Operations Meeting Minutes 2004-03-18

Operations Meeting – 3/18/04 Minutes

Participating: Jean Alexander, Seth Atwood, Tim Condon, Phil Densch, Doug Hillman, Dave Mincin, Keith Murphy, Tom Parker, Amanda Phillips, Karen Pratt, Adam Rick, Brian Sullivan, Alan Weiss

1. Budget for Fiscal Year 2005 (April '04 - March '05)

   There is concern about accurately projecting revenue, as there is no historical data. Point was made that there was some information gathered during fund raising for the vote, which collected approximately $9 per person.

   Jean and Karen introduced the idea of trigger points for budgeting purposes, with spending levels tied to YTD revenue collected. We could either change the spending percentage for various areas, or add in lower priority items. Amanda opened to the floor for questions and comments.

   Comment: Focus on primary mission of FSP and concentrate spending there.

   Question: What's our most effective tool? Outreach/word of mouth #1, advertising, less effective.

   Question: What's in the budget for promotional items? Will we buy mailing lists? Yes, Doug already has Libertarian list for MA.

   Are we budgeted for direct mailings? Yes

   Comment: Local groups can absorb costs for printing, travel expenses.

   Comment: There used to be a recognition page recognizing donors. Is it still on the site? It was a good motivating tool. Yes - in archives.

   Back on budget, four largest areas are administration, travel, advertising and printing. Supporting details for expenses included in these areas were on separate page of budget spreadsheet. Totals are not set in stone. If Board approves the trigger points up front, we can just automatically update spending limits as revenue goals are reached.

   Question: Where are we on C3 status? Beginning application process. May not happen until 2005.

   Suggestion: Keep history of all donors, but make current donors more prominent

   Request from Jean: resend budget items by tomorrow for various areas, but rate 1-5 for how important.

   Question: Does budget include FSP office in NH? Not in the plans at this time.

   Question: Official address in still in NV - why not NH? Incorporated in NV.

   Question: Should we have Karen sign some type of fiduciary agreement? Left open (for the record, I don't mind)

   Question: Does budget have provision for misc. expenses that come up? Yes, reserve fund to be set up.

2. Upcoming Events

   NORML convention April 22nd in DC. Will we get table?

   Freedom Fest May 13th -15th in Las Vegas. Seth and Jason attending, along with members of local group.

   LP convention end of May in Atlanta. Doug getting table.

   Killington Airlift- arranging a flyover to drop NH care package to town manager. Need a Porc on the ground. Seth working on publicity. Get a Union Leader reporter in the plane?

   Question: Anything planned for April 15th Tax Day? Not a FSP project - can't protest legislation, but could hand out literature for FSP outreach. Can Keith coordinate local groups so we have visibility?

   State conventions coming up. Local groups in best position to track and bring to FSP's attention.

   NRA meeting coming up April 16th and 17th in Pittsburgh. Tim would like to have a presence. Dave Mincin may be able to arrange with local group.

   Republican Southern Leadership conference and Young Republicans meeting in FL. Young Republicans may be a better target group.

   Suggestion: We need a new position - events coordinator. Counter: Have liaisons gather that info and set up speaking engagements.

3. Activists' Center

   It's up and running. We need to get more groups interacting on the forum.

   Comments - local groups use Yahoo - all discussion stays within the group. Suggestion, share solutions, best practices and get ideas on the forum, use Yahoo for internal planning and discussion.

   Dave Mincin requested that he be updated on the status of volunteers he finds for various projects. Suggestion: Put together a spreadsheet of volunteers and the projects they've been assigned to so we can monitor availability. Alternate: have Dave follow up by e-mail with person requesting volunteer to ensure they've been contacted and status in the project.

   Porc Fest: Will we do volunteer recognition at the event? Amanda working on a project.

4. Publicity Director Update

   Lots of outreach events in progress.

   Trying to organize our media contacts. Please send Seth the info for any media contacts you have.

   We're working on endorsements from celebrities & notable libertarians. Personal contact is the best way to get these. If you know anyone, please contact Seth. Seth has a spreadsheet he's using to track the progress on all the endorsements & contacts.

   Suggestion: Put Seth's spreadsheet on the web somewhere. Counter: It has personal information & may not be appropriate.

5. Redundancy, train your replacement!

   We need redundancy so when something happens to one of us, someone else can step up and handle our jobs. Also so we can go on vacation or take care of our day jobs without leaving the FSP hanging. Amanda asks that everyone begin to look for their replacements from within their core volunteers. Look for people who show initiative, teamwork, enthusiasm, motivation, & dedication, and start to train them in what you do.

6. Operations Reports

   The Board asked for Ops reports from Amanda before every board meeting (second Saturdays of each month). Amanda put the last ops report together off the top of her head. For future ops reports, please send Amanda the info on all your accomplishments throughout the month. Send her a note with "ops report" in the subject line. You can send her this info throughout the month as you think of it. Also, Amanda will send out a request for ops report info a week before the board meeting.

Next meeting - 1st Monday, 4/5/04, 9 p.m.