Executive Director's Report
March 2004
===========================

April 14th, 2004
By John Selwyn
(execdir@NCF.ca) 

A hearty Welcome and congratulations to our new and returning board members.
I am looking forward to the coming year under your stewardship of the NCF.

Membership on the 1st of April was 8790, just shy of 8800 forecast in the 
budget.  With the spring weather membership growth is slowing.  Mid April 
membership has only growen to 8840.  I expect this slower rate of growth
to continue though the summer months. 

Due to our accounting schedule, March donations continued almost an extra week 
into April (each month ends on the 1st Monday of the next month).  As a result
Donations for March were $26,597 as compared to expected donations of $22,298.
April will be a short donation month and so I am therefore expecting weaker 
performance in April.  Overall for the year we are approximately on target.

Expenses for the month were light due to the continued involvement of Andre 
in the extended access project.  As this project has now ended, we expect 
expenses to rise to the budgeted levels in April.  Segregated funds for HRDC
now been returned with a subsequent simplification of our accounting books.  

Modems:
As one would expect with the growth in membership we are seeing a continually 
growing load on the modem pool.  Better weather seems to been reducing the 
overall load except during the period from 9:00 pm to Midnight.  The current 
modem pool will probably be sufficient during the summer months but additional
capacity will be required in the fall.  Mitel software upgrades were 
unsuccessful.  We are now attempting to source new cards to allow for56K 
support.  

Testing of the extended access project continues.  All systems are functioning
and being exercised daily.  We are currently awaiting Bell to program the 
final step - a time of day enabling of the public number.

Marketing:
New ads will be appearing in Carleton magazine and Monitor.  Development of new 
pamplets and posters is underway.  NCF was featured in an interview with the 
Mayor on his talk show on Rogers.  

Volunteers:
We have lost one (Oscar succeeded in finding employment) of our help desk 
volunteers, and will be losing two more later this spring.  Michael Charlebois has
joined the team to provide French support Wednesday's and Fridays.  We are in
need of additional volunteers to maintain the current level of service.

Development:
Development of new features at NCF has now stopped for a period.  The final
addition is the file manager.  Those who are challenged with using FTP should
take a look.  

Other:
NCF income taxes have been filed to CCRA.  Our insurance policies are due for 
renewal.  Last year our insurance jumped from $2,000 to $10,000.  We are being 
advised to expect an additional increase of 30% this year.  


Looking forward to a sunny spring,


John