Board Meeting Notes
The VIGA Board meets every fourth Monday of the month at The Land Trust building from 5:30-7:00
March 30th, 2026
Attendees:
Jennifer Potter (Heights Grocery)
Joe Salagi
Thomas Vroom
Sarah Russell (Food Access)
Adrian (Community Member)
Board Members: Rachel, Catherine, Steven, Abby, Michele, Terah
Decisions:
[Approved] Budget allocation was approved with the following changes: Remove service fees from Food Access and add them to the admin; Remove $3K from the VIGA table.
[Approved] Adopt across the board: passing along fees to donors [we need to look at how this would work for larger donations]
[Approved] Grant for kitchen equipment – use reserved fees to cover up front and then pay back with the grant.
[Approved] VIGA will become the fiscal sponsor of the Heights Grocery for processing donations. We are following up with more specific legal language and then will jointly meet with a lawyer.
Action items:
Reallocate the $3k for Get Growing to the Chataqua Garden [Abby]
Food Access to clarify how much they are comfortable rolling over – we are projected to hit the $75K target for this year. We can address the credit program later in the year if reserve funds are needed. [Sarah & Rachel to confirm at Thursday meeting]
Food Access to confirm we can leverage the $1,200 for purchasing food [Sarah & Rachel to confirm at Thursday meeting]
Follow up on potential Farming in Community Sites:
La Biondo Farm for catering & events (Catherine)
Thomas for grain (connected)
Makanai (Terah)
Laure/Fruit Club (Terah)
Cheryl/Nashi tour (Rachel)
Chicken Processing w/Plum Forest (Terah)
Put together free starts for the first day of the market [Abby & Michele to connect]
Sign up to be a Chamber Member [Terah]
Assess Strawberry Festival costs [Michele]
Create a first pass at a story arc for the beachcomber articles and next steps for programs [Catherine]
Send Jennifer a list of upcoming events for cross promotion [Michele]
Determine shared communication guardrails for community partnerships [Rachel]
Send Grower Survey to the rest of the board for feedback [Steven]
Discussion Questions:
Food Access video at the theater: We’d rather wait until the full VIGA video is done so we continue to build a cohesive brand within the community. We are aiming to have this done within three months.
Heights Fiscal Sponsorship: We need to mutually engage with a lawyer to ensure we have language around the following:
Fund holding [VIGA will receive all of the tax benefits; this is a custodial account under the Heights; on the backend VIGA will be providing a 990 acknowledging a donation at the end of the year]
Payee [VIGA]
Indemnification clauses [Heights will not hold VIGA accountable; Heights could carry liability insurance - DNO]
Oversight and admin fees [Who takes these]
We also need to agree on a shared mission alignment and communication we can leverage in our communication.
Communication guidelines: As our engagement with different community organizations increases, we need to establish clear communication guidelines to ensure we don’t lose the thread on how and where we are talking about our partners and they are talking about us.
May 30th Fundraiser: Jennifer will be the MC and Joe will plug in to support on food (Terah to connect). Meeting being scheduled for early next week to align on the program and in the meantime, Terah will continue driving the marketing.
Chataqua School Garden: We’ve seen really robust engagement thanks to the newsletter! We are waiting to get the MOU from the Fruitclub to see how we should be positioning this with the school but are comfortable being casual this year and then putting something together for next year. The school is looking for someone to come in one day a week so classes can sign up to come to the garden and learn. Starting to plant on Earth Day.
Hiring Project Coordinator and Marketing: We have several great candidates for the Project Coordinator role and are setting up interviews in the next few weeks.
February 1st, 2026
January 26th, 2026
Annual Meeting plans are coming together
We walked through our draft annual meeting agenda and confirmed presenters for our core programs — Production & Preservation, Food Access, the VIGA Market Table, Farming & Community, and partner updates like Mukai. We also agreed to include a simple, visual look at how VIGA has grown year over year — not just financially, but in participation, vendors, and community impact — to make our progress easy to see and celebrate.
A simpler, more mission-aligned sponsorship approach
We’re shifting away from market-only business logo banners and moving toward lighter, more flexible ways to recognize sponsors, such as newsletter features, farm-stand map recognition, and targeted underwriting like event food or wine. We’ll also create a permanent, year-round VIGA banner with our website and a QR code for easy donations — instead of reprinting sponsor banners each year.
Our big goals for 2026
We’re focusing on long-term sustainability so VIGA can continue growing and eventually support paid staff. Priorities include growing sustaining donors, hosting a focused fundraiser, and strengthening financial stability. These will be included in the Annual Report.
Supporting Get Growing
We plan to set aside about $1,500 this year to support Get Growing while exploring refreshed, hands-on educational approaches.
New opportunities & partnerships
In partnership with Kevin Hoffberg, we will be offering a gallon of bio-char to growers after they renew their annual membership.
Farm-scale biodigester grant (Bobby Butler): A grant opportunity due February 9, with Bobby willing to write the application and a list of interested farms being confirmed.
We also discussed the importance of planning ahead for potential changes in local partners (such as Stella Maris) and how those shifts could impact operations.
Strengthening operations & continuity
We discussed ways to improve clarity around board email addresses and role-based communications, including options like forwards and aliases while preserving continuity and history. We also acknowledged the need for a thoughtful bookkeeping transition plan due to health challenges, with overlap and support to ensure smooth operations.
2026 fundraiser planning: date & vision aligned
We aligned on hosting a major community fundraiser on Saturday, May 16th 2026. The shared vision is an experience-driven evening with food, music, community storytelling, a silent auction, and a clear end-of-night fundraising ask. We’re aiming to send a “Save the Date” in March, with initial guest name lists brought to the February board meeting.