NEW ANNOUNCEMENT:
ATTENTION: As of August 25, 2003 the voting rules have changed: votes will be accepted from any email address so long as they include the assigned ID number. The ID number is the only way that the Committee has determined will be used to verify voter eligibility.
It would seem prudent, however, to vote from your “registered” email address if you can, and, if not, to at least note what your registered address IS when voting via an alternative email.
If you have previously received an email advising that your vote was not received from a verified email address and requesting that your vote be re-cast from the registered address, you may ignore that message. You may check the table of votes updated daily by jsmorris to confirm that your vote has been received and recorded.
QUESTIONS FOR THE CANDIDATES:
This is a list of questions compiled from submissions by various GB members. TennisJen's responses to these questions appear following each question, below. Oyster's responses to these questions can be found at: http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/oyster34/
Texanbelle's Responses to these questions are posted on her ME page: http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/texanbelle
TennisJen's Responses:
Before I answer these questions, I would first like to say that, regardless of what my opinions are – the opinions of the committee members should NOT be how the board is run. The majority opinion of the membership of the board should decide how to run the board.
In my opinion, the committee is operational only. The committee is responsible for coordinating and managing the board – they DO NOT decide unilateral policy. Do they need to sometimes make decisions on smaller matters? Yes, absolutely, otherwise there would be a vote every week.
However, committee members should be given the latitude to ask for volunteers to run funds and projects and be given the latitude within guidelines to appoint people.
My goal for the year would be to work on policy and by-laws. Hold town meetings in a venue that everyone can attend if they so desire. We need written policy that is voted on by all members and those guidelines followed.
1. What should be the main focus of the Giving Board? Direction to local resources? Emergency short-term needs? ACTR? CIJ? Food Fund? Other?
The Giving Board can’t be everything to everyone without the volunteer and monetary support. We need to take a hard look at what we can provide – and what we do well. It is my personal opinion that over the past year we have, at times, spread ourselves too thin, not just with money, but also volunteer time. Each request requires ID verification, need verification, request coordination and confirmation. I would survey the membership and vote on what to concentrate on for the upcoming year. Also, people could still post ANY request on the ebay venue and it could still be adopted.
2. How do you think that the Committee should supervise or interact with the various Fund Managers?
The membership sets the rules – and the committee provides a check and balance oversite to the fund managers. Committee members should NOT have access to the funds in any shape or form. More about this in question 4.
3. There are currently a number of rules governing the type of requests that can be taken, which are posted at the angelfire site, e.g., no requests by friends, $250 annual limit, etc. While any change in these rules would have to be voted on by the membership at large, would you advocate making any changes, and what changes would you recommend?
We have always advocated that we offer a hand-up, not a hand-out. As an emergency assistance organization, I am quite concerned about the requesters that need repeat assistance. They require more assistance than we could ever hope to give. On an annual basis, we have requestors finding their way back to board until they hit their annual limit. I think we need to take a long hard look at annual vs lifetime limits. Most requesters seem to hit the $250 limit.
4. How do you suggest that funds be handled and accounts publicized? Please be specific as to your views on who should control funds and authorize disbursements, as well as how you think fund accounting should be handled, audited, and publicized.
It is very important that the accounting of funds is publicized on a timely basis. Both incoming and outgoing should be posted within a week and available on the web site for membership inspection. The primary check and balance would be the posting of paypay or money receipts and the donors checking to make sure their donations had been posted. It could still be posted anonymously, but open for inspection. End of month statements should be available within 10 days of month end. The funds are overseen by committee members, but the fund managers would be responsible for disbursement based on policy and procedure set by the general membership.
5. Should regular “meetings” be conducted? If so, how would you anticipate holding meetings and what sort of items would be on the agenda? If not, how would you recommend addressing issues of interest to the membership?
The first thing I would do upon taking office is with the other committee members send out a survey. This survey would include how often to meet, how often, suggested agenda/voting items/issues and an opportunity for suggestions. From this survey, which the results of would be posted on the web site, we would develop the town meetings and agendas.
The meetings would be moderated and organized. Agendas would be sent out to the membership within 5 days of the meeting. Meetings are an opportunity for information and idea exchange. Those not following productive meeting guidelines would be removed from the meeting. Once policy is ready for vote, it would be presented to the membership.
6. How do you think the Committee members should communicate among themselves and/or with the membership? By email, by MSN chat room (and would such a room be limited to the Committee or open to all members?), by open post on the GB, or by other means?
That is up to the membership. I think the development of a website is important to develop open communication. This also holds the members accountable for checking the web site for updated information. Communication is a two way street.
I do believe, however, that committee members do need to communicate by phone via conference call with all 3 present. E-mail is fine for most matters, but in the beginning, phone is quicker and more effective.
7. How do you propose that the GB handle scammers? In particular, when scammers are caught, do you think the membership should be informed and how would you propose to do this?
This is a tough question. I am of the group that would like to post their name everywhere and string them up. However, we all know that this is not a viable option. Unless the police are involved and the scammer is prosecuted – how can we label them a scammer without be libelious. They are questionable at best.
Help received lists are a great way to check and make sure that if it is scamming – perhaps it is at least limited to the limit. We need to make sure that help received is posted – and one way to do this is to hold the REQUESTORS responsible as well. Let them know that after their request has been adopted, they will be contacted and asked to let us know what they received, which will be checked against lists we have. If they do not respond, or they are less than truthful – they should be banned from ever posting a request. And rather than have a scamming list – we have a NON-ELIGIBLE list – those people that are no longer eligible to EVER receive funds.
8. Successfully managing a large group of people requires more than just intelligence, diligence and trustworthiness (although these are all valuable). What other attributes/ talents/skills do you think are required? What experience have you had using those things to lead and manage large groups? And if you don't currently have such management experience, how would you propose to learn about and develop the necessary skills if elected?
I currently manage a small staff as director of marketing for a hospital. I am the committee chair for many committees within the hospital, manage a $1 million dollar budget and run many large multi-faceted projects. I also serve on the board of directors for the United Way of Mon and Preston counties, both on the executive committee and as the Volunteer Action Center Chair.
Many years ago I was a tennis coach for a college womens team, and that is where I learned all of my management skills. It’s all about team work, no one person being more important than the rest, and telling people often thank you and I appreciate what you’ve done.
I think you also have to not be afraid to admit you are wrong and when you mess up. And believe me, I will make mistakes. I will do my best, admit those mistakes and hope that everyone can move on.
ELECTION RULES:
[DISCLAIMER: A draft of this Section was provided to the Committe with a request for input. As no input was received, however, this summary cannot be taken as the word of the Committee. Rather it reflects only the understanding of the Site Manager based on posts on the GB.]
This election is for a new Committee to manage the Giving Board Request List
group, which currently operates out of the website listed on the left side of
this page. For more information about this group and the Committee, please see Issue #13 of the
NewBieNotes, at the link posted above.
During the month of July, nominations for new Committee members were accepted by the current Committee. Anyone could be nominated, regardless of membership in the Request List group, and anyone could also submit nominations, regardless of membership. The deadline for these nominees to accept the nomination and announce as candidates was August 10, 2003, and the list of those running appears below.
All nominees who elect to run for the Committee must be Giving Board Request List members, and anyone who wants to vote in the election must also be a member. Registration in the group typically is open, and remained open through July, but closed with the announcement of the nominees, and will remain closed until the election is over.
Voting was originally scheduled to begin on August 15, 2003, but was postponed until August 20th.
The voting procedure will be as follows:
Each GB Member has been assigned a unique numerical ID. These IDs have been sent to the email address used by each member to register with the group. Any member who has not received an ID number should contact Committee member jsmorris (smorris@pe.net)
A separate e-mail will be sent with a link to the voting ballot on August 20th.
Each member may vote for up to three different candidates (one for each slot on the Committee), but may not submit more than one vote for a single candidate. (i.e. you cannot give two or three votes to a single candidate.
The deadline for submitting completed ballots is August 27th, at 5:00 PM PST. Votes are to be submitted to three vote counters: Josie54, Sunshine@magiclink.com, and Vivavienna. The vote counters have pledged to preserve the confidentiality of both email addresses and votes.
The votes also will be published in a table format by numerical ID, NOT by userid, to preserve voter anonymity. The table will be updated daily. The table will list all numerical IDs. The numbers corresponding to members who do not vote will be left blank.
The vote counters will tabulate the votes, ensure they come from members, and announce the new GB Committee on Saturday, August 30th.
The vote counters will not acknowledge incoming votes. Rather, jsmorris will be publishing the votes by ID number in a table, for each voter to privately confirm that his or her votes were received. This table may be viewed at the Giving Board Request List site noted at the top left.
For those who will be gone during the voting process, an absentee vote may be cast by emailing smorris@pe.net. Such votes must be submitted with the member's GB ID number.
As of August 15th, the Committee has not been able to reach the following members to provide them with ID numbers.
riddler22752@aol.com
herfirstbreath
wifagpressgirl
maggie311_1
CHERISHEDTEDDYLUVR
ScrabbleQueen49
IM_AMERICAN_FREE
too_dippsy
tblyn
noangelx
Winter.2
payit4ward2u
arafellian
brooksee2
kionas_mommy_and_daddy
brat2001
shanatheshopper@worldnet.att.net
wer4brats
mommy2mykids@mchsi.com
pianomomblue
cjones2474
mamabomba
grmoore@naxs.net
XkitiaragirlX@aol.com
momof2angelgirls
wrje3
DonateRent
No_angel_princess
Cory_Allison
brandonbecki
krssymssy
mshelle1968
lasia185
smccarthy@mediaone.net
RavensMommy2000
LIST OF CANDIDATES:
Oyster - Shelley
Paperbackexchange - Dawn
Slickkat - Donna
Superjerryswife - Holly
Texanbelle - Leslie
Tennisjen - Jen
Jenni796 - Jenni
Note: Jenni796 has announced her withdrawal from the election but has not formally notified the Committee of this decision, so her name will appear on the ballot. A post from Jenni follows:
Posted by jenni796 (928) on Aug-21-03 at 12:17:44 PDT ** Again, I am on the ballot so I can vote... I donot want to be on the committee per my statement last week. MANY people have asked me to stay in and they have all received emails with my explanation. If people still want to vote for me, that is their choice. The 'Current Committee' made the rule that I could only vote if I accepted the nomination, so I did and have to remain on the ballot to vote (maybe someone should take note for next year's election).
CANDIDATE STATEMENTS:
TENNISJEN
Jennifer Johnson
Nomination Statement
The Three C’s
Many of you know me, but some of you do not. I am a 37-year-old mother of 2 little girls. I live in Morgantown, WV and am the director of marketing and communications for a health system and hospital. I have been involved with my local United Way for 12 years and currently serve on the executive committee of the board of directors and also as the Volunteer Action Center Chair. I have a wonderfully supportive husband.
I believe in a Hand-Up – not a Hand-Out. The Giving Board was created for emergency assistance – not on-going support. I strongly believe in the premise for which this board was created.
With that – I am also committed to the Three C’s – Choice, Communication and Compassion. My statements should come as no surprise to anyone who has seen me post on the board. I feel they are very consistent with what I have advocated all along.
Choice – Currently there are many ways you can help or adopt a request. Adopting from a post off the board, adopting a request from the angelfire site, listing an auction, donating directly to a fund, having or donating to a challenge – and we need to respect those choices. Everyone has a right to help in the way they want and how they are comfortable.
Communication – With choice comes the necessity for communication. With a limited amount of resources I feel it is imperative that we communicate who has been helped and the amount of help. Our goal should be to help as many as possible. We need to work together to make sure this is accomplished – everyone is responsible.
Communication with all members of the Giving Board is also important, both for those who chose to be a member of the angelfire site, and for those who feel more comfortable on the board. A committee is being elected to handle the day-to-day management, however, I feel strongly that more structured communication and policies/procedures need to be created and voted on for all members. Everyone’s voice is important. For major policy decisions, it is important for the membership to vote on.
Compassion – Verification is important, but I hate to do it. I usually wait until someone else has verified the need and ID. But in order to be more compassionate for those posting requests, I believe we need to try to put a standard need verification format together and coordinate only one person to verify each request for both ID and need.
Let me also say that I think the current committee has done an amazing amount of work in a one-year period. We have a strong foundation to build on. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to e-mail me at tennisjennifer7@aol.com.
SUPERJERRYSWIFE:
I am Holly Fenn or SJW. I am a former Air Force medic and now a stay at home mom of one little girl and I help run a business out of my home. I have fairly fresh eyes to the things that go on and would never admit to knowing everything about the board, but what I do know is we need more structure on the guidelines and rules and more “angelic” behavior on the board. We are all here to help not hinder or attack. If elected I will help make decisions for the group as a WHOLE and draw from the long time and new members alike as a knowledge base. Each and every individual makes up this whole and is what makes us strong and weak at the same time. If elected I will try to make the board a better place to be for givers and requestors alike. Thanks for reading and Happy Voting to All.
Texanbelle’s Committee Statement
Equivalent Alliance
My name is Leslie. I am a college senior with 11 classes left to attain a BA in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. Projected graduation date is summer 04. I have been married for 12 years and have a daughter entering 6th grade. Over the years I have done countless hours of volunteer work and extensive fundraising. My main focus has been planning and implementing service projects for teenagers. I want kids to appreciate what they do have and to understand that life is not handed to everyone on a silver platter. When we give of ourselves to assist others it not only provides them a hand up, we individually and collectively as a group grow emotionally.
I joined the Ebay Giving Board 4 years ago. During that time I have coordinated several projects to include hosting a “Goat Dance”, the auction of goats (which raised over $800 for school supplies for underprivileged children) and I recruited and organized volunteers to post the request list for over a year. (prior to the angelfire site)
The Giving Board has evolved into a wonderful tool for helping those that are in need of a hand-up. It is multifaceted and a diverse group of people striving toward the same goal. As with any group of people there is always a difference of opinion and smaller subunits within a whole. One of the new goals for the Giving Board over the next year should be that of “Equivalent Alliance”.
“Equivalent Alliance” would foster a sense of unity and empower the Giving Board to accomplish greater goals and help more people. The lines of communication must remain open and we all need to work together. I would like to see the new committee facilitate regular town meetings to give each facet of the board a voice. I would like to see a permanent town hall and web site established (similar to the MSN room and the angelfire site) that would be turned over to new incoming committees establishing stability. I would also like to see the moral of the board improved with fun projects and silly stuff in which everyone can participate! (More goat dances and new fiestas as well) We need to continue with the things that are working such as ACTR AND CIJ. The managers of the different projects are doing a wonderful job and I hope they continue to do so during the next year.
“Equivalent Alliance” needs to be established and maintained. Working together we can make the Giving Board a better place
OYSTER:
Welcome to my “position piece”, and thanks for stopping by…here’s some of what I envision for the GB. Just including my “background information” would make this into an even longer book, lol, so I will post that on my ME page. I would encourage you to read that, too, though. as it describes my experience working with actual charities, both as a volunteer and an employee, and other governance related qualifications that I think would make me a suitable candidate. However, I will also be most pleased to resume my role as the GB Auditor, if the new Committee wishes me to do so after they are elected. 8)
If there is one “summary statement” that encapsulates what I stand for in terms of what I want for the Committee, it is this: I want the membership to run the GB VIA the Committee, and not the other way around. I think that more requesters could be helped by the GB members if there was timely communication with the membership, simple but effective governance, open, two-way communication and regular meetings, to which all would be invited.
It would be very important to me to hold meetings with interested members on at least a monthly basis. I envision a standing agenda in which the Committee members and the various fund and other managers would provide updates on the same items (for example – we received A number of requests; B were posted, C were rejected (and the reasons provided)….there are X dollars in this fund, Y in that fund, total income was Z for the month…et cetera). I would like to have the meeting notice posted on the GB (and/or emailed) with a call for members to submit their own topics/issues for discussion, so that we can work together to solve problems. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but an agenda is helpful for a meeting; people can consider the issues in advance.
For those who are unable to attend, or those who wanted a record, I would like to either circulate or post (somewhere permanent) a brief synopsis of the meeting. I think that having meetings like this would help to keep us all “on the same page”, and let the Committee know if the membership has issues before they become crises.
I would want all the changes agreed to by the Committee (at meetings with everyone or otherwise) to be based on member input, and, except in extremely unusual circumstances, communicated to them *prior* to their being put in to effect. If the Committee members have an idea that they would like to put into practice, I think it should be announced to the membership first, so that they can at least provide feedback. This doesn’t mean that we’ll have to vote on something every other day – that would be impractical and a pain for the members, too – but as I said, I want the membership to run the GB *via* the Committee, and not the other way around. Bottom line, everyone has to work together for this to be successful; and, at the risk of repeating myself, I believe the best way to accomplish that is via a free exchange of ideas and open communication.
In response to Phyllis’ question re funds: as the current GB Auditor, as mentioned on my ME page, I have some very specific views on how the GB funds should be handled. The current Committee has no access to the funds, which I believe is only as it should be (and it was their idea to make it that way!). I would absolutely NOT want that to change. The auditing position did not run smoothly this year for a number of reasons, which is one of the reasons why my focus would be on frequent and open communication between the Committee and the members; many of you were very upset that the financials were not posted in a timely fashion.
There are a number of reasons for this, most of them procedural and communication related; however, there were also extenuating circumstances in several cases, and I’m not laying blame at anyone’s feet. I believe, very firmly, that the financials need to be properly audited, by an independent GB person (i.e. not the manager of that fund) and posted within 20 days of the previous month end; I think that this will not only prove (although I have *never* had cause to question the credibility of either the current or previous managers!!) to the membership that the funds are intact – they will be able to see the accounting for themselves.
I also believe that posting the financials will encourage new members to donate, since they will be able to see that the funds actually do get used in the manner in which they were intended to be. In the end, that will mean that we are able to help more people with their requests, which is, after all, what this is all about. I believe that the GB really can help make a difference to people, and not just financially. We have a wonderfully resourceful group here, and new members add to those resources everyday, but in order to help more people, we need to be able to give them a certain comfort level, and I think that would help enormously.
Please feel free to email me if you have any further questions, I would be pleased to answer them: oyster34@hotmail.com. Thanks!
Shelley
SLICKKAT:
Hello,
I am receiving emails asking me what my take on this whole election thing is.
Well, it is going to be very simple & since I am not a politician…and do not intend on making this out to be a political race, here is what I have to say:
I would like to keep the Giving Board simple. Simple in that we do not NOT need to ask for dues from any member. Not that dues would be a bad idea, but it would not work here. If there are any EBAY Giving Board members that like the dues idea…please consider joining Jake's site. That way, you can be part of both ventures and we may be able to help that many more people.
And helping people -- what does that mean? It means that we, ALL of us, as members of this board, pool all our resources into one area. Gosh, pretty much like we’ve been doing. We research sites and post available resources in the requestor’s area on how they need to go about finding help they need.
We continue having those that like to, and will do it, collect and post the requests. We post links to FREEBIE items, and continue the Newbie information.
We CHAT!! It is a CHAT BOARD. Someone mentioned that there are times when the “chat board” looks like a “HEN PARTY”…well, it is a chat board. And I have no problem with poultry! CHAT!! Chat brings about problem solving, formation of friendships, emotional support. Whatever. But if you don’t like people chatting on a chat board, then that is your problem and it’s easily solved. Find another board that is right for YOU.
We ALL need to work together.
We need to pick the requests that touch us. Do challenges with each other like we used to. Have fun with it. And if that requires some chatting or a good old-fashioned naked goat dance to do it, then that’s what we do!
We also need to keep it all on the board. No other site needs to be involved as far as us needing to be members. I'm not saying the Angelfire site doesn't do good work. But, if you are a member of Ebay and frequent the Ebay’s Giving Board, then you are a member.
So as far as needing a committee…WE ARE ALL in this together. We can appoint a few people to take of certain things -- we do need some we can trust to handle funds. And we can ALL vote or decide where we want certain funds to go. But as far as strict structure, this board does belong to Ebay. We stay within those guidelines and everything is fine.
We also need to remember that we will not be able to help everyone. So, if there are people that request and do not receive help, it’s not because we don’t want to. We all know this board is not maintained by millionaires on standby to write checks.
We also need to know we will be scammed again. No matter what measures there are in place, or caution taken. We all need to help each other verify the requests that are being adopted. And I think repeat requestors need to be seriously looked at. We need to let them know that once they are helped to please move on and try to find what they need with resources available to them in their area. This is NOT a place for long term help. I mean, if this Giving Board didn’t exist…where would they go? What would they do?
And there are people that will want to continue to help someone that has touched them. I have done so, and still do for certain things, peoples or places that need help. But you know the continued requests for assistance I am talking about.
Then there’s the ZERO problem we have. I for one would like to see most people have a feedback of at least 1. But that is not something we are able to require that people have. Remember that this is EBAY’s property. So, we will continue to have the nasty ZERO’s …as well as our nice KNOWN ZERO’s. But I would like to ask that people speak under their own, known ID’s. I would like for them to be able to express a concern or their opinion openly.
As far as the funds go, if we keep it simple and have just a few to keep track of, then better yet. It is hard to keep people's lights on, or their house payment current…however we have done that in the past. We have saved people's houses from foreclosures and all, but we really can’t expect that from the good people here all the time. Like I said, if this board did not exist, who would pay the bills? People would have to be resourceful and find the help locally.
Let’s keep it simple -- work together. Let’s do Christmas for as many as we can (with a realization that we cannot help EVERYONE). Let’s do ACTR in honor of a real Angel…and some stuff in between. Let’s bring back challenges between each other and give the GIVING Board back to members of Ebay.
And do make sure that if someone does send money to a cause, whoever receives it, please be kind enough to at least let the giver know that you did receive it. And maybe even a THANK YOU to go along with it. I ask that due to personal experience. I give and never know if it was received. You don’t have to thank me, just let me know you got it.
Sorry for the long winded spiel. But it really is very simple.
We also need to stop the behind the scene bullcrap. If you don’t like someone, leave them alone. Or let them know so under your own ID. If you don’t care for someone, don’t turn them in for some minor infraction…like spamming the board as I was charged with simply for putting up four posts. I had my slickkat ID suspended for 30 days, as ebay is unable to unlock the complaint and reinstate the ID, even after they looked to see that what I was charged with was not spamming at all. It’s not even an inconvenience for me, as I did have another ID, but you get the point.
Any one have any questions for me, email me. Donna, slickkat@cableaz.com
PAPERBACKEXCHANGE:
See Dawn's Election Statement at the following website: http://members.cox.net/pbxva/Election1.html. There is a clickable link to this site on the top left of this website.