February 29, 2024

Good Newsletter

Greetings and Blessings to you all,

February was another busy month of retreat groups, preparation for the Annual Meeting, beautiful snowfalls and winter fun.

Carolyn and Jerry Fritch, our interim administrators, have been hard at work on job descriptions, personell policies, and supporting Kathleen as we build out our staff.

Meanwhile, calls and emails are coming in to make reservations for 2024, and we are seeing a general uptick in usage and more congregations returning for retreats. We are about to open registration for 8 weeks of Nature Camp, and also are receiving reservations for our first Annual Alumni Reunion/Koinonia 5K on Memorial Day weekend and expect a great turnout. It's going to be an exciting summer.

Please read below for our updates and good news

Annual Report

The Annual Meeting was held on Sunday, February 25th at St. John Matthew Emanuel Lutheran Church in Park Slope, New York. You can read the Annual Report HERE

BOARD NEWS

Board President Report

I am thrilled to share that we had a wonderful Annual Meeting on Sunday, February 25 at St. JME Lutheran Church and via Zoom. Thank you to all who attended and a special thanks goes to everyone who presented committee and team updates and to Bishop Egensteiner and District President Rev. Dr. Dien Taylor for their thoughtful devotions.

We made meaningful progress in 2023 and it was fulfilling to celebrate with all of you. During the meeting we were able to approve our revised Constitution, approve our 2024 budget, and elect our slate of Board Members for 2024.

A huge thanks to Gerry Falco as he transitions off of the Board and a warm welcome to Jay Ratto as he joins. We are blessed that Blythe Miller will be stepping up to serve as the Vice President of the Board this year. We continue to be grateful to all of the staff, volunteers, member congregations, Board Members, and camp visitors who contributed to our success over the past year!

As I shared during the meeting, our three key goals for the next two years are:

Goal 1: Identify a staffing structure for current and future needs by June 2024 and implement the plan by December 2025.

Goal 2: Raise operating revenue to achieve a balanced budget in 2024 and 2025.

Goal 3: Grow Koinonia community by retaining current users/programs and attracting new/first-time visitors.

We will continue to provide updates on our progress via the monthly newsletter. Our next Board Retreat will be at Koinonia from April 5-7 and we will focus on these goals among other topics.

Tammy Nettleton is settling into her role as Food Manager and we are grateful for her talents. Hopefully some of you have had a chance to meet her during a visit to camp. We are now searching for an accountant and an Associate Director and will keep you informed about our progress on those roles.

Thank you for your continued support of Koinonia!

Katie Cunningham - Board President

CAMP NEWS

Fundraising/ Finance Update

As of February 7th, we have received

$7,293.43 in donations (not including Capital Campaign funds)! Thank You!

Our Capital Campaign Gifts and pledges are $1,419,480.82, total gifts (2020-present) are $1,088,780.40. We are only $81,237.12 away from our challenge goal! Katheen is in conversation with a major gift donor to get us to our 1.5 million goal.

The Staff Alumni Capital Campaign team is building an updated contact list of Alumni and planning a First Annual Alumni Reunion on Memorial Day Weekend. If you would like to join this awesome team reach out to Lora Baumhardt - HERE.

ANNUAL APPEAL

The annual Christmas/Ephiphany appeal had a great response! Donors like you met the match of $30,000 from Zion Lutheran Church in New Jersey, and went beyond it with $44,043.40! - That is $74,043.40 raised for summer programming for children and youth. Thank you!

Your generosity helps Koinonia thrive!

Property Update

February had some more good snowfall, but not too much to keep folks away. Tom kept the roads plowed well.

There were some minor repairs and replacements – changing fixtures in the Asdal house, bringing in an exterminator, repairing the wainscotting in the Agape room, and creating a beautiful outfitter space in the conference center! We had a fire inspection and in response the chimneys were all cleaned. Tom is investigating renting a dumpster to prepare for the spring, summer, and fall numbers on camp.

The roofs on the Asdal house and the Staff house were replaced. They look great!

After three bids, a contractor was chosen to do the work of putting in brand new showers in the conference center. One was finished on February 28, and after an inspection and feedback, we will move forward.

The property team made recommendations for 2024 projects and for the next $500,000 we plan to raise for the camp. The property team will resume meeting on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:00pm starting March 12.

Outreach/Marketing

Facebook 90 day post reach was down -22.9% vs August 14-November 14th, we added 4 more followers in the past month, and post engagements hover between 350 and 3,500.

The last newsletter had a 50% open rate, up from 49% last month. Esther Schulze created social media posts about winter events and Nature Camp.

Kathleen meets regularly with Jackie Lund to keep the website up to date.

The Outreach Marketing did not meet in February, but will resume their meetings the second Wednesday of every month at 6pm, beginning on March 13. We are looking for new members! Email Kathleen if you are interested!

Kathleen would love to visit your church in 2024. Reach out to her HERE for a visit!

Worship and Programming

Women's Retreat & Quilting Retreat

The Spring Women's Retreat is filling up fast- you can come for the day, or the whole weekend. The week afterwards is a Quilting Retreat - Sew and Share. Email Jean HERE to register.

5K at Koinonia in 2024 - save the date!

Lora and Emery are going to return on Memorial Day Weekend to run the 5K family race...and help celebrate our First Annual Alumni Reunion Weekend! Time to make a reservation! May 24th-27th, 2024

Pre-register for the race HERE

Transition/Hiring Update

Tammy, our new Food Service Manager, has quickly become a part of our team, and Jean Sandberg has been very generous in helping her learn what needs to be done. Thank you Jean!

We have posted a new position, Associate Director, to our website. Please share this widely. We are looking for a strong candidate to manage the day to day operations of the camp. Job description HERE

Summer positions will be posted in the next few weeks.

We continue to search for a chief accountant contractor, and are looking at some local accounting firms. You can see the description HERE Carol Safchinsky has been a big help keeping everything running well - Thank you Carol!

Two action items for you!

Invite someone to Koinonia!

Bring a friend to your congregational retreat, invite someone up for the day to hike the property, share our website, instagram and facebook posts. This is a simple and powerful way for you to expand our ministry and welcome new people to Koinonia!

Get your congregation involved!

2024 will be a big year for Koinonia's member congregations. Has your congregation...

1. Made a reservation for your congregation for a weekend retreat?

2. Joined the capital campaign and sent a volunteer to a leader training?

3. Put a contribution to Koinonia into your annual budget?

4. Reached out to Kathleen for a Sunday visit?

Bonzli's Beat

I am meeting so many new people this year and they like to say hi to me and pet my head and sometimes we go on walks together in the woods and sometimes they even let me come inside and sit under the table. I have the best job ever and I can't wait to meet you and if I have met you I can't wait to see you again......woof woof!

Thank You

Our Mission is reaching more people, and our vision to become "a flourishing outdoor community that cultivates transformation and ripples peace and reconciliation to the world" is leading us to the future. Thank you for reading this newsletter, for your prayers, your volunteering, your booking of buildings and rooms, and for your financial support. Together, we can build a ministry that will last for the next 60 years and beyond.

God Bless,

Katie Cunningham

Board President

board@koinoniany.org

Kathleen Ruen

Executive Director

kkruen@koinoniany.org

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