Grinnell Family Association of America Official Website

GFA Directors:

This email kicks off our annual meeting. The following are agenda items that need to be prepared and presented during our meeting, which should be completed no later than July 31. Please make responses as requested ASAP so we don't drag out this meeting too long.

President's Report (following)
Secretary - minutes of last year's meeting for review and approval
Treasurer - year-end (FY 6/30) report for review and approval
Membership - following
Newsletter - Plans for October 31 release. Can we afford to upgrade the newsletter with color and glossy paper? Can we get genealogy advertisers to defray some of our costs?
Nomination - 2010 is my last year, Treasurer's last year (?), and ??? We need a slate of candidates to discuss.
Genealogy book - committee to report and discussion to follow. Key question: can updates still be accepted? What is the target date?
Webmaster - What are current plans to have a commercial company back=up your efforts or become the lead for our website, administrative data base, and related items?
OnLine Genealogy - improvements needed?
Historian - What is the status of our records? What are you missing?
GFAd ad - Who is responsible to place our ad that Larry formulated last year? David?
Legal - Any issues to discuss?
2010 Reunion - Little Compton HS is awaiting our specific input (dates, WAG as to number of attendees, what we want them to do....possibly a Friday night presentation and Saturday on-site visit with busload of Grinnells, etc.)
What else?

President's Report: ties in closely with membership. We now boast member #720 (yesterday) and can expect more from the Francis D. Grinnell descendents who are meeting at Glacier Natl Park late July. I spoke with Norma Hall who is the coordinator. She is not a member but wanted to buy the video to show to all her family. I sold her a membership, video, and sent her a copy of each of our last 8 newsletters to share with her family. I gave her permission (I probably didn't need to) to project the online genealogy onto a screen to share with her close cousins. I hope that will result in new members. I send each new member a packet with a membership card, membership certificate, latest newsletter, video order form, and bookmark (ala Marj's bookmark from Dearborn). We have sold approx a dozen videos this year, and I still have approx 30 left to sell. The 2010 Reunion should really be well thought out. With our ad placed somewhere ?? and with a tag about the reunion, we should target New England and New York Grinnells to attend. We have too many distant cousins that either don't know about us or have so far chosen not to join. We need to advertise the reunion NOW so people can reserve the dates next summer. We offer too much for them not to join us. Our dues renewal letter has been upgraded to include current database information so changing email addresses and street addresses of record are shown to our current members. Also, the last check number and amount now appears in the dues renewal letter to answer the questions I receive about when a membership is due.

Sometimes it is hard for a committee member to keep on doin' what he/she has been doin' for years, but we owe it to our members to give them what we promise. Let's keep in mind that we have lost 20 members from 2008, and we cannot afford to lose many more. The $15 iper year is not a lot, but $3000 added to our coffers each year is needed. The last newsletter was three months behind schedule, and the published genealogy was to be distributed for the Cleveland Reunion last year. Let's tighten up our belts and get some things completed or back on schedule.

Please prepare your reports now and send to all (above) with the Subject: GFA Membership, for example. Comments about my report are certainly welcome. Title your emails GFA President Report or GFA Membership or whatever.

Hugh

Not a member yet?
Click here to register.

Forgotten your password?
Request a new one here.