It doesn't get more exciting than this - would the PERC raise enough
funds
and new membership pledges to cover its expenses or not?
The answer
please...
A big thanks to everyone who turned up at the April AGM to share in the good news. As Mike reported briefly in the last PVN, PERC's dedicated members and volunteers have raised enough money and membership pledges to allow us to carry on through the 2006-07 fiscal year.
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Although the numbers of volunteers making membership recruitment pledges have not quite reached the 80% we were hoping for, the strong support we received from current and past PERC members helped the Board decide that scaling back PERC was not going to be an option this year.
We remain hopeful that success will breed success and that the numbers will keep on improving over the course of the next few months.
The turnout at this year's AGM was small but keen - 9 volunteers and members showed - somewhat fewer than we had hoped for, but at least enough to finish most of the snacks provided.
Once the opening formalities were dealt with (e.g. Agenda, approvals of past Minutes, Board Chair Report, and Treasurer's Report) the AGM jumped to Committee Highlights, presented by Mike.
Committee Highlights
Mike provided highlights of PERC Committee accomplishments over the past year. In describing the context within which PERC functions, he noted the continuing problem of volunteer "turnover"- people arrive, develop skills, start to take on increased responsibility on a PERC committee - and then leave when their life situation changes.
All Canadian volunteer organizations are affected by this issue at present but PERC perhaps more than most, since so much of our activities are organized and run by volunteers. PERC committee work is also affected by the changing demographics of our volunteers. Many of our recent volunteers are new Canadians seeking to improve their language and other skills in a collegial environment rather than having a peace and social justice focus as their primary reason for joining. This has the effect of reducing the numbers of volunteers able and willing to step up to committee chair positions.,/p>
Despite these constraints and increased competition for charitable dollars due to the constant stream of humanitarian crises affecting the world, we are managing to get by and in some areas, thrive.
Mike noted the great strides being made by the IT Admin Committee to bring PERC's computer infrastructure into the 21st century.
The Finance Committee is also pulling together, while a PERC business plan is being developed by the Communications Committee.
Other interesting activities included the potential for using "Machinima" to produce PERC training materials
Definition:
( Machinima is filmmaking within a real-time, 3D virtual environment,
often using 3D video-game technologies.
By combining the techniques of filmmaking, animation production and the technology of real-time 3D game engines, Machinima makes for a very cost- and time-efficient way to produce films, with a large amount of creative control.)
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There is lots happening in Special Events, as well: The Hearts and Minds Dinner will be held in the fall, another Music Benefit involving well known bands is coming up; and the "Give a Gnome a Home" fundraising project is sure to generate chuckles and hopefully cash all over Ottawa.
The Library Committee is breathing new life into PERC's extensive collection of reading materials and the Athena Project has also been revived. Finally (for this listing) the PVN as we can all see, has a bold, new look (as they say in the ad world), that is attracting new readers as fast as we can count them.
PERC Membership Challenge
This report is a bit out of sync as I already noted the results of this exercise above - we expect to be solvent (or nearly so) for the next year. I did not mention that Connie Berry, a former PERC Board Chair, is the one who has been soliciting the donations that will be used as the "match" against the memberships pledged by our volunteers. We owe Connie a large debt of gratitude for taking on this effort.
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Mike noted that those wishing to make donations to the PERC will soon be able to do this online using Paypal and Canadahelps.org. This should help make fundraising a bit easier as well as, perhaps, giving PERC a bit more credibility for first time donors.
Nomination and Election of Directors
It was easy to tell from the audience reaction that this was one of the highlights of the meeting.
Randal Marlin (Vice President) and Steve Gurman (President) stood for re-election, while Joe Parchelo (Treasurer) and Jason Lawrence (Secretary) did not have to, being half way through their terms of office. Randal and Steve were re-elected to the PERC Board and will reassume their former positions.
We had hoped that there might be nominations of new Board members from the floor, but this did not happen. In consequence, the PERC Board is still one person short of its mandated minimum number.
We are still looking for that "special person" with the skills, energy, time (and desire) to sit on the PERC Board - an exciting and fulfilling position in this organization. If you think that you are this person, please contact me!
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The meeting ended with a number of announcements and was adjourned at about 9:30 pm.
I think that all those who attended the AGM felt energized by the end of the evening - there seemed to be a feeling that we were "on the move" as an organization. It certainly made me feel good about being part of this community of caring individuals!
| Killed by motor vehicle accidents, per year, on average | 43,200 | Killed by guns (other than in war) per year, on average | 34,000 |
These figures are compliments of worldwatch.org, matters of scale section. Worldwatch can be found here: worldwatch.org