- Introduction
- Location: 1823 Lamont St NW, Washington, DC 20010
- Attendees
- Tracy Hart
- Racey Bingham
- Amacire Bocoum
- Lance Constien
- Will Holcomb
- Naomi Zeff
- Natalie Eft
- Introductions and News to Share
Amacire on the Board of Directors of a group of DC-based Mauritanians, with whom we should link up.
- Action: Amacire is attending their meeting this evening and will come back to us with specific proposals for how we can begin to work more closely together.
- Action: Tracy agreed that she is available to attend one of their meetings in order to foster partnership between the two groups.
- Membership
The current membership is at roughly 68 members. Online membership is up and working, with at least 3 people joining by online membership.
- Action: Will has agreed to work further on the online membership page so that the emails generated by online sign-up are formatted a bit nicer.
- Action: Will will work on getting credit card and/or paypal choices for payment on the online membership page for FORIM.
- Decision: We need to begin to think about sending out renewal notices for 2007 membership to those FORIM members who signed up and paid in 2006.
- Decision: We need to confirm and be clear in correspondance if/that membership is for the calendar year.
- Decision: We need to keep membership payments separate on the treasurer's accounting from development-related donations, as we are beginning to receive both.
- Decision: We are in need of a membership coordinator separate from the secretary and treasurer function.
- Decision: We may need to file taxes for 2006. We need to look into this.
- Communications: Website
The website is back up and working. We now have posted current information on the Board of Directors, PO Box, how to become a member, all previous newsletters, etc.
- Action: Will will take off the password protection for all past newsletters. We decided that we would prefer to maximize use of the website, and the newsletter is not the primary draw to people joining FORIM.
- Action: Will agreed to take off the email addresses from the most recent newsletter issue of Shifting Sands, as the newsletter will not be password protected.
- Action: Will will look into our using a content management program, "a la Wiki", so that a few of us can enter content on the website at the same time. This would allow Rhonda to take the lead on content entry, and let Will take the lead on website management.
- Action: Lance will share with us any information he has on membership registry mangements from other Friends of groups, so that we can look into it ourselves.
- Action: Tracy will forward to Will information compiled on other Friends of Groups' websites that have won NPCA awards, and will work with Will to design a new style for the FORIM home page, as well as a layout for moving from the home page to other pages.
- Action: Tracy will share with Will other emails on expanding content of the FORIM web page, including adding recipes, links to blogs, etc.
- Decision: We decided that we would like to expand our website so that it has mostly active links to other sites. There may not be a lot of active additions in terms of original content to the website once we renovate our website up to what we consider acceptable standards.
- Communications: Newsletter
Per our understanding with NPCA, we have agreed to have a newsletter biannually, i.e. twice a year. Our last website was in Spring of 2006.
- Decision: Our most important action item is to get out a newsletter this spring. Topics for possible inclusion are: lead article, News From Mauritania, Shifting Sands, Update on Membership, Update on Development activities, New Initiatives.
- Action: Will will look into using Pagemaker for the upcoming newsletter, and agreed to format the newsletter should be provide content.
- Action: Tracy will be responsible for writing up News from Mauritania.
- Communications: Email Address, PO Box, and Outreach
The email address is functional. The PO Box has been paid up for another year — Shelagh and Tracy have keys.
- Decision: We decided that we could host a FORIM happy hour at Big Hunt on some Tuesday in the future, as there are currently RIM RPCVs who frequent there on Tuesdays.
- Decision: We agreed to pursue hosting an evening soiree at Tracy's house in the spring, when Racey can attend. The party might be potluck or catered. There may be an entrance fee for non-FORIM members approaching or equal to initial cost for FORIM membership.
- Decision: We will pursue holding a picnic in the summer, to be co-hosted with DC-based Mauritanians.
- Reaffiliation with NPCA
We are now reaffliated with NPCA for 2007. This is one of our major accomplishments for 2006. Our other major accomplishments for 2006 were issuing a newsletter, sending out a invitation to membership letter, attracting new members, and getting the website up and running again.
- (Development) Activities
We are in a position to be able to the following three development activities on behalf of our members for 2007. We can use our 501c3 as a pass-through to Mauritanian NGOs and other development needs.
- Action: Racey will renew our affiliation with Amenon Nos Filles a l'Ecole. We will sponsor a girl's tuition on behalf of FORIM.
- Action: Will will post links on the FORIM website to the current Peace Corps Partnership activities with Mauritanian PCVs.
- Decision: We will also highlight these Peace Corps Partnerships in the next newsletter.
- Action: Racey will get in contact with the current APCD working with the girls mentoring centers to look into how best to renew our Girl's Essay Contest, for which we now have funding to underwrite.
- 2007 Elections for Board of Directors
We agreed to maintain the current board of directors as constituted for continuity's sake through 2007. We would appreciate any volunteers to step up to take on activities that match their skills and/or interest. Specifically, we need volunteers to take on the newsletter and membership coordination.
- Next Meeting
We did not specify a next meeting, but will work on the above decisions and actions for the next few months. We agreed that we need to balance harnessing energy of DC-based FORIM members and including all FORIM members (DC-based and otherwise) in our activities.