From the President

Greetings to all ArkGeo members!

At our July 11 meeting, the Board adopted 10 goals for our Association to achieve over the next 12 months. They are:

1. Membership -- Increase membership to 200 by 5/31/09.
2. Fund raising -- Implement 2 fund raising initiatives to increase ArkGeo bank balance to $2500 by 5/31/09.
3. Events -- Hold 1 general membership meeting by 6/15/09.
4. Events -- Hold 1 CITO event by 6/15/09.
5. Events -- Hold 2 "Eat & Greets" by 6/15/09 in each of the following regions of the state: NE, NW, Central, SE, and SW.
6. Community Relations -- Work with Ouachita NF officials to reach agreement on the waiver of, or significant reduction in, geoache permit fee for geocaches placed within the Ouachita NF, by 12/31/08.
7. Community Relations -- Publicize ArkGeo through an article in one of the state's newspapers or TV news coverage of an ArkGeo event, by 5/31/09.
8. Elections -- Recruit at least 5 nominees for next Board election, by 1/1/09.
9. Elections -- Meet each of the ArkGeo Election Schedule milestone dates.
10. Website -- Complete move of website to a new host server by 11/1/08.

Each of the goals was assigned a Board member owner, who is responsible for promoting action through the standing committees and general membership to achieve each of these goals, and to report on the status quarterly at our Board meetings. In other words, these are not the Board’s goals – they are ArkGeo’s goals. And each of you can play a part in achieving one or more of the goals.

How? Let’s look at some examples.

Membership – Do you know another geocacher who uses our website but has not registered to be a voting member? Then they are NOT a member! So ask them to join by simply clicking on the Register to Vote link in the menu on the left hand side of the webpage. Or if you know a geocacher who has not visited our website, invite them to do so and join us.

Events – You don’t have to join the Events Committee to help out. Just contact one of the members and volunteer to do something – anything – to help them out. Or contact a Board member to help set up an Eat & Greet event. Or just participate in one of our events throughout the year.

Community Relations – Again, you don’t have to join the committee, but if you have ideas on how to get publicity, share them with us. Or if you have contacts with local newspapers, radio or TV stations, then set something up for us and put us in contact with your contacts.

Elections – Give some thought about becoming a Board member and let us know if you are interested. Or talk to someone else that you think would be a good Board member and nominate them if they are willing. Also, do your part and VOTE in the next Board election!

Fund raising – The committee needs some members, so volunteer! If you can’t be a committee member, then suggest some fundraising ideas to the committee or volunteer to help with a fundraising activity. Or make a contribution to ArkGeo! (We take personal checks or PayPal! :D )

That’s just a few ideas, but I’m sure that any of the Board members or committee members can suggest some other ones.

The bottom line – get involved with YOUR association! With your help, we can achieve not only our goals, but ArkGeo’s vision of “promoting and improving geocaching in Arkansas.” We are only as good as you make us!

Frank Philpott
President, ArkGeo Board of Directors