I have a question for all of the members of geocachingmaine.org. Not long ago we had a new election of board members and I've seen some changes in the lay-out and format of the site. It appears there is new energy, new ideas, and I welcome those positive changes. It's like spring has sprung.

But I'm not really clear about how the new board works. Are votes taken? If a new idea comes along does the board discuss it and take a vote just like every other board? Or is one board member's vote more important than any others? Is there any one person who has been declared omnipotent and ides are OK as long as they are the same as his?

Rick has done great job of generally staying out of the fray of most controversies in the past and has let the board handle issues. Personally, I've been content with the board's decisions because I have been under the impression that the board votes and comes to an agreement "as a board". This is totally as it should be.

Do all you other members have that same impression?

Oh my.....as I read what I posted above it would appear that I was targeting Rick. Please understand that I was not referring to Rick at all, or in any way, by asking my question. He's been the one shining light over the years. I'm just asking how the board makes its decisions on an issue, whether it's a group decision, or whether any one board member can be an obstruction to the process. Whew.....hope I'm clear on that.

I didn't get the impression you had targeted Rick.

my thoughts when we originally elected the board and now are that the board was elected to help rick better represent the intrests of the general geocaching community. How Rick and the board do that is up to them. What I think should happen or would like to see happen is irrelevant. IMHO....:)

I think that this question would be better answered by the board members. What we think may not be the reality.

The reason I am asking is just that. There are some things happening behind the scenes that most don't know about. Out of respect for the board (they're all great people) and respect for this site I'm consciously choosing not to open a can of worms here. Time to open a different thread.

I think your question is directed to the board and you can ask them directly.

I like most of the changes.

The reason I am asking is just that. There are some things happening behind the scenes that most don't know about. Out of respect for the board (they're all great people) and respect for this site I'm consciously choosing not to open a can of worms here. Time to open a different thread.

If only we had some sort of newsletter that we could post in the public eye, perhaps on the front page. And we could put in it all the goings on of the website........... ;)

heh, don't you know by now that around here you can't open a can of worms without opening the bait cooler.... :D

If only we had some sort of newsletter that we could post in the public eye, perhaps on the front page. And we could put in it all the goings on of the website........... ;)

heh, don't you know by now that around here you can't open a can of worms without opening the bait cooler.... :D

. . . and you can't go fishing without a beer . . . right Hiram? ;) :)

Dan clearly titled this thread, " a question for members " and I think he is looking for some honest feedback about what you thought when you elected the board. Not sure what answers he is going to get or was looking for.

Glad to see the support that Dan and the Relay for Life is getting on the front page, with the link. If you haven't clicked on it, please do and check out what the Maine Geocachers are doing for a great cause.

I have no secrets in my personal life, as well as in serving on this website's board. It is not in any agenda, of this website to keep anything from it's members. All you have to do is ask one of us.

Thanks, Gary.....you're absolutely correct. My question was: How do the members think this works? Because right now I'm not of the opinion that it's always a majority vote on an issue that prevails. Right now there is an issue that boiled over, one member has dug in his heels, resulting in the resignation of one of the other board members. This will all come out soon. Brdad was nice enough to send me a string of emails which helped clarify how this all came down and I feel a little bit better (just a little bit) about it. But I'm siding with the person who has resigned from the board. This really didn't have to happen and it's a shame.

Here's the story for anybody that's interested. When I agreed to be a Board member I did so with the promise that I would help the organization grow. As soon as I was "sworn in" I started proposing new ideas. Many of these were adopted as were ideas of some of the other board members. The site has over 2000 "members" and once the new newsletter was up and going I suggested that in order to create enthusiasm and "get the word out about what's going on in the Maine caching world" that we simply mail it to everybody that has come to this site and signed on to be a member. Make sense, of course it does. But that's when the problem started. Brdad indicated that this couldn't be done because the invalid email addresses would result in hundreds of bouncebacks of the invalid or inactive email accounts. Delete them? Yeah, that can be done but compiling a list of the bouncebacks isn't going to be easy. OK, send them to me and I'll compile the list. You all received the mass email and 3 days later and several hours on the computer the bounceback list was forwarded to Rick and brdad. At that point, brdad started a theme that sending out the newsletter like this was a bad idea....spam he called it. We noted that there would be an unsubscribe option so folks who didn't want to receive it could sign off. That seemed to make him dig in his heals more. (Remember, those of you that get the newsletter had to "subscribe" so only 74 of our 2000 members have any idea what's going on here). As some of you know, a few members here have actively participated in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. I suggested why not send a mass email to everybody about this effort by your fellow cachers and amazingly brdad dug in his emails even deeper!! With all of the folks in this group that have been touched by cancer, this to me was the final straw and an indication that if I was going to have to pound my head on the wall and meet resistance on this type of issue, that I was not going to be an effective board member. I look to the future for my life goals, look to the past for things I could have done better. Looking to the future it was clear to me that my efforts to make something new and fresh with this site were going to stiffled by one member with a very different view of this organization then myself. Under these circumstances I have chosen to move forward. I have no regrets other then a bunch of other ideas I had wished to bring to the table. I wish the board well and hope ALL the members look for the good of the whole group and not just their personal preferences on the way things ought to be.

I am not going to defend my position in this thread. If any member wishes to discuss my position with me, I'll be glad to do that via PM. I will, however, defend my role as a board member to vote for what I think is right and express my reasons with other board members. There are 4 other board members, if three or more choose to vote a certain way I would honor that decision, and I would not drag those that disagree with me through the mud.

I don't think GCM.org should be sending out emails promoting specific charities or organizations, even respected efforts like "Relay for life". Individual GCM.org members advocating for their causes in the forums is one thing - and perfectly OK with me - but inappropriate in the GCM.org newsleter.

IMHO...

Personally, I'd have no problem if gcm.org promoted reputable, charitable organizations.

As for the newsletter, I don't think gcm.org should send out the newsletter unsolicited. Heck, I didn't even know the test email was sent since GMail automatically sent it to the spam folder.

Currently when people register it shows this:

Receive Email...
[ ] Receive Email from Administrators
[ ] Receive Email from Other Members
From time to time, the administrators and/or other members may want to send you email notifications or messages. If you do not want to receive email from certain people then you may disable the options her

Maybe something like "[ ] Receive Informative Monthly Newsletter" should be an added option at registration.

I think the newsletter should be featured prominently on the website/forum and it might be ok to occasionally (like every 6 months-ish) send out an email encouraging users to subscribe. That email should only be sent from an admin (ie rick) and should only be sent to the people who selected the "[x] Receive Email from Administrators" option.

There's my 2 cents.

Personally, I'd have no problem if gcm.org promoted reputable, charitable organizations.


IMHO, once you open the door, you start having to decide what are "reputable, charitable organizations", and what are not. Being former military, I've always had a "warm spot" for the American Red Cross, but have had the experience that a lot of people have no use for the ARC. As I said earlier, I have no problem with members advocating their favorite charity in the forums, even asking for specific support (donations, participation, etc.) but I don't think that GeocachingMaine.org should take a public position.

It sounds like you all are saying there are only 4 board members making the decisions for everyone? I've seen Gary, Rick, brdad, Dan is out. So who is the other person if Dan is out? Perhaps you need more input, a larger board with representatives from different areas/regions of Maine?? I think the politics of geocaching can sometimes kill the fun of the game. Not to mention the spirit of giving back to community. Isn't that what Geocachers are known for? I think that people should be allowed to advertise for charitable events. We are members, donating members, so shouldn't we be allowed to ask others who care if they are interested in being on our team, for whatever cause we support?
I for one am never offended to receive email or a post about ANY charitable event. I pay to be here on this board, and I want to know what other geocachers are doing for community and man kind. Perhaps the board needs to reevaluate its mission and see if it really is serving the agenda for which it is intended.
I think you've all done an excellent job, but I think change is good and we should embrace what our geocaching community can do for others.
This is a sport, we don't get paid to play it, it is voluntary, there are no million dollar contracts. It's supposed to be safe, fun, earth friendly and healthy. Too bad for politics spoiling it...
Dan, I respect the honesty and candor of your post.
MARTES

An interesting discussion here. Clearly, GCM is growing and these are growing pains! BUT, let's not loose sight of the BIG picture. A lot of issues are in this thread. Blast mails (for the newsletter - already posted on line - and other things), the size of the board, the resignation of a board member, the comment of another board member, "paying to be on this board", and probably a lot more.

I am a Board Member of a Non-profit established in 1928. Needless to say. there have been many changes in all those years. We have a website which no one pays to view (lacking forums - where members can post), publish a monthy newsletter, raise money (to pay our bills and give away many scholarships) and work/lobby for our special intersts at the State Legislative level.

Our newsletter for years has been mailed. We will be discontinuing this soon (unless folks sign up to receive it by mail). Our Newletter is available for all to read on line at our website (much like GCM). You can get an email notification, the news has been posted for the month, by subscription on our website (you do not have to be a member). It's a simple process - sign up on line - we shoot you an email the newsletter issue is posted for the month. I like the system - post it, and if you want an email notice - sign up.

As for "email blasts" as we call them - anyone who signs up for our newsletter through our website (member or not) may receive an email with what we consider important information, mid-newsletter news or other information. We realize there may be non-club/non-paid members who may receive these but we use our email newsletter notification list for blasts. These may include anything from an up coming supper to an appeal for folks to attend a legislative hearing about something of interest to the group.

Our membership is about 250 paid members and about 70 - 80 Life Members (they no longer pay dues). Our Board is over 15 members who meet face to face usually monthly and often we take in between meeting polls on various issues. Our board is not all computer connected or literate, but, we make it work.

It would never be practical to mail the GCM newsletter, however, it is posted on our website - that should be fine and in addition - remind folks to sign up for an email notification ~ if they need or want it.
Continue the email blasts for a month or so and then beyond that just include the subscription information in the newsletter post. Use these initial attempts to weed
out the 2000+ (really - wow) members and get it down to working numbers. IMHO

Since I am the Newsletter Editor the my group - and must work with the webmaster, I know, there are many technical issues of websites which others don't know. Guess I am just fortunate ~ the worst I have encountered was having to nudge the person to get something up and posted in a timely manner, rather than it perhaps being told it couldn't/shouldn't or wouldn't be done. Give our webmaster an email and he will do it - in his own time - but it gts done. And in all fairness I must post, I have not conversed with BRDad about the specifics of what appear to be issues here.

It is sad Dubord is leaving the Board. He, I believe, has done a lot. He had a lot to offer (in many playing fields) and will be missed. Perhaps the Board is to small? Could a poll be done on this?

Although this year, I am not on the Relay Team (for personal reaons) - I will do a donation. I was there from the first year. I remember the struggle, the first year, in naming the team. We came up with Maine Geocachers..........it was to welcome and represent everyone (not just folks from this website).

Just as my Group will not say no to paying for a camp scholarship to a camp we have never supported. If the child wants camp and it embraces our principles - we will give them a scholarship. I suggest ~ GCM should openly communicate any opportunity for their membership to become aware of and support any non-profit charitable event, which one of our members holds dear and is participating in.

Embracing and supporting the mission of other charitable organizations and their events is a way to showcase GCM as a participative part of our communities and World. Just go to the GC.com forums if you don't think Relay for Life Events, and other non-profits, are not part of the Geocaching community. As for others, I know for a fact, Autism has been embraced as well as Cystic Fibrosis........and I am sure the list goes on.

To bring this back to EMSDanels' question - I believe the current Board information to the membership is to sparse. If you post a query to them you get an answer ~ but ~ lacking that it comes when someone questions.

It should be made available - openly and freely to the "membership" after it happens. I don't care to hear specifically who voted what, but, more that xyz was motioned, seconded, brought up, etc and the vote was yea = 3 and nay = 2. Just let us know what is there, discussed, happening and decided.

Someone should be taking notes and/or printing out the on-line dialogue of the Board. Gary Team2hunt said it - no secrets.........why should folks have to suppose or ask? Just publish it - it is business of the website/group/organization. Just let them know. Most groups somehow publish, make available, etc. the notes of their secretaries of business groups.

Growing pains but I am sure will be worth it in the end. Thanks to everyone who has or is serving us all.

To clarify, I agree completely that this organization should not become a location where just any charitable cause should be promoted. But for those who don't know the history, let me explain why the American Cancer Society Relay for Life figures differently in the discussion.

First, Dan Bahr, emsdanel and a very respected member here, has been the chair of the event for several years. He is a cancer survivor as many know. Second, the board members, current and past have been active participants and members of a team called "Maine Geocachers." We have carried a banner as such. Brdad's beautiful wood carving TB "Geocaching Maine" was prominently displayed and even carried around the track last year for the opening ceremonies. In short, to me this group's involvment in this particular cause has been considerable. My suggestion to promote it via the capacity to reach out to over 2000 potential supporters with one keystroke seemed like a sound decision and not one that would eventually generate the controversy that it did.

I have to agree with Hollora and Dan. In my opinion, a single monthly newsletter hasn't included a lot regarding the board....not sure that is the intent of the newsletter....a sparsely postings about changes and new initiatives. Frankly, send me an email. I then can choose to block it in the future or read it. And since I've become a member and donated, that certainly signifies my willingness to receive information. I do not need to know what led to Dan's decision or the details other than to say he is a valued member in that he brought experience, reason and a "blind eye" to the process and the advisory board. And certainly, the entire board consists of a well rounded, experienced and geographically located members. What's not to like?


To clarify, I agree completely that this organization should not become a location where just any charitable cause should be promoted. But for those who don't know the history, let me explain why the American Cancer Society Relay for Life figures differently in the discussion.

First, Dan Bahr, emsdanel and a very respected member here, has been the chair of the event for several years. He is a cancer survivor as many know. Second, the board members, current and past have been active participants and members of a team called "Maine Geocachers." We have carried a banner as such. Brdad's beautiful wood carving TB "Geocaching Maine" was prominently displayed and even carried around the track last year for the opening ceremonies. In short, to me this group's involvment in this particular cause has been considerable. My suggestion to promote it via the capacity to reach out to over 2000 potential supporters with one keystroke seemed like a sound decision and not one that would eventually generate the controversy that it did.

After reading all these posts, especially Hollora's new one and Dan's, and the private messages i shared with Dave, i would like to speak for what I, as a donating member, would like to see:
1) The option to receive the group email as a button which cachers can accept or opt out.
2) The board members minutes in each edition, in brief summary. Include votes, but not names of who said yay or nay. Let us members know what is going on. What are the issues with the board and the community? What decisions are you making on my behalf.
3) Endorse all charitable events: I am all for Relay for life and appreciate the work Daniel and Dave have done. But I also have my own charities which are near and dear to me, which I feel are of no less value. I have 2 autistic step grandchildren, and I have an intense passion for Alzheimer's disease. I think we need to embrace all events: human, animal, and earth.
4) I would like to see other board members from a few other regions. You have the majority in the Bangor area. I think it's important to have diversity of area/region, and of walks of life. Business, lawyers, teachers, medical, blue collar, white collar, industry, corporate, home makers, disabled, enabled...just to name a few. We all have different views and values for our areas and selves.
5) What is the process of election to the board? Is there a re-election process to weed out dead weight or control?

After reading all these posts, especially Hollora's new one and Dan's, and the private messages i shared with Dave, i would like to speak for what I, as a donating member, would like to see:
1) The option to receive the group email as a button which cachers can accept or opt out.
2) The board members minutes in each edition, in brief summary. Include votes, but not names of who said yay or nay. Let us members know what is going on. What are the issues with the board and the community? What decisions are you making on my behalf.
3) Endorse all charitable events: I am all for Relay for life and appreciate the work Daniel and Dave have done. But I also have my own charities which are near and dear to me, which I feel are of no less value. I have 2 autistic step grandchildren, and I have an intense passion for Alzheimer's disease. I think we need to embrace all events: human, animal, and earth.
4) I would like to see other board members from a few other regions. You have the majority in the Bangor area. I think it's important to have diversity of area/region, and of walks of life. Business, lawyers, teachers, medical, blue collar, white collar, industry, corporate, home makers, disabled, enabled...just to name a few. We all have different views and values for our areas and selves.
5) What is the process of election to the board? Is there a re-election process to weed out dead weight or control?

Great post - and I was only sharing what I have experienced. All organizations have growing pains - and as long as they continue - the pains continue......as long as you grow.

1) I like the button concept if it is possible (that's a tech issue).
2) Personally, I do believe Board records should be kept and they should be published without names attached to votes. These should be a summary and not a copy of emails and the like. Do we have a Secretary??? Or even officers for that?
3) Endorsement of Charitable Events is fine. Maybe we could have a page for Charitable Organizations ~ with a representative for each being a GCM member who is involved with the specific group. Many of us would have other groups beside Relay to suggest for our memberships' support. I can think of quickly - Vic N Cheryl's JD Foundation, my Penobscot County Conservation Association, Mary's The Komen Race for the Cure, Cache Maine's The Lafayette's Family Foundation (for the Cancer Center), Martes has mentioned several and there are many more. Certainly this could be worked on and some compromise arrived upon to help all.
4) More diversity would be good and probably more Board members. Our Conservation club has historically had over 10 (and an odd number to break a tie vote) for a pretty consistent 250+ membership. If GCM has over 2000 members - we definitely should have more.
5) There is a process - it is posted and is on the website to read......or it was. The re-election process was discussed just before the new board was elected. Sometimes you have to did into history to find the answers but I believe it is there.

I was at the "organizational" meeting a number of years ago. Many of the active people on here were there (thanks for hanging in and all you do) and we have many new ones (and growth is wonderful). So many things which have happened in the growth of this organization! Many very good things - and bumps in the road too.

Organizing information such as the board election process so it is more easily found might help. Perhaps with some tabs or pinned threads at the top of things might help. There are a number of topics, questions are asked about, where this might be helpful. I have found it helpful in the GC.com forums.

2) Personally, I do believe Board records should be kept and they should be published without names attached to votes.


And why you would want to not know who voted for what? How would you know whether the person you voted for is representing you?
All board votes MUST, I'm not saying should, I'm saying MUST be public with their names attached, why do we even need to discuss this?
All board activity must be disclosed to public WITHOUT having to ask.
All issues should be disclosed to the forum BEFORE board members vote on that issue, so it can be discusses with more people, having more opinions.
All votes should be posted right away, we don't need to wait for some newsletter.

Nothing has changed since new board, board members are still lurking around doing who knows what like before.

After reading all these posts, especially Hollora's new one and Dan's, and the private messages

4) I would like to see other board members from a few other regions. You have the majority in the Bangor area. I think it's important to have diversity of area/region, and of walks of life. Business, lawyers, teachers, medical, blue collar, white collar, industry, corporate, home makers, disabled, enabled...just to name a few. We all have different views and values for our areas and selves.
5) What is the process of election to the board? Is there a re-election process to weed out dead weight or control?

I'm getting so tired of hearing this. This is ridiculous. We just went through an election. Only one of the old board was running. Where were you?

If GCM has over 2000 members - we definitely should have more.

I saw that 2000 number on Dan's post, too, and wondered where that number came from. It appears there are 1886 registered users at the moment, and I suppose there are some who visit that don't register. However, I wondered how many of the registered profiles are "active". Easy enough to figure out since you can go to the member list and sort by last visit date. So, of the 1886 members:
Just 278 have visited in the last 30 days
300 in the last 60
316 in the last 90
360 since 1/1/11
570 in the last year
791 since 1/1/10
1003 since 1/1/09
and 883 that haven't visited since 2008 back to 2004.

I don't think this is a 2000 member organization.

Just for the record: Two of us live in the Bangor area. Gary lives in Windham and Rick lives in Litchfield. That is quite a range of areas. Also we do have this (http://www.geocachingmaine.org/forum/showthread.php?5205-2011-Advisory-Board-Progress) forum on board progress. Granted it needs to be updated more frequently. I am getting from some of these posts that people forget what the intent of this advisory board was to be. And that was to be a sounding board for Rick in his day to day operation of the website. We have helped facilitate some positive changes, and yes there have been some disagreements and a member has resigned. Neither of which I am very pleased about. This is not my life nor should it be anyone else's.

4) I would like to see other board members from a few other regions. You have the majority in the Bangor area. I think it's important to have diversity of area/region, and of walks of life.

What other areas would you like to see represented? After Dan (from the Augusta area) resigned, we have 2 from the Bangor area, one from south-central Maine (south of Augusta) and one from the Kittery area. I think that's a pretty good representation. True - no representatives from northern Maine, but we currently don't have anyone from that area who is really active on the site. The current members (and I'm including Dan in my comments) are all well known (all attend GCM.org events regularly so are very visible - people know who they are), and are very active in the GCM.org forums. What more could you ask for?

I think geocaching experience and the ability to contribute to GCM.org is far more important than demographics...

Just for the record: Two of us live in the Bangor area. Gary lives in Windham and Rick lives in Litchfield. That is quite a range of areas. Also we do have this (http://www.geocachingmaine.org/forum/showthread.php?5205-2011-Advisory-Board-Progress) forum on board progress. Granted it needs to be updated more frequently. I am getting from some of these posts that people forget what the intent of this advisory board was to be. And that was to be a sounding board for Rick in his day to day operation of the website. We have helped facilitate some positive changes, and yes there have been some disagreements and a member has resigned. Neither of which I am very pleased about. This is not my life nor should it be anyone else's.

Sheesh! Very well stated, Brad! As an active participant in the establishment of the Advisory Board (and I was a very vocal advocate of the term "advisory"), I know that it was never expected to be a "board of directors", or anything like that. There was never any intent to have formal meetings, produce minutes of those meetings, or hold formal records votes. It was meant to be an informal advisory group to help Rick.

Re: Making site data readily available

After the site was updated, Rick and I added the Geocaching Maine Info widget on the right side of the front page. This widget contains links to your donation status, Site Leaders which lists who are the moderators/administrators/board members/etc., Advisory Board guidelines, Geocaching Maine User Agreement, and our Mission Statement. If there is anything else that is site-related that anyone thinks should be there, feel free to speak up. Perhaps we should have a link there to the board progress thread, but if there are any updates they can always be found in the News from the Board members (http://www.geocachingmaine.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?56-News-from-the-Board-members) forum.

What other areas would you like to see represented? After Dan (from the Augusta area) resigned,

I think geocaching experience and the ability to contribute to GCM.org is far more important than demographics...


What happened to Dan? I didn't know anything about him resigning. Is he still active here on the site? Sorry to see him go.

I remember the event we all attended and spoke to Rick about his website. It was much smaller then and Rick was looking for some guidance on a few issues and he decided to ask a few people to help out. Thus the advisory board was formed. Now the site is growing and we are going through a few growing pains. This board seems to want to make a lot of changes, all for the good of the site and the geo-community, but change takes time and is not always easy. Some push back on change while others push forward with great tenacity. Unfortunately Dan could not proceed and the board and site will suffer from the loss of his vision, and ideas. We will all carry on and move this website forward into the future. Some of the posts here were made without knowing all of the facts, and some of your answers can be found with a little digging into the older threads. The board has posted it's most recent activities and will continue to do so in the future.

Thanks to everyone who has come to this thread and posted your opinion. It is appreciated by this board member. I am proud to serve on the board, and with the other members on it. I will be glad to discuss anything I have done and will try to do in the months, with any of you.

The site has dedicated a prominent space on the home page, top right to promote the Relay for Life. I hope you all click on it and see what the Maine Geocachers are up to.....again.

I saw that 2000 number on Dan's post, too, and wondered where that number came from. It appears there are 1886 registered users at the moment, and I suppose there are some who visit that don't register. However, I wondered how many of the registered profiles are "active". Easy enough to figure out since you can go to the member list and sort by last visit date. So, of the 1886 members:
Just 278 have visited in the last 30 days
300 in the last 60
316 in the last 90
360 since 1/1/11
570 in the last year
791 since 1/1/10
1003 since 1/1/09
and 883 that haven't visited since 2008 back to 2004.

I don't think this is a 2000 member organization.

Agreed Barry and to weed out the list would be reasonable housekeping. Perhaps this is being worked on.

Certainly have not forgotten the original purpose of the Board. I am just a bit surprised with the progress the board purpose has remained the same. It's ok -but I would have suspected things would have changed a bit. Indeed they did as we now have more Mods and know who they are (a good thing).

Team2Hunt - thanks for reminding folks of the history. I am feeling old remembering that meeting in under that roof. Much progress has been made and you are very right - there are always growing pains. In 2012 the group I belong too will hold out 74th annual show - and each year we learn, we have pains, we grow......and have challenges. This is life.

Thanks to all who are serving and did serve this year. Significant changes have happened since I first came here in 12/2005. There is much work to do and challenges ahead. Working together we can achieve many things.

Thanks for posting the Relay Link - the Maine Geocachers have been significant fund raisers for several years. It is not the dollars - it is the support, the mission and the sense of doing good.........and the dollars just seem to take care of themselves.

Cache on - cache happy folks.

Less drama, more caching . . . that's my suggestion.

Oh yeah, you can also add the Beer for Hiram Fund to the list of deserving non-profits. ;)