NAMHSA - January 1-15, 2013 News

News & Updates

NAMHSA News for the period of January 1-16, 2013, based on the minutes compiled by Jackie Arns-Rossi, Recording Secretary.

JANUARY 1

-- Jackie Moore (Region 6 Representative) suggested adding language to the policy document that appointed officers’ terms were renewable. She also agreed with the point made by a hobbyist that appointed officers sometimes serve past their term, and suggested a Google calendar to remind the Board of when appointed officer terms were ending. Teresa Buzzell (President) agreed with this idea, but suggested adding “voting and non-voting members” in place of the term “officers.” Eleanor Harvey (Parliamentarian) also agreed with clarifying that appointed positions did not have term limits.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi (Recording Secretary) reminded the Board of a previous occasion when a show holder had requested permission to submit her show for membership a day late, and the Board had denied the request. At that time, a fee for late submission was considered but not implemented. Teresa Buzzell confirmed that the 60 day rule was strictly enforced in the past, and stated that the show in question would not be approved if submitted late.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi posted the December 16-31 2012 minutes.

-- Carmen Robertson (Treasurer) posted the final NAN 2012 financial report. Changes included adding the Head Steward stipend, paying for lunches, and last minute expenses from NAN chairs Stacy Faraci and Carra McClelland. One entrant’s helper ended up volunteering, and that person was paid as well.

-- There was more discussion about the email Stacy Faraci (Region 7 Representative) had forwarded to the Board on 12/31/12. In general, several people felt that having a person designated to answer questions at NAN would be a good idea. This person should not be the announcer at the podium, and should be clearly identified.

JANUARY 2

-- There was discussion about instituting a late fee for show applications within the 60 day deadline. Pat Coulter (Region 9 Representative) and Eleanor Harvey were concerned that allowing show holders to apply with less than 60 days before the show would place an undue burden on the Show Membership Secretary. They suggested changing the deadline to 90 days, with a late fee applied from days 89 to 60. Amy Peck (Show Membership Secretary) felt a $10 per day late fee would be fine for shows that were truly 1 or 2 days late, but would discourage those that were later. Pauline Entin (Region 3 Representative and Interim PR) noted that NAMHSA had been remarkably consistent in this area, and that show membership fees were designed to cover costs.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi forwarded an email from a member asking if there was a list of judges available. Suggestions included using the judges listed in the NAN program each year, and checking the website http://findajudge.webs.com/. However, Lynn Weber (Website Manager) noted that not many people were listed on that site. There was some discussion about a judge list that was at one time a NAMHSA program, but no one could recall details.

-- Danielle Miller (Individual Membership Secretary) reported that Carmen Robertson had asked her to track Individual Members that apply with NAN entry. Danielle had modified the spreadsheet she used to try and track these for NAN 2013. She also would like to have the membership application updated with a check box that could be checked when NAN entry was paid, to help with tracking. She asked if Lynn Weber was the person who could help her update the IM application. Lynn asked Danielle to send her the changes.

-- Lynn Weber asked what needed to go into the Bylaws as a result of the vote for the NAN card extension and the requirement for show holders to send searchable results. She also asked about an official press release. Jackie Moore supplied a copy of the ballot which contained the new Bylaws wording. Jackie Arns-Rossi reported on January 7th that the date the ballot was counted was December 11, 2012. The specific Bylaws change is to Article III, section c.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi questioned Individual Member fees being included as NAN income on the NAN report uploaded by Carmen Robertson. Lyn Norbury (Region 5 Representative) stated her opinion that IM fees collected at the time of NAN entry should count as NAN income. Jackie disagreed, stating that the IM fees go to the IM program, not to NAN entry. An IM is not required for NAN entry, though many people do sign up at the same time as NAN entry. Carmen Robertson advised the fees were accounted in this way because there was no way to see which entrants had paid for just NAN entry and which ones also got an IM after the fact. She would be reminding Jim to track that information this year. Carra McClelland (Region 4 Representative) and Danielle Miller both agreed that income paid for Individual Memberships should not be NAN income.

-- Danielle Miller asked if there was a way to create a Cafe Press coupon code specifically for Individual Members. Lynn Weber said she would look into it.

JANUARY 3

-- Lynn Weber reported she had entered all the codes from Elaine Lindelef and was waiting on approval from Network Solutions. She was not able to upload files to the new host site yet, and advised of possible down time in the next week.

-- Amy Peck posted a summary of the Show Membership fees. Amy stated her opinion that fees were currently at an appropriate level, as the program overall broke even. She noted that the Member Show Fee balance was positive by $648, however, that amount did not take into consideration the $600 annual stipend paid to the Show Member Secretary, nor any of the non-USPS expenses (e.g., cartridge ink etc.). She reported that the biggest loss for a show was $20 for a show held in Canada. She noted that NAMHSA had lost money on all three member shows held in Canada due to the higher postage costs to mail cards to Canada. The biggest profit on show member fees was for Amy’s own show, held in November 2012. The reason was that she had changed the show to double judged after the 60 day deadline, so the cost had gone up due to the doubled number of cards, and the $10 late change fee. In addition, since Amy had only to deliver the cards to herself, there was no postage cost. Overall, she concluded that given that the intent of the show fees were to cover costs, the fees were fine as they currently stand.

-- Carra McClelland posted a revised version of the NAN Breeds Cross Reference List. The list had been formatted for easier reading.

-- Lynn Weber reported that Cafe Press shop owners could not create their own coupon codes but a separate “member exclusive” shop could be created with zero profit or unique items. It would be important to have a way to verify who was a member if this route was chosen. Danielle Miller asked about creating a password or a one time coupon that could be used by IMs. Teresa Buzzell did not think a coupon code or a password would work due to how Cafe Press was set up (a shopper logs into Cafe Press to pay, not into a specific shop).

JANUARY 4

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi advised she was still waiting on approval for the December 16-31 minutes.

-- Teresa Buzzell posted the January Board agenda:

I. DONE:
-Membership Vote
-Emergency VP Search
II. On-Going:
-VP voting
-Solicitation for Fundraising Coordinator
-NAN Auction/Raffle - yes/no/maybe?
-Show Results - Listing for late/delinquent show results
III. New/Waiting to Get To:
-MA Ideas
-MSOTY - Year Round Solicitation for Shows/Year Round Coordinator

-- Teresa Buzzell also posted a more detailed action list after reviewing the minutes. The action list included PR posts to be created or re-posted and coordination between Danielle Miller, Jackie Arns-Rossi, and Amy Peck on streamlining the ballot process.

-- Teresa Buzzell asked if there were any more thoughts on an auction or raffle for NAN 2013.

--Pauline Entin (Interim PR) posted a draft of the NAN card extension/searchable results ballot announcement.

-- Danielle Miller asked for confirmation that a coupon offering (for example) $5 off a Cafe Press order was not something that NAMHSA could give out. Lynn Weber confirmed this, and quoted from the Cafe Press help files.

-- Teresa Buzzell confirmed that there were entrants to NAN who did not choose to become Individual Members, since the IM fee is an option, and not a requirement for NAN entry.

-- Danielle Miller reposted the current policy on individual membership period, for members who did not join with NAN entry. Members can join any time in a given year, but their membership begins on May 1 of that given year, and then expires 2 years later on April 30. For example, if a person joins on April 25, 2012, his or her membership won't begin until May 1, 2012. Likewise, if a member joins on November 25, 2012, his or her membership will be backdated to May 1, 2012. Each of these members would have an expiration date of April 30, 2014, which makes it 2 years of membership.

- Jackie Arns-Rossi forwarded posts Danielle and Pauline had made to the Board in October 2012, regarding the need to be able to take the IM fee payments out of NAN income.

-Lyn Norbury reiterated her belief that IM fees should be counted as NAN income. Jackie Arns-Rossi reiterated that they were not, and asked for a logical explanation as to why the fees are NAN income, since they are not required for NAN entry.

JANUARY 5

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi posted another draft of the December 16-31, 2012 minutes for review and approval.

-- Lynn Weber reported she had wrapped up her 3 tasks on the action list and would look into ways to track if memberships were being paid for as part of NAN entry or not.

-- Teresa Buzzell requested that Paulie Entin post the Fundraising Coordinator position to the public.

-- Tom Dean (Region 2 Representative) suggested a way to keep Individual Membership fees separate from NAN entry fees. He pointed out that IM fees paid outside of the NAN Registration period should be easy to categorize as unrelated to NAN entry. He suggested that the Registrar receive a list of current paid IM’s from the IM Secretary at the opening of NAN Registration. The Registrar would maintain a spreadsheet showing how each NAN entry payment was allocated (base, per horse per class fees, helper fees, IM fees etc.). The Registrar would forward that spreadsheet to the IM secretary so the secretary could record the new memberships. This spreadsheet would also inform the Treasurer regarding how to separate out IM fees paid with NAN entry.

-- Jackie Moore asked if there was a way to offer a rebate on Café Press purchases for Individual Members. Teresa Buzzell advised that Cafe Press handled everything about managing the shop--NAMHSA only created items to sell.

JANUARY 6

-- Carmen Robertson uploaded the December Financial Report to the files section. She also posted a summary:

NAMHSA December 2012 Treasurer Report
Prepared and submitted by Carmen Robertson, Treasurer, January 2, 2013

12/1/2012 through 12/31/2012

Total Income 876.00
Total Expenses -876.50

Balance in BOA checking as of 12/31/2012: 68463.57
Balance in PayPal as of 12/31/2012: 348.63
Balance in NAMHSA accounts as of 12/31/2012: 68812.20

-- Pauline Entin asked Carmen Robertson for a refresher on how the monthly income and expenses figure into the account balances. She pointed out that for most people (who don’t have accounting degrees), it is hard to understand how the account balance can have an $80 change when the income/loss for the month was only $-0.50.

--Carmen Robertson provided an explanation. She noted that the BOA balance on 11/30 was $68504.53. Several checks had cleared in the month of December, lowering the balance to $67587.57. Additionally, several deposits were made in December, bringing the balance to $68453.57 as of 12/31. She reminded the Board that just because a check was written in the current month doesn't mean that it cleared the bank in the same month. For that reason, it’s not possible to use the expenses reported within a month to get an accurate total. For example, two checks written in November did not clear until December and one check written in December had not cleared as of 12/31. Carmen added that funds paid to NAMHSA by Paypal do not get counted as income until Carmen transfers the money from Paypal to BOA, which she typically does once a month, usually mid-month.

--Pauline thanked Carmen and asked a few follow up questions.

--Carmen clarified a few points in response to Pauline’s questions.

--Teresa Buzzell requested that further accounting mechanics discussion be moved off the Board list.

-- Lynn Weber asked if the information about the Breyer Live Show Benefit Program could be added to the PR to-do list. She included a link to a blog post she had written about the program: .
http://namhsaofficial.blogspot.com/2013/01/breyer-live-show-benefit-program.html

-- Teresa Buzzell asked Lynn Weber if she had a chance to interview Sommer Prosser about the new Breyer Live Show Benefit Program. Lynn replied that she had a draft of questions to ask Sommer, as well as some for an interview with Karen Gerhardt about the creation of the NAMHSA logo. Teresa offered to assist Lynn over the coming weekend.

-- Lynn Weber forwarded a post that had been made on the NAMHSA Facebook page by a hobbyist, regarding the Breyer Live Show Benefit Program. The hobbyist recommended that NAMHSA promote the fact that to qualify for the Breyer benefit, shows had to be NAMHSA members shows. The hobbyist also recommended that NAMHSA promote itself and IM’s at member shows by providing a T-shirt or other NAMHA merchandise to be given away at the show.

--Teresa Buzzell noted that she had posted information about the Breyer program on FaceBook on November 20th. She also stated that she did not have any favorite names for the “NAMHSA in the News” section on the website that would include information such as the Breyer program, so she asked Lynn to pick her favorite. She also asked Pauline Entin (Interim PR) to draft a PR post about the program that could be periodically sent out.

-- Danielle Miller had more ideas for the Cafe Press store. She asked about running short term member only sales at 4 different time of the year. Teresa Buzzell did not think that Cafe Press would allow a shop to limit offerings to a group, but asked Lynn Weber to look into it. Pat Coulter thought that it was possible for a shop owner to purchase items at cost to have for in person sales. Teresa Buzzell confirmed this, and thought that having items for sale at NAN and/or Breyerfest would be a good idea. Pat Coulter reported there would be room for this at the Harrisburg NAN.

-- Pauline Entin posted a draft of the fall 2012 financial reports that had been inadvertently omitted from the NAMHSA minutes and news.

-- Pauline Entin posted her PR to-do list:
DONE:
-Fundraiser solicitation posted
-Ballot results posted
TO DO (in priority order?)
1. Draft the addendum financials post
2. NAN calendar on Cafe Press – she asked if Teresa could make this post
3. NAMHSA News for Dec 16-31, 2012
4. Draft the special election announcement for the open regional rep spot
5. Draft announcement for PR person
Teresa Buzzell confirmed the priority order.

JANUARY 7

-- Tom Dean suggested formatting changes for financial reports, to make them more clear to the hobby public. His suggestions included listing uncleared checks and funds available. Tom also noted he did not agree with the concept of PayPal deposits not being considered income until moved to the checking account, but did not feel it was worth debating.

-- Carra McClelland stated she was in favor of a NAN 2013 raffle, with 100% donations for ease of bookkeeping. Tracy Eilers (Region 1 Representative) also agreed that raffle donations should be 100%. Lyn Norbury felt that while 100% donations would be easier for NAMHSA, it would be harder on donors. Kate Cabot (Region 10 Representative) noted that raffle donations in her region were always 100% and it was not an issue procuring these donations. Teresa Buzzell also stated that the only place she had ever heard of a raffle allowing less than 100% donations were NAMHSA raffles.

-- Jacke Arns-Rossi advised she had contacted Danielle Miller, Amy Peck, Lynn Weber and Jim West (2013 NAN Registrar) about an online database for individual members.

-- Lynn Weber reported there was no way to have a private Cafe Press shop. The shop could be not listed in Cafe Press’s search engine, but anyone with the URL could pass it to anyone else. Danielle Miller (IMS) suggested a gift certificate that could be awarded to IMs, either in a quarterly drawing, or in conjunction with NAN entry. Lynn reported that Cafe Press offered a gift certificate program, which would make managing such a thing much easier.

--Tracy Eilers and Carra McClelland reported that they had posted the information on the Breyer Live Show Program to their Regional lists when it was first announced.

-- Lynn Weber asked if anyone on the Board had been aware of the Breyer program prior to its announcement by Breyer. No one responding had heard about the program prior to Breyer announcing it.

-- Teresa Buzzell called for an immediate end to the discussion on IM fees, stating that IM Fees are NOT considered NAN Income.

JANUARY 8

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi posted a draft of the December 16-31, 2012 minutes. These were approved by Teresa Buzzell the same day.

-- Danielle Miller asked if she should formally propose her Cafe Press ideas for Individual Members. Teresa Buzzell asked that Danielle wait until there was more information about getting the IM program online.

JANUARY 9

-- Lynn Weber asked if the NAN Breed List uploaded by Carra McClelland could be posted on the web site. She reported she had already turned it into a pdf in anticipation. Carra felt that the list was ready for posting, and it can be found here:
https://www.namhsa.org/nan2013/2013NANBreedCrossRef.pdf
-- Pat Coulter posted a proposal for a 2013 NAN raffle. The proposal was detailed with specifics on donations, ticket sales, supplies needed, logistics, etc. The proposal was well received, as it was similar to the successful Tucson (2011) raffle. Pat confirmed that private hobbyists could also donate high quality items that were not necessarily new from the artist.

JANUARY 10

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi posted the results of the special Vice Presidential election. Of 332 possible votes, 180 were cast, equating to a 54% turnout. Carra McClelland was elected by majority vote. Jackie also posted a draft of an announcement for the election results and recommended getting the information out ASAP.

JANUARY 11

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi asked if a poll was needed to accept the NAN 2013 Raffle Proposal. Teresa Buzzell replied that one was needed but she had additional questions for Pat Coulter about the proposal.

JANUARY 12

-- Pauline Entin posted a draft for the Region 4 Representative special election.

-- Pauline Entin posted a draft of the Financials post, providing the missing reports (September through November) and an explanation of how to interpret reports.

JANUARY 14

-- Carra McClelland (now Vice President) posted a proposed change from 2013 NAN Registrar Jim West for the china divisions. The change was to further clarify what models could be shown in the OF China/Resin division by adding text regarding test runs. The new proposed text reads: “The OF China classes are restricted to horses glazed in regular production colors and marked or certificated test runs. Burden of proof for test runs is on the entrant.” Jim pointed out that this text would match what was already stated in the OF Plastic Collectibility description.

--Jim West’s suggestion was met with general approval, and prompted a question from Lynn Weber about the horses sold through Animal Artistry’s Retail Therapy sales. It was confirmed that these pieces are considered Custom Glaze unless specifically marked as a test.

-- Teresa Buzzell moved to accept the NAN 2013 Raffle proposal since there had been no further discussion. Carra McClelland seconded.

-- Jackie Arns-Rossi posted a final call for Regional Reports.

JANUARY 15

Regional Reports

Region 1 Tracy Eilers
December is a quiet month in Region 1 during the Holidays. We are looking forward to Ring in the New Year on January 26th in Kent, WA hosted by CeCe Osborn. Shows always help to have some horsey fun and lift spirits in the midst of winter doldrums!

Region 2 Tom Dean
Two shows to report for December:
WACCO was held on December 1st in San Martin, CA. Hosted by Jane Morehouse, the show featured a toy drive, pot-luck lunch, and the annual ornament exchange. The show was well run, well received, and enjoyed by all in attendance.
December 2nd saw Breed All About It, also in San Martin, hosted by Marie Sobieski. This year the classlist featured divisions for minis of all persuasions as well as China and Custom Glaze. Once again, well run, well received, with the added enticement of seeing some great Chinas.
Up in January:
High Desert Holiday Live hosted by Dixie Duggan in Ridgecrest on the 12th.
In February:
Eureka Live hosted by Donna(and Harvey) Stone in Santa Barbara on the 24th.

Region 3 Pauline Entin
Hello Fellow Model Horse Enthusiasts!
Well, it's 12 degrees here in Flagstaff on this sunny January Saturday. We're used to cold weather up here in the mountains, but the folks in Phoenix are having a tough time with the below freezing temperatures this cold snap has brought. Hopefully the orange trees and other warm-weather plants won't be too badly damaged.

The show season has slowed down, as is typical for the winter months. The last show in the region for 2012 was Walkin In a Mini Wonderland, held in Tucson and hosted by Debi Roff. This show was well attended and everyone seems to have enjoyed having a venue to show off the minis. The show season for Arizona is tentatively planned. First up will be SPORK, which is an all-halter, breed-specific affair to be held in Tucson in March. I just love that name, reminds me of my childhood... Jewel Heist Live is tentatively planned for April, possibly in Phoenix. I have not seen a show schedule for Colorado yet, but typically the Denver-area showers get rolling in March as well.

Here's something you might not know about Region 3...among our members we have a romantic adventure novelist. Yes, our own Michelle McKissack has published *Someone to Watch Over Me* under the pen name of Taylor Michaels. This book is available from Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobles. Congratulations Michelle.

Stay warm everyone.

Regoin 4 Carra McClelland
Maybe my last?
December saw 2 shows in the North part of Region 4. Braving the weather people got to go to 2 of the fun River Valley Live Extreme Micro Home Edition shows in Minneapolis on December 29 and 30!

Upcoming events in Region 4:
January 5, 2013: Milwaukee County Horse/Horseless in Oak Creek, WI. Contact: Charlene Ehlert.
February 9, 2013: Sleigh Rally Model Horse Show in Columbus, WI. Contact: Karen Meekma.
March 2, 2013: Sinawa Double Judge All Performance Show in Randolph, WI. Contact: Greg Stebnitz.
March 30, 2013: Dream Acres Live in Parkersburg, IA. Contact: Letrisha Wise.

Region 5 Lyn Norbury
NO REPORT

Region 6 Jackie Moore
Hello All!
I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season!
There were no shows in Region 6 in December, and none are scheduled for January. The show season kicks off on February 16 with Panhandle Live in Milton, FL, followed by Carolina Gold Classic on March 9 in Monroe, NC, and Hollow Horse Live Test of a Halter Champion on March 30 in Cumming, GA. See you there!

Region 7 Stacy Faraci
NO REPORT

Region 8 Chris Wallbruch
Happy post-holidays! There was only one show in Region 8 in December – the always popular and fun Holiday GLC No Frills show on December 1st, 2012. The competition was out in full force as the GLC folks put on another competitive but laid back show. Much missed and much loved dealers Sandy Cord and Bentley Sales were on hand with a number of items for sale (and the Bentleys had a free ornament for everyone too!) Everyone brought food and shared in a potluck, and there was even an ornament exchange! What a great way to kick off the holiday season!
Upcoming Region 8 NAMHSA shows....
March 16, 2013: Show for the Cure Live in Elk Grove, IL. Contact: Jenna Nejman.
March 23, 2013: Great Lakes Congress No-Frills Show in Huntley, IL. Contact Kaitlyn Camardo (GLC Inc).
April 20, 2013: Great Lakes Congress All Mini No-Frills Show in Huntley, IL. Contact Jamie Rott (GLC Inc).
August 24, 2013: Great Lakes Congress No-Frills Show in Huntley, IL. Contact Liz Cory (GLC Inc).
(see https://www.namhsa.org/showsbyregion.htm for contact info and websites)
See you all in the 2013 show season!

Region 9 Pat Coulter
NO REPORT

Region 10 Kate Cabot
After The Region X Championships closes its doors in early November, we here in Region 10 usually put on our sleeping caps and hibernate until spring. But this year with the upcoming NAN in Harrisburg in June, there are three more shows to attend before April arrives and seven more before April closes!
Look out for: Stoners Live! in Weston, CT, an all Stone show held on January 19th by Sara Roche; The Cod Classic, an all Custom and Artist Resin halter show held in Brewster, MA on February 9th by Ann Harris; and the Southern New England Winter Round-Up held in Stafford Springs, CT on March 9th by Brenda Bednar. All of these are first time offerings. Hope to see you at a show table this winter!

Region 11 Terri Wright
NO REPORT

Posted by Pauline Entin, Interim PR 3/31/2013

Last updated on April 1, 2013