Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/74535
From the National Secretary Minutes of the quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors of National Catholic Society of Foresters. The March quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Catholic Society of Foresters was called to order by National President Margaret Babinat on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. in the board room of the Home Office. All members of the Board were present. The meeting opened with a prayer followed by the Pledge of Allegiance of the Flag of the United States. National President Margaret Babinat reviewed the proposed agenda. Motion by National Treasurer Jon Mocol and seconded by National Vice President Margaret Schmitt that the Board of Directors accept the agenda for the March 2012 board meeting as amended. Motion passed. 11 yes – 0 no. Motion by National Vice President Margaret Schmitt and seconded by National Director Catherine Hensel that the Board of Directors accept the consent calendar items "A" for the March 2012 board meeting. Motion passed 11 yes – 0 no. EXECUTIVE OFFICERS' REPORTS WERE GIVEN: NATIONAL TREASURER'S REPORT Cash Position (JP Morgan Chase Bank) In Q4, 2011, we did not have to transfer funds from our investment as flow was excellent due to a large amount of annuity money coming in with new certificates. We carried during the quarter a large amount of cash in the money market fund while we were looking for bonds to purchase. Investment Position (Harris Investment Trust) The HIM team and I have continued to watch our investment portfolio. As we have discussed, we had lots of cash on hand and maturities available to purchase new bonds. We purchased 500,000 shares of the following municipal bonds: Bucks County Pennsylvania Water and Sewer; DeKalb County Georgia Water and Sewer; New York New York Transitional Housing; and Reading Pennsylvania Area Water Authority. In addition we purchased 1,000,000 shares of Met Government Nashville Tennessee; and Pennsylvania State Turnpike. We also purchased the following corporate bonds; AT&T; Direct TV; Darden Restaurants; Ecolab; General Mills; JP Morgan Chase; Prudential; Raytheon Company; and Walt Disney. We also purchased 1,000,000 of General Electric. A portfolio of our four money market funds was set up on Yahoofinance.com which allows me to view these funds daily. In case you wish to monitor our MM funds, the symbols I am watching are: HEQIX (Harris Equity Fund), HSCIX (Harris Small Cap Opportunity Fund), MSEIX (Managers Special Equity Fund), and ACRNX (Acorn Fund). Those funds have lost over 152k in the last year or a return of about -2%. This is due to the volatile market that we experienced in 2011, but we are confident that they will outperform bonds in the near term. Our market value for our total portfolio as of December 31, 2011 was $144,001,826. Our current average yield is 2.80%. Internal Operations • The annual statement was completed on February 16th and filed on February 23rd. • Leo Hannah and associates will return April 9th-13th to work on the final field work • I monitor the Wall Street Journal daily and I continue to read weekly updates about the economy. • Daily CPA Finance update letters, Nancy Webman from "Pensions & Investments" and The U.S. Economic Outlook from Conning, also are very informational. Fourth Quarter Financial Highlights • See accounting's financial report. Other Board Business: • Update Travel Limitations for 2012 Motion by National Vice President Margaret Schmitt and seconded by National Director Rosalie Pyle we accept the 2012 travel expense limitation. Motion passed 11 yes – 0 no. NATIONAL SECRETARY'S REPORT National Secretary Patricia DeNys' report covered the following items for the months of December 2011, January 2012 and February 2012. 12 National Catholic Forester