Hello Everyone,

I wanted to bring you all up to date on the club workings since my last email. The board of directors met on 5/29/2019 to discuss a number of issues of importance to all of us.  First of all, our financial health is stable and looking a bit better than last year.  If we continue to monitor our expenses as the year goes on, we should have a surplus to carry over into next year.  We are looking at a ways to save additional funds by shopping around for our liability insurance. Our insurance is a major expense, which we haven’t shopped around for in a very long time.  Greg Pech volunteered to get us some additional quotes to see if we can do better.  

Another idea is to not have the end of year banquet catered as we have in the past.  We normally have much more food than necessary.  The idea of a potluck was suggested with a $10.00 charge for admission to the banquet to cover decorations and other necessities.  Speaking of the banquet, we will be needing a banquet coordinator, someone to coordinate potluck food, invite judges, take care of arranging the setup, decorations and cleanup.  Additionally, we will need to make sure the slide show and awards preparation are done. If you are interested in helping out, please let me know.  We have time, but don’t want to wait until the end of the year to find a person to coordinate the event.   Please volunteer.  

The Luther Burbank Art and Garden Center is in need of maintenance.  We pay only $1500 for the 23 meetings we hold there. As we are “member-owners” and have non-profit status, we are being asked to donate along with the other groups that utilize the facility on a regular basis. The goal is to raise the $50,000 needed to bring the facility up to the standard it should be.  We will be setting up a simple way to donate to this cause by using PayPal on our website, similar to how we pay our dues.  Your donations will be tax deductible due to our 501 (c) (3) status.  Additionally, we will be starting a 50-50 raffle at our meetings to assist in this fundraising effort.  We hope to have some raffle prizes in addition to the 50% winnings.  

The board members are all concerned about the problems we have had getting our computer to work properly at our competitions.  We are working on this problem, part of which has been the computer auto updating as we begin the competition.  We have also had a couple of members step up to help be alternate projectionists.  An additional issue is the software used is only compatible with PCs and our most recent projectionist is a Mac user.  I don’t know about you, but I switched to Mac a number of years ago and I can’t remember much when it comes to operating a PC.  We are going to try to get the judges to preview the images beforehand to save time.  We also may do away with the preview at the beginning of each category.  Rest assured we are working on this issue.  Suggestions are certainly welcome.  

Kevin Schirado is stepping down from the board and his position as the N4C representative.  Bill Stacy and Jennifer Marano have volunteered to fill this role.  I have asked Bill Stacy to take Kevin’s position as a director and he has accepted.  Thank you, Kevin, for all your help and contributions.

The board also discussed ways to attract new members.  One idea is to have a Student Participation Program.  Trisha has written a draft proposal which is included at the end of this update.  If you have any comments, concerns or suggestions please let us know.  

Lastly don’t forget to attend our next two meetings, the first, a competition on June 13^thbeing judged by Charlie Ginsburg, and our program meeting on June 27^th.  The program this month is on Street Photography and I will be presenting.   I will look forward to seeing you at our upcoming meetings.  Be safe and keep shooting.  

Mike

Santa Rosa Photographic Society

Photography Student Participation Program

Goals:

• Expose student photographers to a local club for amateur photographers without requiring them to use their limited resources to join the club
• Provide photography students the opportunity to learn photographic techniques from more experienced photographers
• Help student photographers improve their image capture and post-processing techniques
• Increase the potential to attract new members to the club
• Accomplish the club’s public benefit mandate as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization

Proposal:

Santa Rosa Photographic Society will permit students, 18 years of age and older, who are enrolled in college-level photography courses to attend meetings and field trips without being required to join as members of the club. Students will not be permitted to participate in club competitions, including in the non-compete category.

These photography students will be required to sign the club’s Statement of Understanding prior to participating in club activities:

Participant’s Statement of Understanding:  

I understand that I am responsible for my own health and safety at all SRPS meetings and events. I further understand that SRPS does not insure me and has no liability should any health problem, mishap, accident, loss, or damage occur to me, or my property, during my participation in SRPS meetings and events.

Signature: ______________________________________________          Date: ____________________