The first official meeting of The Brahman Foundation was held October 29, 2015 at the J.D. Hudgins office in Hungerford, Texas. Present were Carlos X. Guerra, Richard Forgason, Bubba Sartwelle, Chris Shivers, Cassie Saunders, Mike England and Rachel Cutrer.
Carlos X. Guerra called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. followed by a welcome by Richard Forgason of J.D. Hudgins and opening prayer by Bubba Sartwelle.
Item 3: Selection of Board
The first discussion was to establish a founding board of directors. The five donors who donated heifers to the inaugural foundation raffle were asked to be members of the board.
Those were:
Cassie Saunders (representing the Bar W Ranch),
Alfredo Alejandro Muskus, (representing Santa Elena Ranch),
Stuart Watkins (representing Watkins Cattle Company),
Mike England (representing the England / La Muneca donation),
Lana Forgason representing Forgason Cattle Co.
Rachel Cutrer (representing V8 Ranch)
Chris Shivers, executive VP of the Brahman Association
Bubba Sartwelle, president of ABBA and
Carlos X. Guerra – Founder
We discussed having two outside members but decided to keep the board at 9 members at this time.
Mike England moved the acceptance of the board, seconded by Rachel Cutrer. Motion passed unanimously.
Item 4: Election of Officers
Election of offers and responsibilities of officers were discussed.
The following nominations were presented:
Carlos X. Guerra – President
Mike England – Vice President
Rachel Cutrer – Secretary / Treasurer
These officers were elected unanimously.
Everyone also agreed that there should be a term limitation of 6 to 9 years for a board member.
There was a recommendation to visit with an outside consultant, David Waggoner, who is highly recommended for his work with the 4-H Foundation.
Each member shared a comment of their excitement of being involved in the organization.
“This is a unique opportunity to band together and do something for the good of ABBA that can have long lasting effects. ABBA is 91 years old this year and this type effort is something that will make us be around for another 91 years.” Bubba Sartwelle
Item 5: Naming the Foundation
Discussion occurred regarding the role of the foundation and ABBA’s affiliation. Are we a foundation that is separate and apart from ABBA? Currently Bubba and Chris are operating as “individuals” and not on official designation of ABBA. We discussed how the Angus Foundation is set up.
Discussion occurred on whether the name should be “American Brahman Foundation” or just “Brahman Foundation”.
Discussion occurred on if ABBA has the rights to the name American Brahman to be used in a name and if they would have to approve our use of the name by the secretary of state when our application was submitted.
Rachel moved to have the official name be “The Brahman Foundation”, seconded by Cassie, approved unanimously.
Filing for 501C3 status
It was discussed we would ask the consultant about helping us with that.
Item 6. Mission Statement
Discussion of should it be specific or more broad?
Discussion of who owns the foundation and how funds will be distributed.
Lengthy discussion on how affiliated, if at all, is it going to be affiliated with ABBA?
It was agreed that because we are not a 501C3 yet, we need to make sure the money currently is distributed through AJBA so the donors get a tax deduction.
Chris stated that for right now, distributing the funds through AJBA is fine. Once this organization is established, it needs their own bank account. Currently AJBA is a 501C5 organization but we need to confirm what our official designation is since we are an agricultural non profit. AJBA does not pay taxes so putting the funds in their account for the interim will not have an affect on their taxes.
Bubba and Chris expressed that there is a clear affiliation with ABBA. Chris thinks long term, to maintain continuity – as it grows – the foundation is a task on someone – an accountant, etc. We need to think who is going to maintain the finances? Who is going to write the checks? Who is the safe keeper? Where is the money going? The donors want accountability. Who’s going to contact the CPA? Who’s going to go over the tax filings on a yearly basis? Today – the foundation is not set up with the necessary paperwork to do any of this. Today, ABBA has the power to do this.
Carlos X. Guerra stated that the goal of the foundation is not trying to replace anyone’s current responsibilities or fundraising. We are going to add our efforts to present AJBA and ABBA efforts in an effort to grow the breed.
Rachel stated that if we designate ourselves as an affiliate of the ABBA, we can still be supporting ABBA programs while maintaining our own board and budget, just like how other groups like TBA are affiliates of ABBA.
It was agreed that The Brahman Foundation would be a stand alone organization, working to help the ABBA and Brahman programs but that the funds would be under the discretion of the foundation board and not ABBA. But our goal is to have as strong as a relationship with ABBA as we can.
After this discussion the official mission statement was approved:
The Brahman Foundation, an affiliate of the ABBA, was established as a non-profit 501(C)3 organization dedicated to the future of the American Brahman breed and the support and development of programs involving youth, education, leadership, scholarships, showmanship, carcass merit and breed research.
The motion made by Mike England, second by Richard Forgason. Passed unanimously.
Item 7. Raffle Details
Promotion of the Raffle – Brochures have been distributed at the National Show. We have an ad in the November Brahman Journal donated by them. Most all donors have submitted their information. From now until the sale, most of the promotion will be on Facebook and email blasts.
We want all donors to help promote the lots on their personal page and also the business page.
Regarding the face book page, we will make everyone who is on the board as an administrator on the page, that way they can make updates if needed.
Gift Cards – We need to know if we can get gift cards? The foundation cannot award a “cash prize” due to the restrictions. Chris is going to look into it. Cassie’s husband, a CPA – is also advising us on this.
We would like to purchase two $5,000 gift cards ($10,000) total to help attract buyers. Moved by Mike England, second by Richard Forgason, approved unanimously.
Collection of Money – Depository
Rachel will make the invoices and send to buyers with instructions to make checks payable to AJBA and returned to ABBA office that way there is a checks and balance system.
At the time of the drawing- only those who have paid for their ticket will be in the draw.
TIME AND PLACE OF DRAWING – During Houston Livestock Show, drawn by Megan Lambert. She will draw them out during the show. The winners will be notified. Each person has 24 hours to decide what they choose.
Mechanics of Drawing for Bidding – We will get the list of all bidders from Cattle in Motion. Then put all of those on pieces of paper and Megan will draw them out. Rachel and Chris will work on that.
There are some people that just don’t want to sign up online. They want to call. Or they want to just verbally agree and be billed. Like people who say “I don’t want to sign up will you place my bid for me”
If people want to bid absentee we need them to give a valid email address. Anyone who takes an absentee bid, that person will keep track of their own bids and turn them in to Rachel so she can bill them.
There will be no actual raffle ticket – Its all through CIM.
Item 8. Future Fun and Breed Awareness Events
Discussed a few ideas but nothing official decided.
Item 9. Future Fund Raisers
What can we do to recognize the people who gave us money for this raffle. How are we going to thank them? Do we want a gift?
Cassie is going to put together some ideas of how to recognize donors and bidders / buyers.
If our big fundraiser works as good as we think it will, we won’t need to have many other fundraisers trough out the year. We may want to have future online sales with semen or have other fundraising events. We should plan to have this major fund raiser annually. Paul Canik has already donated a heifer for next year.
We want to recognize our sponsors as often and as much as possible.
Item 10. Leadership camps and educational field days.
We definitely want to have leadership camps and education. One idea to start off with is to hold events for Brahman juniors but open to the public at some of our ranches and Ag Universities like A&M, LSU and others in the SE . Chairman Guerra aponted Leadership Events committee made up of Stuart Watkins – Chairman, Jason Smith, Alfredo Muskus and Mark Jolly to get details on how to put this together.
Item 11-14. All American Scholarships and Premiums
All original heifer donors were promised that they would have a named scholarship – in their family’s name – given at the All American each year from now on.
These would be:
Lanier Forgason Family Memorial Scholarship
Arnold Saunders Scholarship
Watkins Cattle Company Scholarship
England / La Muneca (They are deciding official name)
Vicente Lecuna Scholarship (Santa Elena Ranch)
Chris Shivers presented a report on the awards, premiums and scholarships given at the All American in comparison from 2000 to 2010 and 2015. Carlos Guerra asked what areas he felt could improve. Chris said he felt the premiums were good but if he had to pinpoint one area it would be in the area of scholarships.
Showmanship / Better Beef Contest / All Around / Leadership Seminar / Scholarships and a raffle for all kids are the areas we would like to focus on promoting our funds.
One idea is a drawing at the end of the show where every kid is eligible for a drawing for a cash prize. The kids would be gathered into one group at end of show where our leaders could share some thoughts with them and then have the drawings like is done at the SS Super Bowl where 5 to 10 g’s are awarded $250 per winner with the winners having to be present to win and the major premium winners at show being excluded in an effort to support more juniors.
Is there time on the All American agenda to bring in a motivational speaker for the entire group? Chris says we can find time.
Item 15. Research and Development for breed growth
At this time we do not have any projects to fund
IDEA: to have a Brahman tour – in a van – where you go around to places as a group to tour different places. To see what the industry is doing.
IDEA: Have a Beef 706 for youth. We want to try and have events where we can help as many of our juniors as possible.
Item 17. Potential Tax Benefits for Donors
Some donors have asked can they get some free tickets for a chance to win since they donated the heifer and that way they could have a chance to get something on their return. We decided not to offer the free tickets to the donors.
Item 18. A By-Laws Committee
was appointed by Carlos X. Guerra with Bubba Sartwelle – Chairman, Chris Shivers, Carlos X. Guerra, Mike England and Rachel Cutrer. We are to contact David Waggoner for his assistance.
Item 20 – Wrap Up and Goal Setting
Each person went around the room and made a comment.
“I’m excited about how this got started, and to be a part of it,” said Cassie Saunders. “We did a lot of good things today.”
“We are off to a positive start, going in the right direction, and in the end the Brahman breed wins!” Chris Shivers
“Thrilled to be a part of this,” Richard Forgason. “We really appreciate Carlos initiating this and getting it going.” “Kids need help now days. Agriculture needs the help.”
Carlos commented that a lot of our business will be conducted via email and when emails go out, even if you can’t write back a lot, at least write back that you got it. On behalf of the Brahman Foundation, he thanked Dr. Forgason for hosting the meeting and encouraged everyone to sell as many raffle tickets as possible. It was decided then that our next meeting would be held at the same location once we had our by-laws ready to be approved.
The meeting was adjourned at noon. Everyone thanked each other for all of their dedication and that they are excited to be part of this.
We convened after lunch for interviews for a video being produced by RHD to promote the upcoming Brahman Foundation Raffle and The Brahman Foundation.