2018 Shintaido of America Business Report

by Connie Borden, Shintaido of America President

January 2018 to December 2018

Four SOA board meetings were held in March, June, September and December of 2018. The minutes are on the SOA website. Two joint informational meetings of the SOA board members and SOA TC members were held June and November of 2018.

In July 2018 a membership letter was sent to supporters of Shintaido of America. The list serve of MailChimp was used to send these electronic letters along with personal emails. SOA membership grew to 40 members in 2018 from 17 members in 2017.

National Liability coverage was renewed for 2019 and the tax report for 2017 was filed.

Rob Kedoin, SOA webmaster, in March of 2018 implemented changes for the SOA website to have it compatible with iPhone, tablets and with the current blog style newsletter. Rob now tracks the usage of the website and generates quarterly reports for the SOA Board. There has been more usage of the website, with one quarter showing a 36% increase. The blog style newsletter is used more than 3 times from last year. The next update to the website will be the instructor’s page.

The SOA board approved a stipend for the consultation services of HF Ito for continued instruction and development of Shintaido Kenjutsu for 2019. (see budget)

Shin Aoki as Director of Instruction for Kangeiko 2019, being organized by PacShin, has given regular updates for this gasshuku with Minagawa sensei as guest

Planned dates for 2019 for the SOA Board are 3 March, 2 June, 22 Sept and 8 December. Planned dates for informational meeting between the Board and NTC members are 23 June and 15 December 2019. The SOA board plans for an electronic election for August 2019. The board serves two-year terms with the term ending September 2019.

• 2017 – 2019 Elected members for two-year terms:
  • Nancy Billias
  • Connie Borden, President and Board Chair
  • David Franklin
  • Brad Larson, Treasurer
• Permanent Members:
  • Haruyoshi F. Ito
  • Michael Thompson
• Officers (not elected):
  • Stephen Billias, Editor Body Dialogue
  • Shin Aoki, NTC Chairperson
  • Chris Ikeda-Nash, Financial Officer
  • Robert Kedoin, Webmaster