Executive Director's Report =========================== 14 March 1997 By Lisa K. Donnelly (execdir@freenet.carleton.ca) Contents: 1. Funding Update 2. NCF Administration 3. Member Services 4. Future Initiatives 1. Funding Update ================= a) Cash Received in February ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ $5,401.00 New Registrants/Individual donations (233 donations w/ 11 PFAs and 43 separate from registration) $33,162.89 Renewals (contains 30 PFAs) $25.00 MS Auction $76.40 Boutique 0 Connection Sponsors $302.68 US Exchange (gain) ---------- $38,967.97 Total Deposit b) Membership Activity: Renewals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The project has ramped up and February and March data should show what type of return rates we will sustain through out August. If all goes well, we should be able to begin putting accounts into ten minute mode during the week of March 17th. Data for November, December 1996, January and February 1997 ----------------------------------------------------------- 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 Jan. 8,219 1,277 1,136 89% 15.5% 11.1% $24,278 $21.37 Feb. 7,846 2,331 1,495 64% 29.7% 15.9% $33,163 $22.18 c) Cyberus On-line Donates Ten High Speed Modems ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This month Cyberus On-Line, a local ISP donated ten high speed modems to NCF These modems will be put on the Internet Sampler lines. The ten 14.4 kbps modems being replaced will be added to the our large pool and the lines themselves will be taken from the small 9,600 bps pool. This will bring the total number of lines available in our low speed and lower quality pool to twenty-two. We hope to obtain twenty-five 14.4 KBPS modems this year via donation so we can roll the two pools together. This would result in three NCF modem pools for regular, express and Internet Sampler usage. d) February Connection Sponsors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We did not receive any connection sponsorships this month. For January and February we have not made our budget projections of two per month. e) Government Grants ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Volunteer Denise Skyrpkar has started working with the NCF Executive Director to craft the letter of Intent for our Trillium Foundation grant. We hope to have this ready to send out by the end of the month. The focus is on obtaining funds for outreach and training. f) The Great On-line Auction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have had two planning meetings for this and are now in the process of finding people to solicit items for the auction. Michael Mason is the co-ordinator for this so don't be suprised if he approaches you for solicitation work...or a donation! The auction will be launched on 30 April and we hope to raise as much as $30,000. g) Funding Administrivia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The on-line list of donors has been update through 28 February and the thank you letters have been sent out. 2. Administration ================== A) New NCF Systems Administrator ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yannick Gravel started work on 4 March as NCF System Administrator. Yannick is replacing Roy Hooper who has gone to work for Cyberus On-line. Roy will be continuing to do some volunteer work with our other talented technical volunteers who help watch the system: past NCF System Administrator, Ian Allen, John Stewart and Chris Hawley. b) NCF Board Manual ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The 1997/98 version of the Board manual is being worked on. Inserts to update the current manual will be distributed at the April meeting. 3. Member Services =================== a) Increasing Francophone Content: Translations Team ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Executive Director met with the Translations co-ordinator, Gisele Beland, and the new Chair, Jules Lafrance, this month. Process and priorities for 1997 were outlined. The primary goal for this team over the next ten months will be to focus on completing key NCF system documents and FreePlace help files. To learn more please type "go translation" or "va traduction." b) Creation and distribution of Diskettes for NCF Members ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Executive Director reviewed progress and details for this project with volunteer Colin McFadyen. Colin thinks he can have this completed in two to three weeks. The auto set-up will require four to five diskettes. Versions for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 will be created. We now need to focus on finding volunteers to help members copy the diskettes and to answer questions on regular evenings. This could be done at the NCF Electronic Resource and Access Center (ERAC) at the Don Gamble Center. c) Search Tools ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This project has been delayed while we complete our turnover in technical staff. It is a key project and first on the priority list once he gets up to speed. We will have more information on completion dates within the next two weeks. d) Outreach and Training ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The NCF Electronic Resource and Access Centre (ERAC) has been up and running at the St. Laurent branch of the Ottawa Public Library (Don Gamble Centre) since September. Turn out for courses has been rather low. NCF Administrative Co-ordinator, Sheila Alder, is in charge of setting up some new volunteers and training. She has been working with OPL Co-ordinator, Patrick Hunt, and NCF volunteer recruiter, Wayne Allen, to collect and train volunteers to staff the centre and train new and current NCF members. An orientation night for volunteers is scheduled this month. Please contact Sheila if you would like more information. Classes and training events will be advertised when scheduled.