Executive Director's Report
Sept 2003
===========================

Sept 9th, 2003
By John Selwyn
(execdir@NCF.ca) 

Donations:
Donations for latest period: For the months of July and August totaled $18,779
or approximately 5% below the forecast of $20,112.   
We are continuing the previously noted trends of new member donations being 
significantly over expectations while renewals continues to fall short.

Expenses:
Operating expenses for the core NCF service during the period was $30,006 
or approximately 5% below the budget for the period of $30,554. 
  
The marketing of the NCF services has begun with ads and interviews in local 
papers being scheduled all fall.  We are also distributing brouchers and posters
to many local communities centres.  A launch of the new services is tentatively 
scheduled for November and again in a different format in January.  Already we
are seeing increased activity with walk in and online registrations.

Personalized member start page: Has been live as the main NCF page since July
with only a small number of non-critical bugs surfacing during that time. Given
the importance of a stable system we are not planning to introduce changes to
the system before November. 

Digital Lines: 
It is important that the NCF stays ahead of a projected increase in demand for 
dialup services.  In keeping this in mind we have contracted for the provising
of and additional 4 PRI (92 56K lines).  These lines will have the latest modem
software accepting v90 and v92 connections.  Our total line count will exceed 
300 lines.

As of early September we have returned to normal office hours.  The volunteers
have also returned to staff the help desk.  We are in need of additional 
help desk volunteers as a number of last years volunteers have moved on to 
paid employment.

Coming back from the summer break and looking at the NCF I feel pretty good 
about what the team has created in a short time.  The NCF is continuing in its
tradition of making Ottawa a better place.


John