Candidate for CFC President

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

Will there be reimbursement for those governors, like myself, who are already life members ( I paid $ 50 back in 1964 ! ).

And what about provincial membership perk/reimbursement ( $ 66 for OCA Life Membership a few years ago )?

Bob

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

Will there be reimbursement for those governors, like myself, who are already life members ( I paid $ 50 back in 1964 ! ).

And what about provincial membership perk/reimbursement ( $ 66 for OCA Life Membership a few years ago )?

Bob

The downside of being a life member of an organization is you can't show displeasure by withholding payment.

That being said, I'm a life member of the CCCA, and recently sent them a cheque for a donation. It's my chess gift for this year.

[Ken Craft]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

Not to make you feel old Bob but I was born in 1963. I paid a little more for my Life Membership when I turned 41. Gary, I'm suggesting an expenditure by Governors and support for the Federation.

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

Hi Ken:

whew !! I bet Maurice Smith, CFC Treasurer, is breathing a sigh of relief.

As to age, 65th big one on July 28 !! It will be a little disconcerting if at 65, I'm one of a few progressive governors ! We need new young blood for 2010-11 - do we have it in the incoming governors? I note that GTCL has snared 19 year old Nikolay Noritsyn as an incoming governor, and he had been part of the Grassroots' Campaign as a junior. Any other young adults on the horizon?

Bob

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

Not to make you feel old Bob but I was born in 1963. I paid a little more for my Life Membership when I turned 41. Gary, I'm suggesting an expenditure by Governors and support for the Federation.

I had a look at the CFC web site to see the cost of becoming a life member. If you take the under 30 age group cost of $720. and figure a current annual return of around 4% long term, if you can get it, the amount the CFC gets for operations is under $30. It won't cover todays annual membership fees let alone 20 years from now when inflation makes the fee meaningless. Also, I don't know if it allows for the fact people, on average, are living longer these days. If you figure the age of 70, three score and ten, is considered by many to be an average life expectancy, the CFC is selling a membership to a 30 year old for around $18. a year with no regard to the unknown factor which is inflation. Since the investment money is paid to the CFC annually, it's not possible for the principle to compound each year.


My own preference is annual memberships. The money goes into chess and not into some foundation. That was my position in the 1970's and it's still my position.

I figure inflation reduces the principle to the point where the life membeships bought years ago contribute very little to the federation on an annual basis. The situation ends up where you either have to recruit more members to subsidize the life members or reduce services, like getting rid of the paper magazine. If you strip out the life members and honourary members, the paid membership for the last year was around 1,447. Hardly inspiring for a national organization.

I can't seem much point in continuing those life membership when they weren't a good idea in the first place. Certainly you and Bob got yours at a good price but is it really ideal to continue the practice now you can see what has happened over the past few decades?

[Ken Craft]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

Life members are hardly responsible for the financial woes of the Federation, Gary. Many who are Life members probably would not have renewed their annual membership year after year so I think any "lost" revenue is a wash.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

Life members are hardly responsible for the financial woes of the Federation, Gary. Many who are Life members probably would not have renewed their annual membership year after year so I think any "lost" revenue is a wash.

There you go, Ken. You've come to a conclusion I'm blaming life members.

It's the practice of selling life memberships which I think is wrong minded. Before the CFC found themselves in the position of having to "go small", that is dump the printed magazine and unload the condo, those who would not have renewed still had to be administered and a magazine had to be sent.

Why spend money on those who would no longer join and probably have little interest? All the CFC gets is the little bit of investment money the foundation earns on those fees which have been eroded by inflation over the decades. You'll have to do a bit more to convince us people who paid 50 dollars for a life membeship and have had services for decades is a wash. Try to make it a little more mathematical and less emotional.

[Ken Craft]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

And I'm suggesting that the practice of life memberships at worst is revenue neutral for the Federation.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

And I'm suggesting that the practice of life memberships at worst is revenue neutral for the Federation.

You haven't offered any mathematics and not a shred of an argument to back up the statement.

[Christopher Mallon]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

Membership fees shouldn't be revenue neutral; they are supposed to give you money to conduct various activities. I'm personally in the "stop selling life memberships" group.

[Duncan Smith]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

How would you evaluate Eric Van Dusen's term in office and how would you do things differently ? What qualities did Eric have that attracted the support of CFC Governors ?
What is the main legacy of Eric's term ?

[Bob Armstrong]

A CFC Administration Interim Report Card - Pt. I

How would you evaluate Eric Van Dusen's term in office and how would you do things differently ? What qualities did Eric have that attracted the support of CFC Governors ?
What is the main legacy of Eric's term ?

Article by Bob Armstrong, Editor, in the Scarborough Community of Toronto Chess News & Views, Issue # 11-16, April 15, 2010:

Part I

A CFC Administration Interim Report Card

The CFC Administration of President Eric Van Dusen has now completed more than ¾ of its term ( July 2009- April 2010 – 9 ½ months ) - only 2 ½ months left to accomplish their 1st term priorities.

How have they done? Should those running as incumbents be re-elected at the July CFC AGM? ( Eric van Dusen, President, is not running again; Stijn de Kerpel, V-P, is not running again; Maurice Smith, Treasurer, is not; Michael Barron, Youth Coordinator, has indicated he would step aside if a good candidate came forward, otherwise he’ll run again; Lyle Craver, Secretary, and Hal Bond, FIDE Rep., have not yet disclosed their intentions ).

Here is my report card on the outstanding issues as I see them, divided into: A. Accomplishments; B. In Progress; C. Languishing/Failure: Here is what I have observed ( if I am incorrect on any of these, please send me any corrections ):

A - Accomplishments

#1 - Member Services - Newsletter - Canadian Chess News - for members only
#2 - World Championship - CYCC team Canada to World Championship
#3 - World Championship Preliminary - 2009 Canadian Champion to World Cup
#4 - National Tournament - found bidder for 2010 Canadian Open
#5 - National Championship - found bidder for 2010 Canadian Junior
#6 - National Championship - found bidder for 2010 CYCC
#7 - 2010-11 Budget – Maurice, Treasurer, in consultation with Gerry Litchfield, ED, who keeps the day to day financial records and prepares the statements, prepared and presented before March 31 the 2010-11 budget. The governors voted on and are expected to have approved the executive budget. This is a recent first for CFC to have a budget over one month before the start of the new fiscal year on May 1, and being approved one month before the start of the fiscal year

B - In Process

#1 – 2009-10 Finances – Treasurer Maurice Smith recently presented his 2010-11 budget statement to the Governors. In it, he gave the financial statement for the first 9 months of the fiscal year 2009-10. In it he noted that we are so far running a surplus:

Profit/Loss.....................$9,580.00

This will be the first time in 5 years, the CFC has not suffered substantial deficits, if we can maintain this.

#2 - Modernizing Governor Decision-Making - The Subcommittee on Governors’ Voting Modernization submitted its model and the Procedures' Committee ( myself as Chair, and Eric ) approved it and a " trial " meeting for April 8-14, which successfully took place. The motion to now amend the CFC Handbook to put the new procedures in place will now been filed, and will be voted on at the AGM.

#2 - Modernizing AGM - the Subcommittee on AGM Modernization developed 2 models for a modernized AGM. One was agreed upon and will posted and receive public input. Then a “ trial “ AGM ( on a small scale ) will be set for sometime in May. It is hoped the model will be in place for the July AGM in Toronto.

#4 - Handbook Updating - Maurice Smith, CFC Treasurer, and SCC President, has done most of it, and the Handbook sections have been updated ( except 1 ) to my knowledge. I as Chair of the Procedures' Committee, made a recommendation to Eric, President, that this ongoing future task be assigned to the Procedures' Committee, which recommendation he accepted Former CFC Governor Kerry Liles has volunteered to become the Handbook Updating Subcommittee of one – the goal is to update the website Handbook as soon as Governors have passed motions, and to keep it right up to date.

#5 - National Standards for Canadian Closed - a motion has been filed by GM Mark Bluvshtein/ Bob Armstrong to upgrade the current standards- there has been no executive comment on the proposed changes or how they may affect bidding ( the motion was posted for public comment and no executive commented ).

#6 - Communication by the President by E-mail -
Eric also stated in GL # 2:

" I do receive many emails and I apologize for the slow turn-around time in responding. Please be patient and I promise that a response will eventually come your way. "

- crucial e-mails on CFC business, even from governors, were going unanswered, or were being answered very late. Since the public criticism, Eric has been responding to more e-mails. As well, he has made more of an effort to communicate what he is doing to the governors, and recently sent a “ communication “ e-mail to all governors giving a status report on his activities. So “ communication by e-mail “ is an area that appears back in progress.

#7- CFC Fundraising Committee ( with special focus on the Olympiad this September ) - In GL # 2 Eric stated :

" Amanda Benggawan was a strong junior who now works at an accounting
firm. She wants to give back to chess and she has agreed to chair. Gary Gladstone, a professional fundraiser in the Toronto area has also agreed to sit. I would very much appreciate representation outside the Greater Toronto Area. .... A forthcoming task is fundraising for the next Olympiad, which is next year, but the CFC needs to begin shortly.

- there had been nary a peep out of that committee; no information whether the executive found other committee members ( I know from conversation with Gary Gladstone that he is crazy busy right now with the Toronto mayoralty campaign - doubt he is able to do much at present ); there had been no fundraising for the Olympiad, only 5 months away now. Also, David Cohen volunteered to fundraise for the Olympiad on a paid commission basis, and he advised he was turned down. No other paid fundraiser hired. But at the very end of last month, there were some advertisements for the Olympiad Fundraising Drive. It was not clear if this was a result of this Committee coming to life finally. At the on-line meeting, Eric advised that 2 members of the Fundraising Committee had resigned.

Article Continued in Part II

Bob

[Bob Armstrong]

A CFC Administration Interim Report Card - Pt. II

Part II of Article: A CFC Administration Interim Report Card, in Scarborough Community of Toronto Chess News & Views, Issue # 11-16, April 15, 2010

B - In Process ( Continued )

#8 - FQE - In GL # 2 Eric states:

" I have also been negotiating with the FQE regarding re-affiliation. These negotiations are extremely complicated and progress is incremental. "

- there had been nary a peep on this from either CFC nor FQE; had goodwill from FQE holding the 2008 Canadian Open been squandered? But at the very end of last month, Eric reported he was again in discussions with the FQE re some type of reconciliation. This would be a great achievement if Eric can put it together.

C- Languishing/Failure

#1 - the revised 2009-10 Budget - In GL # 1, Eric stated:

it is my goal to have it distributed to the governors the week ending 28 August 2009.

- It was not presented 'til December 2009, and then was rejected " in principle " by the governors because of lack of executive answering of governors' budget questions before the voting deadline.

#2 – Communication by the President via CFC Discussion Boards - In GL # 1, Eric stated

" Communication with the President

I will try to post a message approximately every few weeks on the CFC boards."

- never happened. Eric has posted on the members’ CFC Chess Forum board and the Governors' Discussion Board on an infrequent basis; some governors have called for more communication; governors posted questions have been often been left unanswered ( this happened, for example, when Eric failed to answer governors’ questions about the revised 2009-10 budget, and it therefore got defeated “ on principle “. ). However, , responding to the criticism, Eric initially made a few posts. Then he clarified his position recently in an e-mail, and this is his position now:

1. he is not inclined now to want to use the Governors' Discussion Board nor the members' CFC Chess Forum ( EvD - " I have to admit that after spending some time discussing corporate responsibility and posting, and being compared to Hitler, I am a little gun shy about posting in quick time on various CFC discussion boards". )

2. he will not be monitoring the Governors' Discussion Board, nor the members' CFC Chess Forum from his home ( EvD - " Regarding posting on CFC discussion board, I do not have my own access to the internet at my residence ". )

3. he will not be monitoring either board from work ( EvD - " I do not have access to the CFC site from my work " ).

4. in the past, he has intermittently accessed the two boards from a cyber cafe - he no longer has time for this ( EvD - " now that I telework from home I have little time for the cyber cafe ".)

5. in the communication, he makes no mention, under the circumstances, of delegating officially, monitoring of these two boards to any member of the Executive, who would report relevant issues to him.

Given the above, I think governors can no longer assume that questions of the President presented on these two boards will reach him; Nevertheless, Eric did attend the Governors’ On-line Quarterly meeting held April 8-14, though a number of days into the meeting..

#3 - New CFC Website - GL # 2 stated:

" the CFC will be issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) regarding a creation of
a new website. I am currently in consultation with a website professional, who is in the process of creating a Statement of Work (SOW), which will form part of the RFP. This expert will also assist in the Technical Evaluation of Bids. This procurement process will take a period of time, but considering the
website's importance to CFC operations, the CFC needs to create a robust website that will look professional as well as be secure. "

In GL # 3, Eric stated:

" I will redouble my efforts by involving more resources so that publication of the Request for +Proposal on the CFC website occur as soon as possible. "

- nary a peep out of the executive on how the volunteer is doing on the Statement of Work, no sign of issuing a Request for Proposal, and no status report. The item is not in the 2010-11 budget recently approved by the Governors, but in this regard, Treasurer Maurice Smith ( also SCC President ) said: “ I agree that the website should be redesigned and highly recommend it. However, this would be a capital expense and paid out of the funds from the sale of the building held in trust in the Chess Foundation.”

Then at the just concluded Governors’ On-line Meeting, Eric admitted:

“ The whole procedure I had envisioned for the solicitation of the website re-design was too cumbersome and impractical.

I am also pursuing to other parties that may be interested in working on the website.

I am certainly disappointed with myself for letting down the CFC.”

#4 - CFC Membership - No membership drive

#5- Management Committee - GL # 2 stated:

" The Management Committee deals with budget and the CFC's relationships
with various organizations that handle the CFC office and business functions. Both the Treasurer and the Vice-President are on this committee, but it also needs to governors to work on this committee. "

I volunteered to sit on this Committee. I have never been contacted. There have been no announcements of other committee members. I am not aware of it even functioning.

#6- Ethics Committee - GL # 2 states:

" The Ethics Committee examines on a case by case basis unethical behaviour of CFC members. Currently, the CFC needs a chair and governors to sit on this committee. "

- nary a peep about this committee. Seems it never got formed.

#7 - National Championship - no bidder yet for Canadian Closed. At the recent on-line Governors Meeting, Eric had this to say:

“ As this is not a Zonal Year, I am not surprised that no bidders have come forward to organize the Canada Closed and the Women's Closed.

I have not been contacted regarding next year's national championships.

I do suggest that a motion be put forward that will establish a structure similar to the Ontario Chess Association, where the championships will rotate formally among the CFC provincial bodies. In that way, the CFC will be notified early which body will be in a position to organize the championships.”

#8- National Championship - no bidder yet for Canadian Women's Closed

#9 - National Championship - No discussion on Canadian Girls' Championship

#10 - Chess Promotion - No generation of discussion within the CFC of a) how we start to do this; b) how we make the Canadian public more aware of the benefits of chess, and c) how we get chess into the mainstream media.

#11 - Provincial YCC's - Last year the CFC passed a motion to promote these and made them qualifiers next year for the CYCC - nothing publicized on how the CFC is going to go about promoting these for 2010-11, for the 2011 CYCC. Nothing on promotion of them for the 2010 CYC -though the regime was decided not to apply to 2010, this doesn't prevent their promotion nonetheless, as initial steps in the implementation campaign.

I see this as a somewhat divided result, but more positive than negative.

Bob

[Garland Best]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

Hi Bob.

Your list is incorrect. For the EOCA, I am a Governor, Kevin Pacey is not.

Hmmm, maybe that is why I have not gotten any emails so far regarding OCA activities.

Cheers,
Garland

[Wilf Ferner]

Re: Candidate for CFC President

Hi Bob Armstrong:
RE: CFC Adm. Interim Report Cart-FINANCES

I have been wondering about an audit for the 09/10 finances.The 2009 AGM passed a motion "delegate to President responsibility to appoint auditor". Will there be an audited financial statement for 2009/2010 presented at the annual meeting?

Wilf Ferner