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
[NAFEX] Board Response,
Dr. Ethan Natelson, 10/28/2004