AADB December Committees Report

December Committee Report


FRC (Fundraising Committee): No Report submitted by the chair:

From Jill Gaus:

Anindya Bhattacharyya (Bapin) is Chair but I, am in the process of talking to someone to assist in co-chairing this committee because of the importance of getting funds in. I will be meeting with this potential co-chair here in Michigan because this person is traveling here for the holidays. On this committee is CM Hall, Karen Bailey and Jill Gaus. Also, we have been informed that there have been inquires on the AADB-Info where to send donations.

Donations can be sent to:
AADB Office, 8630 Fenton Street, Suite 121, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3803.


Policy Committee:
Chair - Chris Woodfill
Karyn Campbell, Scott Davert, Rene Pellerin and Jill Gaus

The policy committee is on hiatus right now. Jill and I had a lengthy conversation on vp regarding the policy committee. We both agreed that policy is not a priority at AADB at this time. AADB is in critical condition financially at the present time. All board energies need to be focused on fundraising and to get out of the office leases. After both critical goals are satisfactorily met, policy committee will be active again then. Until then, there will be no further reports from the policy committee. Jill and I will discuss and agree on when to reactivate the policy committee.


Subcommittee of Policy: FCC
Randy Pope has resigned- no one in place yet.


By-Law committee: No report submitted
Chair - Maricar Marquez
Chris Woodfill, Kacie Weldy and Jill Gaus

From Jill Gaus: There has been some discussion with the Law committee how to nullify or amend motions; research has been done on RRO (Roberts Rules of Order).

Subcommittee-IPC (Internal Procedure)
Chair - Debby Lieberman
Jill Gaus


NRC (Networking and Recruitment Committee): No Report for this month.
Mark Gasaway chair
Jeri Cooper and Jill Gaus


FC (Finance Committee):
Mike Reese Chair
Lynn Jansen, Jeff Bohrman, Dorothy Walt and Jill Gaus

The FC has been very busy reviewing and making corrections to the draft 2012 budget and which is now nearly ready to be approved by the full board within the week. All other work has been on hold until after the budget is finalized.

As Treasurer, I also kept the Finance and Executive Committee informed of the latest balances in our accounts as well.  More will follow in the next report.


5YSP (5 Year Strategic Planning Committee) Report:
Co-Chairs - Karyn Campbell and Mark Gasaway
Sarah McMillen, Chris Woodfill, Maricar Marquez, Lynn Jansen, Mike Reese and Jill Gaus

The Five Year Strategy Planning Committee (5YSPC) had a motion passed by the board on November 16, 2011. This motion is the main goal proposal that you read about last month. The board asked that some changes be made in the proposal. These changes are being made and the proposal will be released to the membership with the monthly reports for December. Once these changes are made, the committee will begin progressing the plan.


SSP Committee Report:
Elizabeth Spiers, Chair
Val Luther, Marlene Melvin, Marilyn Fernandez-Trader and Jill Gaus

The SSP committee sent out a questionnaire, which was developed last month, to 23 SSP programs around the country. The questionnaire included such questions as how SSPs are recruited and trained, how many hours of training SSPs receive, what training is provided, how each program is funded, and what follow up training is included, if any. Because of the holidays, the questionnaire was sent out in late November, and we asked each SSP program to send a response by mid-December. So far, we have three responses. When we have received all the responses, we will provide a brief summary of the results.


Office committee: No report submitted by Lynn
Chair - Lynn Jansen
Becky Hall, Debby Lieberman and Jill Gaus

From Jill Gaus:
I am still working with the Landlord and they will be checking to see if we can have a discount on the cost of the rent because no one is in the office and we also have a potential sub leaser; we are negotiating at this moment. Some of the board of directors is planning a trip out to SS, MD in Jan. We are working on dates.


Secretary’s Report:
Debby Lieberman
At this time my main responsibility as secretary is to manage correspondence to and from AADB. Because our office has no staff at this time all US Mail comes to me. Since I started receiving mail for AADB we have received almost 200 pieces of mail. These include memberships, donations, bills, and certificates allowing AADB to receive charitable donations in each state, and, of course, junk mail. I have sent almost 100 letters for AADB. These are mostly membership acknowledgements and thank you letters to donors.

I keep a record of all incoming and outgoing mail, copies of all checks received and deposited, and send copies of deposited checks and deposit slips to Lynn Jansen, who is responsible for keeping track of financial transactions in Quick Books. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me at debbyaadb@mindspring.com or 505-259-4991 (v).


MMC-Multi-Media Committee Report:
Co-Chair: Scott Davert and Kacie Weldy
Debby Lieberman, Michael Reese, Wayne Brown, Paul Deeming, Lynn Jansen, and Jill Gaus

Mission: To provide IT support with the membership database and the AADB.org website. Also, to provide continuous updates, notifications, information, and resources to the members of AADB and all others who have an interest in being involved in the actions and various roles of AADB. These will be provided, but not limited to the following means of public relations, communications, and various media platforms: Email, Facebook, Twitter, AADB Blog, AADB.org website, Newsletters, AADB Today, mailings, and any other means deemed necessary.


Sub committees:
IT committee – Co-chairs Scott Davert and Kacie Weldy
Wayne Brown, Lynn Jansen, Mike Reese and Jill Gaus

This committee provides direct support for the website maintenance and interfacing with the membership database. Also provides support to the board and Executive Committee with the decision making processes regarding commitments and system interfaces for credit card transactions and online payments. This committee will also make use of volunteer outside consulting in regards to technological aspects of setting these processes up for optimal use of AADB resources.

Activities and tasks performed:
1. Board of Directors’ web page updated
2. Publications web page updated with the 2011 AADB Today issues.
3. Continued set up of Committees web page.
4. Nearly completed set up of various web pages for 2011 Symposium highlights.
5. Continuing the process of updating Common Grounds with donor and membership information since it was last updated in June, 2011.
6. Research and compilation of information for receipt requests from donors to provide to the Secretary for donation receipts.
7. Creation and distribution of email fundraising letter through Convio.
8. Organization and scanning of donor slips and copies of payments received via postal mail from March through October 2010 into electronic format for future record keeping.
9. Compiling of donor information from 2010 donations received via postal mail from March through October.
10. Numerous hours spent working through both Common Grounds and Convio and working with the reporting, batching, and data entry functions of the software.
11. Numerous reports run for data entry and administrative functions, including but not limited to membership expiration dates, duplicate records management, and online transactions to be entered into QuickBooks.
12. Numerous IM meetings with various board members in relaying of information, reporting of findings, and validation of results compiled.


Short term goal
Update the AADB.org and Convio website information with current data.

Long term goal:
Timely updates to the AADB website and membership databases and possibly changes to the website for more accessible formats.

Subcommittee: PR committee
Co-chairs Scott Davert and Kacie Weldy
Jeri Cooper

This committee is responsible for all mailings going out to the general membership, including but not limited to AADB Today, board election forms, conference information, proposed changes to policies and procedures, and all other information. The members of this committee are responsible for compilation and creation of documents to be sent out in all means necessary to be accessible, in print or electronically. They will then be responsible for setting up the printing, and distribution of these documents either electronically, in Braille, or in print. The focus of this committee is to be able to distribute the information in all possible accessible formats.

Activities:
1. Posting of AADB updates to Facebook, Twitter, and AADB blog.
2. Approval of requests to join Facebook
3. Email distribution of the December 2011 AADB Today.
4. Creation and processing documents for sending out paper mail copies of the December AADB Today.
5. Creation of the 2011 End of Year Fundraising campaign within Common Grounds and Convio and then distribution of the first round of donation letters via email.
6. Numerous IM meetings with various board members in facilitating the distribution of the donor letter, such as proofing of the donation letter, creation of the email distribution list, and the learning of the Convio system to send out this information.
7. Preparations are underway for initiating a postal mailing of the donor letter, utilizing the 2010 donor information compiled by the IT committee.


Short term goals:
1. Facilitate and establish an open line of communications between the Board and Executive committee and the general membership - both on-line members and those without.

a. Set up a team of people to create an informative mailing to be distributed to the membership of the changes and happenings of AADB since the Symposium, the proposed bylaw changes, and the financial state of AADB.
b. Distribute this mailing no later than December 1st. (Goal has been revised due to technical issues.)

Long term goals: To provide accessible, timely, and routine distribution of information to the general membership.
1. Set up a team of people to create and/or compile articles to go out in each AADB Today.
2. Provide to the general membership timely and informative mailings of board elections and proceedings, FCC updates and technological updates affecting deaf-blind