Executive Director's Report June, 1998 =========================== July 19, 1998 By Christopher L. Cope (execdir@freenet.carleton.ca) Contents: 1. Funding and Public Relations Update 2. NCF Administration 3. Member Services and Future Initiatives 1. Funding Update ================= a) Donation Data - New Registrations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The membership drive appears to have had a positive affect on the number of members this month, with the largest number of registrations for any month this year. The drive has had a smaller impact on revenue however. Total donation revenue for the month was in line with the Budget, but the average donation during the drive dropped by half to $7.15. In earlier months, we averaged over $12.00. On a year-to-date basis, our revenue from new registrations is under Budget by $1,467 or seven percent. No. No. % Of Avg. Regist New Budget Regist Memb $ Budget Regist Donat'n Memb. (No.) Var Donate Donate Amount ($) Var Donat'n All New ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ All'97 6,923 2,295 33.2% $47,395 $72,000 -34% $20.65 $6.85 Avg'97 577 191 33.2% $ 3,950 $ 6,000 -34% $20.65 $6.85 Jan. 305 666 -54% 145 47.5% $ 3,308 $ 4,262 -22% $22.81 $10.85 Feb 254 562 -55% 132 52.0% $ 3,246 $ 3,594 -10% $24.59 $12.78 Mar. 242 538 -55% 131 54.1% $ 2,965 $ 3,441 -14% $22.63 $12.25 Apr. 239 526 -55% 117 49.0% $ 3,412 $ 3,364 1% $29.16 $14.28 May 222 442 -50% 123 55.4% $ 3,067 $ 2,826 9% $24.93 $13.82 Jun. 462 512 -10% 153 33.1% $ 3,301 $ 3,279 1% $21.58 $ 7.15 Jul. 823 $ 5,268 Aug. 750 $ 4,800 Sep. 767 $ 4,908 Oct. 696 $ 4,454 Nov. 529 $ 3,387 Dec. 413 $ 2,642 ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ YTD'98 1,724 3,246 8-1 46.5% $19,299 $20,766 -7% $24.09 $11.19 Avg'98 252 547 -47% 134 46.5% $ 3,217 $ 3,461 -7% $24.09 $11.19 c) Donation Data - Renewals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This month, the number of members renewing, exceeded the budget. Donation revenue from renewing members was well under Budget (under $14,543 or -61%) primarily because the average donation was only $21.99. On a year-to-date basis, our revenue from renewals is 78,022 under budget, or -40%. No. % Of Avg. Renwl No. Budget Renwl Renwl $ Budget Renwl Donate Renwl (No.) Var Donate Donate Amount ($) Var Donatn All Ren ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ All'97 13,235 18,000 8,611 65.1% $186,716 $202,500 -8% $21.68 $14.11 Avg'97 1,103 1,500 718 65.1% $ 15,560 $ 16,875 -8% $21.68 $14.11 Jan. 1,544 1,734 -11% 965 62.5% $23,167 $ 27,123 -15% $24.01 $13.36 Feb 1,320 1,470 -10% 869 65.8% $21,415 $ 37,467 -43% $24.64 $14.57 Mar. 1,620 1,601 -1% 899 55.5% $22,759 $ 34,426 -34% $25.32 $14.22 Apr. 1,337 1,616 -17% 938 70.2% $23,555 $ 36,535 -36% $25.11 $14.58 May 1,028 1,336 -23% 653 63.5% $15,838 $ 34,662 -54% $24.25 $11.85 Jun. 670 478 40% 428 63.9% $ 9.410 $ 23,953 -61% $21.99 $19.69 Jul. 206 $ 8,832 Aug. 188 $ 4,551 Sep. 192 $ 4,307 Oct. 174 $ 4,233 Nov. 132 $ 3,643 Dec. 886 $ 8,656 ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ YTD'98 7,519 8,235 -9% 4,752 63.2% $116,144 $194,166 -40% $24.44 $15.45 AVG'98 1,253 1,373 -9% 792 63.2% $ 19,357 $ 32,361 -40% $24.44 $15.45 c) Membership Activity: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The number of members declined by 2.9% to 18,779. Although it was a record month for new registrations, there were more archivals than new members. |Member | Current |To line| Actual |Ratio |Number Forecast Number Number Number # of % inc.| |Of New No. of Members Members Members Members -dec. |Lns :1 |Members Members Renewed Un-arch Archvd. ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~|~~~~~~~| ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ May. 62,877 n/a|169 372| 372 1,831 0 0 Jun. 43,170 -31.3%|169 255| 654 654 18 20,361 Jul. 28,280 -34.5%|169 167| 651 605 103 7,919 Aug. 27,980 - 1.1%|169 166| 484 448 68 7,739 Sep. 22,996 -17.8%|169 136| 467 320 100 6,145 Oct. 21,527 - 6.4%|169 127| 314 248 76 1,870 Nov. 21,361 -0.8%|169 126| 234 529 266 61 501 Dec. 21,125 -1.1%|169 125| 193 413 728 42 421 Jan. 20,996 -0.6%|169 124| 305 666 1,544 16 495 Feb. 20,970 -0.1%|201 104| 254 562 1,320 74 343 Mar. 21,000 0.1%|201 104| 242 538 1,620 13 316 Apr. 20,317 -3.3%|201 104| 239 526 1,337 55 899 May. 19,332 -4.8%|201 96| 222 442 1,028 43 1,255 June 18,779 -2.9%|201* 96| 462 512 670 62 1,095 * 169 lines at Carleton plus 32 lines at Mitel e) Member Usage Data ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An interesting pattern is evident this month with the overall number of sessions declining on our main modem pool, while the number of unique users increased significantly to the highest figure yet this year. Yannick reports that some 44,934 sessions, by 910 unique users were logged on our Extended Access server during the period April 5 to July 8. The figure in the table below approximates of the number of weekly sessions calculated by dividing this total by 9 weeks. Calculated in this fashion then, our total number of weekly sessions was about 65,635. No. Of No. Of | Max # Avg # Max % Avg.% | Avg. Weekly Unique | PPP PPP PPP PPP | No. Sessions Users | Users Users Usage Usage | Busy ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ | ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~~ Sep. | 9.3% 0.7% | Oct. 80,169 | 3.3% 2.0% | Nov. 74,359 10,150 | 39 12 13.3% 6.4% | Dec. 74,816 9,655 | 39 14 20.7% 7.4% | Jan. 74,270 9,683 | 52 19 27.7% 10.1% | Feb. 71,271 9,299 | 52 19 27.7% 10.1% | Mar. 72,417 9,333 | 52 19 27.7% 10.1% | 1.2 Mar.EA | 26 5 54.2% 10.4% | Apr. 65,844 8,576 | 49 19 26.1% 10.1% | Apr.EA | 32 9 66.7% 18.8% | May 64,439 8,235 | 58 22 30.9% 11.7% | 1.1 May EA | 34 12 70.8% 25.0% | Jun 60,643 11,109 | 62 26 33.0% 13.8% | 1.1** Jun EA* 4,992 910 | 34 12 70.8% 25.0% | * EA: traffic on the Extended Access Lines at Our Mitel node Session information estimated from results April 5 to July 8 ** 2,834 tries during period - max 8, median 1 f) Sponsorship, Homepage Data and Information Providers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One new organizational account was registered this month and two line sponsorships came on board, donating a total of $1,000. Comgate Engineering (Jeff Bossert's company) was one of these, renewing their line sponsorship for another year. Rainbow Women's Center was the other. The number of IPs remained static and although the number of Member homepages declined slightly, the percentage of members with homepages remained the same. The Public Service Alliance Of Canada got their page up at http:www.ncf/carleton.ca/psac. Another new page worthy of mention is the Home Business Association Of The National Capital at: http:www.ncf.carleton.ca/hbancr Org. Org. | Line Line | New Total Free -Dec. | Home of Accts Accts | Spons Spons | IPs IPs Pages % | Page Memb ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ | ~~~~~ ~~~~ Apr. | 1 1 | 2 | May. 4 4| 1 2 | 4 | Jun. 0 4| 1 3 | 2 | Jul. 1 5| 1 4 | 2 | Aug. 1 6| 0 4 | 2 | Sep. 2 8| 0 4 | 1 | Oct. 3 11| 0 4 | 1 | Nov. 3 14| 0 4 | +/-300 55 |1,224 5.7% Dec. 0 14| 1 5 | 1 301 57 3.6% |1,205 5.7% Jan. 1 15| 1 6 | 28 329 56 -1.8% |1,310 6.2% Feb. 2 17| 0 6 | -7 322 67 19.6% |1,316 6.3% Mar. 1 18| 0 6 | -1 321 66 -1.5% |1,319 6.3% Apr. 4 22| 0 6 | 0 321 65 -1.5% |1,319 6.5% May 4 26| 0 6 | 0 321 71 9.2% |1,231 6.4% June 1* 27| 2** 8 | 0 321 68 -4.2% |1,194 6.4% * New Organizational Account: Project Upstream ** Line sponsors: Rainbow Women's Centre (new), Softgate Engineering (renewed) g) Government Grants ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (i) Industry Canada: A proposal, which may include participation related to our Seniors project, is to be drafted by late summer and presented to Industry Canada. h) Public Relations Update ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FreeNews - monthly is available in text format, at "go freenews" and on the web at: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/freenews/. Ads were run in both Monitor Magazine and Ottawa Computes, and again, these ads promoted our "Member-get-a-Member" drive. Planning continues for the Bike rally "Harvest Ride", a jointly sponsored event with Citizens for Safe Cycling continues. The event will occur Sunday, September 20, 1998 with the following schedule: 08:30 The 110 Km ride 10:30 The 45 Km ride 10:30 The kids-can-bike-fest 11:30 The 15 Km ride i) Funding Administrivia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The on-line list of donor files was updated to reflect all May donations. Thank You letters were sent to all donors. j) Outreach ~~~~~~~~ (i) Rainbow Women's Center: The two students from the Center's "Webmaster" training program have started work in the NCF office as co-op student/workers and are working on /ncf webpages and a pilot community index. (ii) Seniors Internet Club: Progress has been made in three centres: Abbottsford House Senior Citizens Residence on Bank Street across from Landsdowne, will add it to their fall programme and hold the first meeting of their "Seniors Internet Club" on September 30, 1998 at 10:00 AM. Natalie Munro (xx966) and Mike Billows (bm582) have volunteered to help at this centre. The Kiwanian Alex Dayton Senior's Activity Centre at Carlingwood will conduct a general information meeting for any of their members who might be interested on July 30th, at 2:00 PM. Mary Dibden (ai048) and Jean Wilmot (xx145) have volunteered to help at this centre The Good Companion's Senior's Centre is interested in pursuing a Seniors Internet club, but details are yet to be worked out. Volunteers are needed. 2. NCF Administration ====================== a) Top Five Priorities ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) Recruit new Sysadmin (2) Membership Development: - Senior Citizen Internet Clubs (2) Technical - Review outgoing Sysadmin documentation - review interim Sysadmin plans. (4) Financial: Explore ways to reduce telecommunication expense. (5) Projects: - Pursue Industry Canada funding proposal - picnic - volunteer pool party b) Network Upgrades ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) Sysadmin resignation: On June 26, Yannick Gravel submitted his resignation, effective Friday July 24, 1998. A job description has been prepared and is accessible on line in both languages, linked to our homepage or at http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/ncf/jobs/sysadmin.html. Advertisements have been circulated in appropriate Usenet newsgroups and selected ncf groups. The position has also been listed with Human Resources Development Canada. To date, we have received 21 application, none yet with obvious qualifications. We have extended the deadline for submissions to July 20th, but may have to broaden our search to a print ad in the Ottawa Citizen. c) FreeNet Next Generation Project ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yannick will document the elements of this plan which were sufficiently advanced to describe, to assist his replacement in picking up where he left off. Development of this and all other new projects will be suspended until a new Sysadmin is hired and is up to speed. 3. Member Services and Future Initiatives ========================================== a) Member-Get-A-Member Campaign May 8th, 1998 to July 5th, 1998 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The program currently stands at 1,052 new members donating some $7,534. The contest is now closed, but new registrants will have until midnight, August 10, 1998 to complete the steps necessary to validate their entries. The winner will be announced at the August Board meeting. b) Web Chat ~~~~~~~~ NCF "Chatstreet", our new Internet-based CHAT program is now up and ready for use by members. There are five chat rooms now set up: "Ye Olde Taverne", "The Hot Tub", "The Blue Oyster", "Nike Temple", and "Area 51." Chat Street can be found on the Web at: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/chatstreet Thanks go to Richard Bethell (cj434), who carried this project through to completion and to Magma Communications Inc., who donated the WebChat server software. c) ftp ~~~ Our ftp server is now available for Members and for Information Providers. This service provides a convenient way for them to transfer files to FreeNet, a much needed and requested service, The service is designed to let members work on their own personal homepages, and to maintain webpages for one or several organizations. Members will set up their FTP program to access the server and login in using a special login id, such as aa000-1 [NCF user ID with a MINUS and ONE added]. Access is then provided directly to the member's public HTML directory, without the need to transfer files through their work directory. Information Managers using ftp to maintain FreePages or menus for their organizations will be given unique login codes for each of the file areas they are responsible for, but again, will access these directories directly. d) Monthly message: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yannick completed a utility that allows us to send an E-mail message to all members, whether they log on in text mode, access their mail using our POP server or have their mail forwarded. We now refer to this utility as "Message from Mom", having migrated it's name from a concept to have a "Message Of the Month", or MoM. The plan is, to use this utility approximately once per month, but only for important announcements. In recent weeks, the number of unique NCF members reading ncf.announce fell to about 10 to 15% of the total unique user sessions. This tool provides a method to keep all of our members informed of new services, major changes and significant funding requirements. Early in June, a letter was sent to all members using the new tool. The letter described our graphic capability and reminded members of our need for donations. In early July, a letter will be sent announcing Chatstreet and ftp service. -- *** Christopher L. Cope, Executive Director *** National Capital Freenet / Libertel de la Capitale nationale tel. (613) 520-2600 ext. 8024 -or- fax (613) 520-3524