Grinnell Family Association of America Official Website

Summary of Comments from 2009 GFA "Virtual" Board of Director's Meeting

Treasurer's Report (submitted 7/8/2009):

Grinnell Family Association of America, Inc.
Annual Treasurer’s Report

June 30, 2009

06/30/2008   Balance from Last Annual Report           $   27,821.29

RECEIPTS
06/30/2009 Amount received for DVD - Video’s    $   340.00
06/30/2009 Donations received                                50.00
06/30/2009 Dues received                                    1,385.00

       Total Receipts                                      $ 1,775.00

EXPENSES

  Newsletter Publications               $   1,004.27
  Mailing, Supplies & Postage              332.40
  Annual Corporate Registration            20.00

      Total Expenses                      $   1,356.67

      Balance 6/30/2008                  $   27,821.29
      Plus Total Receipts 1,775.00        29,596.29
      Less Total Expenses (1,356.67)    28,239.62

     Checking Account Balance as of June 30, 2009 $   28,239.62

Chuck Ketchum
GFA Treasurer

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President's Comments (7/8/2009)

The only comment I have for the Treasurer's Report is a footnote: we have approx half of our members who had prepaid dues for 2009. There are no more prepaid dues into the future. Therefore the dues receipts this year of approx $1700 are from those choosing not to prepay dues in 2008 for 2009.

I am now asking for any other comments to this report. You may vote Yea or Nea on the Treasurer's Report beginning Saturday, July 11th. We have 3 days to submit any other comments.

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President's Comments (7/11/2009)

I have received only one vote for the report.

I have not received any other reports. Larry emailed me that he has a new job and will prepare his reports soon. What about Legal? Historian? Newsletter? Genealogy?

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Secretary's Comments (7/12/2009)

vote yea on the treasurer's report.

Comments: Have we considered obtaining a low-limit credit/debit card for necessary expenses? I'm going to have to go at least temporarily out of pocket to purchase web hosting services (see my upcoming report).

Larry

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More Secretary's Comments (re: Newsletter)

Newsletter: Haven't heard from Alice, so these are my comments in the meantime...

I only assemble content provided to me. I have no control over when I might get it. Now that I'm working two jobs, there could be some minor scheduling issues, but we can deal with them as they come.

If we can get advertisers, by all means, let's do more color.

However, with the membership chair's note that a number of 3 year memberships expire this January, we should be cautious about adding new expenses. Also, if we go color on glossy stock, we will need to put the newsletters in more expensive envelopes, due to the excessive smudging we experienced when we delivered a glossy newsletter last year.

If Cathy has some insight on other hungry Detroit-area digital printers, there could be a big money-saving opportunity.

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Genealogy Book Comments (from Larry Grinnell on 7/12/2009):

Genealogy book: Pressures of my old job, unemployment, and getting adjusted with two new jobs, I guess you could say I've been slacking with my GFA duties.

I have finally found appropriate software for generating the basic narrative text files (more importantly, I've figured out how to deal with the non-standard FTM GEDCOM files), which will still need much editing work. I also bought a new computer which should take the time to compile the file(s) from 10-12 hours down to just a few hours (remember, this i going to be a monster-sized book at over 2,000 pages). Once I am satisfied with the final compilation, I will need about 6-9 months to edit what we have. Please note that not a single person has submitted biographical data they committed to over two years ago.

Unless the board wants to put off publication by another six months (if we re-open the process for new input, it will need to be open for at least six months to ensure the word gets out and that any new inputs are entered into the database), I think we should stick with the October 2008 GEDCOM file I received from Chuck and direct members to the website to see any further updates.

I think I can honestly say that I can start the project in earnest in a few weeks.

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Webmaster Report (from Larry Grinnell on 7/12/2009):

Webmaster Report: I have selected a hosting company, HostMonster, who currently has a pretty good deal of $5.95 per month. I will have it set up to just use an IP address temporarily while I load the files and test it (so I don't have to buy another domain name), which, depending upon outside factors, could take another few months. I'll use my credit card to buy a three year contract and hit up Chuck for a reimbursement.

I will inquire about maintenance of the primary part of the site (Joomla or Drupal--still working that out, based on capabilities and ease of setup and maintenance), but there is no one out there offering consulting services to support the interactive genealogy database software--or at least I haven't found one. It's too small an industry at present to have professionals offering support.

The membership database is a whole other issue. To have it hosted by an outside agency will cost $25.00/month at the absolute minimum, due to technical issues related to FileMaker Pro and how many databases can be hosted per server (requiring large investments by the host). FileMaker Pro is still the best solution for the database, IMHO, due to the ease at which someone can create new reports, certificates, membership cards, etc. The only other option is to not have it hosted at all, and have either the president or treasurer hold the one master copy and be responsible for keeping it updated--that is, if you don't want me to continue hosting it from my home.

So the big question is, can we afford $30-35 per month (or more), forever, for online services?

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Online Genealogy Report (from Larry Grinnell on 7/12/2009):

Online Genealogy: There may be some improvements to how much of the screen is occupied (I want to use more of the screen real estate for the genealogy) when the new genealogy site is activated.

There's also an opportunity to look at another online genealogy program, called PHPGedView (their website is http://www.phpgedview.net). There are links to many examples of websites created in this program that might be worth looking at to see if you might like it better than the one we are using now: The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding (TNG). Their website is http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php. In either case, these genealogy programs are extensible. Pictures of individuals and gravesites, and even documents can be added to the entries.

The downside of either of these programs is that neither are as easy to use as desktop-based programs like FamilyTree Maker. For now, Marj wants to try using the online database for data entry. If she feels this is not the way to go, that's fine. She can resume using FTM, and occasionally send me an updated set of GEDCOM files for posting. Either way, it works for me--no harm, no foul.

Vote on Accepting Treasurer's Report from Larry Grinnell on 7/13/2009:

Yea

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Comment from President regarding PayPal or credit card for GFA expenses on 7/13/2009:

Chuck, the low-limit debit/credit card suggested by Larry is a good idea. Directors, please vote Yea or Nea on obtaining cards for key directors/functions. If Yea, we can research how to do it later on.

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Comment from Director Marj Murray on PayPal/credit card for GFA Expenses on 7/13/2009:

I vote in favor of the debit card suggestion

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President's comments on Larry's Newsletter Report on 7/13/2009

Cathy, can you comment on this? Newsletter expenses keep us from publishing in color, unless we find a gonga!

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Director Cathy Franczek's comments on PayPal/Debit Card on 7/14/2009:

I vote yea for the card.

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Director Kathy Asbury on Treasurer's Report (7/14/2009):

I vote yea on the Treasurer's report.

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Director Kathy Asbury on PayPal/Debit Card question (7/14/2009):

I vote yea for the card!

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President Hugh Grinnell on Treasurer's Report (7/17/2009)

The Treasurer's Report received 5 'yea' votes to accept. Three of you didn't vote.

Look at the website to read the 2008 minutes. I'll accept votes ASAP.

Please, folks, let's not make this meeting a drag. Submit your reports, vote as necessary, discuss whatever is offered, and let's complete this meeting by July 31.

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Director Marj Murray on Treasurer's Report (7/23/2009):

I just had this thought... shouldn't we have some of our money in higher earning CDs? Or if we do, I'd like to see the breakdown on that. Don had set up a $10,000.00 CD (I think). Oh the memory goes flying when you're 70+. But I do recall two totals from two sources. Sorry this is a late query...

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Comments by Treasurer Chuck Ketchum on Treasurer's Report (7/24/2009)

Good Idea but there were two problems. First, when the last CD matured, I didn't know when we would need the money for the new book, so I did not renew. Second, when I saw that it would be quite a time before the book would be published, the interest rates were not much over 1 percent and it would take time to get signatures from our officers, so I did not get any new CD's after the first one. In the future it would be good to have signature members living in the same locality.

By the way as our Account is listed as a non profit organization, we are not authorized to have Debit Cards.

Sorry that I did not comment on the above problems, earlier. I did reinvest in a CD after receiving the monies from Don, in my name only, but felt that was not safe, as my age could cause a problem, when you are over 80, time could be ended very quickly. This could cause a problem when cashing in. Also, when Don was Treasurer he was able to use his wife, being a member, as the other signature, making it much easier, if one of them passed away.

As far as spending money on niceties, like glossy paper and/or color, its nice but if you are looking for ways to keep the expenses down, you should look for other ways. I for one belong to many organizations and receive newsletters from all of them. I only have one that uses glossy paper and they are talking about discontinuing that type of paper. Color is nice and should be continued. I have previously asked for a copy of the newsletter by mail, but I still don't get a copy sent by mail, so I really don't have an Idea what our newsletter looks like by mail delivery. It looks great from the PDF file, which I do receive by copying it from the GFA web page, which is regular paper and I believe that many of our members receive it this way, which when printed, is not on glossy paper.

Sorry for all the comments, but they had to be said.

Chuck
Treasurer.

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Director Marj Murray on Treasurer's Report (7/23/2009):

Thank you so much Chuck. Things are never as simple as they seem and you pointed out very good reasons for how you handled everything. I feel better with a little more general knowledge. By the way, I am finding out how much work you have done for the GFA over the last 10 years as genealogy chair. You did an amazing job.

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President Hugh Grinnell on virtual board meeting (7/27/2009)

Directors and committee chairs,

I know we are all volunteers for this association. Along with volunteering there are a few responsibilities, for example, to vote and/or comment on specifric agenda items. I am awaiting the first vote for or against the annual minutes from 2008. I am awaiting input on the following items:

Nomination committee, including a Treasurer and Newsletter Editor ... both ASAP.
Newsletter committee (Larry's portion received for all to read and comment)
On-line genealogy
Archives
Legal
2010 Reunion committee

Larry reported that he has been contacting website managers to allow us the safety of having a commercial website company maintain our website in case he is unable to do so for whatever reason. Larry. do you have a dollar figure from a reputable firm?
We have received feedback from Chuck that the debit card cannot be issued to a non-profit organization.
We have voted to accept the Treasurer's Report.
The publication of the next genealogy will result in a 2000-page book. OK....let's get with it and get it published.
Discussion about placing money in a CD for better return resulted in Chuck's response in essence saying we need access to our funds for the new book.
There has been no comment about publishing the ad in a genealogy newsletter.. Larry designed an ad over a year ago.

Anything else?

Please vote for/against the minutes which are now on the family website. Please comment on the above topics.

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Director Marj Murray reports on Nominating Committee, genealogy (7/28/2009):

The nominating committee is not making much progress yet, but I am working on it. Have to consider not only who has time to fill a position but who will do a good job.

I have been devoting HOURS to the website bringing things up to date, especially for those who have requested via mail or email to have their current info or corrected info included. The website is a wonder and I have not had too much trouble (found 2 mistakes listing a person twice and corrected those already). Lary has been very helpful as usual, but reading and common sense prevail. I had come across a list of all the NEW ADDITIONS/CORRECTIONS last week, but haven't been able to find it again to include in this report. Perhaps Larry could provide this for those who would be interested in seeing the progress.

As it stands now, new info can be recorded on the website in a day or week, depending. I try to verify the info from other sources. The average person does not always have EVERYTHING correct.

Almost done with reunion hotels. But the website has had my focus because it is SO INTERESTING!

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President Hugh Grinnell on Marj's last comments (7/28/2009):

Marj, thanks so much for your report. You have more than one hat to wear for our Association.

directors, any comments about Marj's report?

By the way, I was remiss in commenting yesterday that Marj has asked all of us to choose one of her two suggested weekends in July 2010 for the reunion.

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President Hugh Grinnell Closes the Annual Meeting (7/31/2009):

Directors,

With this email I am closing this annual meeting for lack of a quorum. Our requirement to have a meeting and maintain minutes per the corporation requirements of the State of Rhode Island is, perhaps, of little regard to some of our Directors.

We will continue to depend upon the efforts of our committee persons. There is much to accomplish this next year. With no comment by or input from the Association Board members, the Association will get what it gets from each committee chair. That is not a bad thing as we have good people in place on the committees. However, Larry is performing 3 functions; Chuck is performing 2 functions and needs to resign; Alice has resigned pending the appointment of a new editor. There are some money issues to resolve concerning Larry's 3 functions, but I can't get Directors to respond. What is the problem?

I have asked Bob Pretat to take on a Directorship. I hope he says "yes"

Hugh

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This is a transcript of all annual meeting-related emails as received in my own email account. If any director sent mail directly to the President (not reply all), I do not have them.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lawrence J. Grinnell, GFA Secretary and Webmaster

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