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SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Secretary's Report

August 2015

Chapter 65 Executive Board Meeting of August 19, 2015, 10:30 a.m
Attending: Jerry, Jon, Leslie, Joe, Helen, DorisMarie, Jane, Dave, Frank, Juanita, Dianne, and Martha

1. Discussion and evaluation of Membership Outreach event in July
Three days of recruitment were held in the FOB lobby. Mike organized the 3-day recruitment and provided the packets, the posters, etc. About 100 packets containing NARFE information were given out.
Ann Lindsay's presentation was held on July 15. Of the 55 people who attended, approximately 35 were non-members.
Jerry emphasized the need to convince our members to sign up for "dues withholding", as retention is greatly increased, and this results in savings for the member as well. The NARFE magazine states that up to 15% can be saved off annual membership dues. (Dues withholding  can be cancelled at any time.) Dues withholding form is in the magazine each month. A suggestion was made that a note be put in the newsletter regarding the benefits of "dues withholding". A volunteer is needed to take over a "dues withholding campaign." Juanita will talk to Mike about this. She also mentioned this would be a good time to recruit an "active" employee as a liaison for the Chapter.

2. Upcoming programs for the remainder of 2015
September 16: Luncheon at Picaro Tapas Restaurant, 3120 16th St., San Francisco, 12 noon. Please mail your checks for $22 to Jerry. Further details are in the August newsletter and will also appear in the September newsletter.
October 21: Health Plan representatives from the 3 most popular plans: Blue Cross, GEHA, andKaiser will be attending.
November 18: Various federal employee organizations attending. Juanita is working on this to arrange for speakers from, for example, AFGE, possibly Customs and Border Patrol, Letter Carriers, Park Service, Treasury Employees, etc.
December Holiday Luncheon: This will be at Bistro 10UN on Thursday, December 10th. This venue is centrally located and reasonably priced. We have enjoyed it in the past.
For 2016, Jon said that he thinks he'll be able to get a speaker from Senator Feinstein's office. This would be very welcome. Jon said that we might view the webinar with Sarah Weismann, NARFE Grassroots Program Manager.

3. Discussion on availability of meetings via technology
Ferdi (in OASAM) might be able to set this up but it could only accommodate 20 people. This might not be very effective, and the experience of some is that it is often hard to hear what is said. Jerry thought that we might be able to just Podcast some of the meetings. This may need further exploration.

4. Newsletter fundraising and costs and how to continue chapter operations when money is scarce
The Chapter's biggest expense is publication of the newsletter, which is about $325 -$370 per month. This includes printing, labels, and mailing. Although the recent fundraiser for the newsletter netted $1678, only 1/6 of our members donated (103 out of 600 +). The issue of possibly raising Chapter dues was once again discussed. There was a suggestion that we could raise the chapter dues $4 a year which would amount to only 25 cents a month. This could help our bottom line greatly and spread the cost of the newsletter more equitably. Another option may be to encourage members to receive the newsletter electronically. However, this requires manually removing some of the pre-printed labels, and would be very time-consuming. Joe will see if national NARFE office can do this. Another way to reduce costs would be to publish the newsletter every two months.

5. District Meeting in early spring/late winter 2016
Jerry mentioned that he has 12 Chapters as his responsibility as District V Vice President

6. Sue Mangiameli is the new Sunshine Chair since Edith Higa is moving to Hawaii. Please bring blank or get well cards for her (Sue).

7. Need to re-do the coupon for September
Another coupon for the September lunch will appear in the September newsletter.

8 Legislative Speaker for 2016
Jon is working on this and thinks he'll be able to get a speaker from Senator Feinstein's office.

9. Requests for placement of information on website or newsletter
Leslie reported that Chapter officers and chair persons have received inquiries from representatives of outside organizations who asked about advertising in our newsletterand website. It was agreed that we will not do this at present and Martha volunteered to draft a standardized email response for us. Please refer these requests to either Joe or Martha.

10. Reports
DorisMarie reported on contacts she had made to lapsed members, both by letter and phone calls. Dianne gave the Treasurer's report of Chapter income and expenses. Current bank balance is $1992. Frank reported on contributions made to the Alzheimer's fund which totaled $56.

11. Other items for discussion
A Nominating Committee is needed for officers for next year. The nominations are needed by/before the November meeting so that the election can be held at that meeting. Jerry will discuss this with Jon, Joe, and Jesse.
Leslie mentioned that meeting room reservations cannot be made more than 6 months in advance. When the program committee members get together, a decision needs to be made as to which month we'd need a larger room (B-040 or B-020) for the general meetings.
After the October meeting, the Program Committee will meet to develop the program for 2016. Meeting was adjourned about 12:15 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jane Ramos
Secretary

    Respectfully Submitted
  Jane Ramos, Secretary

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