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Hi folks, Patty and I sent along the attached memo at the end of April, and we wanted to give you our assessment of where we believe the BBF should go. Consider this an executive summary and staff recommendation. We have a board meeting in four weeks, and I think we should be prepared to address this question.

We believe the BBF should immediately make steps to become a national organization by growing our DE programming; expanding to targeted local communities outside of DE; expanding our board; significantly growing our fundraising; and moving to acquire Darkness To Light.

Program Growth: We’ve reached a great balance between staff time and programming requests. In order to serve more people in DE, we need a larger pool of volunteer programming trainers and a better sense of organizations we can work with. We’ve been working with Public Allies to identify an Ally for us this cycle (September - June). The cost is $16,000, and assuming we find the right person, incredibly worth the cost, in our opinion. We need research and volunteer recruitment help. Secondly, we should expand outside of Delaware in to two targeted markets where we can have an immediate impact with minimal cost and staff time. We suggest Bucks County, PA (where we have a funder, plenty of Stewards Facilitators and a presence already) and Washington, DC (where we have a funder and a receptive school principal who would like to work with us).

Board Expansion: We bring on three Delawareans with national clout to increase our policy and outreach clout: Frank Vavala - National Guard/Military; Tim Mullaney - Fraternal Order of Police; Robert Andrzejewski - School Superintendents. In the coming months, we work to identify more national and fundraiser-type board members.

Fundraising: I’ve had good conversations with Katie P, the development director of the JRB Foundation (she’s a friend, going back to our days together on the Biden for President campaign). There is a pool of donors Patty and I can meet with - you guys if you’re able as well - that won’t overlap with their targets. Our goal would be to raise $60,000 this year from this tranche of donors. Additionally, since our San Francisco event with Dr. Biden fell through, we would like to do a large fundraiser in DC in the fall/winter, with a goal of $100,000.

D2L Acquisition: We should convene a high level meeting between our ED and board chairs and D2L’s ED and board chairs to discuss how this process would work, with a goal of completing the merger in Q4 18 or Q1 19.

I’ve attached the longer memo here, so you can review if you wish. Please think this proposal over and let us know your thoughts.

Thanks!
/ja

Joshua Alcorn
302/295.8340 (office)
302/598.1885 (cell)
josh@beaubidenfoundation.org <mailto:josh@beaubidenfoundation.org