Two of our big projects are looking for leads from members.  The recruiting committee is following up with those who should be members of the association, and the annual meeting committee is contacting businesses that might want to reach RDIA members through our meetings in October.

Other big projects, the how-to-start-a-diaper-service kit and strategic planning, continue on track.

A lot of RDIA members are giving their time and expertise to build the industry.  More volunteers are always welcome!

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

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Real Diaper Industry Association
Board of Directors meeting
Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Present: Shirley Murdock, Dave Milligan, Lori Taylor, Shayla Boyd-Gill, Judy Aagard. Regrets: Peter Allen, Leah Carter. Facilitating: Shayla Boyd-Gill. Notes: Lori Taylor. Admin: Rachel Aube.

Called to order at 11:02AM without a quorum.

Board Election. Manufacturer and Diaper Service elections are over. Retailer elections has been repeated because of an unclear ballot that asked for two votes rather than just one. Ballots are due August 18^th.

Annual Meeting. Several potential sponsors are interested. Committee members are looking for more strong leads. Shayla and Rachel will be working on the meeting packet and annual report.

Board Retreat. Schedule is set but still flexible. No field trip scheduled. We will share rides to and from airport.

Recruiting. We need more response from potential recruiters. Lori will sent message out to members again. Dave may consider hand picking a few people and assigning them to help.

Member Discussions. Need to fill in upcoming schedule. Rachel will ask Jakki to talk about Marketing and Consider Cloth. There was no direct feedback about holding the discussion in the evening, though we did have fewer attend than during the last three meetings.

Consider Cloth. We have about 40% of the products we need so far. Rachel has been making phone calls to manufacturers.

Research. We have a potential chair. Leah will speak with this person and report.

Subsidies. If we can’t find someone with the vision, time, and energy to develop this project, we will need to change the presentation scheduled at the annual meeting.

Lori ceded the 12 minutes left for strategy to the diaper service kit.

How-to-start-a-diaper-service kit. Judy had a list of questions to ask, including review, marketing, distribution, cost, payments, supplier list, and laundry report. There was concern about document security.

Adjourned 12:37PM.

As the Annual Meeting Committee works to create a great experience for members and non-members in Las Vegas in October, a lot of annual goal and project activity is coming together.

The Marketing Committee continues to gather together pieces for the next 1000 diaper demo kits for doulas, and the Retailer Certification project will be discussed at the next member discussion webinar.

The new Volunteer Group definitions and strategic planning are also helping us back up and think of the big picture for the association.

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

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Real Diaper Industry Association
Board of Directors meeting
July 21, 2010

Present: Leah Carter, Lori Taylor, Shirley Murdock, Shayla Boyd-Gill, Dave Milligan, Peter Allen, Judy Aagard. Facilitating: Leah Carter. Notes: Lori Taylor. Admin: Rachel Aube.

Meeting called to order at 11:02AM with a quorum.

Election. Ballots are due Monday and will be counted Tuesday.

Volunteer Group Policy. The ex-board group will be called Real Diaper Advisory Council. The board approved unanimously the Volunteer Groups Policy. Like the first governing board, the first Real Diaper Advisory Council will be appointed then members of the Council will vote on future members.

Annual Meeting. Committee is working on sponsorships. The future planning group talked through the possibilities for a stand-alone meeting, meeting with other organizations, or meetings during major conventions. If we stick to travel hubs, we could move around geographically.

Recruiting. Dave has offered to lead. Members can make referrals to the Recruiting Committee, who will then track leads the way a sales team does. We will continue to encourage manufacturers to invite their retailers to become RDIA members as well. Dave will recruit the recruiters.

Member Discussion. We will move the time and day around in the next three months. Next week, the Retailer Certification Chair will lead discussion on that project. Second topic will be a request for members’ ideas for the strategic planning process.

Consider Cloth. Next step: donations. One the request for donations has gone out, we will ask the members as a whole whether they want to sponsor.

Subsidies. We need a new Chair and quick focus for the project in order to be ready for the annual meeting presentation. The strategic plan could help us determine if this is going to be a priority.

Strategic Plan. Next step: gather stakeholder input. We will talk to members next week at the member discussion, and board members will contribute to the SWOT and analysis this week. We expect to have a final document to share with members at the annual meeting.

Meeting adjourned 12:07PM.

We are doing well lately noticing where there are gaps and filling those in. We made a minor clarification to the bylaws and had a first look at two potential new policies: one a basic conflict of interest policy for board members and the other a volunteer group policy that clarifies the roles of committees and other groups.  This last policy also creates a group for former board members—a group we have yet to name, though we’re starting at some version of “Advisory Council.”

We’ve also been working to streamline communications to be sure that we don’t overload busy schedules of our members with too much information at one time. A communications survey will follow soon as part of our strategic planning.

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

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Real Diaper Industry Association
Board Meeting, July 7, 2010
Conference Call

Present: Leah Carter, Lori Taylor, Dave Milligan, Judy Aagard, Shirley Murdock, Shayla Boyd-Gill, Dennis Frederick. Facilitator: Leah Carter; Notes: Lori Taylor; Admin: Rachel Aube.

Meeting called to order at 1:02PM ET with presence of a quorum.

Election. Ballots were mailed Monday from Victoria, British Columbia.

Interim Members. We have worked on the idea and the details of Jr, Start-up, or Interim members since last year. We thought this would be a bylaw change sent to members, but our attorney advised us to keep this under the non-voting Associate Members section of the bylaws. We will approve the details as a policy.

Clarification of Directors. The attorney also drafted a bylaw change last Fall to clarify that directors must be the member on record for their member business. Since this is a minor bylaw change, the board voted to approve. Updated bylaws.

Conflict of Interest Policy for Board. The new 990 tax form asks whether boards have a Conflict of Interest policy in place. It is good practice, so we have a draft policy written with the 990 intentions in mind. We will vote next meeting.

Volunteer Groups Policy. Looking for a model policy for an alumni group for former board members, we found a model that will help us clarify roles and governance for all of the committees and groups. In addition, we have drafted a policy that specifically sets up an Advisory Council for former board members and Emeritus Board Member status to be used rarely. We will vote on this next meeting.

Annual Meeting. Registration is up, schedule is posted. Volunteer and sponsorship documents are in ready. Nearly everything is in place, and we are just adjusting now. We are ready to invite members to register for the annual business meetings October 14-15 in Las Vegas.

Future Annual Meetings. Since we have discussed not meeting in conjunction with the ABC Show in the future, we need to assess our options. We could meet during other trade shows, with other associations, or we could meet alone. We should also consider going to Canada. If we set up a 5-year schedule, we could rotate.

PR Update. We have a first draft of the member press release. The focus on the three Rs works very well. We will work to update the second half.

Member Communications Survey. There is general support for a survey of members to be sure that our communications reach them the way they want to be reached. This can be considered part of the strategic planning.

Consider Cloth program. The Marketing Committee has made two requests: that we continue distributing Consider Cloth diaper demo kits to childbirth educators for the coming year and that we take kits to the Lamaze conference. There is interest in continuing sponsorships. The board voted to approve the program and attendance at the conference for the coming year. Requests for donated products will begin this month.

Diaper Service How-to Kit Update. One of the most valuable parts of the old NADS kit was “Modern Diaper Laundry,” an analysis of the chemical rationales for laundering. It needs revision and update.

Meeting was adjourned at 2:46PM ET.

Diaper services have done a great job of assessing need, based on the specific and abundant email inquiries they receive, and they are creating a How to Start a Diaper Service kt to meet one of those needs. They receive 50-75 emails a week from those interested in starting diaper services. There is a potential explosion of growth in this area of our industry.

Annual meeting and board elections are big projects that are moving along smoothly.  Be sure to register for the ABC Show now and make your plans to stay in Las Vegas through October 14-15 for the annual cloth diaper business meetings.

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

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Real Diaper Industry Association
Board Meeting, June 16, 2010
Conference Call

Present: Leah Carter, Lori Taylor, Dave Milligan, Mandi Meidlinger, Peter Allen, Judy Aagard, Shirley Murdock.  Guest: Jennifer Moore Temple.  Regrets: Shayla Boyd-Gill.  Facilitating: Leah Carter.  Notes: Lori Taylor.  Admin: Rachel Aube.

Meeting called to order at 10:03AM with presence of a quorum.

How to Start a Diaper Service Kit. Project chair and former board member, Jennifer Moore Temple joined the meeting to talk about progress on the kit.  The committee has put together their combined knowledge, and Jennifer and Judy are editing the draft.  They expect a finished product at the annual meeting.  They would like to hire a professional to do graphic design and layout of the kit.  Board approved $500 for kit design.  The cost for a living document will be $350 for electronic and printed version.  Board discussed either inclusion of product samples or a separate product sample kit.
Board Retreat. All present confirm their attendance at the August retreat in Atlanta, pending board elections.  Leah has scheduled strategic planning, recruiting skills, team building, a business meeting, and a tour of a landfill.

Annual Meeting. Registration on the site within 2-3 weeks.  The sponsorship document nearly finalized.  Dave is getting mixed reviews about the dates of the annual meeting after the ABC Show.  Most understand that this was done to accommodate manufacturers.  Weekdays are very difficult for diaper services, and weekends are very difficult for retailers.  We will need to continue to accommodate different needs.

PR Funds. Last month we put funds toward PR, but we aren’t going to use all of that money.  Should this go toward the Consider Cloth project?  Board members discuss whether funds would go to birth educator diaper demo kits or to the consumer-oriented campaign.

Marketing Update. In survey answers so far, members want to donate either monthly or quarterly rather than annually.  All want measurable ROI.

June Member Discussion. Dave will lead Meet the Candidates discussion.  He can use the interview questions developed last year.

Board Elections. Nominations are in for the four terms expiring this year.  Ballots will go out July 5th; due July 26th.  Announce new board members at the July member discussion.  Two bylaw changes may potentially be on the ballot as well: Jr Member category and minor board member clarification.

Member Phone Calls. Members have been happy to hear from Leah.  She encouraged them to use forums and member news feed.  Most will attend ABC and the annual meeting.

Member Media Tools. Work will begin this week on a member press release. Judy is interested in having more releases available for members to use.

Meeting adjourned 11:09AM.

The Real Diaper Industry Association board elections are underway. Nominations were due this week for the four open positions on the board, and we would like to introduce the candidates.

Manufacturer
Shirley Murdock (Bummis)
Ada Vaughan (Cutey Baby)

Retailer
Tamara Champion (ByNature.ca)
Matt Guckin (Diaper Junction)
Mandi Meidlinger (Jillian’s Drawers)

Diaper Service
Peter Allen (Do Good Diapers)

Diaper Info Service
[none]

All of these terms are three years, 2010-2013. Ballots will go out to members on July 5th. New board members will be announced after votes are counted at the end of July, and members and guests are invited to meet the whole board and other RDIA members at the annual meeting October 14-15 in Las Vegas.

Before then, though, all members will be invited to Meet the Candidates during the regular monthly discussion on the 4th Wednesday of the month, which is next week. Dave Milligan (Bambino Mio – Manufacturer) and Leah Carter (Better for Babies / little beetle – Manufacturer) will have questions for the candidates, and they welcome members to bring their own questions as well.

Watch out for Dave. He has some ideas to stir up the discussion.