Finally finished writing up my “quarterly” report as Communications Officer. Here’s what I did in that role since March:
• Kept up with all the normal tasks: Read all Local Group newsletters each month; Read members' postings on various public and AML-sponsored elists; Participated on Newseditors’ and Webmasters’ elists and handled some administrative duties for those lists; Actively participated in discussions on the AMC elist; Attended March’s AMC meeting; Participated in May and June’s AMC and Finance Committee’s conference calls, Reviewed InterLoc content for April/May, June, and July; Reviewed in great detail and March and April/May Bulletin content and discussed the June issue in great detail with the new editor; Reviewed and discussed Web site content and other Internet Services; Represented communications’ concerns by actively participating on many committees; Actively participated in the day-to-day administration and moderation of the Online Community, including dealing with disgruntled participants.
• Approved (or cheered when others approved) 358 new Facebook group members-for a total of 1,967as of June 7. Thank you to Lynn MacDonald, Kevin Mullen, Dennis Clinefelter, and Brian Smith!
• Responded to inquiries regarding deleting forum posts a year after the fact (can’t be done).
• Responded to a member’s question regarding how many candidates participate on the AML Online Comm.
• Interviewed two candidates for Bulletin editor.
• Neglected to confront a LG which has an opt-out policy for electronic newsletter distribution.
• Helped a member who needed some of her potentially harmful posts removed form the Online Comm.
• Forwarded a few address changes, death notices, and requests to unsubscribe from the Bulletin to the appropriate Nat Office staff.
• Responded to accusations of preferential treatment regarding Online Community suspensions.
• Responded to Maine Mensa’s questions regarding N&L limits on names for newsletters.
• Reviewed progress on Web Services plan.
• Tried to set up a phone conference with Gifted Children and Mensa Foundation representatives.
• Contacted editor of Bluegrass Mensa regarding logo use.
• Discussed content and potential writers with InterLoc editor.
• Responded to members’ concerns that there are no members who carefully review the Bulletin before it goes to press (I do, every issue, down to semi-colons versus em-dashes).
• Responded to a member’s inquiry to allow electronic-only subscriptions to the Bulletin (we’re not ready to do this yet).
• Reviewed the updated Marketing/Communications Dept plan.
• Looked into a misunderstanding about the budget available to the Research Review Committee.
• Discussed Bulletin design and priorities with Catherine, Hilary, and Roger.
• Helped draft wording to go with the Bulletin Online archives.
• Fielded a few requests from Staff to help members trying to participate in the AML Facebook group.
• Answered an RVC’s questions regarding LG funding policy and history.
• Answered an editor’s question regarding use of AML-originated notices.
• Answered a circulation manager’s questions regarding opt-in and opt-out rules for e-publications and what to consider when deciding to provide e-subscriptions to members.
• Appointed two new moderators for the Online Community (Rob Vittoe and Tim Vogt).
• Poked the AMC to stop ignoring members who publish inaccurate information and lies about AML.
• Scanned and forwarded (to the N&L Comm) several N&L violations from LG newsletters.
• Drafted a motion to drastically reduce the corporate subscription program.
4 comments:
If, in the investment climate of the last couple of years, American Mensa has actually managed to make "returns on these investments" at a level sufficient to pay the (by Mensa's own admission) million-dollar-plus legal expenses without touching the principal, then I'd like to move my own personal investments to Mensa's financial advisor; mine have lost a considerable sum over that period.
This is a pleasant example of where being pigheadedly conservative and risk adverse paid off. The investment policies are extremely conservative, which means we never reap large returns, but in the past couple years, we did make money while most people lost it. The financial advisors follow the policies set by the AMC (ASIE Appendix 17).
Oops... I meant to post that comment to your previous posting, where it's more relevant. Sorry.
I'm glad Mensa has, through conservative fiscal policy, managed to gain rather than lose on its investments. However, the corollary is that the gains are likely to be of the order of single-digit percentages, so if you do the math, you'd see that to pay a million-plus (and still rising) legal cost, you'd have to either have quite a large amount of capital, or be willing to save up investment returns for over a decade to pay for one such legal case. Do the actual numbers available to the Mensa public back this up and show conclusively that Russ is right and Ralph is wrong, or are some of the relevant facts concealed by AMC secrecy?
We do indeed have a sizable principal and yes, we've been saving up for over a decade. I've nudged the AMC to write up and release more clarification on this, and I have reason to believe that it is forthcoming. Basically, we really, truly did have the cash on hand to pay the bills, but now we have to tighten belts and find ways to build the reserves back up in preparation for the next rainy day.
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