Strategic Planning/Minutes: Sept. 22, 2006
From OasisNYC
Executive Committee Minutes for Friday Sept. 22, 2006
CUNY Graduate Center, Room 8106, 10am - Noon.
In attendance: Steve Romalewski, Christy Spielman (via phone), Jane Sokolow, Lenny Librizzi, Paula Hewitt, Jack Eichenbaum, Maura Lout, Bob Alpern, Bill Shore, Matt Arnn, ?
Not in attendance: Erika Svendsen
Proposed agenda:
- follow up on the May 25 Steering Committee meeting (minutes, action items, next steps for Exec Committee)
- online survey results
- review key findings
- next steps
- community building through Wikis
- fundraising needs & plans
- potential collaborations - some potential new OASIS-related projects on the horizon.
Summary of Minutes:
View Christy Spielman's Real-time Minutes | Email Planning Group
To Do List
- Steve - guidelines for sponsorship on OASIS
- Lenny - talk to someone about getting funds from City Council
- Bob - help organize meeting with City Council to discuss support for OASIS and access to information (social indicators and zoning)
- Everyone - make a list of City Council members to approach about funding and help organize meetings
Follow up on May 25th meeting:
- Closure on governance structure, how to make decisions, etc. is helpful - documents are on Wiki
- Budget prepared by Steve
- Graduate Center takes 15% - pays for space, internet, conference rooms, software, etc. and is worth it.
- Steve spends 10%, Marty about 20%, some other projects overlap with OASIS.
- Steve would like to spend more time on OASIS but needs more funding.
- Website is there and works and we really need time spent on outreach, organizing subcommittees, getting others to contribute to content of the website and process.
- Coordination with other projects is easier at CUNY, easier to develop partnerships, some have financial implications such as the New Media Lab - cutting edge web technologies could help support OASIS but not sure if there is funding,
Survey Results:
- Property data is important to most users and this should be considered when thinking of future funding options.
- It's clear that people don't understand what OASIS can do. Need more education tools.
- More?
Raising Money:
- Wolf Keens suggestions
- Need to prioritize list put together by Wolf Keens.
- Steve would like to raise money for specific projects that in turn add content and operating support for OASIS - data collection, outreach, education, etc.
- Need to start sending around funding proposal, not so much to foundations but to other sources and thinking innovatively about how to use the website to generate funds.
- Derst Organization shows interest in helping raise money for OASIS
- Sponsorship on website
- Sponsorship is different from advertising and would include adding a logo for an organization that donated a certain amount of money to OASIS.
- Problems discussed such as:
- Size of logo,
- Ownership of site,
- Changes to content,
- Who to allow and who not,
- Limit to amount donated,
- Pursue one set of funding source and not others,
- Other?
- Steve will write up guidelines for sponsorship before next Steering Committee Meeting.
- We need to talk to others who have experience with this.
- Paula offered contact?
- Maura mentioned talking to Mark Casserta who has some experience with placing ads on Gotham Gazette
- Government
- We know that lots of city agencies use OASIS - officially and not officially - for a variety of uses.
- Make the pitch specifically to the agencies who use OASIS - give specific examples of how it's being used by the staff to do their work?
- City Council
- Potential source of funding, especially if we can we get an item in City Council Budget.
- Need to contact the speaker or Gail Brewer and start getting support - handful of Exec. Committee members should go to these meetings.
- There are member items and general council allocations.
- The important time is April, May, June, anyone can put in a request but then you have to follow through and lobby.
- Now is a good time to start but might not be possible to get money until July, 2007
- Lenny will get advice from someone?
- City Planning
- Zoning requested a lot on the survey and should be available somehow.
- Social indicators report would add a lot to OASIS.
- Office of Sustainability?
- Jack/Bob suggested something - Ben Miller? Someone at DEP?
- We know that lots of city agencies use OASIS - officially and not officially - for a variety of uses.
- Education & Other Institutions
- GLOBE?
- Oportunity to train teachers to use OASIS but not sure how to make it happen
- Hunter College?
- Trade schools? Steve mentioned work with LaGuardia Community College
- Environmental Science Graduate Program - interdisciplinary, focus on GIS
- Libraries have been trying to upgrade technology for years, contact education director - Jack gave name?
- Paula suggested emerging niche?
- Other
- Google?
- National Geographic?
- Donate Now link Christy notices that more groups are using this, such as CENYC using Network for Good. Here are examples of 'donate now' pages that all are linked to from the organizations homepage:
- Fund raising deas that were not liked:
- fee for more detailed information
WIKI
- Resource information for OASIS could all be moved to wiki, easier for editting and more people can participate.
- Need to add a contact us link so people without password can send suggestions.
- Graduate Center limits number of editors, not open to everyone and accounts must be made through Steve, the administrator.
Next Steering Committee meeting
- Early November
- Google theme
- Invite Google staff
- Google Earth presentations from OpenRoad Students
- Highlight new links to Google Earth from OASIS map
- Subcommittees report - should organize before next Steering Committee meeting
- Other business to discuss:
- Living Memorials
- Sponsorship discussion
- Other funding issues/sources
- Watershed project, $15,000 available - send Matt ideas
