Minutes of a Meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Capital FreeNet, held on October 20, 1998, 7:00 pm at the Olde Forge Community Resource Centre, 2730 Carling Ave. , Ottawa PRESENT: Jessica Cohen aa724 (JC) Jim Elder aa456 (JE) Miranda Gray ak717 (MG) Michael Mason 1st Vice-President an956 (MM) Natalie Munro aa966 (NM) Andrew Nellis bs904 (AN) Dave Sutherland President aa001 (DS) Jean Wilmot aa145 (JW) REGRETS: Jeff Bossert 2nd Vice-President & Treasurer au025 (JB) ABSENT: Chris Hawley ah654 (CH) STAFF PRESENT: Chris Cope Executive Director bz787 Sheila Alder Administrative Coordinator bw306 GUESTS: Ken McKinlay Justine Akman, Industry Canada (at 8:30 pm) Minute-Taker: Sheila Alder bw306 1. INTRODUCTIONS The meeting was called to order with Dave Sutherland as Chair, and Michael Mason acting as Secretary. 2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING OF THE BOARD MOVED BY Miranda Gray and SECONDED BY Jessica Cohen to approve the minutes of the September 1998 meeting. Motion CARRIED. IN FAVOUR: MG JC MM NM AN DS JW ABSTAINED: JE 3. REVIEW OF THE AGENDA Additions to the agenda: Item 6a) was removed, with related discussion taking place in the Treasurer's Report. Item 6b) was spoken to in the Executive Director's Report. Miranda Gray had an additional item on revising policies. Chris Cope had an additional item on NatCaP. Justine Akman ,from Industry Canada was going to be coming later in the meeting to speak about the VolNet initiative. 4. OLD BUSINESS 4a) HARVEST RIDE REPORT (Chris Cope) Chris Cope reported for Andre Ouellette: $1,800 was donated by cash sponsors (Cyberus, Oracle), $2,264 was collected in pledges paid on day of ride, for $11,864 total revenue including gifts in kind, leaving about $1,000 - $1,200 balance after the costs of the event. This should come to approximately $600 final revenue for each of NCF and CFSC (Citizens For Safe Cycling). Final expenses not yet firm. There were 37 participants. The ride was a huge amount of work, but recommendation was that it should be done again. CFSC would probably partner again. Non-tangible benefits of the ride included radio exposure, exposure of NCF to CFSC and CFSC to NCF, and volunteer morale. The volunteers involved with the ride had fun, and many of them enjoyed the opportunity to interact with other volunteers from both organizations. Some recommendations for next year: -We need another 4-5 months lead time in planning an event like this. - The Terry Fox run was the same day, as was a timed event by the Ottawa Cycling Club. Next year we should ensure there are no similar event conflicts. 4.b) ADVERTISING TASK FORCE REPORT (Andrew Nellis) Andrew is working on the details of a deal with 3wmart by email; NCF would be the largest client by far, and this would be a pilot project. 3wmart is willing to send email to a separate server (e.g. advert.ncf.carleton.ca), willing provide references, willing sign a contract, and would not send more than two messages in a 24 hour period. The list would only be "opt-in" (members would have to sign up to participate). All email would come from webmaster@3wmart. Duration of contract would be for a 6 month commitment. Andrew wants general consensus that if opt-in, the Board is willing to pursue negotiations before taking the negotiations any further. General consensus was favourable for opt-in only advertising, if various conditions such as those listed above were met. Some additional concerns raised were that the ads should each contain instructions on how to remove yourself from the mailing list, and the content of the ads (which Andrew replied are screened by 3wmart to prevent pyramid scams and pornography). Some examples of the ads that 3wmart accepts are going to be passed on to the Board, 3wmarts website also shows previous ads. Andrew to report back again next month of 3wmart negotiations. Jim asked about revenue possibilities from other forms of advertising (eg., banner ads) in order to have a context in which to better judge the 3wmart proposal. No info was available; Jim offered to try to collect some info. 5. REPORTS 5.a) TREASURER'S REPORT (Jeff Bossert) Jean Wilmot reported for Jeff, who was unable to be present at the meeting. Jean was asked about the forecast of our monetary situation in the coming months, Jeff has not yet revised the forecast. The forecast will be presented at the November meeting. Jim Elder has revised the forecast of account renewals, has better idea of what will happen next year. This year's forecast takes into account how long a person has been a member, as each year of membership increases the odds of renewal. The forecast makes clear that NCF membership levels may reach a level that makes the current expense profile unsustainable around mid next year, unless NCF can attract new members and/or existing members donate more. Some discussion on improving the registration process , helping people get online and publicizing what NCF has to offer the community followed. 5. b) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MONTHLY REPORT (Chris Cope) Donation Drive Update: There were fewer replies to MOM (the message of the month), only about 40, compared to about 150 messages after the previous message. Many members have suggested that donations should be mandatory. It was discussed when to end the donation drive, and when to remove the cashometer. The drive seems to be winding down, and it was suggested that it end on Nov. 1st as planned to make room for information about the upcoming auction. Auction Update: Akran systems have donated 23 boxes of stuff (assorted hardware and software, to be sorted by volunteers). Corel gave approximately 12 pieces of software. OPL (Ottawa Public Library) has 20 boxes of software, donated to OPL by Microsoft, NCF will get 50% of sales with the other 50% going to OPL. Chris wants to start the auction November 1st. Public Relations Update: While this discussion came up during this portion of the ED's report, it is important to note that Andre has made numerous contributions to NCF, including as a volunteer coordinator, board member, and board secretary, as well as heading the public relations team. Andre Ouellette has resigned, for personal reasons. MOVED BY Michael Mason and SECONDED BY Jim Elder that an expression of appreciation be made for all the work that Andre Ouellette has done for NCF. MOTION CARRIED, unanimously. Seniors' Groups Update: - Dayton Centre program large (50) and more in role of teaching (Jean Wilmot working with Lyn Shouldice) - Abbotsford House program smaller, more of a "club" feeling (Natalie Munro working with Mike Billows) - Good Companions to start program in January, with help of Rosaleen Dickson - Chris to meet with director of Olde Forge, as well Renewals: Dave Sutherland, Jim Elder, and Jean Wilmot to help with writing new letters for renewals (Chris Cope to make 1st draft and send). The new letters to be ready to go Dec. 1st. The idea of minimum support of NCF through either monetary or volunteer was discussed in principle. Presently a minority (around 40%) of members make donations and there were less than 1,000 out of 18,000 who responded to the recent appeal for donations. Minimum support would not apply to first year of membership. This matter to be discussed further at the November meeting. Sysadmin Job Search Update: A short list of 3 candidates to be interviewed on Saturday by Chris Cope plus 2 volunteers (Ian Allen, Jim Elder, John Stewart, or Chris Hawley) Jim congratulated Chris and especially the volunteers who implemented the changes to remove restrictions on what members can do once connected by PPP. There was general consensus that it is essential to NCF's mission of being a place to learn about the internet that NCF offer a reliable and full PPP service. Miranda mentioned concerns about volunteers - wants it to be a priority for Chris. Chris did not feel that there were any pressing concerns to be dealt with at this time. 6. NEW BUSINESS 6.a) VOLNET Justine Akman was here from Industry Canada to speak about the VolNet program. Some points about that: - program approved, delivery model not yet approved nor announced; on an aggressive schedule, to be ready to go when announced by Minister - 30 people on committee representative of volunteer groups in Canada - to set up network of VolNet delivery agencies; these agencies would help 200 groups per year "get connected", and train them. - trying to get application forms out by Dec. 1st, letter of intent to be due Jan 1st, groups would be funded to develop plans further - looking for agencies that voluntary sector is used to going to for support, that would understand the needs of voluntary sector on Internet - focusing on large cities for now, due to requirement for 200 groups - looking for partnerships with respect to delivery agencies ie. between NCF and United Way, etc. - non-eligible costs would be buying new computers, staff time would be eligible cost, hire up to age 30 as "youth" - looking for free or low-cost access from delivery agency - allowed approximately 30 delivery agencies for country over 3 years (would mean only one per city) - "voluntary organization" criteria is defined - expect a structure that will have sub-delivery agencies (ie. Toronto to Sudbury, Thunder Bay, etc.) - will be open call for proposals - will mail draft out to NCF when ready - letter of intent 3-6 pages, work big for Jan-Mar for final proposal, funding in region of $10,000 ($50 per each of 200 agencies) - mandate to connect 10,000 groups by end of program - VolNet in same branch of Industry Canada as CAP; strong urban CAP centre would also be VolNet agency - eligibility criteria says "most in need get served first" ie. if no computer, come first Chris Cope: if we can get this linked with our NatCAP proposal, both would feed members; if we can be "supplier", we would pick up members in voluntary agencies. Some discussion on impact on membership from raising profile of NCF, comment from Dave , "we're invisible". Suggestion that we could partner with Volunteer Centre of Ottawa-Carleton. We're the first group that Justine has spoken to. 6.b) NATCAP PROPOSAL (Chris Cope) Tabled by Chris for discussion next meeting. - pilot for urban CAP in city, min. of 25 hours per week, free parking, fully interactive including email, large groups ought to have central servers to handle load - NCF would be central ISP, to find other interested partners would go forward with project, get money from CAP, would have 100 physical sites with NCF hosting mail, etc. - very good support from member agencies, including Sun providing two servers - has real benefits without a lot of work, we'd be supplier to group, and beneficiary (need web mail to be part of this) - discussed volunteer needs - NCF would be one of partners on steering committee - NCF would provide authentication of members/email - training manuals part of program - benefit: we provide access from anywhere, not just public access sites - discussed benefit of NCF to members There was some discussion about the wisdom of pursuing government programs versus spending our efforts on other things. c) APPOINTMENT OF A NEW BOARD SECRETARY (Michael Mason) We need a new secretary due to Andre Ouellette's resignation. MOVED BY Natalie Munro and SECONDED BY Jim Elder, that Jessica Cohen be appointed Secretary for the rest of the current term. MOTION CARRIED, unanimously. d) COMPLAINTS RESOLUTION COMMITTEE UPDATE (Natalie Munro) A member put up a page with "warez" and pornography, removed the material at the request of the CRC, and replaced it with links to the same type of material, hosted by other sites. A discussion was held on where to draw the line (ie. are links to another site considered to be on NCF), and what actions to be taken. General opinion was that NCF should not start taking actions about members pages with links to non-NCF sites. Natalie commented that so far the member has been quite co-operative with CRC requests. The member will be asked by the CRC to put a disclaimer on his page to the effect that the material on it is not being hosted by NCF, and asking that any concerns with the page be directed to him. e) PROPOSAL FOR UPDATING NCF'S POLICIES (Miranda Gray) Miranda submitted a proposal on updating NCF's policies and bringing them up to date with current practices. To be discussed at the next meeting. 7. DATE OF NEXT MEETING November 17, 1998 St. Laurent Branch Ottawa Public Library 515 Cote Street, Ottawa 8. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to discuss the meeting adjourned at 10 pm.