What we're asking the board to set

Board, reserves & what December approves

Three governance items that have been waiting for a meeting, and a clear handoff to December so Saturday does not have to resolve everything.

Board expansion

The June target was six or seven directors. We are at five. Two names are already in play, and neither has an owner driving the conversation.

Candidate	What they bring	Recruiting owner
Teresa	A young mountain person of colour — lived experience the current board does not have, and closer in age to the women we fund than anyone at the table.	Unassigned
The Women of Mountaineering cover subject	Bought 50 calendars at retail for her own community. Already behaving like a donor and an organizer. Sunny to explore board or donor involvement next month.	Unassigned

The skills question before the names question. Adding two friendly people is not the same as building a board. Against our 2027 exposure the gaps I would name are finance and audit, major-gift fundraising, and distribution or retail for the product lines. Worth ten minutes on Saturday agreeing the gaps, then testing the candidates against them rather than the other way round.

Reserves policy

This became urgent for a good reason: $60k from TW and $25k from Ashley Ryden are both one-time and unrestricted. Money like that either becomes a cushion by decision, or becomes operating budget by default.

Recommended shape Direction for December

A board-designated operating reserve of three months of operating expense, roughly $45k, funded from the current unrestricted surplus, held separately and drawn only by board vote. Reviewed annually alongside the budget.

Funds from existing unrestricted surplusDrawn only by board voteLanguage approved December

Three months is the common floor for an organization our size with lumpy, event-driven revenue. An argument for six months is reasonable given how concentrated our funding is — that is a board call, and the reason this is on the agenda as direction rather than as a drafted policy.

The four carried-over votes

Restated here so they are not lost between chapters. Each was assigned to this meeting by the June tracker.

Vote

Adopt the vision statement. A v-next was due for September approval; I will confirm the draft's status before Saturday.

Vote

Adopt the brand identity. The mark is in public use across three properties without a formal adoption behind it.

Vote

Shadow ED salary. Documents market-rate compensation as a governance record. It changes no payment, and it changes how honestly the budget reads.

Vote

Close the ED evaluation and issue forward expectations. Executive session.

What December approves

Saturday sets direction. December is the meeting with formal adoptions on it, which is what keeps this one from having to be exhaustive.

December agenda item	What Saturday needs to produce for it
2027 cash budget	Agreed revenue ambition and the protected priorities from Chapter 5
2027 goals, formally adopted	The board's edits to the draft goals table
Reserves policy language	Direction on size and on what triggers a draw
2027 board calendar	The H2 2027 dates Alison was to circulate
Year-end campaign result	Nothing — but the campaign has to have run, which means Saturday commits to it

Closing The thing I would most like the board to take away

The scorecard in Chapter 1 shows a clean pattern: program work moves on its own, structural work does not move without a date and a name attached. Almost everything still open from June is structural. The most valuable thing this board can do on Saturday is put dates and owners on the unglamorous items — the insurance, the legal transition, the deputy hire, the reserve — because those are the ones that will not raise their hand until they fail.

Saturday: direction on goals, a year-end campaign with everyone's name on it, a board-expansion plan, reserves direction, four votes closed. December: the budget, the policy, and the goals made formal.