Transcription
Welcome to the quarterly meeting of the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation Incorporated. Call the meeting to order and first order of business is the approval of the foundation minutes that have been distributed. Are there any amendments, corrections, or additions? Do I hear a motion to approve as submitted?
>> I moved.
>> A motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
>> I.
>> Any opposed? None opposed. Gentlemen Rhonda is not with us today. Uh we have uh her notes, but we'll let you talk about finances since uh the three of you could do much better than any of the rest of us singly or combined. Welcome.
>> Thank you.
>> Well, we we didn't get our normal kickoff. I mean obviously it's always nice when we have the uh the information internally um submitted uh before we give our highlights but I I don't know was were you all sent the same information?
>> Everybody around I don't I don't think there will be any huge surprises there but uh John will go ahead and give a little bit of information about how your account specifically is doing and then as I'm sure you're all anxiously awaiting um I will a little bit of more insight about the the bigger local market.
>> Thank you.
>> We had a couple of nice uh account additions uh when Kathleen got a hold of me in early uh February. So, I thought that was a a really good thing. Almost 264,000. So, that's that's that's nice to have a couple of checks from an estate and a and another gentleman. So, that was good. I got uh next worksheet sent to uh Rhonda in about midm. So, I think we're good shape there. Uh, but as far as that goes, Linda's been doing a great job. Uh, we had a system conversion back uh last October, October 31st. So, uh, she had to get on a new online system and she was one of the first, uh, clients that that I have anyway that that got on the system and did a great job. Conversions are never fun and when you do complete system conversions like that, but she uh, she did a great job. So, I'm in communication with her um a good amount. And um I think I think that about that about sums it up. One one thing from Burken Herbert's perspective anyway uh that everybody might not be aware of is we recently merged with uh or we bought another bank in Pennsylvania, Link Bank. Uh you may have heard about that. conversion will be uh finalized sometime in June and that takes us over over over 10 billion. So for a small community type organization right now we're 51 that'll take us to about 11 12 once you get over 10 billion you know there's a whole different regulatory structure and everything else. So uh just increases our branches from 75 to 100. So just you know an FYI kind of thing just to
>> congratulations show that we're growing.
>> You get our underwriting package.
>> Sure.
>> That changes significantly after you hit 10 billion as well.
>> There you go.
>> Sure. Gentlemen, for contributions to states Clint, you can get one of these signed by Captain Matt. Everybody who's anybody in West Virginia wants one of these.
>> As long as you got them in big enough sizes together, that'll be good.
>> Yes. Farmer.
>> Um I have a question if I may. Um you uh mentioned system conversion.
>> Yes.
>> And I'm not um familiar with what you're meaning. Can you explain that a little?
>> My job is as a senior vice president and trust officer. So I'm the one who does the administrative stuff for the account when we transferred it over from uh from Wells and the predecessor and we had a uh uh a trust accounting system that we were on prior with Summit Community Bank. Uh when we became when we merged with Burk and Herbert uh they were on a completely different system. As a matter of fact, it's the same system that I was on when I worked for many decades for uh B&T and Truist and One Valley. So, I was very familiar with the system.
>> That was an accounting.
>> It was a trust accounting system, right? So, that's the sort of thing that I I do in the background. And um
>> so you had to make sure that that was smooth,
>> everything came over properly. Just all those kinds of things. So Clifton and I and I and work very closely together in in that regard. So yeah, you got to make sure your tees are crossed. I mean, it's a it's a big deal. So that's what it is. Trust counting system.
>> We effectively moved over from one large national carrier to another. So just for the minutes and for the record, so we went from a company called FIS to another company called SEI and that's actually where the actual assets you'll own are held.
>> Okay. Thank you for that, too. Anything further, John?
>> I'm good.
>> Thank you.
>> That's all we have. I'm just kidding.
>> Get out of here.
>> I let you out. I know everybody's just anxious. So, uh we'll just start with some charts where the market scorecard is.
>> Okay.
>> As of February, obviously, um March also has been um eventful, but we'll talk about March. Really the bottom line is is that from last year, it started really towards the fourth quarter of last year to where we're at now. We saw this uh rotation, this market rotation in there, too. And as you can see, year-to- date returns is rotating away from the high-tech names as shown by the NASDAQ being down about 2 and a half%. and um where it's rotating to is you look at the S&P 500 equal weighted. Okay, so the equal weighted S&P 500 index equally weights all 500 names. And so what you're seeing is it's not as uh moving into the tech names. It's moving into what we call the traditional defensive names. Obviously, energy is one uh that's done really well. I mean it started to do that and then you had something you know March 3rd happened um and it's really uh taken off in there too and then you're seeing other typically defensive name utilities and what have you too. So, if you look at the next page, the um green bars are from 2025's performance. As you can see on there, tech was a big um um performer there, communication services, and really those sectors just really um show what the MAG 7 have done, the big AI play. Now, you look at the dark blue line or bar, and that's year-to- date through 330. And you can see that the green ones now are below And the ones that performed poorly last year are now doing very well. And those are the typical defensive top names. You have utilities, industrials, materials, and energy in there, too. And so what you really saw there was a mark shift. And what it was was the markets kind of selling off some of their really big winners. I mean, you had tech, I mean, just had tremendous returns 25, 2024, and 2023. Really, really big returns in there, too. And then um people are repricing. I think that the AI technology is still intact. The market's just repricing. Are we are we really paying this much for this companies to really, you know, make a difference in there too. So what happened was they still believe in the long-term story of tech, but they're just kind of pricing it a little bit lower. So managing expectations. Now the biggest issue now is is energy. um energy was you know on a rise there. This is the largest move in oil prices ever from where it was to where it is now. And so why is that you know such a big concern? It's because energy is one of those type of especially oil petroleum products affects uh the economy because of us. We use a lot of those. So now the discussion is how is this huge spike in energy prices going to affect the US consumers particularly? Well, it's kind of worth interesting to note on the next chart there how much of um oil prices are going to affect us. And so this chart really lows US consumer spending on energy um and global spending on energy is actually his on a historical perspective fairly low. So that's why the market's really kind of trying to see what how this is going to affect GDP in there too. Um, so it's a fairly low piece of their spending. It might not be as impactful as what most people think. So that's really what's going on in markets. They're trying to repric. Is this really going to affect Another thing that's going to affect is inflation, right? So, is this going to be an inflationary um um cycle uh for for the feds because they are really facing a dual dilemma right now because the the feds have a dual mandate full employment and um inflation at 2%. Well, if you look at the next chart on there too
>> um joining
>> um there was this expectations that the feds would cut rates uh this year and all this means is we are in the 3.5 to 375 range. Um that's where we're at now. So the blue indicates where the percentages are going to be. So, what this is telling us is the Feds are probably not going to cut rates this year. They're probably going to stay put. They are in a very precarious um situation where inflation has kind of ticked up a little bit, but then the latest job markets report was kind of a little bit uh weak. So, which one do you tackle? Right? So, there's this term now that is being mentioned out there. It's called stagflation, which means uh rising rates with a slower economic growth. uh we don't think that's the scenario uh going forward. Um there's a lot of things that I'll point out here uh down the line that we think that the market will once again kind of see through all this headline news and um yes there are risks there are ge geopolitical risks and it's happened before and I show a chart on there too uh but what we're looking at um if you look at the next page is one thing is seasonality okay so in the past 20 years March has always been known to be where the market bottoms And the last time this happened was the U great financial crisis. I remember this March 23rd 2009.
>> Uh and that was a very significant pullback in the markets in there too. So for some reason March is just one of those seasonality where the markets pull back. Then after that the markets kind of refocus uh shake off what we call the excesses especially from a very strong year we had last year and then find its footing and move forward. And the reason why we think that the markets are going to continue to, you know, once all this noise moves away, if you look at the next page in there too is earnings. And that I've mentioned this in this meeting before, the markets are simply earnings and what someone is willing to pay for those earnings. So if you have earnings growth, the market is going to put a premium on the equity markets going forward. If you have an earnings what we call recession then you have a pullback in there too. So remember in uh 21 we had a really uh difficult year in there too. Well we had sort of an earnings recession in there too. Now with all this AI boom um initially we had those um Nvidia and the chip makers um benefit from that. What happens is is now what you're seeing is the rest of the sectors, the rest of the economy is taking that and seeing how they can use that in their businesses and making them more productive and efficient. And you're starting to see that in healthcare finan uh financial companies and all that stuff. And so that's why it's really a weird market we're seeing right now. We call it a slow hire, slow fire environment. And because I think companies are just trying to assess how much resources do they really need uh in the midst of this AI revolution. So I think that as companies become more productive and then it goes to the bottom line and earnings grow the markets are you know continuing to grow in there too. Now the next chart this is really interesting. I know what we're seeing right now uh in Iran but there have been numerous what we call geopolitical events. found this cannon.
>> Yeah, there is this market um commentator on CNBC um and he said when the bonds fly it's time to buy. I'm just so kind of weird. But if you look at this historically speaking, yes, you have a pullback and it's because just it's un you know, it's an unknown event, unknown geopolitical event, right? Um, but then after that um, there's always something you know, they're always the market's always looking for an endgame to an unknown event right no matter what it is but as long as that unknown event pushes forward then they're not distracted by that anymore and they go back to the previous chart about earnings right because that's what really the market's focusing on its earnings and so historically speaking after roughly 90 days historically there the markets continue their their wave as far as that's concerned and so it's never the same but it's happened before um and it's not you know on our shores could be somewhere else or what have you in there too so and the next chart also shows specifically geopolitical military events uh in there too so yeah it it re I mean it really is and that's how the market is and um and I tell people
>> I guess that's I you know that's what my job is you know it's to kind of filter for all the noise and all that stuff. Um, but if you look at it just down the line,
>> his time is your biggest ally in investments,
>> right? And staying true to your investment objective and staying true to your allocation in there too because once you set that, yes, you take into account the volatility in the markets. You can never you never know and guess what's going to happen, but we know something's going to happen. that you just um create your investment policy and your allocation so that in those particular times you can weather the storm, right? Uh minimize your downside risk, but when those events um finally go away, um you're also a able to capture the upsides of the markets and your particular allocation um speaks to that well. So um on the account review actually on your performance on there without background. So as of five as of the end of February just slightly under 5.3 million of 5,289 uh,000. Um if you look on page three of that report it's really kind of shows you where your um um account has done since we started in 2025. last year alone um we started I think in February of last year um the account earned just shy of $360,000 uh dollars this year around through February um a gain of $142,000 so since you started this um performance as we had here the account has earned just um a little bit over $500,000 and once again that speaks to your allocation in two how you're invested um what you're waiting is equities versus fixed income. And I think that um especially in lia what's going on um that IPS that you've set up I think um is going to do well for this um foundation building.
>> There any questions about it? It is remarkable to me the expertise that you three have brought to us compared to too long ago before we knew you. And I'm very appreciative for the time, the effort, the clarity that you bring because these are very important monies. This foundation is dependent upon having success and not just skimming along. Right.
>> Thank you very much.
>> Thank you very much. We're we certainly appreciate it. And as always, if you have any questions at all, you can always reach out to us. Um, you know, sometimes hours in the morning, he's like, well, what about this?
>> So, is Chris gonna look into his magical mystery ball and say there are no clouds and he can tell us clearly what's going to happen?
>> Well, and we're we're very aware that this board is comprised of individuals and everyone has their own individual questions. So, I mean, obviously, you know, because you all have this relationship with us, we're more than happy to talk with you all, you know, anecdotally or officially on anything because it's easy to sit here and say, "Hey, everything's great." But we all have our own situation. And, you know, depending on your timeline, how close you are to a retirement, how close you are to a funding event. Obviously, those things in individual situations can be different, but always feel like you can reach out to one of us if you want to have questions about yourselves. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> This is Dr. Murphy on the phone. I just wanted to say that I always, as somebody who does not have a financial background, I always find your reports very easy to understand. So, thank you very much.
>> Thank you. That means a lot. Thank you so much.
>> Yes. Um, I just missed something you said. Um, and I think you said something about 3,000 in 2025.
>> Okay.
>> And and then you mentioned 142,000. Um,
>> um,
>> and I didn't see that
>> on the quarter under the quarterly return under 2025 on the far right column there,
>> you total investment gain is 359,000.
>> Okay,
>> that's for the all of 2025.
>> Oh, okay. Okay. And for 2026 alone, it's 142,000.
>> So since we started this, a total gain of 51,000.
>> Oh, okay. So that represents January through March.
>> Yes. Yes.
>> Okay.
>> And that's the whole whole year.
>> Okay. I was was that through March or just through February?
>> February. February.
>> Just through February. February. Okay.
>> Thank you for explaining that.
>> No problem.
>> You haven't seen these before. Yeah.
>> Well, this this meeting felt a difficult day. Obviously, when the meeting's on the 1st and all the information is not final.
>> So, you're going to tell us April 4th. This is
>> I was just trying to follow. Thank you.
>> Any other questions?
>> If not, gentlemen, thank you very much.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Appreciate you coming. Next order of business is the grants report by America Vald.
>> Thank you.
>> Probably better.
>> Sure. the microphone.
>> Um, just to give you a a probably high level overview here, uh, we're adjusting up our grant by 100,000 to active at 1.48 million. Um, this is due to a $100,000 investment from the rural news fund. And this grant uh will do two things in part. Uh first it's going to give us a much needed uh reporter covering a 13 county swap of southern West Virginia. Uh we really have a lot of demand there and that will get us a reporter uh with our newsroom to cover that area. Um, you know, a lot of the methodology behind this are reports that uh really track what we consider to be news deserts and at risk communities for losing their local newspaper, their local media coverage. Uh, and you know, we've targeted this area of the state as by far the most in need for uh reporting resources. So uh this will fund uh two years of a reporter uh and not not just that but develop a relationship with these folks. Uh the rural news fund is a pulled investment meaning that many different uh investors are behind the funding for media in West Virginia and throughout central Appalachia. I truly see this as you know a beginning of a relationship that we can cultivate over years. Uh, of course that's about uh one about 60% of the grant. The remaining part of the grant uh is a really interesting feature where we will have a business advisor. They call them a navigator uh that is going to advise us in better ways to position ourselves in terms of revenue generation. So you know the overarching theme here that you want to think about uh that we should be thinking about as an organization is that grants really are stabilization capital really that gives us you know a rel helps us build a relationship helps us test new strategies in terms of revenue which is something we haven't done before. Of course, our digital audiences testing as reported, you know, is is where where we we get our reach. You know, a lot of our programming uh for example, people in DC and LA and Chicago and New York City and Italy are listening to our content. Uh and you know, that kind of gives us a a better offering in terms of of underwriting. You know, if our audiences are in certain markets, we can present that as an underwriting product. Uh, of course, our trust with our content, trust with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, as we've seen a lot of investment, a lot of member dollars, a lot of people supporting us. You know, we we have trust with our audience and we want to expand on that. Um and of course having this navigator, you know, dedicated to us will help us um look at new strategies and test them. And uh over the next few years, uh we'll be working closely with our development team and with our newsroom uh to really uh look at new opportunities. So I think that's a important uh partnership. um they have a conference coming up in Ashlin where I will be interacting with a lot of folks that are tied to uh the rural news funds. So some of these groups are the Appalachian Funders Network uh and Invest Appalachia to name a few. So I look forward to reporting back to uh this board in the next quarter and over the next several months to see how that develops. Uh in terms of the uh folkways grant from the corporation for public broadcasting uh we have hired uh we brought 17 reporters on board and five editors um just as our startup uh group. Um we're going to be hiring a lot of other folks. We have a partnership with WKU in Eastern Kentucky as well as our Appalachian Midsouth newsroom partners throughout Tennessee and Kentucky that can bring us more reporters to cover, you know, broader central Appalachia and West Virginia with us being the anchor station for that grant. So, we are really just getting started there. Um, there is an opportunity for us to partner with the Appalachian Midsouth Newsroom. uh we have a line item with a budget to do an audience research um by way of an external evaluator. uh you know the media landscape is so dynamic uh I mean think of it in terms of artificial intelligence and I mean think back to the late 1990s and early 2000s with the.com you know fad um trends and and and uh basically outlets where our content is more visible are changing so quickly for example I just learned that YouTube is now the number one podcast distributor um it's free uh it's a low effort for us to exploit that. So, you know, Kathleen mentioned short form videos in different formats that we should be looking at uh to get more audience capture and hopefully more people supporting our station. Um uh in the pipeline remains the same. We're at 1.32 million. It's highly weighted on the anticipated next generation warning system uh grant which was formerly through CPD. It's actually a FEMA grant that will probably be distributed by a different partner. And I'm looking at Brian because we were just talking about Cooper's Rock and and you know doing construction there. This grant could really help us invest in our infrastructure, you know, across across all of our sites. Um, and that's that's pretty much where we are as of as of April and March. So, uh, any questions?
>> Yes, sir.
>> Can I ask question?
>> You mentioned opportunities for income opportunities. Are you talking about grants specifically or are you talking about any opportunities that would help the foundation uh, bring up its income?
>> Of course, I'm going to say Grants.
>> What was your reference when you're saying
>> Yeah. mediator or whatever?
>> He just handles grants.
>> Yeah. You know, you're having a person that's going to be advising,
>> right?
>> Is he advising you for grant or is he advising how the board can find other income?
>> Precisely. You know, this is looking at and looking at and testing new revenue models and safely. We can we need to look at what we can do easily right so we have a YouTube channel uh can we can we you know I don't want to use the word exploit but can we can we use that to to our leverage you know uh can we be pushing more content out there uh in a way that people can share it and view it and I mean nobody's going to read full article that's just the way things are now so I think well that's you and I are right So, you know, if we're not looking at these opportunities and we're not testing them, we'll never know. So, I'm being intentionally broad here because, you know, we're going to look at what we can do and what we can think about in the future. So, I like to think, like I said, grants as stabilization capital to allow us to look at new revenue opportunities.
>> how stable our future grants. So, it's hard to I mean, I'm not saying that you won't do them, but and they're not always coming through or, you know, you have to keep getting them, right?
>> Yeah, that's correct. Um, a lot of our grants uh we do renew them uh annually, but that's not something we can be rely on forever. You know, grants are not forever. We really have to demonstrate that, you know, not just that we have skin in the game, but that we are sustainable, right? This is an investment in West Virginia public broadcasting. Let's find a way to use those dollars to make more revenue, more uh donors, more more members, more sustainable members.
>> America, I got some questions.
>> Sure.
>> You mentioned a individual who's going to be the navigator.
>> Yes.
>> And do we know who that person is?
>> Yes. Uh and I get my former executive directors confused. I believe it's a Chuck who Robert was was right.
>> Scott Finn,
>> sorry.
>> Scott Finn is is our navigator from from Vermont.
>> And I didn't know this uh fell well into our conversation. So uh apparently he he departed here for Vermont many years ago and he is still in the public media public broadcasting ecosystem and uh he is our dedicated advisor. I don't think you could have a better
>> person with expertise. Scott, my understanding of just yesterday talking to a friend of his that he's now a professor at the University of Vermont.
>> Correct.
>> In uh public broadcasting.
>> So to have access to his mind and his creativity, I think is a plus for us. It's a plus that I don't have to explain the governance of the EDA, the friends and
>> he knows he was one of the most successful executive directors we ever had.
>> Chuck, I want to draw you in this conversation. Is the interchange between you and the grant system satisfactory to you?
>> Me?
>> You?
>> Eric.
>> Eric.
>> I did.
>> He got me confused.
>> Uh yeah. You know, we're I'm looking forward to I mean the the the folkways especially that's I'm that's mostly Bill Lynch's uh thing to to work on, but uh uh it it seems to be starting up just fine. We're we're looking forward to expanding that. Um as as uh America mentioned, we've got what five new editors and 17 reporters. Most of those are people that we've worked with before, so they'll start up fairly quickly. I understand there are some pizzas already in the pipeline.
>> So, that's working just fine. We're looking forward to expanding that. I am I I I'm as uh just generally skeptical. That's kind of why I'm in the job I'm in. Uh, so so until I see the check on the dotted line and I get a and I've employed a reporter from Southern West Virginia, I I I'm moderating my enthusiasm, but uh I I'm I'm hopeful and I haven't had a full-time Southern West Virginia reporter in exactly a year, actually. So, uh, I'm looking forward to having somebody dedicated to that region. My interest and this board's interest is making sure that Kathleen and you and Americo all are coordinating these things and the major decisions are committee decisions where we're getting input. The credibility of being able to get grants is providing success. The awards you talked about earlier in our meeting uh demonstrate that the quality of what we're doing is outstanding even we fight and be compared to the commercial stations but in this realm we have gone through a series of uh grantors and that's why I announced in the last meeting for those of you who weren't here that the Bened Foundation is going to do a photo shoot involving our mountain stage at our April 19th uh meet our session of mountain sage and bring us more good news and their reach is tremendous. Uh their credibility is above reproach but this is the shining star that we have to keep getting grants. We have to show the marketplace that we are trustworthy and we have to have the right people in the right slots at the right time to make sure you all work together. Kathleen is the one responsible for making that happen. And if she has concerns, she'll reach out uh to the management committee here and we'll go from there. Any questions? Yes, Barbara.
>> Thank you. Um, and I'm not sure. Um, I I'm very This is a really intriguing this rural news fund. Um, I think that it's really exciting. Um, my the only question I have, but now I have another one is um the what are the 13 counties?
>> I can't name them all. Oh, and and
>> from Wayne to uh Greenbryer and up into like uh, you know, so that whole what used to be Congressional District One if if you remember that.
>> I do.
>> Basically that.
>> Okay. Okay.
>> And and I guess and maybe Eric, you could help with this. Um, you know, I live in a town that has uh a statewide radio news service and also has a newspaper that's sort of hanging on by its fingernails. It's thinner, as Elliott said a year ago, like that the Charleston Gazette is more like a pamphlet >> and and he was right. Um, what is what is and and you know, we're we're in a really lucky place to live in Morgantown. What is the news situation in those 13 counties and how uh how can we um help? This is a service part of our mission. Um which which we have to have all this other stuff to do the service. So maybe both of you can talk about that how how we can this one reporter is going to replace all the newspapers that have closed.
>> Um ma'am that's something that we have a discussion about regularly. Uh the the official term is news deserts. Um you know and I've forgotten the numbers right now, but the the local weekly newspapers are closing couple thousand a year. I mean nationwide, not
>> right. I've been 40% all newspapers nationwide.
>> And I cut my teeth. I was telling somebody the other day my first ever job was running a weekly newspaper in Mate One, West Virginia.
>> I was a one-man band. Uh, and that was almost 40 years ago. But um,
>> so did you work with Sally Susman? It wasn't that Sally Susman. It wasn't the golf one.
>> No, no, no. That was that was in Raleigh County.
>> This was the big one monitor is what it was called, but I forgot the gentleman's name. Owned one in
>> Pineville and Welch, I think, and he started up this one. And anyway,
>> uh, we can have that discussion. I wouldn't.
>> But anyway, um uh but no, this is something we take very seriously that we we feel the need and it's not just terrestrial radio anymore. It's our website, it's social media, it's however we can tell those stories and cover that local news. Now our kind of motto or our mantra is that because we are a statewide network. If somebody brings me a story I just an example I got a story pitch yesterday from the canal gardeners I for what they're talking
>> for gardeners.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Um, there's a big monthlong program they're doing that's really Charleston centric. I mean, it's a cool program, but my my baseline question is, would the people in wheeling care? And if the answer's probably not, then I'm probably not going to do that story. So, so we balance, we mostly focus on issues rather than small town, um, city council, county commission, that kind of stuff. I don't have the manpower to cover 55 issues. Um, short version is and I, uh, Kathleen has heard me on this numerous times. I'm down five reporters right now. Um, and till I can get them back. U, I'm I'm thrilled about the one through the the rural news fund. Uh, you know, if we could get five more of those, I'd be thrilled. Um, so that's that's my biggest issue I'm facing right now is is just manpower to cover everything. My my group, especially this session, was running at 100%. 110% really. Um,
>> how many reporters do you have full-time now?
>> Time reporter.
>> Have any of those positions been approved for posting?
>> Yes. Um, I have. It's me, Maria Young, who is our assistant uh news director, Chris Schultz, who's the reporter up in Morgantown, and uh you know, I we've been actually been really fortunate and and as Kathleen mentioned in the first meeting, uh we've been able to work with Marshall uh we've been able to work with Wu Ashton Mara as a professor up there, former assistant news director here. She's got some great ideas. Randy Oey as our Huntington bureau. Uh so we we've been able to kind of augment some of our reporting with that. Ry's done some reporting, although he is slacking off now. I think he's 72 and he's retired. He wants to, you know,
>> not there comes a point where you still care anymore, but you know, so we're doing the best we can, but um uh there are some stories that we've missed to be frank. Yeah.
>> Uh that I just don't have manpower.
>> Thank you. And then the other question I was intrigued by this conference. What's the name of the conference coming up where where you
>> Yes. where you were talking about
>> that is the Appalachian Funders Network. Okay. Conference.
>> Yeah. I think you said that.
>> It is basically a group of most of the folks that are behind the rural news fund. Uh and it's an opportunity not just for it's an opportunity for investors, you know, uh philanthropic groups to, you know, kind of see where they can invest and it's an opportunity for folks like us and other news outlets and other folks who need support to be able to have conversations and talk about partnerships.
>> Yeah.
>> So,
>> okay. Thank you. That was what I wanted to know. And I want to thank Mike for talking about how important it is to mention the awards and congratulate everybody on the awards for this year. And um you know it's amazing that we are where we are right now. I would never ever have guessed that we would be you know that our necks wouldn't be or that we wouldn't be completely underwater.
>> The gentleman sitting beside you and the gentleman at the end of the room with friends. owe we owe them a tremendous applause and debt. Uh what they have done has been nothing short of remarkable.
>> The energy they put in, the response they've got the public to reach out when there's a threat and there's a threat nationally. Our folks have responded because they care and that's why all of us are volunteers in doing this. But it's really important because we need that cash to keep it going. We need the grants to keep it going. We need personnel. Uh in this Appalachin grant, I I have to sign each of the contracts for each of those people. And I'm excited every time I get one because that means that we can get more news out. We can show how good we are. We can bring to the public information they otherwise wouldn't get. And I think that's the point that uh Eric and America are making is that our mission is not to compete with the people of Virginia, but we beat them even when we compete with them because we care and they're looking for dollars and cents. So my hearty congratulations, Brian, to you and and your team of friends. Uh we couldn't do it without you. And just one other thing, I thought the the 13,000 views on YouTube for Bill Withers, I am such a big Bill Withers fan and that in that swath, the more that we can um there has to be a hunger for information. I mean, Slab Fork um you know, we need to talk about the things that make us all really proud. And for me, Bill Withers is one of them. So, that that that was a nice piece of information. We uh you may know that Bill Withers grew up in Beckley,
>> right?
>> He was educated there. And we've got a beautiful sculpture there of Bill Withers downtown. Have to stop by and see it sometime.
>> Any further questions to America, Eric, or anybody else? If not, thank you, America.
>> Thank you.
>> The committee reports, anything from legal bill?
>> Uh Linda is in Budapest. She sent in a wonderful written report. You've got it. So, we wish her well. She's tuning in from Budapest. Hello, Linda. We've heard from the investment crew.
>> He's not. He's
>> Kathy. Anything in addition to what you
>> presented before?
>> N.
>> There is no new business and no other matters that I'm aware of. Anybody else have anything to bring before the foundation board?
>> If not, I thank each of you for being here. We are adjourned.
>> Very good. Thank you.