USFSS Board Meeting
February 6, 2025
Meeting called to order at 7:06pm CST by Dan Hanks.
Attendance: Lizzie Hill, Dan Hanks, Marie Ralff, Taylor Johannigman, Destinee Kiel, Emily Ferrans, Wendy Tarlow, Marie Ralff, Rachel Medina, Niina Baum, Anna Marmann, Dan Bocock, Kriya Dunlap.
Meeting Minutes: December 2024 meeting minutes: Motion to approve by Lizzie. Marie seconds. All in favor.
Treasurer Report: Marie provided the treasurer report. Currently USFSS has $8,018.81 in it’s checking account and $555.48 in PayPal. Niina makes a motion to approve. Emily seconds. All in favor.
Long Range Planning: Dan H brings up some long range planning ideas for USFSS. The challenge for USFSS is that it doesn’t have much revenue and the whole board is volunteer so it’s tough to be sustainable in our mission. Dan brings up the idea of having an executive director to be dedicated to USFSS tasks to help further the sport and the organization. In order to increase USFSS revenue to support an executive director USFSS would need to increase membership from 150 to 1,500. Discussion on other ideas for increasing revenue. Wendy brings up figuring out/defining what the value proposition of USFSS is. Taylor and Lizzie bring up that many mushers are more recreational and have no need or desire to get a USFSS membership. Dan brings up ideas for how USFSS selects world cup races.
WCh Race Committee Forming: USFSS will provide their executive committee, Dan B will decide who from WITB will be on it. Niina will add some key external people to the committee.
Continental Championships Survey: Lizzie took Wendy’s survey draft and put it into Google Forms and will share it with the board after the meeting for final review by Sunday before sending it to participants.
IFSS Council Update: IFSS lost their VP of Sport, that spot has been filled by the VP of Economy. The VP of Economy position is being worked on being filled. Anna is creating a Continental Committee that will include the presidents from US and Canadian federations.
USFSS Communication Method: In order to get discounted non-profit pricing for Slack and other programs USFSS needs to provide proof that we are legitimately the people with USFSS. Marie has gotten documents from Janet to work on this.
Italy: IFSS made a vote to ask member federations to vote on if the Italian federation should still be a part of IFSS.
WCh Update: Lizzie stated that the designer with North American Canicross is going to design swag for WCh. Lizzie is working on updating the team USA application. Niina provided an update in regards to sponsorships, grants, and key dates. Niina applied for a sponsorship with Purina.
Member Letter: USFSS member Mandy Collins submitted a letter bringing up concerns with comments board member Niina Baum personally made on social media. The letter expressed concern about conflict of interest toward Mandy Collins by Niina Baum based on the personal comments made. USFSS board reiterates the importance of recusing oneself in instances where there is a conflict of interest. Wendy will work on creating a code of ethics document for USFSS.
Sponsorship Letter: Dan Hanks suggests that we add the email list item to the $1,000 level as well. The Destinee makes a motion to approve the sponsorship letter. Lizzie Seconds. All in favor.
Motion to adjourn by Kira, second by Lizzie. All in favor. Adjourned at 8:26pm CST.
USFSS 