who is doing that, is there anything else we can do to move forward?

Will - this might not be a good time to do strategy, but maybe we need to set up a committee structure?

MINUTES

Scribe: Ben Ward

Present:

• Amanda Guest

Discussion Topics

1. Board Nomination for Christa Hartsock

2. Nomination and Q/A process

Convene at 7:35 PM

Attending: Tom, Eddie, Amanda, Forrest, Mai, Noel

Absent: Ben, Will, Ian

Brief discussion of Video/Audio streaming of Pop’s live sessions. There is a back booth at Pop’s, we’d set up a staging area, with solo acts or duo/trios later on. It would be framed and contained by the booth. Eddie would help to set up a video feed, and we could stream the audio. Mai suggested Yours Truly events as a model for framing. Noel suggested Full Moon Sessions, and Red Cup. Tom suggested Tiny Desk Concerts. Amanda suggested the name “Back Booth Sessions”.

Amanda signed a partnership with Off the Grid, to book the stage at Ft Mason for First Fridays once a month. We have a three month agreement, to be reviewed for further periods. All of the audio tech support will be provided, we just need to book the band. Off the Grid pays BFF directly $250 to book the first event. The Event is 5PM to 10 PM, DJ 5-7, 1st Band 7-7:45, 2nd band 8-8:45. 8,000 people attend per week. Their main concern seems to be profanity. We may broadcast it, but the Wifi/Cell reception isn’t any good. Eddie may be able to get us internet access from the Interval.

Board Elections: Forrest nominates Mai for Vice Chair of the Board, Tom seconds. Passes unanimously. Forrest nominates Ian for Secretary, but he was not in attendance.

The BFF.fm board of directors guides the strategic direction and long-term sustainability of the station to advance our vision of building powerful community radio for San Francisco. The board’s leadership helps ensure that our mission, values, and our superpowers of positivity and inclusion are embodied in everything we do.

The Vice Chair of the Board shall, in the absence of the Chair, preside over any meetings of the BFF.fm board as needed and should familiarize themselves with the responsibilities of all BFF.fm board officers. The Vice Chair shall also be listed as the Vice President of the organization until such time that role is filled.

Responsibilities

In the event that the Chair is unable to perform their role, the Vice Chair assumes leadership of the BFF.fm board

• Setting priorities and creating agendas for board meetings

• Presiding over board meetings

• Ensuring the board has approved policies to help ensure sound and compliant governance and management of the organization

In the event that the Secretary is unable to perform their role, the Vice Chair assumed secretarial duties

• Creating and distributing meeting agendas, distributing key documentation to all board members, and recording minutes at all board meetings

• Ensuring all documentation related to BFF.fm is safety stored and filed in a timely manner

• Ensuring all BFF.fm activities and items brought forward for voting are in compliance with the Best Frequencies, Inc. bylaws before proceeding

Being an ambassador of BFF.fm and advocating its mission to internal and external stakeholders

• Cultivating and soliciting individual gifts

• Contributing towards ongoing recruitment of board members

• Participating in an annual performance review of the President/Executive Director

Agenda

Opening Items

• Review Agenda & Vote

Discussion Topics

1. Consideration for Board Treasurer: Irving Pham

2. Vote

Closing Items

• Open for public comment

• Any other business?

Minutes

Present:

• Amanda Guest, Chair, Executive Director

• Caryn Kesler, Vice Chair, Creative Director

• Clair McDevitt, Secretary, Chair of Fundraising Committee

Absent:

• Ben Ward, Technical Director

• Brandon Paski, Chair of Marketing Committee

Guest:

• Irving Pham

6:07 pm — Convene, Vote on Agenda

Approved

6:07 pm Discussion of Board Treasurer

Irving has lived in San Francisco for about 10 years, his background is in nonprofits and transit agencies. He works for the City and County of San Francisco and started as a BFF DJ in April.

Forrest, previous treasurer, is working on some tax items now. If confirmed, he will do an overview with Irving. Amanda will go through P&L process and budget review with Irving. Will figure out a schedule for P&L and ½ year budget review as well as tax filing.

Caryn: What are you hoping to get out of this?

Irving: I’m a little removed from things in the government sector, I’m excited to use my skillset to help this community that I want to be more a part of.

Amanda: Part of the board role is fundraising. What are your feelings about that and did you have any thoughts?

Irving:I have some fundraising experience with small events but not on an annual basis. I can speak from the heart about how much this has meant to me in the last few months. Genuine connection - springboard that excitement to fundraising.

6:33 pm Vote

Amanda nominate; Clair second. APPROVED.

6:35 pm — Public Comments

• No public comments this month.

6:36 pm — Any other business

• Submit availability for the board retreat to Clair this week.

6:37 pm — Meeting adjourned

The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for 6pm on SEPTEMBER, 15 2022. See for more information.

Agenda

Discussion Topics

1. BFF.fm Fundraising.

Minutes

Present:

• Amanda Guest, Chair, Executive Director

• Caryn Kesler, Vice Chair, Creative Director

• Irving Pham, Treasurer

• Clair McDevitt, Secretary, Chair of Fundraising Committee

Absent:

• Erika Delgado, Events Director

6:17 pm — Convene

6:07 pm— Current Issues

Amanda has expressed frustration with the current state of the station and her duties. Issues that have arisen as of late:

• Haven’t started any fundraising from the consultant.

• More volunteers, but more management of the volunteers

• Social media (amanda creates posts to vivian to post)

• Fielding a lot of tech help

What things are closest to the mission? What do we need to focus on?

Station is turning 10 years old, possible a good time to re-focus.

Community to help itself.

TECH HELP

Ways to document self-help. Shifts to cover the slack channel Additional training? Determine urgency for DJs with issues If tech sets it up, tech owns it.

DOOR HELP

Irving to make door video

MARKETING COMMITTEE

Spread the word on BFF.FM Listening Parties

FUNDRAISING

Asking each personal network for help, advice. Assist in creating an advisory board.

7:45pm — Meeting adjourned.

The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for 6pm on July 20, 2023. See for more information.

Action Items

• Slackbot for Tech Help?

• Assign ppl for slack help?

• Social Media - Calendar and process - Brandon

• Review docs from Sara - ALL

The BFF.fm board of directors guides the strategic direction and long-term sustainability of the station to advance our vision of building powerful community radio for San Francisco. The board’s leadership helps ensure that our mission, values, and our superpowers of positivity and inclusion are embodied in everything we do.

Responsibilities

Being the key ambassador of BFF.fm and advocating its mission to internal and external stakeholders

• Represent BFF.fm in all station-related matters, interacting with the DJ population, the local community, media representatives, government officials, and foundation representatives on behalf of the station

• Cultivating and soliciting major foundation grants and individual gifts

• Assuring ongoing recruitment, development, and contributions of board members

Leadership of BFF.fm

• Supervise, manage, coordinate, direct and provide oversight of the activities and duties of volunteer staff

• Curate and maintain programming schedule, working with volunteer staff in production of programming and development of new programs

• Lead the creation of the annual budget and regularly monitor expenditures to ensure fiscal responsibility

Partnership with Board Chair, working with them to

• Lead the development and refinement of impact metrics

• Assess the performance of the board and its committees

• Ensure the board’s directives, policies, and resolutions are carried out

BFF.fm Board Meeting

November 16 2023, San Francisco

Agenda

• Review Agenda & Vote -Approved

Agenda Items & background links

• Jack London

• MUSH

Convened at 7:36 PM

In Attendance: Amanda Guest, Forrest Guest, Noel Von Joo, Tom Tierney, Eddie Codel

Absent: Ben Russo, Mai Le

Tom: In contact with the founder of Pandora, who declined to be involved with the board, but was interested in supporting BFF.fm.

Forrest: We had discussed having an open house, he’d be a clear fit for an event like that.

Amanda: We’d be excited to have him involved.

Tom wasn’t sure what the mission statement of BFF was. Amanda wanted to go over it. She was in a college radio program, the interest started as being a DJ, but moved to supporting the community. Involved with Mutiny Radio and got exposed to running the station, and realized she could run her own station. Forrest and Amanda went to a party at the Secret Alley and looked into renting the office for work. Noel encouraged Amanda to run the radio station instead of working there. Bought the equipment out of our own pockets and convinced some friends to start shows. Got some early press and grew the DJ list. The mission is focused on local bands and underground bands and sharing information about the community. Education or highlighting community like mission local and roll over easy. We want to champion the bay area music scene through the magic of online radio. Some ideas for the future would be doing more live events to showcase local bands, or showcase visiting musicians. One day, we’d like to do a festival. Also interested in BFF.tv for visual works.

Luke Spray is unable to attend, but we have some information to share. We also have some mockups for a website redesign. One of the DJs, Ben, is working with Creek to do the redesign.

Amanda presented Luke’s proposal for a 221 license - provides up to six single day use liquor licenses. These require property owner consent and sign off from local police district permit officers. The proposal is to have several pop up beer gardens, with beer provided by local beer makers. Luke would like to propose Maclaren park as one location, and other locations. He has a friendship with Alite designs, who could sell samples and provide the location. Noel suggested Stern Grove, but no one knew what the process was for getting approval. Luke has asked that we put together some locations for him to look into. Tom says that a thing that gets bars business is a bartender competition. Forrest suggested a hammock bar. Amanda suggested “Pop Up Pop’s,” where we make an imitation Pop’s somewhere. Tom can get us bookings at Pop’s anytime and Madrone on Sundays. Forrest suggested the Guac Off. Tom may be able to get liquor partnerships. Eddie: Chicken John does some events. Tom: Golden Gate Park on Sundays would be good. Tom: Alamo Square Park redesign grand opening would be a big deal. Amanda: Phono Del Sol does a beer garden that has a fence around it, which feels a little strange but people really enjoy it. Eddie: what about a Capp st festival? Noel: does the bike coalition do something?

Action Item: Forrest to create a google sheet to list ideas and rate them

• Locations (preferably public spaces)

• Partners (Alite, etc)

Other fundraising suggestions

-----

Amanda: in the past, we’ve asked for funds when we need them, rather than seasonally. It would be good to do two fundraisers this year, one in June and one at the end of the year. Last year we did a fundraiser at the end of the year for the new board and got about $3000. It would be good to have two big fundraisers and two smaller ones. The exact strategy is unclear. On an ongoing basis, we’ve been trying to get listeners to support the station with an ongoing donorship. Amanda would like to come up with a good strategy to entice people to do monthly donations. Maybe a good title, like founding members. Eddie: like patreon is a thing. Tom: a typical donator - why do they donate? Amanda: they really like a particular program or all of BFF. Tom: how do they know to donate? Amanda: there’s a big button on the site. Tom: what about an NPR style drive? Eddie: I’d prefer not to have that method. Amanda: when we were trying to raise funds, people like Burrito Justice would use their networks to bring people in. We also did a facebook fundraiser, which was successful. Tom: how many recurring members do we have? Amanda: we have a tool called commit change that costs $125 a month, and we are losing money on it. But it has some interesting information. Where they came from, like which website, email campaign, etc. It allows shows to run drives. It has cost us around $500 to use it, and we’ve had $1200 raised through it.

Tom: you have DJs paying to play, can we set a quota to have people sign up recurring donors or one time donors? Amanda: the biggest thing is that some people are invested, but some people consider their $50 a month to be the end of their commitment to the station. Eddie: putting a quota on someone could be a tough request. Amanda: to be honest, every DJ may not be a good business representative of BFF. Tom: As a bartender, I have some influence over what the patrons buy. As a DJ, you have influence over your listeners. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to use that relationship. Forrest: we have tens of listeners, probably not hundreds, which is still good for a community station. Noel: can we get more listeners? Amanda: I’d like to make it more of a possibility. We don’t have good tracking information. Eddie: I should check with Rusty to see if he has any good tools. Amanda: our website is really bad for SEO, and built with a bunch of other tools. We are working on improving that. That leads into the website redesign

Amanda: THis is a preliminary deck; Amanda met with the designer to refine of the ideas. Here’s the current site. The heavy rotation doesn’t really get used. The central area is a bunch of boxes, which is hard to keep updated and looks cluttered. The banner ads at the bottom don’t really ever get sold. The new site has a main content area, where one topic will be displayed each day. Also, we chart our top ten tracks each week, and that would be more interesting. Tom: where are the banner ads in the new design? Amanda: we can put them in the carousel, but we don’t have any way to measure how many clicks they get. Tom: I keep coming back to liquor companies, since I have a big relationship with them. They could be convinced to spend some money, possibly. Forrest: we don’t really have anyone who wants to sell. Tom: I would be interested, but I don’t know much about it.

Noel: how much would we need to raise before we could pay someone? That seems like it would be a good goal. Amanda: I’d like to start with the goal of having no DJ be required to pay dues, they would still be able to pay dues. Forrest: this would make it a little gentler to raise 40k in 2016, 70k in 2017, etc instead of jumping right to $120k. Amanda: I’d like to make sure we don’t set the goal too high.

Noel: Have we set up a pre-roll yet? Amanda: we have the ability to do that, but have not set that up. Tom: you’d only hear that once? Amanda: I’d like to have something set up so that a spot plays once every two hours, or between the shows. Tom: would that be underwriting only? Amanda: that’s an FCC thing, we can do whatever we want.

Action Item: Forrest to explore pre-empting the broadcast automatically for a brief spot

Tom: if we did an ad every 2 hours, what would that look like? Amanda: I wouldn’t want to do more than one per show, but that’s 10 per day. There is also the opportunity to do native advertising, but the DJs would need to figure that out. Today we have that ability, but it would offset dues. Noel: If a company actually wanted to advertise, they could just sign up for a show. Forrest: yeah, that’s basically what Make it Funky is. Amanda: From the start, I’ve tried to pick DJs who are already promoting themselves. Tom: would you suggest any DJs who would be interested in talking about advertising? Amanda: for the most part, DJs are more interested in the music, but some may be interested in advertising.

Noel: I’d be interested in discussing more listenership at the next meeting. Events are good for fundraising, but listeners seem more important long term. Amanda: one thing I’d like to do is take the studio and move it somewhere else, exposure is difficult at the secret alley. It would be cool to do a popup radio station somewhere.

Noel: we have a sign outside the building that has empty panels. The landlord agreed to allow us to change it, we just needed to rent a lift.

Action item: Noel to find out how much it costs to put a sign outside the building

Tom: Did BFF do an ad in the guardian? Pop’s would split it with you.

Action Item: Amanda to find out how much we should charge to share ads.

Action Item: Tom to look into business underwriting and full commercials to present a summary next month

Action Item: Mai and Amanda to meet on seasonal fundraising campaigns

Meeting Closed at 9:34 PM

Agenda

• Review Agenda & Vote

• Vote to approve previous minutes

Discussion Topics

1. Review notes from board retreat

   • Transition Working Group

   • New General Manager role

2. Financial review

Closing Items

• Any other business?

Minutes

Present:

• Amanda Guest, Chair, Executive Director

• Brandon Paski, Secretary

• Irving Pham, Treasurer

• Clair McDevitt, Chair of Fundraising Committee

Absent:

• Erika Delgado, Board Member at Large

6:02 pm — Convene, Vote on Agenda & Previous Minutes

Vote YES to approve the minutes.

Vote YES to adopt the proposed agenda.

6:11 pm— Discussion Topics

Board Meeting Agenda

Agenda Review: Amanda confirmed that everyone had reviewed the agenda. Christa needed a copy, which Amanda provided.

Previous Minutes Approval: The board approved the previous meeting minutes.

Board Retreat Review

Retreat Outcomes: Amanda summarized the board retreat, highlighting the decision to transition to a fully volunteer-led organization.

Executive Director Role: Amanda will remain the executive director on paper during her break, with a focus on transitioning day-to-day tasks to volunteers.

• Normally Vice Chair would become interim board chair, but we currently do not have anyone in that position

Volunteer Leadership: The board discussed creating redundancies and appointing co-chairs from outside the board to ensure continuity.

Transition Working Group: A group was formed to manage the transition of tasks, with Ben coordinating the first meeting.

Financial Overview

Listening Parties: Irving presented a financial overview of recent listening parties, noting a small financial loss for each event.

Profit and Loss Statement: Irving shared the station's financials, highlighting income sources and major expenses.

DJ Dues: The board discussed the current state of DJ dues and potential strategies for increasing contributions.

• Make dues mandatory, but still sliding scale, with NOTAFLOF.

Organizational Changes

General Manager Role: The board discussed the potential role of a general manager to act as a liaison between DJs and the board.

Board Composition: The board considered evolving from a working board to a governing board, focusing on strategy and fundraising.

Fundraising and Future Planning

Paid Staff Consideration: The board debated the long-term goal of hiring paid staff and the need for a fundraising strategy to support this.

Board Development: Clair suggested hiring professionals to assist with board development and fundraising strategies.

Communication and Engagement

External Communication: The board discussed the need to communicate Amanda's departure to the wider community and how to frame that message.

DJ Engagement: The importance of engaging DJs in fundraising and station activities was emphasized, with suggestions for training and support.

Action Items

Transition Working Group Meeting: Ben to finalize the meeting schedule.

Financial Document Sharing: Irving to share financial documents with the board.

Board Development Committee: To meet and discuss potential candidates for vice chair and interim board chair roles.

External Communication Draft: Kerri and Clair to collaborate on drafting a message for external stakeholders.

Next Steps

Monthly Board Meetings: The board voted to resume monthly meetings starting in January.

Board Chair Election: The board will consider appointing an interim board chair, with Ben offering to serve temporarily.

Closing Remarks

Amanda thanked everyone for their participation and support during this transitional period. The meeting concluded with a reminder of upcoming events and meetings.

8:00 pm — Meeting adjourned.

The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for Jan 2024. See for more information.

Action Items

• Return to Fundraising strategy (BOARD)

• Return to hiring staff discussion (BOARD)

• Determine new day for monthly board meeting (Clair/Board)

• Interim board chair and vice chair extraordinary meeting (BOARD)

AGENDA

Prior to the meeting, please add items for discussion here:

1. Review Agenda

2. Budget

3. Annual Report Presentation & Rewards

4. Fundraiser Postmortem

5. New Partnerships

MINUTES

Scribe: Ben Ward

Present:

• Amanda Guest, General Manager

• Ben Ward, Secretary, Technical Director

• Will Craven, President of the Board

• Tom Tierney

Guests:

• Forrest Guest, Treasurer

18:24 - Budget

• Books are balanced and the budget is published.

• 2019 goal was to get to a budget of $100,000. We met the goal! Made the goal on top of our largest one-of donation.

• Budget is primarily spent on people and programming.

• Discussed how Amanda’s salary should grow. She’s underpaid compared to this kind of position in a more established organization, but we also want to keep our people cost balanced without other expenses. Amanda’s annual review is in March. Considered an additional review later in the year.

19:08 - Annual Report Presentation & Awards

• Nick has been crunching the database to get interesting insights.

• Ben will look for some interesting listenership stats worth celebrating.

• We should start taking manual records of weekly/monthly stats, since we don’t have an automated method.

• Working on the physical awards — want to do something fun, don’t want to be wasteful.

Fundraiser Postmortem

• It went really well! We beat the target: Raised > $20,000

• 17 DJs made big contributions.

• Gala was a huge success.

• Some large donations straggling into 2020 (not counted yet, so a good new year bonus!)

New Partnerships

• Salesforce/Transbay Park — Want to do a concert series. Budget is TBD.

  • Tentative plan: First Fridays lunchtime; noon–1:30pm

  • Investigate larger series ala MUSH later in the year.

Other Business

• Motion to move Amanda’s future annual reviews (after this March) no later than December 15th each year (to align with budget revisions.) Passed.

ACTION ITEMS

• • Ben, Will, Tom

    • Plan Amanda’s annual review for March.

20:07 — Meeting adjourned.

Agenda

• Review Agenda & Vote

Agenda

• Review Agenda & Vote - Yes

• Vote to approve previous minutes - Yes

7:45

Convene as Best Frequencies, Inc. Board of Directors

7:45

Roll Call & Check-ins

Board Members Present: Amanda, Forrest, Eddie, Mai, Ian, Will, Tom

Board Members Absent: Noel, Ben

7:50

Updates on Projects

Newsletter- Will. Will tallied up stats - 598 now, up by about 100 over winter. Average open rate is 200 people, about 34.5%. High engagement. But lower 2.8% click through rate. Newsletter is about promoting events, but maybe we need to promote more music and programs themselves? Ability to plan a week ahead. Weekly charting - top five songs? We need a better tagline, like “I heard it on BFF.FM.” Zippy marketing copy. Maybe we mix in more shows to cross promote? More feature content? One-question poll on what to see in newsletter?

An emergency motion to create a relief fund as part of the upcoming Spring Fundraiser.

Amanda Guest:

In planning the spring fundraiser with Josef we began discussing the idea of setting up a disaster relief fund for artists and bands who are struggling.

The fund will be open to bands and artists who can demonstrate a loss of income due to venue closures.

1. The fund will only be available to bands and artists living in the Bay Area and who have either played a show in the past or have been featured on . (this gives us a pool of at least 5,000 artists!)

Agenda

• Review Agenda & Vote

Discussion Topics

1. Review Action Items

   • Update deck for Underwriting, New Deck for Major Donor Cultivation, Update General Operating Request for Support - Amanda and Clair

   • Annual Report- Note in calendar for Irving that says review 2023 budget, Amanda layout, Ben stats

Closing Items

• Open for public comment

• Any other business?

Minutes

Present:

• Amanda Guest, Chair, Executive Director

• Brandon Paski, Secretary, Chair of Marketing Committee

• Irving Pham, Treasurer

• Clair McDevitt, Chair of Fundraising Committee

Absent:

• Erika Delgado, Board Member at Large

• Caryn Kesler, Vice Chair, Creative Director

6:02 pm — Convene, Vote on Agenda & Previous Minutes

Vote YES to approve the minutes.

Vote YES to adopt the proposed agenda.

6:11 pm— Discussion Topics

First meeting with Agenda reformat to have main discussion on board items.

All action items this month are related to fundraising items we discussed at the retreat. Meeting Summary:

Drip Campaign and Messaging Strategy:

• Clair outlined a plan for a drip campaign involving three messages to introduce and expand BFF's underwriting partners program. The initial message would include an underwriting packet, with subsequent messages providing more in-depth information.

• The team agreed on the importance of a soft ask for donations in the first email to ensure engagement even if recipients don't read all three messages.

• Jill will not be developing content alone; the team will collaborate on this effort.

Fundraising and Corporate Giving:

• Clair shared thoughts on identifying corporations for corporate giving opportunities, potentially focusing on Q2 rather than Q1.

• The team discussed the need for expertise in corporate giving and the possibility of recruiting a volunteer with such experience.

Board Retreat Follow-Up:

• Brandon is working on summarizing the board retreat minutes and creating a one-pager due to the length of the transcript.

• Clair and Brandon discussed filling out the fundraising calendar based on the retreat discussions.

Action Items for Fundraising Calendar:

• Amanda and Clair will update decks for underwriting and create new major donor cultivation requests.

• Clair confirmed the scheduling of two donor outreach listening parties.

• Elle might join the board meeting in March to discuss board support for gala planning.

• Irving volunteered to draft a campaign to encourage one-time donors to consider becoming monthly donors.

Update deck for Underwriting, New Deck for Major Donor Cultivation, Update General Operating Request for Support - Amanda and Clair

Amanda has a wireframe on these decks. They will set up a meeting time to discuss and get the deck filled out and ready to go

Annual Report- Note in calendar for Irving that says review 2023 budget, Amanda layout,

Almost finished, 2023 budget is almost ready, back and forth on some stats, the whereabouts of and unknown. Jim is working on a google sheet. Items is marked as completed, so if there is something missing from that doc, Ben needs to ask Jim to add it. Once that is complete, Amanda will add to Annual Report.

Identify two listening parties stewardship/donor outreach, including giving Tuesday event

Clair has one in May and one for Giving Tuesday, Teddy is assisting these, no guest as of yet.

Invite Elle to Jan. Fundraising Committee meeting to start planning Gala

Elle was there! She will be joining the board meeting to give us a brief on our Gala planning and be more strategic on the event. For the Gala, thinking really early, who to you want to invite? Who to you want to be a donor, this can be their introduction. Ties into listening party event, comp them a ticket to May, and gives us another touch point for potential donors.

Create social graphics for donor and underwriter decks that can be used for other things throughout the year

Kerri has been helping put together all the social graphics for 2024. Bit of an Ad Hoc process with Amanda creating templates, Caryn for approval and Kerri for posting. Look to have a graphic designer on the marketing committee that can create flyers, social media, any other items. Larger skills in design planning, create a brand guide.

Town Hall by Jan 15 (for DJs/volunteers, not other donors). TY gift or certificate for top fundraisers. - Brandon

Push to Feb. - decide on date and responsibilities at Jan. board meeting Amanda, Irving and Brandon to meet and flush out the awards, how will this go, DJ nominations? Get a program together. Possibly around Valentine's Day.

Ask folks that gave a one time gift in last FY (under $250) to consider becoming Besties

Ask current Besties and DJs to increase monthly contribution by $5 or $10 - Irving will take this task on.

Target meeting with three new corporations

Start planning for hosted presentations at the three corps above, goal: engage employees in corporate giving -

Fundraising committee working on some of this, needs board support.

6:31 PM - FINANCE

Review of 2023 budget. In the green $3000 up, despite spending more than we did in 2022. Net income of $47K - Irving presented the 2023 budget review, highlighting a net income of $47,000 and lower expenses than budgeted.

- The 2024 budget was discussed, with adjustments made based on the previous year's actuals. The team anticipates additional expenses related to the LPFM project.

- The board unanimously ratified the 2024 budget

6:48 PM - BOARD DEVELOPMENT

Amanda will schedule goal setting meetings with each board member, how do your talents translate into our strategic initiatives.

• The team discussed potential board member attributes and roles, such as an entertainment attorney, art director, and HR professional.

• Kerri mentioned connections in the local music industry that could be potential board members or advisors.

6:59 PM - LPFM

• BFF's LPFM application received a perfect score, and the competing application from Austin Airwaves was withdrawn.

• Michael Brown is exploring options for the transmitter location, with San Francisco State University being a preferred choice.

• The team discussed potential costs and partnerships related to the LPFM project.

7:15 PM - KEXP Update

• Representatives from KEXP visited BFF and discussed their plans for the Bay Area, including a local music program and underwriting partnerships.

• The team considered potential benefits of a partnership with KEXP, such as shared exposure and development resources.

7:00 pm — Public Comments

None

7:30 pm - Other Business

- Committee chairs and secretaries will have a happy hour on January 30th, potentially at the alley.

- Amanda is developing a volunteer handbook and planning Charm School orientations for new DJs and volunteers.

- The team acknowledged the need to review upcoming action items, such as the "Will You Be My Bestie" Valentine's fundraiser.

7:41 pm — Meeting adjourned.

The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for 6pm on March 21 2024. See for more information.

Action Items

• Brandon to fill out with items from board retreat

• Brandon, Irving and Amanda to meet for Town Hall

• Calendar items - Valentine's Day Fundraiser check in

• Pick your ideal board members!

Agenda

• Review Agenda & Vote -Approved

• Vote to approve previous minutes -Approved

Discussion Topics

1. Board Development

   • Mark Pearson introduction and Q&A

   • Nomination and vote

   • BFF.fm Advisory Board

Closing Items

• Open for public comment

• Any other business?

Minutes

Present:

• Amanda Guest, Chair, Executive Director

• Brandon Paski, Secretary, Chair of Marketing Committee

• Irving Pham, Treasurer

• Clair McDevitt, Chair of Fundraising Committee

Absent:

• Erika Delgado, Board Member at Large

• Caryn Kesler, Vice Chair, Creative Director

• Kerri O’Malley, Chair of Content Marketing Subcommittee

6:02 pm — Convene, Vote on Agenda & Previous Minutes

Vote YES to approve the minutes.

Vote YES to adopt the proposed agenda.

6:11 pm— Discussion Topics

Key Discussions:

LPFM (Low Power FM) Update:

• Amanda updated the board on the LPFM construction permit granted on March 5th.

• Michael Brown, the LPFM engineer, joined the meeting to discuss the LPFM project.

• The current permit location on Mount San Bruno is not ideal due to its one-watt signal and high elevation.

• Alternative sites being considered include San Francisco State University (SFSU) and Park Merced.

KEXP's Presence in San Francisco:

• Amanda attended KEXP's launch event and shared observations.

• The event was well-attended by BFF DJs and community members.

• Concerns were raised about KEXP's messaging and the representation of the local music scene.

• KEXP has publicly identified BFF as a partner, which has led to additional press.

Advisory Board/Council:

• The board agreed to call the advisory entity "The Advisory Council."

• The Advisory Council will consist of individuals who can provide expertise and support on an as-needed basis.

• A less formal vetting process was suggested for Advisory Council members compared to the board.

• The board development committee will handle the vetting process, with a potential interview or "vibe check" for candidates.

Financial Update:

• Irving provided a financial summary, noting a healthy balance compared to the previous year.

• The station is in a stable financial position, with ongoing donations and grant funding.

Action Items:

• Fundraising calendar needs to be filled out for the upcoming quarters.

• Town Hall planning to be scheduled for June.

• Board development committee to meet and discuss potential board and Advisory Council members.

• Succession planning to be discussed further, possibly with insights from KEXP's recent experience.

Other Business:

• Clair shared a positive encounter with a local band that will be featured on BFF.

• Ben announced the impending arrival of his baby this summer, which was celebrated by the board.

Adjournment:

• The meeting was adjourned with appreciation for the extended time and contributions from all members.

8:41 pm — Meeting adjourned.

The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for 6pm on May 16 2024. See for more information.

Action Items

• Brandon to fill out with items from board retreat

• Brandon, Irving and Amanda to meet for Town Hall

• Calendar items

• Pick your ideal board members!

Agenda

• Review Agenda & Vote

• Vote to approve previous minutes

Discussion Topics

• Committee Updates

  • Events

  • Marketing

  • Fundraising

Closing Items

• Open for public comment

• Any other business?

  • Board.bff.fm needs updating- minutes have not been posted since March 2022, Irving needs to be added to board personnel

  • BFF.fm sponsor Narcan training

Minutes

Present:

• Amanda Guest, Chair, Executive Director

• Clair McDevitt, Secretary, Chair of Fundraising Committee

• Brandon Paski, Chair of Marketing Committee

• Ben Ward, Technical Director

Absent:

• Erika Delgado, Events Director

• Caryn Kesler, Vice Chair, Creative Director

• Irving Pham, Treasurer

6:07 pm — Convene, Vote on Agenda & Previous Minutes

Vote YES to approve the November minutes.

Vote YES to adopt the proposed agenda.

6:08 pm— Committee Updates

Events

• Moved monthly band showcase to The Knockout Room and it’s going great. Two shows so far, one in Feb. attendance is higher. Last show went so well that we were invited to a Friday in April.

• The Makeout Room night is now BFF.fm karaoke night.

• Kicked off another year at Casements

• Talking to Teddy about events at the Secret Alley that are more community-based, not so music focused.

Marketing

• Two solid committee meetings in a row, lots of good ideas.

• Content Day - gathering content from all DJs on Feb. 11. DIfferent stations for DJs to visit to answer a couple questions. Use that content as anchor to get more content out - lead in for newsletter, blog, etc. Committee members will be writing, filming and posting.

• Amanda: met with a new volunteer today - she is definitely interested in the marketing committee. Used to write for a music magazine, has a background in music journalism. She might be interested in helping us get connected to what DJs are doing in their communications. Possibly bring back DJ profiles.

Fundraising

• 2023 grants tracker:

• Still haven’t heard from Bill Graham Foundation grant. Amanda went to Bill Graham’s birthday party fundraiser and met some people involved with the foundation.

• Amanda: spending a lot of time on underwriting, Peter and I have had several meetings with FItness SF, possible commitment coming. Jill from Die Alone Radio is also interested in helping with underwriting, she’s doing lead generation then passing off to Peter. Amanda will work with Peter on proposal and closing.

Tech

• Last Tech Committee meeting had no attendees.

• Met with Public Media Apps on periodic check in, had banner size upgrades. Have more secure links for sharing for contests. They’re extending the voicemail feature to share video and audio.

• Donation/sponsorship support for open source software (Azurecast specifically, and more generally a plan for being good open source citizens).

  • Want to think more broadly about how we share money with causes we support.

Board Development

• Secretary position for 2023 - postponed to March 2023 meeting.

• SF Art Board Match event March 29- event requires sliding scale payment based on budget size. We should participate with at least three board members.

Music - no updates

Finance

• P&L sheet updated until end of year 2022:

• Amanda will work with Irving to prepare the annual report. (also needs analytics, app downloads, unique web visits, any interested detail about listenership)

• Ben: Can also pull YOY web increase, likely pretty flat. App is new, number of constantly active users is pretty low, highlight would be total downloads. Total number archive listened and estimate of unique listeners and total listening hours.

• Activated Double the Donation, works with GiveButter to prompt a matching gift. Will also search existing donations and prompt people to check for matches.

Strategic Plan

• Had a volunteer for stakeholder interviews, that person hasn’t been reliable, had wanted that portion of the task completed by the end of this month. Going to talk to Taproot about relisting the ad. Will follow up with Lydia to see if she’s still available to do them.

  • Clair will ask a friend and a networking group if anyone is interested in volunteering.

6:59 pm— Review Action Items

• Amanda and Brandon to meet about BFF.fm holiday party - party cancelled

• Clair will sked fundraising committee mtg with Amanda; conversation about separate fundraising advisory board; Parks Alliance and Al and music, etc.

  • Amanda will follow up with Taproot about assistance with fundraising advisory board development

  • Clair and Amanda will follow up with Al in January re: music in GGP.

7:30 — Public Comments

No public comment

7:31 - Other Business

• Board.bff.fm needs updating- minutes have not been posted since March 2022, Irving needs to be added to board personnel. Clair will update and check drafts folder for missing minutes.

• BFF.fm sponsor Narcan training

  • Board approves moving forward, Clair and volunteer Inger will reach out to DOPE Project then follow up with Amanda on next steps.

7:38 — Meeting adjourned.

The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for 6pm on March 16, 2023. See for more information.

Action Items

• Brandon reach out to NoisePop after festival is over re: 2023 partnership

• Clair sked fundraising committee meeting, review fundraising dashboard

  • Clair and Amanda will follow up with Al in January re: music in GGP.

• Amanda follow up with Bonnie at BGMF

Agenda

Opening Items

• Review Agenda & Vote [Ben]

• Vote to approve previous minutes [Ben]

Discussion Topics

Prior to the meeting, please add items for discussion here:

1. Committee Reports

2. Follow-up on anti-racism discussion; reflections, ideas (.)

3. Follow-up Amanda’s goals

4. BFF.fm mobile booth update...maybe?

Closing Items

• Open for public comment

• Any other business?

Minutes

Scribe: Ben Ward

Present:

• Erika Delgado, Events Director

• Amanda Guest, Chair, Executive Director

• Caryn Kesler, Creative Director

• Ben Ward

Absent:

• Tom Tierney, Vice Chair

18:07 – Convene, Vote on Agenda & Previous Minutes

18:11 – Committee Reports

Events

• Virtual Bestie Bash last night. +10 viewers over last time, +12 stayed for the entire time over last time. (30 attendees for the whole event, 40 at peak.)

• We like the Twitch chat, definitely good community activity.

• Erika: We should definitely write a script for next time

• We have bands lined up for future events; so we’d hope to run another event in September.

Tech

• Work in progress on the podcast network continues; lots of general website improvements are getting wrapped up in it — so that’s good. Hoping to deploy and start seeing visible changes very soon.

• We want to focus to have something visible appear in time for September 1st.

• Caryn and Amanda will have a meeting about marketing assets for it.

Fundraising

• We discussed doing a $7000 fundraising event for the 7th birthday; however, our target list doesn’t add up to that, and we’re struggling to make that add up given our past experience also probably won’t bring in the full potential amount.

• New listener acquisition — most people don’t listen. So we could consider trying to pull in new donors; but, that seems really hard in the present circumstances.

• We’re strategizing on other things we could do.

18:47 — Anti-racism discussion follow-up

• Amanda: That discussion wound up influencing my thinking about the longer-term strategy for the Podcast network; how do we make it reflective of our values and ambitions; encompassing everything we do. We want to see a collaborative model develop to help the network grow, and try to ensure that we get a more diverse group of people involved in the running of it as early as we can.

• We want to set up a process for people to apply to have their podcast on the network — similar to how people apply to become DJs. Then set up new podcasters with a mentor from the existing community of podcasters, to help people grow as podcasters and grow in the community.

• If this proves effective, would love to see this influence our DJ onboarding process too, since right now Amanda ends up doing all the training.

19:03 — Amanda Goals

• Amanda had an action item last month to restate her goals based on the station initiatives, from feedback from last month. Defer follow for next month.

19:07 — Mobile Booth at the Ferry Building

• Ferry Building has given us the go ahead for setting up an installation in the booth at the Ferry Building.

• We’d pitched doing it for a month, we have it for the rest of 2020, we re-evaluation in January. It’s free for this period, due to COVID. It’s official though; we’re signing a tenancy agreement.

• We’re still trying to figure out the actual programming ideas for the space — people doing their regular shows in the space? Can we broadcast the music out into the space? Can we collaborate with nearby tenants?

We’ll have a sense in about 10 days if this is definitely happening (legal docs to review, insurance cost still needs to be quoted.)

Could be part of our birthday announcement.

19:25 — 7th Birthday Fundraiser

• Covered as part of committee reports, above

19:26 — Meeting adjourned.

The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for 6pm on September 17th. See for more information.

Action Items

• Amanda

  • Carry over: Complete goals + put in context of initiatives

• Ben

Agenda

• Review Agenda & Vote

• Vote to approve previous minutes

Discussion Topics

1. Committee Updates

2. BFF.fm Podcast Network

3. Board Meeting Cadence

Closing Items

• Open for public comment

• Any other business?

Minutes

Present:

• Amanda Guest, Chair, Executive Director

• Caryn Kesler, Vice Chair, Creative Director

• Irving Pham, Treasurer

• Brandon Paski, Chair of Marketing Committee

Absent:

• Clair McDevitt, Secretary, Chair of Fundraising Committee

• Erika Delgado, Events Director

6:07 pm — Convene, Vote on Agenda & Previous Minutes

Vote YES to approve the minutes.

Vote YES to adopt the proposed agenda.

6:08 pm— Committee Updates

Events

Two items on events, 2nd listening party, just as magical as the first. Winning event, look into more.

. with businesses that are related to/involved with BFF.fm. Ending Sept 4th

Marketing

Lots of Blogs in the works, listening party on August 29. Outside Lands coverage media pass secured Focus is on 10th anniversary and parties surrounding, Live Remotes with Teddy, Gala.

Fundraising

Elle open to running the gala once again. It will go 8pm - 12am. Offer a VIP early bird session. Welcome drink w/ ppl. Adding entertainment. Fundraising ask on the hour. Presentation with video , wrap up, silent auction. At 10pm we will go into gala after dark. At midnight countdown to 10 years. Main bulk of fundraising will be 8pm-10pm. Sponsorship donation for food and beverage. Craft a NA drink, cider, la croix, Teddy has an in at Athletic Brewing. Brandon to reach out to JW Catering.

At Jake Mann listening party, one attendee had a conversation about hersh (?) Philanthropy. Working a possible connection with them.

How it works: People will create a portfolio of items that clients would be interested in donating to. Then the client decides what they want to fund.

Creates a need for a Case for support document.

Tech

Tech Committee meeting on July 19, new member, getting access. Quiet in regards to infrastructure, technical change with website per google. New stats reporting. Old buckets and new buckets are not quite matching. Data is there, just annoying. Internet connectivity issues seems to be persistent, Forrest is looking into it. Router has been rebooted, but still having missed connections. May be user error, may be service. Have not heard from Harry(?) and reports on analytics. Ben following up. Mini hack day July 30 at the secret ally for volunteer, opportunities to fix small things, get together, slackbot automation, any other projects.

Music

Finance

Need to do some sheet wrangling, but quick update: Since Oct of 2022, we’ve been in the XXX mark. Spike in March and April of 2023, but still hovering around $3000 a month. Some annual subscriptions come in June/July, but outlook good into the Fall. Need to customize categories we have not in the past. Kinful to givebutter seemed to even out with an underwriter.

Underwriting is going to be a focus for fundraising moving forward. If you or anyone you know, that’s interested in underwriting, let Amanda know.

Strategic Plan

6:28 pm— Review Action Items

• Vote to amend bylaws to make the board to 11 - DONE

• Irving- streamline Category Names in Transaction Log [Still workin’ :)]

• Brandon- move fundraising into GiveButter DONE

• Clair- Events worksheet dashboard ??

Podcast Network

Status of the podcast network, cadence of meetings is low, no new content, floated the idea of putting the podcast network on hold for the moment. Not getting rid, just a pause and moving how it is displayed on the website. Reason we started, was to have a podcast, but no room on the schedule. At a moment right now, where all podcasters also have a show on the stream. A bit redundant. In the strategic plan, podcast network came up a lot. We thought there would be a bigger flow of content. In 3 years, we’ve had one article come from the podcast network. Wasn’t the energy to keep the flow of content, and the content about the content going. Don’t have the resources to give to support the podcasts the way they want. Network not doing what it set out to do. We are moving to move the podcast network from main menus. Committee will communicate changes to the podcasters and then reevaluate. Amanda is looking for feedback from the committee, but winding it down seems like the right action to take. More detail to come on 7/21 on the tech side on what to do. De-emphasizing podcasts: if you search by talk genre, older podcasts come up, with new talk stream shows show up at the end. Ben and Amanda to discuss details.

Amanda shared links to show examples of tags and how podcasts are emphasized over live stream shows.

3 podcasts existed before bff.fm, so their main listeners are on other platforms. All podcasts launched after the network started are no longer active.

Caryn: is there an SEO advantage to have “podcast” on the main site?

Amanda: traffic to the page is low, so possibly negligible.

Ben: label podcasts just as “shows” and not strictly labeled as a podcast.

Easier to remove links and deal with what we have than do a full re-design of the network page.

Board Meeting Cadence

Item that came up in the last meeting, momentum was lost between sara’s training and the next board meeting. Clair’s suggestions, consider making board meetings monthly again. Even if it’s just during critical times. Bring in a board development consultant, to get the board to where we want and move BFF to the next level we want it to be at. Got a quote from Cathy Hoke (see board slack channel). Assess the board’s skills and see where we can improve, succession planning, and leadership transitions. How we make a healthy pass, and how do we all have a good time and get something out of participating on the board.

Suggested putting together a work plan: what works well, what can be improved, what new skills are we looking for, all bylaws and governance docs are adhered to, are we collaborating?, planning and resource development.

6-8 week process. $2200 budget.

Timing good right now, board members in flux, we are talking about changes in the station, people are interested in joining, we are maxed out on members, do we add more board members.

We are currently a working board, but is it most effective? Do we move to a advisory/governance board? Lots of questions arising about the best way to move forward.

The board has always improved. The way things are structured, it is a big ask of people, so is there a different/better way that is more sustainable.

No harm in changing the bylaws to add more board members. Currently at least 3 no more than 7. Not really a solid answer on what a good number is.

Ben: In agreement on having an odd number of members. 15 seems like a lot, are there 15 director ships or do they have two tech, two marketing, etc.

Amanda: proposal for 11-12 board members. Currently Caryn and Eddie started at the same time, so as an example, if they both left, how would we get replacements up to speed. More members might create a redundancy which would help fill the gaps.

Ben: avoid making up titles and make sure we have people focused. Do we need to bump the number up, to keep a flow of potential members?

Amanda: Yes, difficult to keep a pipeline of people for the board while waiting for members to resign, decline for re-election. 11 gives us some runway for now.

Ben: two use cases to increase the number, which feels like enough for this to be reasonable. Proposes we amend the bylaws to increase board capacity to 11.

Amanda seconds the proposal.

Amanda: thoughts on consultant? yes.

Amanda proposes to re-nominate Caryn for a 2nd term. Board votes unanimously to re-elect Caryn.

Fundraising

Is the board open to having a fundraising meeting? Taking an hour to workshop.

Jul 28, 2023 at 6pm tentative fundraising meeting.

7:21pm — Public Comments

7:33pm - Other Business

7:33pm — Meeting adjourned.

The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for 6pm on Sept 21, 2023. See for more information.

Action Items

• Update board.bff.fm. Update Caryn’s Term

• Confirm availability for Fundraising meeting July 27 - ALL

• Confirm board development consultant. - Amanda

Agenda

Prior to the meeting, please add items for discussion here:

1. Review Agenda & Vote [Ben]

2. Vote on previous minutes [Ben]

3. Board Nomination and Vote: Tom Tierney, term renewal

4. Board Nomination and Vote: Will Craven term renewal

5. Board Nomination: Eddie/Erika Delgado

6. Mid-fundraiser update

7. Open for public comment

8. Any other business?

Minutes

Scribe: Ben Ward

Present:

• Amanda Guest, Executive Director, General Manager

• Ben Ward, Secretary, Technical Director

• Tom Tierney, Vice Chair

Late:

• Will Craven, Chair

18:18 – Agenda & Minutes

18:19 - Board Nomination and Vote: Tom Tierney (term renewal)

Tom: Very enthused to remain on the board for another term. Calls out that he thinks he could be more effective and if we wanted to look for others in his place he’d understand.

We note that we have 3 open slots on the board, so no concern about taking up space, we can also always vote to expand the board if there’s a need, and we’ve just recently set new job descriptions to help make us all more effective.

• Amanda nominates.

• Ben seconds the nomination.

Tom’s second term expires June 1st 2023

18:27 - Board Nomination: Erika Delgado

Amanda nominates Erika to join the board. So many times we talk about BFF.fm and what we’re doing and Erika is regularly cited as a great example of what we are with her work on the Bestie Bashes.

“What they do is really at the heart of what BFF.fm is all about.”

Erika: I’ve been with BFF.fm since 2016. It’s a place I dedicate so much of my time to, I don’t regret dedicating so much time to. BFF.fm always gives back for that dedication. I want to keep doing that, and helping. BFF.fm is such a big part of what San Francisco is.

Tom: What’s your background?

Erika: Born and raised in San Francisco, from the Mission. Used to work in galleries in the city, music venues, have written about music since 2015.

Tom: What would you say is “the magic” you do?

Erika: I’m a wonderful person! I build relationships with musicians and people really well. This has

Ben: What would you like to learn by being on the board?

Erika: I want to learn what it is to be on a board! I want to be able to keep doing this at a higher level, to dedicate more substantial time to this thing. I’m living my truth, which is BFF.fm, aliens, and not going crazy.

Tom: I’m excited, you and Amanda already have a great working relationship and to have new perspective on the board. I will second.

Amanda: Also, the proposal here would be for Erika to take the role of Events Director, convene an events committee. We need to slightly work out what that means in this time of “no events”.

Erika: I have a lot of experience doing that, and of organizing people and managing the execution of events. Excited to run more events and achieve things I couldn’t do on my own. I already have people in mind who could join the committee and help out.

Called to vote: Amanda nominating, Tom seconds. All present in favour.

Welcome to board, Erika.

18:30 - Virtual Bestie Bash

We’re putting together a virtual streamed Bestie Bash event for the evening of May 27th.

We’re going to compile pre-recorded contributions from bands and stream it live. Will avoid technical problems of trying to stream live from many locations with bad internet.

We’re doing 6 bands, each will play 3 songs. We’re paying the bands. It will be short and sweet. Amanda and Erika will host via video interludes. We’ll also include contribution “commercials” from the artists who usually have tables at the bash.

Amanda previews the presentation for the videos.

Ben question: Is there a plan for the recorded performances? E.g. Releasing them standalone beyond the live stream, extracting the audio for playing on shows, will the performances be retained by the bands?

Amanda: Expectation is that band’s own their recordings since they’re producing them, we’ll ask permission for other uses, and look to extract MP3s so they can be played on shows.

19:03 - Spring Fundraiser Update

Half way through, we’re doing OK. We’re at 65% of our goal. Matching fund and off-air fundraiser both fell short of goals, but Facebook Giving Tuesday Now campaign came out ahead.

Targeted email campaign did well as people caught up — although the initial reaction was very slow, likely because people are a bit overwhelmed by all the fundraising attention in the world right now. We’re getting an unusual/higher amount of personal engagement to the donor emails after donations too. Seems like people have a little more time and desire to connect. It’s taking them longer to response, but the response has been good.

Our social media reach has been poor. We’re not seeing the impressions level on our posts that we were a few months ago, even the special posts (e.g. the jingles) aren’t getting as much engagement as we expected. Might also be a consequence of changing online/social behaviour under the crisis.

19:13 - Relief fund

We’ve got a few donations to the relief fund, but not much. We haven’t had that many applications either though. There’s a slight dilemma about whether/how to promote this to reach more people while having limited funding.

19:20 – Public comment

For any members of the public observing the meeting, an open session to hear comments.

• No public attendees this month.

19:20 – Any Other Business?

• Tom is working on video footage for a fundraising video for attracting underwriters.

• We worked again with Nanosoar to do a BFF.fm design for face masks.

• Amanda deferring goal setting and committee head meetings until June to keep time focused on fundraising.

19:30 - Board Nomination and Vote: Will Craven

Will joined the meeting mid-way through, so we pulled his agenda item to the end.

Will: Won’t be continuing for another term as doesn’t feel he has the time to commit to the board activities. Next month will be his final board meeting.

Action Items

• All

  • Share information about the fundraiser.

  • Promote the Bestie Bash.

19:37 — Meeting adjourned.

The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for 6pm on June 18th. See for more information.

Agenda

Opening Items

• Review Agenda & Vote [Ben]

• Vote to approve previous minutes [Ben]

Discussion Topics

Prior to the meeting, please add items for discussion here:

1. Committee Updates

   1. Events

   2. Tech

   3. Board Development Committee

Closing Items

• Open for public comment

• Any other business?

Minutes

Scribe: Ben Ward

Present:

• Amanda Guest, Chair, Executive Director

• Caryn Kesler, Creative Director

• Tom Tierney, Vice Chair

• Ben Ward

18:17 – Convene, Vote on Agenda & Previous Minutes

18:18 – Committee Reports

• Events

  • Slow month! Thinking about what to do for the fundraiser.

  • Considering putting on Zoom DJ nights that could be a basis for events to accompany the fundraising period.

18:34 – 2021 Proposed Budget

• 2020 in review:

  • Major loss in terms of grants: Invested money in, but didn’t get a single grant. We’ve discussed that a lot under the heading of the pandemic over the past months.

  • We had to dip into our emergency fund.

Next steps: Everyone should review the draft budget and consider it “pending”. There is some information still to gather relating to possibly Ferry Building costs, and effectiveness of fundraising income. We’ll look to ratify the budget right at the end of the year based on those costs.

19:13 – End of Year Fundraiser

Goal set at $25,000 by December 31

• Similar playbook to last year, starting behind the scenes ASAP for a December 1 (Giving Tuesday) launch of public campaign.

• Josef wasn’t particularly excited about the idea of doing a virtual gala...and neither am I due to the amount of work it will take! But, I have some ideas in motion, and depending on where we are money-wise by November 20 will make the call.

Each board member should name at least one person they will be soliciting for a donation. It could be a new person, or if there’s an existing donor with whom the board member has a good relationship, the goal should be upgrading the gift.

• Big emphasis on anything we can do up front to get closer to the goal before the fundraiser goes public in December is of import.

• The major note is that without the gala, we need to make up that major influx.

19:44 – Executive Performance Review

• We reviewed & approved Caryn and Tom’s report process; and resolved our understanding that the process will end with a discussion review with Amanda.

• Actions for completing the review report by the deadline:

  • Answers to the questions posed by the process will be gathered by December 15th.

20:32 — Meeting adjourned.

The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for 6pm on December 17th. See for more information.

BFF.fm Special Board Meeting

March 4th 2022, San Francisco

Agenda

• Review site visit

• Vote on pursuing next steps

Minutes

Scribe: Clair McDevitt

Present:

• Erika Delgado, Events Director

• Amanda Guest, Chair, Executive Director

• Caryn Kesler, Vice Chair, Creative Director

• Jenn Lemon,

Guest:

• Forrest Guest, Station Engineer

16:30 — Convene Site Visit at Westfield

At the invitation of the Westfield Center in San Francisco, we visited a space they’re offering as a temporary studio to BFF.fm.

17:15 — Convene Special Meeting

Jenn: would like to see opt-out clauses and other specifics of lease up front and uses that bring in revenue with vendors. This would require a bookkeeper to track vendors, would the activities cover the cost?

Amanda: anticipate subtenant would manage their own finances/transactions.

Jenn: would still need to track for tax purposes/compliance with nonprofit regulations. Dome for events and DJs would be a lucrative option.

Clair: would art/events be less to manage than retail?

Jenn: depends on uses, requires more research. Compliance more straightforward with subtenants.

Eddie: Thinking about activation, and appeal of all ages space that isn’t a bar.

Brandon: Agree with Eddie. Also see potential for back room for broadcasting/ storage and events space. See concerns about money and insurance. Will the novelty wear off?

Jenn: In long term, this could provide money for new space, station growth.

Amanda: This is a big space, not sure we could activate it all without subtenant. Less concerned about rotating events, they’re more straightforward.

Jenn: I’m onboard with the subtenant option as long as compliant. Will need bookkeeper.

Ben: Huge space, lots of storage potential. Less concerned with specific artistic ideas, we have lots of options. I feel like a big question is what is the effort to sustain over time? Who’s going to be in charge? Amanda, or committed volunteer group?

Amanda: Envision subtenant with some of the responsibility for access, opening space.

Ben: all the ideas are great, some we can figure out as we go along, I just want to make sure we have the minimum maintenance to keep this thing alive. Second thought is office and storage if we don’t have resources to fully open the space.

Jenn: Open date required. Amanda will follow up with Nick on requirements for number of hours space is open.

Caryn: I’m on board, questions about who is the user and successfully creating multi-use space. How would DJs use space?

Amanda: Thinking of this as publicly-facing outpost of the station “Visitor’s Center”. We have the opportunity to design a space that brings community in. We will ask DJs, based on current feedback of Ferry Building closing I think DJs want to stay in the Alley, thinking about how else we want to use space, not for regular shows.

Ben: Studio lounge, if DJ wants to do a show with several guests, have friends in for show, have option here to do something different from the Alley.

Caryn: want to make sure we aren’t making assumptions without asking people, DJs and potential subtenants.

Ben: Action item at this stage is to get feedback and assess potential tenants.

Jenn: better to pull together plan rather than try to get feedback on an ambiguous idea. Decide if we want it and then what to do with it.

Clair: The marketing and revenue options are great. Do we have the people to support? Current lease offer is 13 months, can we get two years instead? This would give us the time to set up and activate events.

Jenn: Retail landscape is bleak, Westfield is unlikely to get tenant.

Amanda: Sounds like Westfield is planning for future redevelopment. I think it’s good to try for a two year lease.

Jenn: with renewal option so we’re not month-to-month.

Ben: month-to-month arrangement not compatible with the lead time we need to plan events.

17:45 — Public Comments

Forrest: What doors are closing if we say no? The costs of being here are more variable than any of the studios - electricity, internet, housekeeping and insurance. The storage is good, limitations on bringing stuff into the mall, will take time to wire, set up, etc. If we do this, need plan in two to three years to raise money for refreshing the space.

Jenn: $700-$800 for outside signage, If we do this need to get BFF.fm trademarked.

Next steps: Nick would get Westfield approval, we would get lease to review.

In parallel, we would scope retail tenants, get detail on utilities costs.

18:00 — Vote

Unanimous vote yes to express intention to move forward with Westfield. Amanda Guest made the motion, Eddie Delgado seconded.

18:07 — Meeting adjourned.

The next meeting of the BFF.fm board is scheduled for 6pm on MARCH 17th 2022. See for more information.

Action Items

• Amanda to ask Nick if there’s a requirement for a number of hours the space has to be open

• Amanda to check with potential retail subtenants on interest

• Amanda follow up on utilities costs

• Amanda and Jenn follow up on trademark

June 27th 2019, San Francisco

AGENDA

Prior to the meeting, please add items for discussion here:

1. Review Agenda

2. Committee Updates

   1. Tech

   2. Content

   3. Others

3. Mush Report

4. Board Profiles

5. Fundraising/Summer Sustainer Update

6. Action Items for Next Month

MINUTES

Scribe: Ben Ward

Convene as Best Frequencies, Inc. Board of Directors

Present:

• Ben Ward

• Amanda Guest

• Tom Tierney

• Guest: Forrest Guest

19:15: Finances & Fundraising

• Reviewed annual finances w/ Forrest (treasurer.)

• Events are currently costs. Should we consider ways in the future to tie specific fundraising to events: e.g. dedicated fundraiser for Bestie Bash

• Or, would love for the event to be free (paid for somehow), with possibility of dedicating the events to raise for another cause.

Mush. “A financial suck”

• We’re half way through.

• Moving from Marina Lawn to Ferry Lawn.

• Ferry Lawn hosts successful movie night, will cross-promote.

• Bar breaking even; not significant income to BFF as hoped.

19:40. Post townhall thoughts.

• Lots of people want to be on committees

• Few people want to run committees

• Pretty dependent on Amanda to kick off each of these things.

• Throwin’ Bo’s

Summer Sustainer

• We’re not hitting the goal

• Short lead time, not many people participating

• New DJs are killing it!

• Still confident that if everyone participated we could hit the goal — every DJ needs < 1 bestie.

Board effectiveness

• Next time (without Will in absentia) we’ll try to nail down more specifically our roles, try and take an action item each month.

• Establish standard reporting for each member/committee.

Action Items

• Tom

  • Set up event sponsor meetings

  • Will follow up with accountants w/r/t/ treasurer position.

  • Help Rome set up underwriting efforts

—

20:38 — Meeting adjourned.

Agenda

Call to Order

Agenda

Opening Items

Agenda

• Review Agenda & Vote

• Vote to approve previous minutes

AGENDA

Prior to the meeting, please add items for discussion here:

1. Review Agenda [Ben]

Agenda

Opening Items

Agenda

Opening Items

Agenda

Opening Items