Northern Virginia Fools News

By: Eric DePoto

President@foolsinternational.com

President

FOOLS International

 

July 2009 Executive Report

Well, if you missed this year’s convention, you did miss out on one hell of an event. The brothers and sisters of the New England FOOLS, Southern New England FOOLS and the Central Mass FOOLS really put together a phenomenal convention full of great training, captivating guest speakers and great times. Again thank you Rusty Ricker, Adam Bean, Rob Cembor and your members for all of your hard work.

For those who may not know, next year’s convention will be in September in Orlando, Florida, so mark your calendars and set your budgets because it will be something to take in. Hommteam FOOLS, Treasure Coast FOOLS and Central Florida FOOLS are already working hard to make sure next year’s convention is a memorable one.

There were many items of discussion during the convention President’s Breakfast and I’d like to share some of the highlights. First and foremost, it was said that you, the membership, wanted to hear from us more and we were listening. From now on, we will send out a monthly executive board report. In the past, I was the only one to put out a report – quarterly — but we found that was not frequent enough; we can do more. I hope you’ll find that what we report is informative and assists each chapter in some way.

Chapters and Membership

Many of you said that keeping some of your members engaged was difficult at times. This is an ongoing problem with any organization, and there is no single solution that will work for every chapter. However, there have been a number of success stories and we hope to combine some of them and share these ideas and guidance with you in the near future.

One of the main tenets of this organization is brotherhood. Turning to your fellow chapters for advice and assistance is not only beneficial to your chapter, but to the organization as a whole and promotes that brotherhood. When a new chapter is established, we encourage members from nearby chapters to attend the first meeting – to introduce themselves to the new members and serve as “mentors” to that chapter to help them move forward. Some chapters have been getting together within the state they live to bounce ideas off of each other to keep things fresh. Other chapters have even crossed state lines to aid each other in training and membership. These are things that need to continue and expand. To those chapters who have been actively engaged in doing this — thank you for leading the way and setting the example for others.

A very important issue we need to address is that all chapters must file for 501(c)3 status individually. Each chapter must use an accountant to get this done; having an accountant is a good way to make sure that every detail is taken care of for your chapter. Everyone needs to do this to make sure we are going in the right direction and are all on the same page, legally. It is for the good of every chapter and the entire FOOLS organization. One important step in this is to make sure your rosters are up to date and that Ben Sheppard, the International Membership Trustee, has that roster so the International’s rosters are up to date and match each chapter.

Website

All of you should be aware of our website: http://www.foolsinternational.com/. We use the website to provide you with information and you should check it often. What you may not be aware of is that we also have a Facebook fan page as well as a Twitter account. Between these three means of communication, there should be no reason why anyone should be left out of the “loop.” We ask that every chapter e-board look over the website and Facebook page before your board meetings so that any and all updates with the organization are known and passed on. The Twitter account is: @fools_intl if you’d like to follow us there.

Some of the chapters still don’t have websites and this can be a problem. It is not difficult to do and we will have information on the International site in the future to get you started. If you have any problems, feel free to contact Andy “Sippy” Biron at sippy@foolsinternational.com.

E-Commerce

There is FOOLS merchandise on our website and chapter websites that would be great for gifts throughout the year. Check back often for new merchandise and specials to get some great deals. We also have a link on the International website to a travel site that has very competitive prices to all of the other major sites. The big benefit to using our site is that it puts money back into OUR organization, which benefits us all. I encourage you to check it out next time you’re planning to travel.

Training

We are extremely pleased to see that many of our chapters have been holding training activities. There are a few things we ask with this training which are very important. First, make sure that you have an outline and instructor list drawn up and sent to Mike Dugan, the International Training/Education Trustee. This is so we are aware of all of the FOOLS-sponsored activities taking place around the country, where they’re being held, and who is conducting the training. Next, make sure that you send Sippy any type of advertisement for the training venue so it can be placed on the International website and Facebook, and promoted on Twitter, to aid any chapter in getting the word out. After you conduct the training, please feel free to write up an article for the International website so others can see what took place and how the training went. Lastly, and most important, get an event insurance policy for your training so all participants are covered.

Insurance

Speaking of insurance, during the convention, we took a list of people who want to assist in looking into getting general liability insurance or provide some direction in regards to insurance. We will be touching base with those people soon to really put this major issue to bed. This is one of the most challenging issues we are dealing with and one that I hope we can have answers for by the end of the year.

In addition, we now offer our members in good standing Accidental Death and Dismemberment insurance as a benefit of your FOOLS membership. You should all have received a mailing on this recently. This is a legitimate policy, at no cost to you. You only need to fill out the forms and return them as soon as possible. For more information, contact Ben Sheppard at membership@foolsinternational.com.

Events, Activities, and Publicity

Many of our chapters are actively involved with one or more of the charities we endorse. If you are planning an event to support one of these charities, remember that it takes plenty of lead time — please consider putting your heads together now to get things organized. St. Baldrick’s is only seven months away and if your chapter is going to do host an event, you will need to organize it well in advance. Please let Eric Hankins, the International Vice President, know of any activities you are planning and keep him up to date. You can find a list of the charitable organizations we assist by looking on our links page. At times, any of those organizations may need our assistance to work booths with them. We ask that if they have a booth set up in your area, please put two to three members in the booth. It is the least we can do for them. And when you’re planning your event, consider contacting Sharon Willis, the International Public Info Officer, at publicinfo@foolsinternational.com, to help you with advance publicity, or when the event is over, to write a release for the local news media, our website and Facebook page. Sharon is always looking for stories to write or pitch to the media about our members and the organization, so please email her if you or any of your fellow FOOLS have anything of interest you’d like to share.

Thank you, everyone, for all of the support and encouragement over the last year. As a new executive board, and the first to take over since the founders, we have had a lot to take on and huge shoes to fill. Take into account that the whole board is scattered throughout the United States, with multiple jobs and family, and it makes it quite difficult, and at times very slow, to get things done. As members of this great organization, your support has been invaluable in making sure that the first appointed e-board has a smooth and educational transition. A special thanks to the Founders and Ellen Brown, for their work in this transition. They have been there for guidance and assistance when it was needed.

On behalf of the FOOLS International Executive Board, I say THANK YOU.

Sincerely,

Eric DePoto