July 19 2015 Strategy Meeting Minutes

Attendees

• The meeting took place at Peter Sodhi's residence, 6 Greenlefe Court, Aurora

• NOTE : please note that the links to spreadsheets referred to in this document are NOT yet established

Attending	-	Absent
Igor Bily, Member-at-Large Jim McIntosh, Treasurer Phillip Richard, Chairman Allen Small, Party Leader	Peter Sodhi, Secretary Mark (Wojo) Wrzesniewski, Vice-Chairman John White, Recording Secretary	Ron White, Member-at-Large

Notes:

• Peter Sodhi chaired the meeting.
• Igor left the meeting at 2:20.

Morning Session (10:AM)

Prior to the meeting Peter had prepared and distributed an updated summary of the previous strategy meetings PowerPoint Presentation to the attendees, which was used for review and discussion before the lunch break.

• Jim reviewed OLP's current financial status in the Financial Model Spreadsheets.
  • Donations (shown on the second sheet) in 2010 and 2011 were high due to the minority government and the expectation of an election, and fell off in 2012, however membership (i.e. number of donors) did not go down.
  • The average donation over the past five years has been $136. Jim used $130 for future years in the Financial Model (first sheet).
  • The Model uses a 15% rate of growth in number of donors.
  • The model assumes expenses increase by $2,000/year, and that we will spend an increasing amount of money on "Other Projects" (marketing campaigns), and on by-elections.
  • Allocating half of our year-end bank balance to a Campaign Fund would generate $144,865 for the 2018 election and a membership of about 450.
  • If we develop recruiting methods that generate a membership growth rate higher than 15%, we can adjust the model. Until then, a goal of 3,600 members and a $250,000 campaign fund appears to be unattainable. We will have a better picture after the year end.

Discussions:

• how to reach the 18 - 45 year old target group that are "not engaged".
• The use of social media and other traditional tools to reach that group (facebook, other 'social media', surveys, e-mail).
• identifying "campaigns" and "tactics" to reach the target audience
• the need to assign ownership (and both committed volunteers and $) to each stratetegic campaign.
• emphasizing 40 year history of the party.
• differentiating the term "libertarian" from the Libertarian political party.

• Allen reviewed the significant success of advrtising using Facebook. Very cost effective. It requires, however, consistent daily input to retain and grow the effectiveness of this medium.

• there was a discussion of the scarcity of resources (both people and dollars) to carry out selected campaigns, and hence the need to be selective. ( ie 2 or 3 campaigns over the next 90 days will be manageable)

After Lunch Session

• The group submitted and discussed ideas for campaigns and tactical programs to attract new members, summarized on the Campaign Spreadsheet on Google Drive Each item was discussed and categorized. Points of significance raised were:
  • Support for Federal candidates (100 signatures and $1000).
  • targeting the capture of 14% of the 18-45 year old "not engaged" demographic in 2018.
  • LIBERTY NOW evenings, with speakers, and with standardized consistent format. Phillip will create a gerneric deck for these sessions, and Allen will create an introduction.
  • Uber / taxi regulation or deregulation
  • Policies to encourage entrepreneurship
  • Red Tape Award nominations and award ceremony.
  • Gasoline & cap & trade policies destroying wealth
  • Coasters with alcohol tax data.
  • Participation in Community Outreach programs (eg Ukranian Festival, fall fairs).
  • tools discussed - Surveys, facebook, email, other social media. Allen reemphasized that facebook "likes" have grown dramtically and continue to be an effective tool. Peter commented that e-mail still remains the most effective advertizing tool for communication to potential members.
  • for each campagn or tactical program, there must be an "owner" as well as the support necessary to follow it through (volunteers and funding). Preliminary ownership of each project was identified.

Wrap Up And Conclusion - 4:00 PM

Peter summarized the day's discussion. Each attendee expressed optimism for future progress. The next progress meeting tentatively set for mid September.