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2018 OSF Donors Thank You Letter

Friday, 08 February 2019 by OSF Admin
Dear 2018 OSF Donors,

On behalf of the OSF board and staff, I also want to personally thank you for your generous support in 2018, and share with you a few of the highlights that you made possible with your donations.  2018 OSF highlights include the following:
  • Podcast Downloads/Views: The OSF obtained 6.6 million podcast downloads/views in 2018 (compared with 6.2 million in 2017).  This is particularly stunning to me, since Libsyn (our MP3 host) changed the way it counted downloads for 2018, estimating that it would reduce download counts by as much as 30%. In short, we had a phenomenal year of growth in terms of podcast listenership and viewership, and it is amazing to me that for as successful as we have been historically, we are still in “growth mode” and are now reaching hundreds of thousands of people each year.  THANK YOU, DEAR DONORS FOR MAKING THIS POSSIBLE!
  • YouTube/Facebook Live Views and Watch Time: We dramatically increased our presence on both YouTube and Facebook live in 2018, with 2.4 million video views in 2018, totaling a whopping 39.2 million minutes viewed of Mormon Stories Podcast video content.  This represents a 139% increase of Facebook Live video views, and a 27.3% increase in YouTube video views.
  • Podcast Episodes: 375 OSF podcast episodes were delivered across our active podcasts: Mormon Stories, Mormon Matters , A Thoughtful Faith, and Mormon Mental Health (vs. 343 in 2017).  This included Mormon Stories Podcast surpassing the 1,000th episode mark!  All of our OSF podcasts delivered amazing content this year.  In case you missed them, some of the most popular OSF podcast episodes of 2018 were:
    • Mormon Stories (John Dehlin)
      • Joseph Smith’s First Vision, and How the Church and Its Apologists Mislead (featuring Sandra Tanner)
      • Roger Hendrix: How a CES Director, Mormon Mission President, and Deseret Trust Company Trustee Lost his Testimony (Part 1, Part 2)
      • Dr. Bart Ehrman, New Testament Scholar
      • Tara Westover, Author of “Educated” (Part 1, Part 2)
      • Tova Mirvis: Losing Faith and Mixed-Faith Marriage as an Orthodox Jew (Part 1,Part 2)
      • Steven Hassan: What the Mormon Church can Learn from Cults to Do/Be Better
      • Remembering the Swedish Rescue, From Those Who Attended
      • Family Ties: Doug, Laurie, Julie, and Jerry’s Mormon Faith Crisis/Transition
      • The Excommunication of Bishop Sam Young
      • The Excommunication of Bishop Bill Reel (Part 1, Part 2)
    • Mormon Matters (Dan Wotherspoon)
      • An Open-Hearted Wrestle with Temples, Tithing, and Other Church and Personal Priorities
        Featuring Laurie Lee Hall and Jim Smithson
      • “Revelation” and “The Will of the Lord”: Changing Rhetoric and its Effects in Today’s Mormonism (Featuring Mark Crego and Jack Naneek)
      • Exclusivism (Featuring Jennifer Finlayson-Fife and Lisa Tensmeyer Hansen)
    • A Thoughtful Faith (Gina Colvin)
      • Taking the Mormons to Court: Defending Sexual Abuse Victims against the LDS Church: Tim Kosnoff
      • Serving Up Children to Pedophiles: The LDS Church and the West Virginia Michael Jensen Sex Abuse Case: Tom and Juliette
      • The Sins of Brigham: The granddaughters of Brigham’s wives speak out: Jacobs, Jensen & Chamberlain
    • Mormon Mental Health (Natasha Helfer Parker)
      • Prior Bishop Speaks to how Church Addresses Sexual Abuse Cases
      • Women’s Anatomy of Arousal: Secret Maps to Buried Pleasure with Sheri Winston
      • Why the Church Holds the Positions it Does on Gay Marriage
  • Faith Crisis Support Events: Several successful, life-changing faith crisis/transition workshops were held across the U.S. in 2018, including St. George, Sacramento, Idaho Falls, Houston, Portland, Park City, Boise, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and the Bahamas.  We were also extra-grateful to extend our events reach to Switzerland and Sweden in 2018, providing much needed support to our European listeners and supporters.
  • OSF Sexual Harassment Policy Implemented: We were very happy to hire a professional human resources consultant in 2018 to design and implement a Sexual Harassment policy for the OSF, which can be located here.
  • Web Site Renovations: With your support we renovated the look and feel of the http://mormonstories.org web site.  One feature we’re particularly proud of is our “Top 25 Most Popular/Important Episodes” page, which allows new listeners/viewers to get up to speed quickly on some of our most important episodes.
  • Mormon Stories 2018 Billboard Campaign: For the first time in history, we were able to generate enough financial support to launch a billboard campaign along I-15 in downtown Salt Lake City for Mormon Stories Podcast.  This campaign resulted in an 18% increase in new visitors to mormonstories.org over the previous year (same time period), and my web administrator attributes this increase largely to the successful billboard campaign.  So thank you!
  • Media Recognition: We were thrilled to have our work featured in the HBO Documentary “Believer,” which was featured at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2018.
  • Staff and Board Changes:
    • We were saddened to lose OSF staff members Amy Grubbs, Tim Coray, and Sharon Price in 2018. We are incredibly grateful for their contributions to the OSF in 2018.  Additional details about the restructuring can be found here.  
    • We are also deeply grateful to Lee Stowell, Roger McOmber, and Craig Woodfield who transitioned off of the OSF Board this year after several years of dedicated service.  We are incredibly thankful for all they have done to make the OSF what it is today.
    • Current OSF board members are as follows: Jeremy Macdonald, Kim Turner, Nadine Hansen, and Steve Holbrook, with Craig Woodfield remaining advisor to the board as head of the Finance Committee.  For any board questions, please email: openstoriesboard@gmail.com.
    • We remain deeply grateful to OSF Staff member Cody Layton for his continued support as podcast producer (video/audio production) for Mormon Stories Podcast.  Cody does amazing work.
  • 2019 Initiatives: As always, we are super excited for what lies ahead.  In addition to many new OSF podcast episodes in 2019, we are excited to announce the following:
    • Examining Mormon Truth Claims Initiative: Recently, a set of essays were donated to the Mormon Stories web site to provide text-based historical information regarding central Mormon truth claims.  These essays were designed to tell the story of various Mormon Truth Claims in a way that many hoped the LDS Church’s “Gospel Topics Essays” would have.  Some of the topics covered in this project include:
      • Joseph Smith’s Participation in Folk Magic and Treasure Digging
      • A Deep Dive into Book of Mormon Origins
      • The Priesthood Restoration
      • The First Vision
      • The Book of Abraham, and
      • PolygamyWith your support, our plan for 2019 is to begin conducting in-depth podcast interviews with Mormon scholars around these (and other) historical issues, enhance these essays, and continue our billboard campaign along the I-15 corridor to promote our coverage of these issues.  We have already kicked off this initiative with groundbreaking interviews with scholars Dan Vogel (Folk Magic/Treasure Digging,Book of Mormon), John Hamer (Folk Magic/Treasure Digging, Book of Mormon), and Kathleen Melanakos.
    • Expanded Billboard Campaign: The monthly cost for running a billboard in its current location is $5,800/month. We have already raised $21,420 for this initiative in 2019 (which will carry us at least through March, 2019), and are hoping to raise the remainder to allow this campaign to continue for the full year.  If you are interested in donating to this project, you can do so here.  Please know that 100% of donations to the billboard campaign will go directly to fund the billboards.

In conclusion, we want to thank you so sincerely for all you have done to help us fulfill the OSF mission: “To promote understanding, healing, growth, and community for people experiencing or impacted by religious transition.”  We continue to consider this work to be sacred.

I would love to have breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a phone chat with as many of you as I can in 2019 to thank you for your ongoing support – so please reach out if and when you have time and/or are in the Salt Lake City area.  Also, if you have any questions, concerns, ideas, or suggestions for me, our podcasts, or for the OSF, I hope that you will not hesitate to reach out at: staff@openstoriesfoundation.org.  There is little that I love more professionally than interacting with you, our amazing donors.

We look forward to a fantastic 2019 and beyond.  Please stay tuned for more good things!

Sincerely,

John Dehlin and the OSF Board of Directors

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11-27-2018 Statement from the Open Stories Foundation Board of Directors

Tuesday, 27 November 2018 by OSF Admin

November 26, 2018

The Board of the Open Stories Foundation presents this document to answer questions about recent changes to our structure and strategy with the Foundation.

Current Open Stories Foundation Board: At present, the Open Stories Foundation Board is comprised of: Jeremy Macdonald, Kim Turner, Nadine Hansen, and Steve Holbrook. Roger McOmber recently stepped down from the OSF and we express gratitude to him for his many years of service. Craig Woodfield, after years of service on the Board, and more recently as, Board Chairman, has stepped down. We are pleased to announce that he will continue to serve on our Financial Committee. Craig has our deepest appreciation for the years of service to the OSF. Jeremy Macdonald is now serving as Interim Chairman.

Statement of Fiduciary Responsibility*: It is the Board’s responsibility to ensure that the Open Stories Foundation operates with financial integrity and in accordance with its values. The financial activities are overseen by an independent public accounting firm: Allred Jackson.*  Annual results will continue to be reported in the annual reports.

Note: The OSF has changed its accounting firm to Shaw & Co since the release of this document.

Financial Oversight and Transparency: The Open Stories Foundation Board provides strong oversight over OSF finances while providing donors with financial transparency of OSF operations. The Board’s finance committee requires processes and controls for approvals and reviews performance monthly. These processes and controls include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Utilize a qualified, professional accountant to keep the books and records of the foundation.  
  • Engage a reputable and qualified independent CPA firm to ensure tax returns are prepared correctly and filed on time.  
  • Ensure each OSF disbursement is recorded by the OSF accountant and reviewed by the Director of Operations (or other designated OSF staff member).
  • Ensure employee expenses are reviewed by someone other than the employee incurring the expenses.
  • Closely monitor employee and podcaster compensation, ensuring amounts paid are consistent with compensation levels approved by the Board.
  • Establish executive compensation levels by the OSF Board.
  • Implement an annual budget process where the annual budget is reviewed and approved by the Board and budget to actual results are regularly reported to the Board of Directors.
  • Require the firm’s independent accounting firm to perform regular review procedures over every OSF disbursement and report the results of these procedures directly to the Finance Committee.   
  • Ensure other key accounting policies and controls are implemented (donor account and bank reconciliations etc) as needed to ensure the financial information reported to donors and included in regulatory tax filings are accurate.  
  • Publish, at least annually, key financial information, prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, to OSFs donors.  This information includes all executive director compensation for the year, donations and other revenues for each major OSF activity (podcasts, events etc), cash balances and other key balance sheet and revenue and expense information.  This information will be provided directly to donors as requested and also available on the OSF website https://www.openstoriesfoundation.org/finances/.   
  • Provide a forum for donors to ask questions and request additional information about OSF finances.  Donors can email these questions or requests to the Board’s email address at openstoriesboard@gmail.com.

Sexual Harassment Policy*: The Open Stories Foundation Sexual Harassment Policy can be found here.* Claims of sexual harassment can be sent to the Incident Response Team at irtteamosf@gmail.com. The Incident Response Team will investigate all issues and maintain the confidentiality of the submitter.  If any person violates the Sexual Harassment Policy they will be subject to corrective action. To date, the Board reports that the OSF is a harassment free workplace and no allegations of sexual harassment have been sustained.

* Note: The OSF Sexual Harassment Policy has been updated since this document was released.

Conflict of Interest*:  The Open Stories Foundation requires past and future Directors and Officers to adhere to its Conflict of Interest Policy*. This policy protects the interests of OSF when OSF enters into transactions or arrangements that might benefit the private interest of an officer or director of OSF. Furthermore, the policy requires disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest, and the board determines if it is indeed a conflict of interest.

Podcasters are contractors to the OSF and are not restricted by the OSF to do other for-profit activities.  Podcasters may mention their for-profit activities so long as they also state that the activity mentioned is for-profit and not affiliated with OSF.  They are not allowed to mention details of the activities, such as dates, locations, or pricing; and must direct listeners to visit a non-OSF location for further information.

* Note: The OSF Sexual Harassment Policy has been updated since this document was released.

Executive Director and Podcaster Compensation: All Executive Director and podcaster compensation is required to be approved on an annual basis by the OSF Board of Directors.  Currently, no podcaster or OSF employee (including the Executive Director) is a member of the OSF Board of Directors. If a podcaster or OSF employee joins the Board in the future they would be excluded from this approval process.

Executive Director Compensation to date: Key considerations in determining the appropriate level of Executive Director compensation include the following:

  • Financial performance of the Foundation, operating budget and available cash flow.
  • Job requirements and performance.
  • Market value of the Executive Director to the organization.

Prior to 2017, the overriding factor in the determination of the Executive Directors’ compensation was the foundation’s cash flow.  While the other factors likely warranted higher compensation level during this time period, the Board capped Executive Director compensation at a lower amount based on budget and cash flow limitations.

Beginning in 2017, after a sustained period of strong operating performance and positive cash flows, the Board concluded that the Foundation could sustain higher levels of Executive Director Compensation.  As a result, increased compensation was approved in 2017 consistent with the Boards determination of the Executive Directors performance and value to the organization. The growth and strong financial performance of Mormon Stories Podcast, which is hosted by the Executive Director was also a primary factor considered by the Board to warrant increased compensation.  Mormon Stories podcast has historically generated the vast majority of the Foundations donations and has subsidized the other OSF sponsored podcasts and activities.

In 2018, the Board changed the Executive Director’s compensation method from a standard salary plus bonus structure to a structure more aligned each major role performed by the Executive Director.  Under this new structure, his compensation includes the following components.

  • A salary for this role as Executive Director (fixed at $75,000).
  • A fixed fee paid for each event he leads for OSF.  This fee is consistent with the fees paid to other professionals who participate in these events.  The number of events is limited to those approved by the Board, which provides an effective cap on the event compensation. [at the time of this decision, OSF was doing events, as of this announcement, however, the OSF is no longer doing events]
  • Variable compensation for hosting Mormon Stories Podcast equal to 75% of any contributions received directly for the Mormon Stories podcast, subject to a maximum compensation amount established by the Board.  No compensation is received by the Executive Director for donations made to OSF or podcasts other than Mormon Stories.
  • A discretionary bonus as determined by the Board based on his performance as Executive Director.

In setting this compensation level, the Board intentionally established caps on event and podcast related compensation to ensure that total compensation didn’t exceed a pre-determined budgeted amount for the year.  As a result, Executive Director compensation is expected to be approximately $200,000 in 2018.

Changes in Staff at the OSF: As various plans were presented for sustaining both the mission, growth and goals of the OSF, staff changes were implemented to simplify and financially strengthen the foundation. We extend our deepest appreciation to our former office staff and the excellent work Tim Coray, Sharon Price, led by Amy Grubbs, contributed to the health and growth of the OSF.

Donor Feedback: The OSF Board welcomes any questions or concerns from donors.  Please direct emails to: openstoriesboard@gmail.com.

Jeremy Macdonald
Kim Turner
Nadine Hansen
Steve Holbrook

* Updated 10/17/2019 to incorporate new accounting firm name, new sexual harassment policy, and new conflict of interest policy – to avoid confusion, and to be fully transparent.  The previous full version of this document can be found here.

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10-30-2018 Statement from the Open Stories Foundation Board of Directors

Monday, 29 October 2018 by OSF Admin

October 30, 2018

The mission of the Open Stories Foundation (OSF) is to promote understanding, healing, growth, and community for people experiencing or impacted by religious transition. To continue achieving that mission the OSF has undergone a self-evaluation of its services, and the organizational structure needed to deliver those services. The purpose of the evaluation process was to ensure that the OSF was creating the most value from the donations received.  The OSF Board ran this process of self-evaluation, with inputs from staff, including John Dehlin and the Director of Operations. The criteria were to make sure that: 1) the mission was best fulfilled, 2) the management model was sustainable, and 3) that the organization was financially solvent. The board unanimously approved the changes from the self-evaluation.

The changes can be summarized by:

  1. The elimination of the events program (OSF-sponsored workshop and retreats),
  2. A change in our podcaster compensation model, and
  3. An evaluation of our board structure.

Workshops/Retreats. Since 2015, the OSF has supported an events program (workshops and retreats) for people affected by religious transition.  While it has been successful enough financially to cover the cost of the staff supporting it, it is not a core service to the OSF and the board has decided to eliminate it.  Going forward, OSF podcasters will be free to host their own events; they will be responsible for ensuring that their events are high quality and financially sustainable. Since the OSF does not need the staff to support the events program any longer, these staff positions have been eliminated.  The Board would like to officially thank Tim Coray and Sharon Price who have performed this labor with love. This change also significantly reduces the amount of support required from the Director of Operations. The Board is still working on defining the responsibilities of the the Director of Operations role going forward.

Without the salary costs of events staff and management, the overhead of the OSF is minimized and financially viable. The OSF will continue to employ a part-time operations person and a part-time video/audio editor.

Podcaster Compensation. Podcasters are contractors to the OSF, and the Board has approved a new, simplified compensation model for podcasters that will align podcaster incentives to create the best content regularly, and to help to ensure financial sustainability of the OSF.  The plan for 2019 is for all podcasters to receive 75% of the revenue designated for their specific podcast by donors, up to a cap of $200,000/year. Donations can be made through the respective podcast website(s), or to the OSF where checks can be designated to the specific podcaster. Ultimately, this model has the potential to increase the benefits to people experiencing religious transitions.

With regards to John’s compensation, he is serving as interim director of OSF until a new director is hired. He will continue to receive a salary as interim director, and will also be compensated as a podcaster.  His total compensation for 2018 is not expected to exceed $200,000.

Board Organization:  OSF Board roles are intended to last two years, and several board members have been serving much longer than that. Roger McOmber was ready to transition off the board after three years of service, but agreed to stay on and help with the evaluation process.  Now that the evaluation is complete, so is Roger’s service. Craig Woodfield also has three years of board service and has transitioned out of this role and will continue as finance committee chair. The remaining board members would like to express our gratitude for their service and examples.  Their guidance has helped grow the OSF and show us the way.

The OSF board will determine how many board members are required to support the foundation after this transition.  It is possible that fewer board members will be needed, and we will make updates as any changes occur. It is worth noting that John had previously been a board member and voluntarily stepped down from this position earlier in the year, allowing for greater board independence, and allowing him more time to focus on his podcast and his individual endeavors. John’s exact, if any, involvement with the board going forward will be part of the Board’s ongoing evaluation process.

Conflict of Interest Policy: OSF is a non-profit and will promote understanding, healing, growth, and community for people by enabling its podcasters to have greater impact. The OSF will not invest time or resources into any for-profit endeavors of its own or of its podcasters.

* Note: The updated OSF Conflict of Interest Policy can be found here.

Going Forward: OSF will fulfill its mission by focusing on all its podcasters. We hope to help our podcasters increase the quality of their content thereby increasing the number of people that they are helping. Transitions like this are always bittersweet and saying goodbye to friends and employees is difficult. We are very grateful especially for Amy Grubbs who managed staff and operations full-time for the last two years.  Her vision and efforts have helped thousands of people.

Please reach out to the board at openstoriesboard@gmail.com for additional questions.  Please also look forward to our year end report for more information.

Sincerely,

Board Secretary Jeremy Macdonald on behalf of the Board of the Open Stories Foundation including:
Kim Turner
Craig Woodfield
Nadine Hansen
Steve Holbrook.

PDF Version of Board Statement

* Updated 10/17/2019 to include new Conflict of Interest statement, to avoid confusion, and to provide full transparency.

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