FSP Ops Report - 3/13/04

FSP Operations Report – 3/13/04

1. Introduced the Ask the Leadership forum
2. Introduced the Activist Center forum
3. Set up conference calling services & began biweekly staff meetings
4. Created organization chart, job descriptions
5. Began transitioning finances to new Treasurer
6. New Publicity Director (Seth Atwood), transition in progress, mostly complete
7. New Director of Member Services (Tim Condon), transition complete
8. New Quill Editor (Neil Alexander), transition complete?
9. New Booth Materials and Special Projects Coordinator (Brian Sullivan), transition complete
10. Formed the core Development Team (Varrin Swearingen, Alan Weiss, Keith Murphy, Seth Atwood, Amanda Phillips)
11. Began search for Director of Development, created initial fundraising plan/outline
12. Created draft budget, with input from departments, almost ready for BoD review
13. Started working on no-vote response tracking (Non-voters have responded verbally, via snail mail, via e-mail, and have also updated their membership info online.)
14. Began organizing the media tree, established iSendit account
15. Represented the FSP at the Winter Escape, interviewed with Reason Mag
16. Chronicle news journal piece
17. Established local NH groups & group leaders, started regular meetings
18. Established a ton of new local groups across the nation
19. Recruited lots of new community liaisons
20. Lined up a bunch of speaking engagements at state LP conventions
21. Began making plans for display at national LP convention

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FSP Ops Report - 4/11/04

FSP Operations Report – 4/11/04

ADMINISTRATION

• completed the Friend sign-up page.
• enhanced website with lots of new gizmos, including new Site Index & expanded top menus.
• appointed new Executive Assistant, Sean B, transition complete.
• began the Train Your Replacement program.
• transitioned to free conference calling services.
• changed FSP address to New Hampshire!
• developed Activist Activator volunteer tracking tool.

FINANCE

• completed transition to new Treasurer, Karen P.
• completed FY2005 budget.
• appointed new Director of Development, Lisa G, transition complete.
• morphed the Executive Search Team for Director of Development into the Development Team (Seth A, Eddie B, Keith M, Amanda P, Karen P, Varrin S, Alan W).
• developed FSP Travel Policy   (PDF)
• designed annual fundraising plan and budget, including quotes from vendors for printing and mail service for direct mail appeals.
• began designing database for accounting's use in recording and tracking gift data and donors.

OUTREACH

• Advertising

  • redesigned tri-fold brochure (PDF) with new professional design.
  • set up accounts with Insight Magazine, HSLDA.
  • created new banner designs for Insight, HSLDA.
  • scheduled banners/newsletter advertising beginning on 4/15 on Insight.com.
  • continued negotiations for placement on boortz.com.

• Local Activity

  • represented the FSP at various outreach events this month: Reason Weekend, Berks PA Libertarians, LPPA Convention, LPVA Convention, MDLP Convention, NJLP Convention, LPMN Convention, LPMA Convention, Willamette University, Varrin's radio appearance.
  • planned future outreach events: tax-day protests, Fountainhead Institute, American Arms Collector Convention, national NRA Convention, VTLP Convention, OHLP, national NORML Convention, RLC Convention, national LP Convention, FreedomFest, LPCO, Fox Valley LP, Freedom Summit.
  • continued to stock & organize booth materials.
  • located new Local Group Leaders for NE, SD, ND, and Southern California.
  • planned local fundraiser dinner for 4/17 at UMBC, Maryland.
  • created web page where local groups can post proven outreach ideas.
  • held many local group meetings, providing social interaction and allowing prospective members to meet current members.
  • implemented new clickable map on Local Groups page.
  • began development of Speakers Bureau web page.
  • President traveled to south Florida & met with Floridian porcupines.

• New Hampshire Activity

  • kicked PorcFest planning into overdrive. Lined up all speakers. Saturday night party planning is ongoing. Tim continues to "spam" (advertise the event) every Monday. 130 attendees RSVPed.
  • formed the NH Welcome Wagon consisting of seven regional NH Groups. The NH Groups started regular meetings this month. Still deciding on a better name for the Welcome Wagon.
  • developed NH Welcome Wagon web page, not yet announced.

• Publicity

  • FSP CD/DVD for presentations is under development
  • continued Media Tree reorganization, almost conplete. (This was a massive project.)
  • endorsed by award-winning libertarian science fiction author L Neil Smith and also by Republican Liberty Caucus.
  • worked on obtaining many other high profile endorsements still in progress.
  • ran member-initiated ads on fark.com and somethingawful.com.
  • conducted Killington outreach, shadow ad campaign. Began planning for the Killington Airlift.
  • tested pilot of an FSP internet talk radio show. FSP Member hosted two hour pilot. Will make go/nogo decision after receiving proposal and cost.
  • featured in Readers Digest article, also discussed briefly on Rush Limbaugh program.
  • obtained mailing list of 20,000 Massachusetts Libertarians, planning direct mail campaigns in Mass and other states.

– Amanda Phillips

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FSP Ops Report - 5/16/04

FSP Operations Report – 5/16/04

[Note: The board asked for a different format (less detail and more summarized information) so here goes.]

Overall: We have reorganized quite a bit and have expanded the volunteer base of the organization. Now that we have laid a lot of groundwork, we are well poised to move forward and focus on our primary recruitment goals.

Administration: Evan N has agreed to be our internal Legal Advisor. Tom P continuously updates and improves our website. Adam R has agreed to be our new IT Director with a term expiring 10/1. Adam has drafted a coordinated IT plan with the top priority to maximize website uptime. Other IT goals include expanding IT support for member services, operations, and marketing. We are transitioning to a shared hosting solution with simpli.biz and pair.com.

Finance: Lisa G has the fundraising letter ready to go to the printer, and has planned some good fundraising activities for the PorcFest. Our top priority for fundraising is getting that fundraising letter out in the mail and starting the phone calls. Another goal is to improve our merchandise store (with help from IT) and then expand our available merchandise.

Outreach: We had some great events this month: NORML conference (Paul T & Amanda P), VTLP (Alan W & Amanda P), and FreedomFest (Jason S & Seth A). We continued to make great media contacts and have several endorsements in the works. Our Reason Magazine article is coming out very soon. Our media tree reorganization is almost complete. (Thanks, Tim!) Steve C has agreed to take over as Publicity Director temporarily until we find someone to take it on long-term. And we are ready to roll out the Golden Porcupine recruiting incentives. Our top priorities in this area are finding a long-term Publicity Director, garnering more media attention, and continuing to get the FSP's name out at libertarian events. (Upcoming events include the LP Convention, Randall's Walk, and the Porcupine Festival.)

– Amanda Phillips, FSP President

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FSP Ops Report - 6/15/04

FSP Operations Report – 6/15/04

• Overall: We spent this month welcoming and "breaking in" Alan W, our new VP, while generating some great publicity from our big media events. Leadership attention was mainly focused on our two biggest Outreach events: Randall's Walk for Liberty and the National LP Convention. We are still adjusting to many personnel changes, and learning how to best function as a large group of geographically separated volunteers. While still laying needed groundwork, we are increasingly able to focus more on our primary recruitment goals.

• Administration: Adam R and Tom P have prepared to move our server to our new, shared hosting environment. Adam's goal is to move the server over before the PorcFest. We administered a board vote, created lots of new database reports, and developed our Greeter program a bit more. Kate R finished her (soon to be released) report on the non-voter postcards. Kate R and Kat D also developed mailings to be sent out to all new participants.

  Our top priorities for Administration are to complete the server move and to help Finance develop the online merchandise store.

• Finance: Lisa G and Amy K have finished the design and have sent the fundraising letter off to the printer. Lisa G has coordinated some excellent fundraising activities for the PorcFest. Trevor S has begun work on a (much needed) new & improved online merchandise store. Karen P has researched the different merchant credit card processing options and we will soon decide on a processor.

  Our top priorities for Fundraising are to mail out that fundraising letter, begin phone calls to our potential donors, and develop a better online merchandise store.

• Outreach: We had some more great events this month: the Walk for Liberty (Randall Wolfe), the CO LP convention (James Reyes), the RLC Convention (Varrin S), the FL Young Republicans (Tim C), the International Blade Show (Evan N), and the national LP Convention (special thanks to those Porcs who helped make our LP outreach a success: Mike Badnarik, John Babiarz, Barry Dively, Chris Harrison, Nick Karem, Tom Knapp, Tamara Millay, Keith Murphy, Gary Nolan, Amanda Phillips, Jason Sorens, Glenn Tatum, Rich Tomasso, Paul Tripp, Justin Van Vorst, Alan Weiss, Howard Wilson, Amber ?, Daniel ?, Clayton ?).

  We continue to make great media contacts and have several endorsements in the works. Liberty Magazine featured us on the front page of their latest issue. 60 Minutes has expressed interest in featuring us on their program. Our Reason Magazine article will be out in the fall. We've had several articles published in various places online. Our media tree reorganization is almost complete. (Thanks again, Tim C!) Steve C has masterfully filled the role as Publicity Director, and has some targeted articles and mailings planned. We'll roll out the Golden Porcupine recruiting incentives this week. We received endorsements from the MN LP and William A Dunn.

  Amy K continues to crank out some great advertising projects. We have 25,000 full color brochures printed and ready for distribution. We ran Reason Ad #1 and are working on Reason Ad #2. The rough layouts for the FSP Handbook are in progress. The FSP Media Kit is nearing completion. And Amy has designed and proposed a new bumper sticker.

  Our top priorities for Outreach are to find a long-term Publicity Director, garner more media attention, and continue to get the FSP's name out at libertarian events. Our next big event is the Porcupine Festival. Many, many, many thanks to Tim C, Dave M, and George R for all of their hard work in planning and organizing this big event.

– Amanda Phillips, FSP President

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FSP Ops Report - 7/3/05

FSP Operations Report – 7/03/05

• President
  • Resumed Ops meetings, first meeting went great, scheduled for 2nd Tuesday of each month before Board meets on 3rd Sunday
  • Clarified FSP mission with Ops Team
  • Solicited feedback from Ops Team about Volunteer Coordinator - Dan McGuire and Tim Baumann suggested - will talk with each at PorcFest and find out who will best fill the role
  • Solicited job description updates and staff directory info from Ops Team
  • Planning for outreach at upcoming Freedom Summit & Rand Camp
  • Asked Ops Team to look at strategic goals on the website & think about how their dept contributes to the strategic goals. Think about goals for depts.

• Participant Services (Brian S)
  • Continue discussions with Jean, Neil and Varrin about the evolving role of the FSP News and the Quill
  • FSP News will be consistently released every month on 15th
  • Develop the FSP News within its simple email format
  • Revise the Participant Services page(s) on the website to provide more depth of information, options and links to relevant areas
  • Raise the level of Participant awareness, participation and retention

• Advertising (Bob H)
  • Radio: Free Talk Live
  • Libertarian Party Newsletters (print): CA CO MD NJ VA
  • Web:
    • Google Ad Words "Freedom"
    • This is True(mailing list)
    • Podcast Alley
  • College classifieds
    • Boston University MA
    • Northeastern University MA
    • University of Mass. MA
    • Columbia University NY
    • SUNY - Buffalo NY
    • SUNY - Albany NY
    • Syracuse University NY
    • University of Delaware DE
    • University of Maryland MD
    • Rutgers University NJ
    • Penn State University PA
    • Temple University PA
    • University of Pittsburgh PA
    • George Mason University VA
    • University of Virginia VA
    • Virginia Commonwealth University VA
    • Virginia Tech VA
    • West Virginia University WV

• Speakers Bureau (Phil D)
  • Tried to cover as many of the LP conventions as possible.
  • Had a number of speaking engagements.
  • WV LP Convention needs someone (maybe me).
  • Trevor Snyder to Revoluticon in Oct.

• Events (Sandy P)
  • Went through list of outstanding LP conventions in 2005; sent emails to assorted LP officers
  • Tried unsuccessfully to get a volunteer to the Alabama LP convention
  • Tried unsuccessfully to get a volunteer to a weeklong event at the Independent Institute in NorCal
  • Tried repeatedly to find out if we should have a vendor table at Freedom Summit; have scrapped that
  • Met lots of Porcs in person in NH; more events coming
  • observed NH Free's civil disobedience at Manchester Airport; they are making every effort not to use the FSP name, even on their discussion forum
  • Amanda Phillips at Freedom Summit in a week
  • NorCal group will participate, unofficially, in San Francisco Gay Pride Parade in a week
  • At present I have no access to membership database
  • Will call Seth Cohn to discuss design of Events database
  • Will look into OPH, write boilerplate to send to FSP volunteers prior to events
  • Will start compiling list of past events (haven't been tracking this so far, except for LP conventions)
  • Will join PorcFest list and see if I can provide assistance to Varrin re: publicizing PorcFest

• PorcFest (Varrin S)
  1. Details of Laser Tag have been firmed up and appear on the schedule
  2. 2A activites have now been fairly clearly described to me. Mon-Thurs there will be various activities at the sand pit organized by Bill Walker and assisted by various helpers he has recruited. That needs to be added into the schedule. Friday, Tony Lekas is teaching intro to shooting for beginners which has already been added to the schedule.
  3. Details of Michael Badnarik's constitution classes have been mostly firmed up. One will be held Saturday, the 23rd in Concord (probably at the State House). The other wil be held at Roger's Campground in the hall on Wednesday. Both of those need to be updated on the schedule page and announced.
  4. Edwina has lined up tour guides for most of the NH towns that people have indicated an interest in. The 'organized' tours will be mostly on Thursday the 28th. Details for each tour will be provided upon checkin at the welcome tent.
  5. The RLC contingent for the Parties promoting freedom session has been determined. Phil Blumel (alternate Board Member) and Bill Westmiller (National Chair) will be presenting. Bill need's to be announced and both need to be added to the schedule.
  6. The oft discussed polyamory social has been added to the schedule. The seekers gathering has been eliminated from the schedule. That leaves just three of our community groups offering organized meetings at this time: Polyamory (Fri eve), Atheists (Sun morn), and Christians (Sun morn).
  7. The Saturday speaker lineup is done (whew!).
  8. LP news upgraded our June spot to full color (thank you LP!). Our advertising for this year's fest consisted of 3x LP News ads, 1x Reason Magazine, and 1x NHToDo. Thanks again to Mike Puschaver for producing the ads!
  9. I've reconfirmed that Ken Colby is providing the sound system for the hall. Bob Hull will have his portable sound system available. Poker Face will have their sound system set up for Friday night at the Pavillion. We would like to figure out a way to broad cast the audio from the hall to the Pavillion on Saturday (~100 yards?). Anyone with a reliable cost effective solution, please contact me.
  10. Publicity is ramping up finally. Morey Straus and Seth Cohn have agreed to help out, and Steve Cobb has pitched in his proofreading talents. They may need assistance with distribution.
  11. There will be a 8.5" x 5.5" full color program given to each attendee upon checkin. I have solicited advertising to pay for the printing. I believe we're close to having the whole cost of it covered. Any additional advertising leads are appreciated. Prices range from $30 (banner) to $150 (half page - 4"x5"). The deadline for payment and art submission is June 30th. Contact me for details.
  12. Though I have yet to commit to any kind of involvement in Porc Fest '06, I'd like to make sure that the '06 team is in the best possible position to have a great festival. In order to do that, we should begin discussing dates for 2006 right now so that we can make reservations early and get the cabins and hall for all the right dates. (Yes, I'm starting '06 planning and '05 hasn't even happened yet ;)
  13. During the festival, we'll need helpers for various tasks like staffing the welcome tent, the FSP merchandise table, hall set-up (at least twice). Anyone who wants to help, please *do*! :)
  14. As of today, the We'll Be There list is at 281, a 58% increase from last year's festival. We're not sure yet but this may well wind up being the best attended libertarian event in 2005... ;)

• Community Liaisons (Chris H)
  • We presently have 20 LLs with many categories open for additional LLs. Of the 20 presently filled categories, 12 have websites. Some of the LLs are quite active with back and fourth communication on the websites.
  • I definitey need to be more proactive in recruiting LLs to fill the vacancies. My plan is to advertise on our site for members to get involved. You might remember that I had planned to have a LIAISON CORNERS on the FSP site. Well, that is coming to fruition and I want to have advertisements in other areas on the FSP as well. Will talk with Tom Parker when he gets back from vacation and get this handled.
  • In general, I am not pleased with liaison activity and will work towards more activity in the coming months.

• NH Info (Seth C)
  • Spun off Welcome Wagon to Margot with mixed resistance from some existing WW members. (was on my Jan-March goal list for NH Info)
  • Contacted Bill Dampier prior to his article about the FSP and ensured that he didn't repeat incorrect myth-understandings and that he explain the FSP relationship to those doing activism, etc.
  • Sending out Newsletter on monthly basis. Now in Brian's hands, but still technically involved. Activist Army - preparing and sending out AA assignments thru April 19th. Done.
  • In the middle of changing NH Info webpage from single long page to a group of pages. New focus is 5 parts: 1) Why NH for the FSP? 2) Why NH for you? 3) How to visit NH? 4) How to find a job/apartment/etc to be able to move? 5) Ok, I'm here, now what? (How to get connected)
  • Publicity for PorcFest
  • Arranging Michael Badnarik classes before/during PorcFest time
  • Continued delayed goal: Begin regular 'newsfeed' of NH related Activity to allow people to know what is happening. Revamping the website to allow this should happen first for best results.
  • Delayed goal: Prepare business focused 'Why NH?' document to hand out. Needs volunteer.

• Golden Porcupine (Phil D)
  • 4 people qualified for the GP.
  • Verifications done by Kat Dillon.
  • Certificates mailed out by Joel.
  • Joel Rauch turned over GP program to Phil Denisch.
  • Purchased 30 GP pins (no cost to FSP), sent to 4 current qualifiers.
  • Received blank certificates from Joel.
  • Kate Rick to perform verifications (my assumption - have not contacted her directly, yet).
  • Pondered ways to promote the program.
  • Need some sort of advertising to participants.
  • Is it too late to get special recognition for them at the PorcFest?

• Development (Varrin S)
  1. Donations logged for May were $6857.41. That included an estimated value of $3,000.00 for two months of radio advertising on http://todayshottestmusic.com. It is likely that we would not have spent that money out of our budget without that donation and its true value (in terms of sign-ups) remains unknown. Without that contribution, receipts were $3857.41 in cash and in-kind contributions (items that would have been reimbursed from FSP funds). That represents a steady decrease from the previous two months.
  2. The total receipts from the fundraising letter to FSP participants and the two outreach mailings (MA Libertarians and Badnarik supporters) exceeded $20,000 and the drive was 'officially' ended.
  3. Brian Sullivan assisted this month in several ways including continuing to email thank-yous to paypal donors and writing the website thank you page for the fundraising period. Many thanks for his help.
  4. The donor thank-you and recognition program continues to produce good results. We have had many repeat donors and many donors step up their levels of donation. We now have 16 large ($500+) donors who have been invited to the Leadership Luncheon at Porc Fest. It appears all of the FSP leadership except for one of the department heads will be present.
  5. Chris Lawless continued to work on affiliate programs, though no new programs were initiated. Thanks to Chris for his work.
  6. No substantially new activity is planned (or has been accomplished so far) for June. Receipts appear to be significantly down.
  7. There will be fundraising activity at Porc Fest. Items for the raffle and/or silent auction have already been offered and I will be soliciting more over the coming weeks (leads appreciated). Ideally, the net proceeds from Porc Fest fundraising will be earmarked for Porc Fest '06.
  8. Further fund raising efforts will be evaluated after Porc Fest.
  9. Sometime soon, we need to produce a higher quality sales piece for use in direct mail appeals (both for new participants and new donors). It appears unlikely that I'll have substantial time to work on that project until October. I could, however, oversee and/or participate in a less pivotal role in the production of such a piece between now and then. Barring one or more experienced and motivated volunteers, I would recommend hiring a professional designer / advertising person to produce the piece (with our help). Once we have a suitable piece designed, we should do another mailing to one of several targeted lists which we can obtain.

• Merchandise (Phil D)
  • Heather Talley doing shipping (She was a little bit behind - personal and medical issues)
  • Have not received Heather's report from last month on sales. (Will get it in a few days)
  • May Approx: 11 sales, avg sale $20, total gross $330
  • Added documents (FSP Tri-folds) package to store page.
  • Added Netflix affiliation to store page (Steve's idea) (We could use a person to coordinate all the affiliation programs (iGive, Netflix, LFB, Amazon, etc.) Where we are:
  • Heather is back up to speed on shipping.
  • We did sell one Porcupine Xing sign this month!
  • Providing monthly donation details from PayPal account to Fundraising dept. (ongoing, since Mar.)
  • June current: 8 sales, avg sale $15, total gross $120
  • Pocket Constitutions and Puzzle Key chains (top sellers)
  • Tee Shirts and Bumper Stickers (close second)
  • Hemp Blend golf shirts to be added shortly (Heather is getting photos for us)
  • Spazzy Porc Bumpers stickers to be added shortly
  • Possible new item suggestions:
    • Hats
    • Wooden nickels
    • Rubber/silicone bracelets
    • Mountain View Bumper Sticker
    • Car emblems
    • Buttons (I could get a machine and make them as needed - might be a good way to try new designs)
    • Blankets stadium style acrylic (rather expensive-minimum order 300 @ ~$20 each - but fitting solution for those who complain about the cold :)
    • Buck knives (Evan Nappen has details)
  • PorcFest merchandise all taken care of (except raffle tickets, working on them), most of the items are at Varrin's for transport to PorcFest (Posters, Shirts, Tote bags).
  • Regular FSP merchandise will be transported to the PorcFest by Heather. We need to provide people to do the sales - she will be busy selling Bureaucrash items. (I'll do it if I have to, but I'd rather hear the speakers on Saturday, if I can - Working with Varrin to find volunteers).

FSP Ops Report - 8/08/04

FSP Operations Report – 8/08/04

• Overall: We had a very successful PorcFest 2004, thanks to Tim C, Dave M, George R, and countless volunteers. We received a lot of positive media coverage following the PorcFest. We have brainstormed some new recruiting strategies, and will continue to focus on recruitment going forward. We'll continue to encourage local activism to spread the word about the FSP and also to encourage more local media coverage.

• Administration: Adam R and Tom P successfully moved the server to our new, shared hosting environment. We added a new Welcome from NH Residents section of the website. We implemented a separate signup page for NH Residents who support the FSP. Trevor S is developing a more functional merchandise store.

  Our top priorities for Administration are to continue to improve our IT services and to continue to develop the online merchandise store.

• Finance: Trevor S continues to work on the new and improved merchandise store. Karen P is setting up credit card processing. Lisa G sent out the direct mail fundraising appeal. Many FSP volunteers are currently making follow-up calls to potential donors. The PorcFest raffle and t-shirt sales were very successful. Unfortunately, Lisa G has had to step down as Director of Development, and we are looking for someone to fill her shoes. Thanks, Lisa, for all that you've done for us!

  Our top priorities for Fundraising are to find a new Director of Development, support the annual appeal for donations and to develop a better online merchandise store.

• Outreach: The 2004 PorcFest was our main outreach event. The event was a huge success, and we received a lot of great media coverage. Varrin S has stepped up to be the PorcFest Czar for 2005. Brian S has planned a regional gathering in central NY.

  Unfortunately, Amy K has had to step down as Advertising Director. We may wait a while before we find a replacement. Thanks, Amy, for all that you've done for us!

  Phil D conducted a workshop for our Speakers Bureau, which generated a lot of new ideas. Rob C reorganized the media tree. While it still needs some more minor repairs, it is now usable! We're planning to issue one press release per month using the new media tree. We formed the FSP Communications Team (Jean A, Rob C, Steve C, Tim C, Amanda P, George R) and developed some informal guidelines.

  Our top priorities for Outreach are to encourage more local media coverage and to continue to spread the word at libertarian events.

– Amanda Phillips, FSP President

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