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The Loma Prietan
February-March 2003Update from ExCom: Chapter Strengths Carry Us Through Challenging Times
by Ann Schneider
2003 Excom. Click photo to see it in full size. We start this year with an exceptional leadership team and very strong activities sections, a political program, and conservation efforts, such as our work on San Francisco Airport expansion and forest protection.
However, we face real challenges with a significant budget deficit of 20 percent of our budget for 2002 and the prospect of a similar situation for next year. To respond to this challenge the Loma Prieta Board has taken a number of actions to both reduce expenditures and raise donations. We believe that these changes will make a stronger, more viable organization.
Good-Bye and Thanks to Dan Kalb
The budget shortfall has forced us to make some difficult decisions. The most significant of these is that Dan Kalb will be departing the chapter, as it is apparent that we do not have the financial capacity to sustain the Director role.
Dan joined the chapter in March of 2000 and his commitment to conservation is exemplary and deep. He has been a guiding force in the Chapter's campaigns on Coyote Valley and San Francisco Airport, and also provided important support in numerous other conservation activities, Chapter fundraising, and operations. Dan continued in his role with the Chapter through January 17, 2003. His knowledge of the issues, media savvy, and political awareness have provided a mighty contribution to the Chapter which will be sorely missed.
Our plan is to bring on board an organizer who will assume some key portions of Dan's responsibilities, hopefully by March. The Executive Committee (ExCom) will assume other responsibilities currently handled by Dan. We are not making any other staff changes at this time. Carrie Hudiburgh and Belle Marino will continue supporting membership and the office.
Changes at ExCom
We are most fortunate to be joined by an exceptional group of new ExCom members. Gary Bailey, Ann Schneider, Shiloh Ballard, and Terry Andre are joining the team and Shawn Britton is continuing. Terry comes to us with great experience working with businesses on sustainability, consulting companies on concepts such as the "triple-bottom line". Shiloh is a smart growth advocate with the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group and was a former aide to Senator Byron Sher. Gary and Ann are well known to many on the team for their great contributions to the Political Committee. Gary has also been a key member of the Forest Protection Committee and Ann is involved in numerous local conservation groups. including Acterra's Sustainable Mountain View and the California Resource Recovery Association. We gratefully welcome back Shawn, whose quiet but solid contributions to the Chapter as secretary and IT chair have been tremendous.
We want to acknowledge outgoing ExCom members Bill Michel, Fadi Saba, Leslie Weise, and Caralin Adair. Please join in thanking them for their commitment to the Chapter and the environment. Leslie will continue as Chapter Legal Chair and Bill is assuming the role of Transportation Committee Chair. We look forward to Fadi and Caralin's continued participation as members and activists.
Welcome New Activities Director
Long time Loma Prieta volunteer Dick Simpson has assumed the role of Director of the Activities Section. Dick brings his deep understanding of the Loma Prieta organization and his enthusiasm to support activity groups. Dick is a former Activities Director and has served for many years on the Executive Committee of the Black Mountain Group. Over 900 members regularly participate in local LP activities such as hiking, river kayaking and skiing. And they want you to join them! Take a moment to look over the activities section in this issue of the LP (pages 8-10) and give them a call.
Changes at the Conservation Committee (ConsCom)
Karen Maki is joining Michael Stanley-Jones as ConsCom Co-Chair. In 2002 we made exceptionally strong efforts in numerous areas, including San Francisco Airport expansion, development of Coyote Valley, the political team, forest protection, transportation and high speed rail, as well as valuable foundation building in land use and green buildings.
Each Issue Committee is in the process of developing their goals for the coming year. We ask that each of you take this time to review our Chapter's Conservation Issue Committees and consider joining one.
Changes at the Political Committee (PolCom)
Stephanie Schaaf, Political Committee member, has agreed to become the PolCom Chair. And we want to express our great thanks to retiring PolCom Chair, Rafael Reyes, for his work in building this strong and successful team.
The Political Committee had an extremely successful year, both in recruiting members to participate in city council and assembly candidate endorsement interviews, and in our success rate at helping over 70% of our endorsed candidates get elected. We still had some races in which we didn't have enough people to form a research and interview team, so we could use your help. If you would like to help ensure that we elect representatives who understand and work for a better environment, then please contact Stephanie and join the Political Committee.
And save this date: the Political Committee will be conducting an Activist Workshop on April 5, 2003 at the Peninsula Conservation Center in Palo Alto.
Reduction in Production of the Loma Prietan Newsletter
ExCom voted to reduce the number of issues of the Loma Prietan to six issues a year. We realize that this will make advertising our activities and conservation efforts more difficult, but it will allow us to bring our budget in line with revenue.
To compensate for this reduction in communications with our members, ExCom has created a Communications Committee and given the Committee the mission to develop a process to increase electronic communications with members. This plan will most likely involve the collection of member email addresses so information can be sent to them via email rather than U.S. Mail. We will also be working on improving the Chapter website by increasing the information available on our activities. If you would like to help with this enormous endeavor then please contact Ann Schneider, Chair of the Communications Committee.
Creation of a Fund Raising Committee
ExCom has also created a new Fund Raising Committee, chaired by new ExCom member Shiloh Ballard. The Committee has already developed an action plan and is in the process of designing a major fund raising event tentatively scheduled for June. Look for information on the Loma Prieta Chapter's 70th Birthday Celebration in the next issue of the Loma Prietan.
If you have skills in or ideas on how to increase donations to our Chapter, please contact Shiloh Ballard.
Growing Regional Groups
ExCom will also be working on increasing the opportunities for members, both new and returning, to learn more about the Club and get more involved.
We hope to expand New Member meetings using the successful model of the Black Mountain Group. Please contact our office if you are interested in getting a regional group going in your community.
The Future
We believe we have taken the initial steps to put the Chapter into a more secure position. We have formalized the fund raising and communication activities and we have several new and energetic people in leadership roles. We are taking steps to reduce our expenses while working on new methods to deliver information and services to members. And we are going to take time to celebrate 70 years of friendship and environmental successes at our birthday bash later this year.
While the next year will be challenging, we are fortunate to have so many active members enjoying a broad range of outdoor activities and working on environmental issues. ExCom is confident that our Chapter will use this funding shortfall to become a more focused and efficient organization. It won't come without some painful changes, like the loss of Dan Kalb and reduction in the Loma Prietan schedule, but with the help of our volunteers and members, we will come through this as a stronger, more vibrant organization.