Executive Director's Report
May 2003
===========================

May 12th, 2003
By John Selwyn
(execdir@NCF.ca)


Membership continues to grow, with 270 new members in April for a total
of 976 new members for the year.

Donations for latest period: For the month of April totaled $17,486 or
approximately 20% below the forecast of $21,648.   Donations from new
members were up significantly bringing in $3,613 as compared to a forecast
of $2,232 however donations associated with renewals were 30% below
forecast.

Operating expenses for the core NCF service was $10,953 or approximately
30% below the budget for the month of $15,267. Most of the savings in
operational expenses are due to increased allocation of staff time to
the development projects.

Office tools based on NCF's new SQL database continue to be developed
and to improve.  This translates to more productive staff and will
increase NCF's ability to develop and deliver new services for members.

The next focus area after office tools will be tools and services
for members.  We expect development releases within a few weeks.

Digital Lines: The NCF has signed a contract with Telus to supply 8
Primary Rate Interface (PRI) lines to 403 Robertson Hall.  This will
replace our 170 analog centrex lines with 184 digital lines.  The
new digital lines are 56 kb/s (the current analog lines are 33 kb/s).
We'll be preparing for the switch-over during the next month.

Extended access:  Proposals are in the hands of three prospective
partners. Follow-up meetings are now scheduled for the end of May.

Getting the word out:  The NCF brochures are in the Public libraries, smart
sites and Millennium learning centres.  New posters have been proposed
by MediaPlus with a targeted distribution at the end of August.  Smart
Capital has been briefed and is on side with our plans to have the
service up and running through the summer with an official launch in
September.

Carleton University is facing a space squeeze due to the large 'double
cohort' arriving in Sept.  Our long held space on the 14th floor of
Dunton Tower will need to be vacated.  Carleton is attempting to find
new space for NCF.

Our Smart Capital project ends with this calendar year.  Industry Canada
will match donations during this period for the development of new
services.  Donations as part of the improvement the services at NCF
whether cash, services, equipment or software all qualify.  We need to
take advantage of this opportunity while it still exists.

As indicated by the new membership numbers, there is clearly a need and
a desire by residents to use community internet services.  We are
striving to ensure the services are of high enough quality that these
new members evolve into long term members.

John