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.

Operations Meeting Agenda 2004-02-19

FSP Operations Meeting

If you have trouble accessing the conference call on Thursday, please call Amanda P at 617-763-1996 for help.

Note: The meeting will be no more than 1 hour. If we don't get to all of the agenda items within 50 minutes, we will table remaining agenda items for the next meeting. We'll reserve the last 10 minutes for general Q&A.

Meeting Agenda

1. Introductions
2. Guidelines for the meeting
3. Update from the President – Amanda P – who I am, where we are, where we're going, how we'll get there. Overview of the Board's strategic targets.
4. Update from the VP – Doug H – focus on grass roots activism.
5. Organizational Structure – Amanda P – higher-level org chart, request for help & feedback with org chart details, discuss open positions (Treasurer, Publicity & Fundraising).
6. FSP Budget – Jean A and Amanda P – status of the 2004 budget, need requests from the "dept heads" for specific budget items.
7. Speaker's Bureau Update – Phil D
8. Local Groups Update – Keith M
9. Community Liaisons Update – Chris H
10. PorcFest Update – George R or Tim C
11. Merchandise Update – Trevor S
12. Advertising Update – Amy F
13. Pioneer Directory – Amanda P and Cal P
14. Publicity – Amanda P
15. Membership Surveys – Amanda P
16. Fundraising Ideas – Amanda P
17. Non-Voters Status – Amanda P
18. Friends of the FSP – Amanda P
19. Endorsements – Amanda P
20. The Underground Railroad – Amanda P
21. General Q&A – Amanda P, Doug H, Matt C (The Officers)

Please contact Amanda P with agenda changes. aphillips@freestateproject.org

Phillips Resigns

FSP President Amanda Phillips resigns; Varrin Swearingen to be new President

Amanda		Varrin

March 7, 2006

Dear FSP Board of Directors,

Please accept my resignation as President and Director, effective immediately. Working closely with the Free State Project, and especially with our remarkable participants, has been a great joy for me. However, the time has come for me to focus more on law school and to spend more time with my daughter. I'm happy to leave the future of the project in your capable hands.

I am happy to continue to work on publicity and media relations, and remain your faithful spokesperson. I remain committed to the Free State Project, and I joined the First 1000 today.

Best,
Amanda

March 11, 2006

Dear Amanda,

Thank you for your service to the Free State Project and to the future of individual freedom. In your twenty-five month tenure as President of the FSP, approximately 1,800 new participants signed on, and the FSP was featured in Reader's Digest, New England ABC's Chronicle program, Liberty magazine, American Handgunner, and Reason magazine, to name just a few. The Porcupine Freedom Festival has grown to the largest libertarian event in the world, an achievement we mean to defend this year!

While it will be impossible to replace you with someone who has all your unique attributes, we will do our best to continue your legacy with a chief executive of whom we can all be proud. We appreciate your willingness to stay on as media representative and wish you the best in your studies at Harvard Law School.

Yours sincerely,

Jason Sorens, Chair
For the FSP Board of Directors

March 13, 2006

The board has accepted Amanda's resignation with gratitude for her sincere efforts towards freedom in the last several years. We are also pleased to have achieved consensus on a new president, Varrin Swearingen, who will be officially voted in at our next board meeting on 3/19. Varrin, who has worked tirelessly above and beyond the call of duty in several FSP roles including VP of Operations, last year's Porc Fest Czar, and in numerous other ways, has the respect and admiration of the Board and volunteers. We look forward to working with him, to reaching our signup goals for the First 1000 Pledge and the FSP Statement of Intent, and to ultimately achieving liberty in our lifetime in the Granite State. Varrin, a current resident of New Hampshire, is willing to accept this role, and the Board appreciates his commitment.

# # #

Participation Guidelines

Free State Project Participation Guidelines

1. The Free State Project (FSP) shall not require dues or contributions of any kind for participation.

2. The FSP shall require all prospective participants to sign a Statement of Intent indicating:
   1. that they will move to New Hampshire, the state designated according to the rules laid out in these Guidelines,

   2. that they will be bound by the Guidelines, and

   3. that they will work toward a society in which the sole role of civil government is the protection of individuals' rights to life, liberty, and property.

   The Statement shall become void three years after the time of signing should the designation of the state not have occurred by that time (No longer applicable)

3. Once 5,000 people have signed the Statement, voting shall commence on a state where all participants should move and register to vote (should they choose to register to vote). All sufficiently small states will be considered. The voting shall proceed according to Simple Condorcet's Method.* All ballots shall be made public to avoid subterfuge; miscounted ballots shall be corrected before the outcome is officially declared. (No longer applicable)

4. Once 20,000 people have signed the Statement, participants in the FSP shall move to the state decided upon as expeditiously as possible and absolutely within five years of the crossing of the 20,000-signer threshold. Should the Project never attract 20,000 signers, the move shall be aborted.

5. If these Guidelines are amended, anyone who has signed to an earlier version shall be given an opportunity to withdraw his consent.

   * Condorcet's Method works by allowing voters to rank all the states from #1 to #10, and these rankings are used to compare each state to every other state in one-on-one contests. If a state does not lose any pairwise contest, it is the winner. If no state is unbeaten, then smallest-magnitude defeats are eliminated until a state is unbeaten. For more information see the voting methods report. (No longer applicable)

A Re-Examination of the State Comparison Matrix

A Re-Examination of the State Comparison Matrix

by Jason S.