NCF Funding Report for 14 January 1997
======================================
By Lisa K. Donnelly, Executive Director 

1.  Cash Received in December
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 $5,209		New Registrants (contains 8 PFAs)
$15,373		Renewals (contains 16 PFAs)
 $4,326		Auction
   $101		Boutique
 $1,400		Connection Sponsors
   $187.23	US Exchange (gain)
----------
$26,596.23	Total Deposit

2.  Membership Activity: Renewals
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NCF is sending out an average of 7,500 renewal requests each month since
November 1996. Processing is proceeding well. The volume of return mail
from members has been increasing through late December and January. The
office is currently processing new and renewal account requests within
three to six days of receipt. 

A separate account is being used for renewal mail. This account has been
receiving a large volume of e-mail.  Questions are being answered by two
office volunteers. We are currently answering all mail queries with up to
a one week turn around time. Of the 18,000 messages sent to date,
approximately 6,000 have bounced (undeliverable) due to several reasons:
the forwarding address is bad, there is too much mail already in the
mailbox or the account has not been accessed in over 250 days (these
unused accounts make up 90% of the bounced mail).

The letters have three common themes: many members think donations are
mandatory; there is confusion about which accounts need to send ID; and
there is concern about an account being shut down before a member's
renewal is processed.  In order to clarify donations we have added [0] to
the donation amounts suggested in all renewal letters. We have also created
a form-letter addressing all three topics which we send to members who ask for
clarification.

Data for November and December 1996
-----------------------------------
 *note: This data varies from December's report because we were
        able to get more accurate past information this month.

      Sent    Rec'd  Donors %/Donors Rtrn/mo. Rtrn/cum. Tot/don Av/don
Nov.  6,155     213    141      66%    3.5%    3.5%     $3,063  $21.72
Dec.  8,560   1,065    666      63%   12.4%    8.7%    $15,373  $23.08

Receipt and processing of renewals have been impacted by the holidays.
Carleton University was closed and not distributing mail from 25 December
through 1 January.  Staff and volunteers returned on 2 January to begin
tackling the backlog.  This means that renewals for December are
counted on three processing weeks. January's renewal data will help flesh 
out results.

3.  Special Projects: The Microsoft Auction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Auction closed last month at $5,374.  The call went out to members to
collect their software and bring their winning donation bids to the office
when picking items up. Perhaps it was the holiday mindset, but we had the
fastest turnaround time ever for collecting the funds and distributing the
auction items. We collected the majority of the Auction money in December and
are in the process of collection the rest this month.

4. December Connection Sponsors
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We added two renewals to our file this month along with three in-kind
sponsors. Renewing connection sponsors for December are the Canadian Passport
Office and the Professional Engineers Ontario - Ottawa Chapter.  In-kind
sponsorships went to Corel Corporation (for 8 pieces of software), Ottawa
Computes and Monitor Magazine (both in exchange for monthly NCF
advertisements). 

5. Corporate Sponsors and Key Partners 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A NCF newsletter is being drafted to send out to all partners, sponsors,
media and members.  This will serve as an update prior to a round of
contacting all Key Partners again for 1997.  In addition, we will be
mailing and calling Key partners, inviting them to attend our 5 February
Birthday Party at the RMOC. Recognition will be part of the event.

Our proposal to the Royal Bank has been turned down. Unfortunately no
concrete reasons were sighted. We are still waiting to hear back from
several other corporations from whom we have solicited large sponsorships.

6. Government Grants
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
No new grants were researched or sent out for December. We have not heard
back regarding the $5,000 grant request for Translations at NCF but will
continue to pursue this. For the first quarter of 1997 we plan on applying
for a Trillium grant. Several Board members may be asked for input on the
report.

7.  Administrative Update
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The on-line list of donors has been update through 31 December.

The next Funding meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 28 January (always on
the fourth Tuesday of the month). We will spend the next four meetings
focusing on the Great On-line Auction - scheduled for April and May.

Check out our new Funding and Public Relations Homepage. The URLs are:
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/public-relations/
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/funding/