ADF Mother Grove Retreat 2023

Last time I was on the Mother Grove, we were not doing retreats, so I was delighted to attend this important event, if a little nervous about what to expect. After an eventful trip to Ohio followed by lunch with Eldest Minion (who is going to 25 this year, so I'm not sure how much longer I can get away with calling him that...) and an eventful drive to Toledo, we began the retreat with dinner and a discussion about the budget for 2024. It was robust and engaging, and we made several suggestions for adjustments needed to ensure we are set up for success for 2024. Of note, we will finally be liquidating the ADF store, which has been defunct for years, and investing some of our capital into a certificate of deposit. We also increased the stipends for our paid positions and added a line for paying folks for the work they do for the organization. There has not been an increase to these amounts in a decade, and I firmly believe in pay for work.

Since we had finished the goals we set for ourselves at the beginning of the term in May, we chose three additional goals for the first half of the new year:

Goal 1: ADF International

Create a process for managing applications for association status (NPO status) globally. ADF Germany will serve as a pilot.

Goal 2: Enhancing Annual Reporting

Revise Annual Reporting process and documentation for release to the general public with information about organizational performance in public-facing areas. Annual General Meeting content would cover the officer year (May-May) and supplement the annual reporting.

Stage 2:Once we align the annual report to the calendar year, we will supplement the annual meeting officer reporting to reflect January to May.

Goal 3: Raising ADF’s Profile

Create a committee to work on the various aspects of raising the ADF profile online (includes SEO and PR). We will seek a volunteer from within and if unsuccessful in finding a candidate, we will engage outside expertise.

We are also working on updating the Mission Statement, a process for approving website changes, glossary of ADF vernacular for non-members who are interested in ADF, important discussions about ADF Publishing, and several other tasks of importance to the organization. I am very excited about the upcoming changes to the Newsletter beginning in Q1. 2024 promises to be a productive and fruitful year!