Minneaplois Moline Collectors Club Inc.

President's Report for March 2004

As required in our By-laws, the President is required to report on the past year's Club accomplishments and our goals for the future. The Minneapolis-Moline Collectors, Inc. is a 501C3 non-profit organization chartered in Iowa in 1987. Our mission is to educate the public about the heritage and historical significance of Minneapolis-Moline and its predecessor companies.

The Year's Activities
This year has been a busy one for your organization. In addition to the winter convention in Albert Lee, MN hosted by the Yokiel family and friends, and the summer show in South Dakota hosted by the Souixland group, your club was represented at the Amanas, Rockford, MN, and the Farm Progress Show in Illinois.

The scholarship committee gave out three $500 scholarships to a member, and children and grandchildren of members.

We had two participants completing restoration projects under the Preservation Grant.

We had over 60 entries in our new Coloring Contest for children-our future members.

We have over 1,150 Jenson Photos printed. They have been displayed for your enjoyment. This project has been a partnership with the Prairie Gold Rush and the Minnesota Historical Society. We hope that all printing will be completed this fall.

Why is the club promoting so many projects and activities? Well, an organization that stays the same eventually disappears. When an active organization grows, new members are added, and things change within the organization and the way the club does business changes also.

Your Board of Directors has been progressive and looking to the future. As the membership grows, they are guided by our mission. Yet we do have challenges that the future Boards will have to handle. One of the challenges involves the future of Winter Conventions. For the last two years, we have not had a host until 6 months before the convention. To put a show on of this size, ideally, one needs more than a year to prepare. Yet for the last two years, I went to the Summer Show prepared to recommend that we cancel, due to lack of a host. Fortunately, someone stepped up and we have had two very successful events. The club should be extremely appreciative to these hosts who devoted untold hours to make these conventions happen.

The problem we also face is that your organization is outgrowing many facilities that we have used in the past to host our events. You are presently attending the largest convention banquet in our history.

As the club grows, we will have growing pains and things cannot, and will not be done as in the past. Now for some housekeeping items: There is still a miss-understanding as to how our Club operates and what a person gets from joining the MMCI and the $6 dues.

We are a club that has its news published in the MM Corresponder. The Corresponder is an independent publication that is gracious enough to print our news and event announcements at no cost to us.
Therefore, a member of MMCI should also subscribe to the Corresponder to get club news-two separate transactions.

The club also maintains a Web site for the public and our members who are comfortable with electronic communication.

I feel there is also a misunderstanding in how our banquets are operated.
We are now in a time when banquet facilities and caterers demand accurate numbers a week or ten days before the banquet. Banquet halls are also demanding money upfront. When we publicize a due date for banquets, it is because of these reasons. We are beyond the days when we can call or show up at the last minute; thus checks need to be sent early so caterers can be paid and numbers attending can be prepared for.

The other common practice is to add dollars to the cost of the meal to defray other show and convention expenses. This year, there were no dollars added. Your ticket pays the cost of the meal. Table decorations, favors have to be covered in other ways. That cushion will come from you being generous with your dollars for the auction items. The rest of the short fall will come from our treasury and some is absorbed by your hosts.

My reason for mentioning this information is to impress upon the membership the bargain you receive as an MMCI member-and some of you are not members, yet are enjoying the convention-so we welcome you and encourage you to support the MMCI activities by becoming members. Professional organizations that put on this type of convention would be charging large registration fees just to walk through the door.

As I said, we can no longer do business as in the past. The rules have been changed for us and those changes impact our members. Any of the Board Members would be happy to discuss these challenges with you one on one.

Volunteers are needed.

Our first request would be for someone who is a CPA who can assist in developing an accounting system and business plan for the club's specific needs.
Second, we would like to identify someone within the membership with expertise in marketing to create an awareness of the MMCI to MM enthusiasts who have not yet heard of MMCI.
Third, we would like to identify an attorney within the membership to provide legal advice and counsel as it may arise, on a pro bono basis-that's a big word that means "free!"

This report gives you a synopsis of our accomplishments for the past year, and some of our challenges. I appreciate working with your Board and would ask any of you who has a constructive criticism of your organization to put it in letter form and send it to me. Your concern will then be an agenda item at the January Board meeting.

I also thank those who have encouraged us and enthusiastically support the club's mission. We need to come together as the MMCI family of Moline enthusiasts and all work together for a bright future for our organization-and let's have a good time one and all!

Respectfully submitted,
Loren Book, President