North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dr. Ethan Natelson" <natelson@pipeline.com>]

Dear Group,

     Please do not think those of us serving on the NAFEX Board, and who 
also occasionally participate in this chat line, are not listening to your 
comments.  Some of the suggestions by Joan Rosenberg, Tannis Cuff, Geoffrey 
Tolle, Regina Kreger, Bruce Hanson, Heron Breen, Claude Sweet, Doreen 
Howard, Ed Fackler and several others have been thoughtful and 
interesting.  To address two of the questions most written about, I would 
indicate the following:

1.  Nafex is not going bankrupt any time soon.  The treasury reports are 
typically posted in Pomona each year.  For example, the balance for 2003, 
as reported on August 15, 2004, by John DeReeder at our last meeting was 
$57,483.  It is true that the total balance has been declining in the last 
few years by about $4,500/year.  Our primary source of money is dues, and 
most of the expenditures for Nafex are in publishing costs for Pomona.  In 
some years (like this one) we make a little money from the Annual Meeting, 
and in other years we lose a bit.  Our dues are very low in comparison with 
other similar organizations.  The last time I looked (2002), the 
International Dwarf Fruit Tree Association dues with their quarterly 
journal, Compact Fruit Tree, was $80/year - it may be even higher now.  Our 
journal has just as much information in our 4 issues as may be found in 
their 4 issues, although our cover is not in color and does not have shiny 
pages.

     Unlike other organizations, we have not sought to raise significant 
money and we do not currently have the tax structure to do so.  We are not 
a 501C-3 corporation, as is the NNGA, for example.  If Bruce Hanson was to 
donate $5,000 to Nafex, for example, we could not accept it for our 
treasury.  We could accept a book for the library.  We have been reviewing 
this issue, and hopefully the Board can agree to file for a change in tax 
status to allow us to seek and accept money from various sources.  A raise 
in dues might become necessary, but is certainly not immediately needed.  I 
think if we wish to expand our horizon and have the ability to fund certain 
useful horticultural projects, or purchase the rights to certain cultivars 
for use by the group, for example, a change in tax status is the first 
step.  Some of the ideas expressed by the group would help in fundraising.

2.  We had placed a disclaimer in Pomona allowing us to reprint accepted 
and published articles unless otherwise stated in the preamble of the 
article (see the Spring 2001 issue, for example, immediately following the 
Table of Contents).  This disclaimer has not been in the recent issues, and 
Jackie has agreed to re-instate it.  Our older issues contained no such 
disclaimer.  For this reason, I do not believe the Board can sponsor or 
agree to any mass reproduction of archive issues on CD's, etc. without 
assuming some risk.  Our website is under remodeling by Richard Moyer, 
David Ulmer, Joseph Postman, and others, and perhaps can eventually satisfy 
some of the complaints about access to useful articles and sites.

     Please keep writing, but lets keep it collegial and constructive.  In 
that way members of Nafex and guests on the list will look forward to 
opening their Nafex list e-mails.

                                                                  Regards, 
Ethan