NCF For the month of February 2006.

During the month February donations were $20,709 compared to last years and budget 
mounts of $20,208.  In addition DSL sales were strong in January with total service
revenues of $7,058 against a forecast of $6,000.  Hardware sales of $2,995 were
about half the expected $5,000.  Partly this reflects a certain choppiness in the 
hardware sales.  The two month total of $10,715 for hardware better compares to a 
forecast $10,000 for the same period.  Purchase of DSL modems being allocated to 
February resulted in artifically high net income in January and lower income in 
February.  Expenses in February were also up due to the Executive Director drawing 
a 50% salary, up from 0 in January.  If we look at the two month period we see 
net income of $25,453 comparedto a target of $9,129.
 
Total membership remains constant with a continuing growth in DSL subscribers to 
a current total of 260.  Dial-up membership has declined slightly.  As a result of
increasing numbers of members having alternate email address, the email MOM
list has been expanded to include non-NCF mail addresses.  

Significant progress has been made by the development team to automate the 
DSL subscription process including web page usage data for DSL members.  

As DSL members typically autodebit a credit card they will be immune to the 
annual renewal process.  Therefore some thought has been required to ensure 
that new DSL members are informed about the NCF without being hampered from
subscribing.  I am thinking that a series of welcome letters post subscription 
will be the best method to let them know about all that the NCF has to offer.

As we learn more about supporting DSL we have been pointed to a local manufacturer
of DSL equipment.  Comtest is headquartered just off of Bronson avenue.  Apparently
their filters are a much higher quality and will significantly improve the 
bandwidth capabilities for our membership.  I have been given a couple of samples
to test and will report back at a future meeting.

Next Sunday the NCF will be manning a table at a local computer fair.  
NCF volunteers attended this event a few months back and found it was
a great means of raising our profile. We  continue to look for ways to get NCF's 
message out to the large local population.

We continue to rely on a small number of volunteers to staff NCF's help line.  Brian
continues to do excellent work at improving the moral operations and effectiveness
of the office.


Cheers

john