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.

Committees and board members have been working on great projects. We are wrapping up nominations for the board of directors and looking forward to a Meet the Candidates discussion June 23rd. The Marketing Committee is working on several updates to the Consider Cloth campaign and has sent a survey to all members. A lot of the board’s work is in support of these and other projects.

With diapers in the news, we have also provided new member media tools, including a member news feed. Members should see guidelines on the members section of the website, then send your stories and press releases to info@realdiaperindustry.org. This is a great way for us as members to know what is happening with our colleagues.

Also, several board members volunteered to call members. Between us, we are calling a couple dozen members each to encourage them to attend the annual meeting and to make sure they know what is going on with the association. All members contacted so far have seemed very happy to have the personal contact. This is another way to make the connections that hold us together as an industry.

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

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Real Diaper Industry Association
Board Meeting, June 2, 2010
Conference Call

Present: Dave Milligan, Lori Taylor, Mandi Meidlinger, Peter Allen, Shirley Murdock, Shayla Boyd-Gill, Judy Aagard. Facilitating: Shayla Boyd-Gill. Notes: Lori Taylor.

Meeting called to order 1:04PM Eastern Time with presence of a quorum.

Minutes. Board approved minutes from 5/19/2010 meeting.

Code of Ethics. The original document from 2008 was approved with a typo. Item “11” was listed as “12.” The board approved correcting that typo to make the last item “11.”

Rash Site. Mandi has been gathering research, compiling a spreadsheet, comparing studies on diaper rash. She will work on a survey. The site itself isn’t urgent but Mandi will work on it soon.

Annual Meeting. Internet access and streaming the meeting is prohibitively expensive. Last year people used their own phones, laptops, and projectors. We may be able to provide some A/V equipment. Sponsorships will be offered in levels rather than for specific events. All is coming together nicely.

PR Update. Members are seeking cloth diaper PR. A new Member News feed on the website gives members a place to publicize. Guidelines for inclusion will be added to members section of website. Page has an RSS feed.

Board Nominations. Any board members who are planning to run again need to have their forms mailed to the Kirkland address by June 15th.

Phone Calls to Members. Shayla, Shirley, and Dave reported on calls they have made. All seemed happy to have someone from the board call them, glad to see committees active, many excited about monthly member discussions. Some won’t be attending the annual meeting either because of the expense or because they couldn’t spare the time away.

Newsletter. A newsletter will go out this week. Send any additions to Lori.

Rachel. Rachel to attend board meetings, so she will be better informed about big projects.

Meeting adjourned at 12:04PM.

The board listened to a presentation on budget from Treasurer, Dennis Frederick, then we had a great discussion on fundraising. A lot of the ideas add real value to what we are already doing for members.

We are also excited to see the progress the Annual Meeting Committee has been making in putting together a great annual meeting for October 14-15. (Registration will begin soon, and non-members are welcome to join us.)

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

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Real Diaper Industry Association
Board Meeting, May 19, 2010
Conference call

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

Meeting called to order 1:02PM Eastern Time with presence of a quorum.

Annual Meeting. Keynote will be Guy Schanschieff of Bambino Mio. Annual board meeting will be Thursday afternoon. Annual Meeting Committee will create meeting package, with the Executive Committee contributing the annual report section. Sponsorship package will be ready soon.

Budget. Dennis (Treasurer) asked for income generation ideas. Among them: new trade members, new associate members, handling fee for Consider Cloth kit to cover admin costs, charge for levels of How to Start a Diaper Service kit, donations, sell cloth diaper advocacy gear, and investments from industries that are helped by what we do. Board approved Consider Cloth kit price increase from $15 to $25 and an annual listing fee of $100 for Diaper Service Resource Directory.

Member phone calls. Volunteers will each receive a list of about 20 names.

Monthly member discussion. Little support for a bylaw change to allow membership of manufacturers who make disposable diapers, so Bylaw Committee report recommended against further action. Board approved Bylaw Committee final report and distribution of report to members.

Projects. The cloth-diaper-friendly daycare directory is ready for approval before removing dummy records and going public.

PR Campaign. The association would like to engage in positive PR for cloth diapers. Campaign to include tools for members to engage press, legal cautions from attorney, and supporting materials. Board members approved funds toward a campaign and agreed to be active in upcoming email discussions about details. Next week’s member discussion could outline the conclusions.

Nominations. If any board member is planning to run again, please submit nomination forms by June 14th to the Kirkland address.

In the past two weeks, board members have been preparing for nomination forms to be mailed. Everyone should receive their forms the week of April 26th. Also that week, we hold our first member call in a while through GoToWebinar software that allows sharing and communication without chaos, which is important when we have as many members as we do.

We have also been gathering short reports from committees and projects for a newsletter so members can get a sense of the level of activity within the association.

Several of our projects focus on our effort to encourage communication among members so we can harness all of our collective energy for the cloth diaper industry.

Jump in. This is your trade association.

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

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Real Diaper Industry Association
Board Meeting, April 21, 2010
Conference call

Present: Leah Carter, Shirley Murdock, Lori Taylor, Dennis Frederick, Shayla Boyd-Gill, Dave Milligan, Peter Allen, and Judy Aagard. Regrets: Mandi Meidlinger. Facilitating: Leah Carter. Notes: Lori Taylor.

Meeting called to order 1:00PM Eastern Time with presence of a quorum.

Dave’s UK Trip. Reports from different countries showed a fascinating overview on cloth diapering. In Mauritius, cloth diapers are sold in pharmacies. In France, they find a positive reception from consumers (economy) and governments (waste). In Italy, a tenacious grassroots effort has built momentum. Takeaway: start small with a good message, explore multiple angles, and keep at it.

Banking and Accounting. We hired an administrator expecting she would be able to help with bookkeeping. Transition now to save thousands of dollars a year. Also changed banks.

Annual Meeting. The theme will be “GREEN your business”: Get Real. Engage. Expand. Nuture. Done: facilities. Working on: graphics, keynote, breakout sessions. Nex: build sponsorship packages.

Retailer Board Appointment. What skill set might benefit the board and association? All will assess interest from retailers during member discussion call 4/28.

Board Retreat. Rachel is going to put together lodging and transportation plan. Leah is working on activity and team building plans. Also business meetings.

Member Retention. We want to check in with members, make sure they are comfortable contacting us for any reason. Volunteers will start by calling within their category. Rachel will distribute contact info and track responses.

Member Discussions. First call next week (April 28). All board should be prepared to talk about their experience. Shayla facilitate board Q&A; Leah & Dennis facilitate bylaws discussion; Lori on slides and polls.

Jr Members. Potential addition of a non-voting Jr Member category for those just starting out will be discussed during May member call. Dennis outlines the rationale and the proposed limitations.

Meeting called to order 2:10PM Eastern Time.