Feb 4, 2025 | NCDCTA Board Meeting @ Jennifer Swanson's Farm

Attendees: Helen Ingersoll, Amy Brumbach, Heather Turner, Jordan McKenzie-Solis, Ali LaTorre, Charlotte Meli, Heather Boyer, Ellie Balakrishnan, Lisa Chisholm, Todd Erickson, Katherine Thornton, Mandi Martyn, Will Barrus, Jennifer Swanson 

President, Helen Ingersoll, called the meeting to order at 6:08

Strategic Planning with Jennifer Swanson:

• Jennifer started with highlighting that it’s important to integrate new team members

• Introductions and outlining good teamwork principles:

  • Katherine Thornton: eventing chair, new to board, important teamwork elements are communication and understanding others perspectives 

  • Jordan Solis: secretary, new to board, important teamwork principles are  collaboration and remembering your roots

  • Lisa Chisholm: communication chair, new to board, emphasizes recognizing each others skills and values while letting them use those skills within the group 

  • Ali LaTorre: dressage chair, 3rd year on board, values checking in on each other to make the team stronger 

  • Mandi Martyn: Jr/YR chair, 2nd year on the board, “what is your superpower?”, recognize others superpowers and weaknesses (kryptonite)

  • Heather Turner: treasurer, 4th year on the board, engagement of the people in the seats (care about each other and the members)

  • Ellie Balakrishnan: gala chair, 2nd year on the board, develop meaningful relationships (fosters communication and trust)

  • Charlotte Meli: member at large with focus on volunteers, 2nd year on the board, positivity is important for fostering positive relationships

  • Will Barrus: involved with BOD for the past 20 years, values engagement/investment of board with focus on communication 

  • Todd Erickson: competition chair, new to board, successful boards focus on the mission (don’t get sidetracked)

  • Heather Boyer: member at large with focus on sponsorship, 2nd year on the board, important to respect the group and each others perspectives, guide without judgement 

  • Amy Brumbach: VP, 3rd year on the board, key to success is engagement and participation, “show up when it matters”

  • Helen Ingersoll: president, uses her periphery (vision) to keep the group moving forward, focused on team charter last year and used it as an anchor/guiding principle

Todd read the NCDCTA team charter:

NCDCTA Board Team Charter:

• We the board of the NCDCTA hold the following values as guiding principles to carry out the mission of our organization.

• To educate, promote camaraderie and recognize achievement in dressage and eventing.

• Respect, Humility, Patience, Self Awareness, Supportiveness, Accountability, Listening, Generosity, and Helpfulness

• Communication that is: Clear, Flexible, Ongoing, Supportive, Constructive and Safe while celebrating brave efforts to question and disagree.

• Decision making that is shared. Roles that can be flexible and board members that are engaged, present, and share appreciation for and with one another, freely.

The current board elected not to make changes to the team charter at this time. 

Celebration of what’s been achieved over the past year!

• Tough decisions were made for the betterment of the NCDCTA and it’s membership

• Improved communication and ownership of roles within the organization 

• Competition decisions (even last minute) were made that aligned with the mission, charter, values, and budget 

• Adherence to zero based budgeting (specifically with the gala)

• Accomplishments in education with Functional Anatomy clinic with Jillian Kreinbring, instructors workshop, Festival, etc

• Gala was a success that ran smoothly and seamless with lots of awards, perfect venue, and attendance was excellent

• Development of HOY self reporting 

What has been learned?

• Quality of shows/events over quantity

• Can’t make everyone happy  

For this next year, build on the framework that already exists starting with a SWOT analysis based on the membership survey. 

2025 SWOT and NCDCTA Priorities 

• Communication with Lisa Chisholm: 

  • Priorities: newsletter reformat, more social media with subpages, website redesign

  • Social Media:

    • Goal is to keep the social media channels clear with rules around posting

      • The Facebook page is not for community posting, only for posting official NCDCTA information

    • It was noted that 2 Facebook pages exist (one is a page and one is a group); there was discussion around eliminating one and there was fear of losing members/followers. 

      • There is consideration for having 1 NCDCTA page with a separate eventing subpage 

    • Board members are encouraged to post regularly to show visibility and let members know what’s happening behind the scenes 

  • Newsletter: 

    • Planning to transition to an email style newsletter (that is inline with NCDCTA bylaws) that includes a link to a News page on the NCDCTA website for additional information and educational articles 

    • Helen is planning to appoint a communications cochair for the News page and emailed newsletter

    • Transitioning from a magazine style newsletter to an email newsletter will save $5400 per year (by not hiring newsletter staff)

  • Website:

    • Planning to redesign the NCDCTA website

    • Planning to maintain an up to date calendar of events and encourage organizers to submit their events to the calendar through the NCDCTA website: https://www.ncdcta.org/submit-your-event 

  • Webinars: tabled this for now due to concern for burnout

    • Lisa is happy to help develop once other priorities have been addressed

      • Plan to link with the festival and clinicians

      • Possibly includes continuing ed with USDF, recordings of prior educational events, classroom opportunities

      • Potential to create YouTube channel 

• Festival and Harvest Moon Schooling Show with Amy Brumbach: 

  • Festival is September 12-14, 2025 at Carolina Horse Park

  • Harvest Moon Schooling Show is September 14, 2025 at Carolina Horse Park

  • Clinicians pending (potentially JJ Tate, Richard Malgrim, Tik Maynard, Daniel Stewart) 

    • Planning for dressage, eventing, and education clinicians

    • Hoping to have clinicians secured by mid-march along with budget 

  • The Carolina Horse Park is looking forward to hosting 

  • Festival ticket prices will increase this year 

• L program with Ali LaTorre: 

  • November 22-23, 2025; February 28-March 1, 2026; May 16-17, 2026 at Averett University

  • Developed by the USDF Judges’ Committee, this educational training program teaches judges to evaluate the correct training of dressage horses.

  • Auditors can purchase one event or all 3 (discounted price for all 3)

  • Averett students will get a discount: $25 each to cover food

• NCDCTA Winter Solstice Dressage Championships:

  • December 12-14, 2025 at Carolina Horse Park

  • Will be a level 2 recognized show

• Shows:

  • Considering expanding to FENCE and Williamston for 2026

  • NCDCTA needs more show organizers that are in different locations

• Eventing growth with Katherine Thornton:

  • Priority is is encouraging and developing members

    • Planning cross references USEA to discover NCDCTA membership opportunities 

  • Reconsidering eventing championships that are currently based on War Horse Eventing Series 

  • Considering developing an eventing committee focus group

  • Planning to send communication about who Katherine is as eventing face for NCDCTA

  • Planning to submit quarterly FAQ emails

  • Plan for sharing of dressage and event volunteers

  • Planning to evaluate alternative eventing venues 

  • Considering creating eventing scholarships 

Reports:

• Presidents Report: Helen Ingersoll

  • ***

• Vice Presidents Report: Amy Brumbach

  • Working on the overall budget for the festival, plan for communication with budget outline and discussion points for the March meeting. 

  • Daniel Stewart is secured for the clinic, Ali is working with JJ Tate and Richard Malgrim. Ongoing discussions with eventing clinician, Tik Maynard. 

  • Ongoing discussions with Carolina Horse Park around budgeting and facility needs. 

  • Working with Todd to develop budget for the Harvest Moon Schooling Show. 

 

Membership Numbers:

Current membership numbers for 2/3/2025

At this time last year we had:

294 total members

174 total horses

Adult Amateur: 218

Jr/YR: 66

Open: 79

Total Members: 363 (23% increase over last year)

Paid Horses: 185

Volunteer Card Horses: 41

Total Horses: 226 (30% increase over last year)

Other member information of interest

New Members: 52

Renewing Members: 272

Reactivated Members: 39

Dressage Only: 202

Western Dressage: 43

Dressage & Eventing: 117

Eventing Only: 34

Breeding: 18

Lifetime Members: 6

Trainers: 25

Officials: 9

E-News ONLY: 45

Female: 345

Male: 17

Gender Unknown: 1

Other Horse Information of Interest

New Horses: 67

Renewing Horses: 138

Reactivated Horses: 21

Volunteer Card Information

Outstanding Volunteer Cards: 2747

• Treasurer Report: Heather Turner

  • 1099s were completed and filed electronically for 26 individuals/LLCs (paper copies were mailed to each person also)

  • Engagement letter in progress with our tax advisor for 2024 taxes; preparing final Quickbooks reporting for tax advisor

  • Working on insurance for L-program 

  • Account balances - 

    • TOTAL - $23,049.44

    • Checking - $16,287.16

    • Savings - $2,595.80

    • PayPal - $4,166.48

• Communications Report: Lisa Chisholm 

  • Social media:

    • Created an editorial calendar for scheduled posts, promotions, reminders

    • Planning to establish group/posting rules and socialize them to our members

    • Planning to establish clear guidelines for show promotions to ensure consistency and avoid providing unpaid advertising

  • Email

    • Planning to create an updated distribution list based on 2025 membership

  • NCDCTA Brand

    • Plan to have a creative discussion about a unified brand kit that we can use for all designs across documents, presentations, newsletter, email, social, website. 

  • Sponsorship packet

    • Began design pass & editing on sponsorship packet, final product will depend on brand ideas above

  • Newsletter

    • Next edition due 3/15, planning for email style newsletter as above 

• Competition Report: Todd Erickson

  • ***

• Eventing Report: Katherine Thornton

  • Organizing Eventing Committee 

    • Reaching out to a group for input/feedback then developing that group into an actual “committee” as per the job description and in order to provide for succession planning and ongoing leadership to the NC eventing community

  • Execute USEA Affiliate Membership (Partnership) and NC eventer mailing list sharing

  • Develop and share NCDCTA eventing-specific calendar and promulgate

    • Send out w “Got Eventing” sticker or fridge magnet

  • Work with USEA Area 2

    • Get Area 2 eventing championships at CHP

    • Identify scholarship opportunities, and clinic support

  • Work with CHP

    • Clarify what, exactly, we are asking for 

      • Yes, Nov “championships” at Nov War Horse

      • Yes or No re: the monthly overlap with War Horse…..

  • Begin process for “Organizer Standards” program based on USEA Organizer Committee work

  • Clarifications/Approval Required:

    • Medal Program (like dressage with different levels of achievement)

    • Eventing Championship

      • Hold Championship at Nov War Horse

      • Gather Points at May, Jun, July, Aug War Horse –

      • Mail 1-3 ribbons out, Points collected (by Katherine) from results

        • (less $ on ribbons)

      • Points accrued for 1-5 to qualify for Championship,

      • Only one result required to qualify

      • Post standings somewhere on the website as we go along (excel spreadsheet)

    • Jr/YR Volunteer program (same as Dressage)

      • Possibility for eventing Jr/YR chair 

    • Eventing Clinic –  in 2025, in coordination with Fall Festival

  • Upcoming Communications:

    • Introduction to Organizers - email

    • Introduction to NC eventers (Include FAQ) - email

    • Ongoing quarterly FAQ emails to stimulate membership

      • Explain USEA benefits (credit of $35 toward USEA membership as well as list the other benefits – access to discounts, etc)

      • Explain HOY self-reporting

• Dressage Report: Ali LaTorre 

  • Continued work on Festival planning and securing clinicians

  • Ongoing development of the L program.

    • Websit: https://www.eventcreate.com/e/lprogram

• Jr/Yr Report: Mandi Martyn

  • D4K clinic planning is in the works. Dates are April 12-13. Looking for a sponsor for lunches. Looking for 3-4 guest lectures, and would love to focus on local talent.

  • Developing email correspondence to all current Jr riders who have not yet registered a horse

  • Planning ahead for our Winter Solstice & NCDCTA championships. Reaching out to our same sponsor for the costume class, who communicated after the show that they would consider sponsoring it again this year.

  • Scholarship announcements for our two shows were on hold until we had the calendar finalized. Considering offering the same Jr/YR scholarships for our Harvest Moon schooling show or the festival to get younger riders involved

• Volunteer Report: Charlotte Meli

  • ***

• Sponsorship Report: Heather Boyer 

  • Defining 3 categories of sponsors.

    • 1) Monetary

    • 2) In-Kind Donation

    • 3) Vendor

  • Developing rough draft of the 2025 Sponsorship packet

    • Once packet is made, reach out to 2024 sponsors re: continuing in their specific roles given the new budget of tiers that are created

  • Connecting with multiple Equine professionals interested in sponsoring 

• Gala Report: Ellie Balakrishnan

  • Continuing to ship prizes out

  • Working on rebooking the Grandover for 2026 with a later date - January 24th, 2026

• Membership Secretary Report: Will Barrus

  • Volunteer cards were cataloged and members were advised of their active cards, still available for use.

  • 475 reminder emails were sent to inactive 2024 members.

  • Surge in membership and horse renewals. Ahead of 2023 & 2024 numbers.

  • Actively working on Horse of the Year using new self-reporting.

  • Preparing HOY Self-Reporting Email to 2020-2025 members.

 

The next meeting will be via Google Meet on March 4, 2025 

Helen adjourned the meeting at 9:01. 

Minutes respectfully submitted by Jordan McKenzie-Solis, Recording Secretary.

Minutes passed by majority Board vote.