[from email to the AGA chapters list]
Dear folks;I had noticed that the meeting notes from the 2002 annual AGA meeting were not on the website, so sent a copy to our webmaster, Roy, who will post them shortly.
I thought they also might be of interest to the chapter reps and organizers, especially as everyone was not able to be a Congress last summer. Here they are, FYI.
best to everyone,
Susan Weir, as AGA secretary
The election committee: Sam Zimmerman, Paul Anderson, Chris Kirschner, and Susan Weir were thanked for their work.
The board has met a few times at Congress, have confirmed Roy Laird's choice of new treasurer, Ben Bernstein. Ulo will begin transitioning the job to Ben over the next few months. For the next few months, we will still send receipts to Ulo, until a formal announcement is made that the job has been officially transferred. Many thanks to Ulo for his years of past service.
Also, many thanks to the outgoing officers: Roy Laird, Chendao Lin, Mike Peng, and Larry Gross for all their service to the AGA.
Last year's minutes are approved. Roll call was taken.
Journal report from Chris Garlock: We have 4000 EJournal subscribers. We are slowly moving some of these to becoming AGA members, because of the annotated games in the Ejournal.
Of the 1500 AGA members, 1300 also subscribe to the EJournal. The Journal staff met at this Congress for the first time. Daily EJournal reports have been going out during Congress itself. We will be using an email service to automate the process of adding new subscribers.
About 15-20% of Journal subscribers live outside the US, many are Thai players.
Congress 2004 is unsettled. Congress 2005 is proposed to be in Seattle.
There was much discussion of implementing a new system of certifying ranks. The AGA would be issuing rank certificates to members. There is no agreement for a fee structure in this process. One view is to charge large enough fees that the certification could be a new revenue flow source for the AGA. Another idea is to figure out what our actual costs are to issue certificates and just charge enough to cover our costs. A straw poll was taken, with 17 votes for larger fees, and 10 votes for cost covering fees. The idea was also suggested of using a two-, or multi-tiered system, where people could pay less for a paper certificate, and pay more for a more elaborate plaque.
There was also discussion about what constitutes a ranking in general. Some points:
A committee appointed last year to look over AGA finances in general. (Chuck Robbins, John Stephenson, Ulo Tamm , and others)
AGJ: 100% of our dues are basically paying for the Journal, up from 80% in past years. We need to reexamine the AGJ. We are losing money on foreign members because of the cost of postage. Basically, we're not losing, not making money on the journal.
Terry Benson: AGF report. The AGF spent much more than it took in in donations. Clearly the AGF needs to increase donations. Before, excess congress funds went to the AGF, now they're going to the AGA. How can we can use the AGF and the tax benefits to bring more money into go? Developing chapters, infrastructure, more with children are all areas of AGF support. How can we encourage people to bring more money into our programs, tournaments, etc.
Discussion of the AGF issues was as follows: It would be nice to have a written document to describe what the AGF does, maybe a brochure, better Web site pages would be a plus. Is there a way we can donate on our renewal forms to the AGF? Can you provide us with an annual report of the AGF budget? Also, it is not clear what the distinction between what the AGF does and what the AGA does. A fund raising letter would be valuable. Not only for money, but for general recognition of the value of the AGF.
John Stephenson: the AGF is non-profit, AGA not-for-profit. The AGA has clearer accountability. The AGF has a self perpetuating board of directors, accountability is not on paper. I'm not comfortable with this. Now the AGA can do much of what we originally founded the AGF to do, we need to review this relationship between the two organizations.
Terry - because the AGA is membership based, it is fundamentally not a charity like the AGF. A self perpetuating board is rather common to charitable organizations, the AGF is accountable to donors and the IRS. We can certainly be more transparent, but we are accountable.
Vendors at congress - perhaps we could do more publicity locally about all the variety of go products we have available at congress to bring in more business for them.
Go equipment in game stores. Any effort being made to get more decent sets into regular game stores?
Thanks to Charles French, who did a lot of work for the AGA's tax problems, and has had a stroke recently. We wish Charles well.
Roy Laird, in closing, stated that this is his fifth time leading this meeting, and has appreciated the opportunity to serve the AGA. the board is looking for a new president, please let the board know if you are interested.
Several stronger players stated that they don't know the amount of the US Open prize in advance. Every year it is different. Last year they waited 3-4 months to receive the money from the Ing cup. Can we standardize this, before the Congress so everyone knows?
Also,how to we select who goes to the to the World Amateur cup. What is the qualification for the world youth, and for the Ozo... is there any clear rules here? Roy: we need to talk to tournament coordinator. We'll try to address these issues to make the process clearer to everyone.
Chendao: The pros had a meeting this past week, have decided to use the NAMT as a means of selection for the international tournaments. NAMT has two slots for amateurs, the winner of the Ing cup, and the winner of the Open. Amateurs have been invited for the past two years. Each tournament has its own election process. Fujitsu ,Ozo, LG.. masters.. for each of these, their tournaments supersede any other selection process. Other tournaments might just say... send someone. We're trying to have a unified front with the American pro players association. We want to choose objectivity and transparency.
We're not getting enough 6 dans to come to out congresses. Not enough information is going out to strong players about the opportunities the AGA presents. We want to take advantage of strong player interests and get more of them involved.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:38 pm.
Respectfully submitted, Susan Weir, recording secretary