Over the weekend, the Handmade Toy Alliance conducted a small business survey in order to gather information for Congress and the CPSC as they work to improve CPSIA. HTA wanted to tell legislators and regulators who we really are.

RDIA sent the HTA survey to our 161 members Friday. “223 business owners participated in the survey, 135 of whom are HTA members.” Some of us who participated are members of both organizations. I heard from quite a few RDIA members who are not HTA members that they participated. Thank you!

Take a look at the small business survey results to get a picture of what the children’s products industries look like today.

Tags: handmade toy alliance, hta, survey

Cecelia Lucero has represented diaper services on the Real Diaper Industry Association board of directors since 2009. Cecelia recently sold her business and resigned her position in order to take on a new adventure. We thank Cecelia for her service to the industry.

A sad and exciting farewell. Is there such a thing? I think there is.

I resigned my position on the RDIA board in January because of an upcoming move my family is making. The exciting part of the farewell is that we will be spending 3 years in Iwakuni, Japan. The sad part was selling my business and resigning from the board.

San Diego Diaper Service was getting so big that we had reached a crossroads decision: do we expand alone or with a partner. I was lucky enough to have Wendi from Earthy Baby Diaper Service as a friend. When my husband got a call saying that we would be moving to Japan in June 2010, the Marine Corps made the decision for us.

There was a time in my life where I did not think I would have a child and never did I expect to be such an advocate of cloth diapers.

My daughter was born in August of 2007. We had decided that we wanted to use cloth diapers. It was very difficult for us to find a service in San Diego which we thought was weird considering how big San Diego is. Luckily we finally came across San Diego Diaper Service. The owner at the time was fantastic and patient with all our questions and concerns. At the time I was a middle school teacher but once Megan arrived home I realized that I did not want to leave her and go back to work.

Luck was on our side because in November of 2007, the owner of the San Diego Diaper Service told us that she was going to shut the business down since she had full time job and was doing the service on the side. My husband and I took advantage of the situation and bought the business. It was great I could stay at home with Megan and work at the same time. We started off very small and slowly grew and kept growing. We were so happy to be able to provide cloth diapers to hundreds of families throughout San Diego. What a learning experience it is to own your own business. I was so naïve in the beginning but so glad to have learned so much.

As I began growing my business I started reaching out to diaper services in other states- some people were very helpful others were not. I was fortunate enough to come across Buzzie Bee Diapers in Maine and met Jennifer Moore Temple. The advice and support I got from Jennifer was invaluable. Jennifer told me about RDIA and the great things that the organization was doing. After talking with her and doing some research on my own I realized that I wanted to be a part of the organization. I believed in cloth and wanted to help spread the word. I knew that if more people had information about the ease of cloth diapers they would be willing to try and I knew that RDIA was the right route to take. Once I joined the board I was amazed at the dedication of the other board members. It was easy to be motivated to volunteer your time when you are surrounded by people who also are donating their time to the same cause.

I may no longer be in business but I am still an advocate of cloth diapers and will continue to volunteer my time to RDIA. This is only a temporary goodbye- I plan on being back early next year as an active member with new ventures.

Cecelia Lucero
Former owner, San Diego Diaper Service

Tags: Board, farewell

RDIA board members are excited to have concluded the collaborative process of developing a vision, mission, and values that can be a guide to us as members and as board members. The full text is below. Expect to hear more about vision, mission, and values in the near future.

At the annual meeting September 2009, members voted on priorities for which they wanted to see project proposals. Proposals have been submitted. The board has begun discussions and will continue through the next meeting mid-March.

This meeting also marked the beginning of our new one-hour, twice-a-month meeting schedule.

Lori Taylor
Fuzbaby and Firefly Diapers
Secretary, Real Diaper Industry Association

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Real Diaper Industry Association
Board Meeting, March 3, 2010
Conference call

Present: Leah Carter, Lori Taylor, Peter Allen, Jennifer Liptrot, Cari Wolverton, Shirley Murdock, Shayla Boyd-Gill, Judy Aagard, Ann-Marie Speirs, Dennis Frederick. Facilitating: Leah Carter, Chair. Notes: Lori Taylor, Secretary.

Meeting called to order 1:10PM Eastern Time with presence of a quorum.

Vision / Mision / Values Final Vote. Board approved final text of vision, mission, and values as developed during discussions Dec-Feb.

Admin. Update on first month of Rachel covering admin.

Affiliation Statements. Update statements that each board member makes when elected.

Open Diaper Service Seat Vote. Board approves Peter Allen of Do Good Diapers to fill vacant diaper service seat that expires 2010.

Finances. Board approves $6,200 for annual meeting. Discussion of board retreat budget at next meeting.

Annual Meeting. Developing list of breakout sessions with survey to go to members next week. Advance registration in place by end of March.

Organizational Memberships. Encouraged to use memberships in BoardSource and ASAE.

Proposed Bylaw Changes. Manufacturer group met this week. Will have announcement for member conference call for next meeting. Jr Member group will meet soon. Director Clarification drafted.

Member Conference Calls. Executive Committee will propose a schedule for monthly calls.

Project Proposal for Marketing Committee. Marketing/PR Comm proposed three projects: continuation of Consider Cloth campaign, consumer landing page on website, and a $50K campaign with emphasis on group advertising in national magazines. Board members generally approve of the first two proposals but expressed concern about both time and financial resources for the print campaign as outlined.

Two project proposals tabled until next meeting.

Meeting adjourned 2:40PM Eastern Time.

Vision

As the primary choice for babies, reusable cloth diapers increase sustainability for people, planet, and profit.

Mission

The Real Diaper Industry Association strives to make reusable cloth diapers the primary choice for babies’ parents and caregivers while emphasizing responsibility and sustainability through a focus on people, planet, and profit. RDIA works toward these goals by providing service and opportunities through business education, industry research, collaborative marketing, and group benefits.

Values

We conduct ourselves with integrity and professionalism in compliance with our strict code of ethics.

We apply current information and experience within cloth diaper and related industries to analyze, improve processes, and educate.

We are an open community fostering cooperative culture, sharing knowledge towards our common purpose.

We value diversity within all membership categories; welcoming and supporting qualified businesses of all sizes dedicated to our mission.

As members, we are committed to clear and transparent communication within our association. As board members, we will provide transparent communication to our members regarding decisions of the board and operations.

Tags: Board, board meeting

In addition to regular monthly board meetings, the RDIA board has been meeting weekly since December to discuss vision, mission, and values of the organization. We started by reading our current mission aloud at the beginning of the October and November meetings, then asking ourselves whether this was enough to guide our actions. It wasn’t. We wanted more, so we dove in.

As you might guess from the values statement below, posting minutes has grown directly out of our desire to make operations of the association transparent.

We have completed our weekly meetings, and we will put adoption of the new vision, mission, and values on our March agenda. Following soon after that, we intend to ask all RDIA members to help us determine how our mission should translate into strategies and goals for the association.

Lori Taylor
Fuzbaby and Firefly Diapers
Secretary, Real Diaper Industry Association

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Real Diaper Industry Association
Board of Directors discussion of values and mission
Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Present: Leah Carter, Dennis Frederick, Rachel Aube (admin), Shayla Boyd-Gill, Lori Taylor, Ann-Marie Speirs, Jennifer Liptrot, Mandi Meidlinger. Notes: Lori Taylor.

Meeting began 1:05PM ET.

Admin. Leah introduced Rachel Aube, who will be providing administrative services for us.

Values. We approved four values during last discussion. Only transparency value left.

TRANSPARENCY VALUE FINAL DRAFT: As members, we are committed to clear and transparent communication within our association. As board members, we will provide transparent communication to our members regarding decisions of the board and operations.

Mission. Cari drafted a mission statement as well. Dave asked that we add “opportunities.” No objections to a final draft.

MISSION FINAL DRAFT: The Real Diaper Industry Association strives to make reusable cloth diapers the primary choice for babies’ parents and caregivers while emphasizing responsibility and sustainability through a focus on people, planet, and profit. RDIA members work toward these goals by providing service and opportunities through business education, industry research, collaborative marketing, and group benefits.

Vote to adopt all final drafts of vision, mission, and values at the next board meeting. Starting in March, we will have shorter, one-hour meetings twice a month.

Meeting ended 1:50PM ET.

Tags: mission, values, vision

I am delighted to introduce RDIA’s newest team member, Rachel Aube. Rachel joins us as an independent contractor providing amazing administrative assistance to the board and the membership at large. It was a long and remarkably competitive hiring process. But Rachel’s passion, dedication and diversity stood strong, making her a great fit to RDIA during this time of young growth.

Rachel is from the Niagara region in Ontario, where she attended Brock University for Business and then moved west to the University of Victoria, where she earned her BA in Humanities and Social Anthropology. With her business and research background, she was recruited by a top US manufacturing company to work in logistics and import/export compliance, as a project manager. After a few years in the Midwest, Rachel met her husband and moved to Los Angeles, where she became the Operations Director of government funded supplemental educational company called Educational Partnerships. Directing programs in the urban Los Angeles area taught her the importance of diversity, agency and relevant community development and how these factors should be applied to business models. Planning, research and development, operations, process improvement and strategy are her strongest professional skills.

Rachel is also the mother of two boys, ages 2 and 3, who were both cloth diaper babies. She has always been an advocate of the cloth diapering, and promotes their awareness and environmental value at every opportunity. She is very excited and motivated to do this important work in a professional capacity, and looks forward to offering her assistance and expertise to the Board and the RDIA as a whole.

Leah Carter
Better for Babies
Chair, Real Diaper Industry Association

Tags: admin