Minutes of the Development (Fundraising) Committee Held on Tuesday, August 29, 1995 At RMOC Headquarters, Ottawa, Ontario, Billings Room 1. ROLL CALL Gordon Pearson - Chairman au167 Andre L. Ouellette - bf766 Appointed Vice-Chair Nazreen Ali-Kalinowsky - Recording Secretary - by573 Miranda Gray - xx717 Jessica Cohen - aa724 Donna Shaw - aq652 Mike Mason - an956 Steve Morrison - bd577 Doug Milne - am319 Jonathan Wouk - av676 Michelle Dean - ac676 Mimi Richard - br184 Gordon Pearson opened the meeting at 7:30 p.m. by welcoming all members. 2. PROJECT UPDATES _______________ The Great Freenet On-Line Auction (Mike Mason) A written report was presented to the Committee summarizing the challenges this year's auction encountered: Factors contribution to the Lack of Participation appeared to be: - demographics of summertime users, - competition from the challenge fund, - close proximity to 1994 online auction, - time of year, time limit of 2 hours - bad menu set up - fear factor - residual generosity. This committee felt that the biggest contributing factor to this lack of participation was timing....it appears that summertime users are usually younger....vacation takes precedence in the month of August. This committee also felt that the type of products should be reviewed - examined for their marketability. It appeared that the fun, trival products have a popular appeal, while the business items do not get the same type of response resulting in perhaps undervaluation. The payment method for this auction was 75by cheque and 25 by Visa. The Committee felt that every effort should be made to encourage the use of visa if this would result in higher participation rates and sales. The auction committee chair recommends that: - The next chair consult the menu design task force for recommendations of better menu setup. - 1996 projections be reduced so the budget is not out of 'whack' - the 1996 auction be held in the November timeframe identical to the 1994 auction with bidding starting in October and auction ending at the latest November 30....this allows products to be delivered by Christmas. - The 20 items that are remaining should be offered in another mini auction perhaps in the form of a silent auction....This committee has agreed to consider this and will e-mail Matthew Darwin with ideas. Gordon Pearson congratulated the auction committee and noted that this committee was chaired extremely well by Mike Mason b) Freenet RMOC challenge Fund - The RMOC Challenge Fund has been extremely successful with the goal of $50,000 accomplished...at the time of writing these minutes the amount was up to $53,000 and counting.... Well done members. 3) Appointment of Vice Chair: __________________________ The Chairman has proposed that the committee is in need of a vice chair to assist in handling the menu area, help out with the development committee on line and chairing the meeting in his absence. The proposal was made to appoint Andre Ouellette to this position. All members of the committee were in agreement of this appointment. Mr. Ouellette graciously accepted the increased responsibilites. Chair, Gordon Pearson will now present this appointment to the Board for ratification. 4) Personalized ID's Taskforce Report (Donna Shaw, Michelle Dean & Steve Morrison): _____________________________________________________________ The PID's taskforce briefed the committee on its in-depth report highlighting the potential challenges based on issues that may be encountered at the Board level when the Development Committee presents this new method of revenue generation. The main concern from some committee members was that this system could result in a two-tier system of users, based on the inability or ability to "pay for" a personalized ID......however, these members did not have any objections with businesses having personalized IDs if they were willing to pay for it. One of the recommendations in the report was that these IDs can be offered to volunteers to promote equality and to ensure that volunteer recognition is maintained. The issue of NICKNAME as an ID was discussed at length.......with the committee suggesting that the regulations from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation regarding nicknames on driver's licence plate be examined for adoption as NCF regulations. STEVE MORRISON will investigate this area and report to Gordon Pearson before he presents this report to the Board. The committee suggested that Ian should be consulted regarding the technical aspects of the Nickname....MICHELLE DEAN will discuss this topic with Ian and report back to Gordon Pearson. After much discussion, the report was decided that PIDs should be offered as an incentive to donate $100 or more and that the Volunteer Co-ordinators be asked to recommend a system for using PIDs to reward volunteers. However, it was suggested that Lisa Donnelly review this report for completeness with regard to protocol among other things. MOTION: It was moved by Michelle, seconded by Andre that the Development Committee supports the recommendations of the taskforce with changes to the dollar amount. The taskforce should go ahead and complete the report since it is on the right track. The Development Committee directs G. Pearson to recommend to the Board full acceptance of this report at the meeting September 19, 1995. All except Miranda Gray were in favour of the motion. MOTION CARRIED. Items 5 to 8 were deferred for online discussions...with quick summation of Halloween party to be organized by Andre Ouellette on October 29 from 1p.m. to 6 p.m. . Theme being 'come as a weird person.....and donate small change by tossing a loonie in the bin /Nickel & Dime us to death. 9) Adjournment & Next Meeting: __________________________ Next meeting will be held on September 26, 1995 at 7:30 p.m. at Regional Headquarters. Meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m with the Chairman thanking everyone for their participation and involvement.