[Ohio-Talk] NFB President’s Notebook - week of 06/01/2020

Thu Jun 4 11:08:45 UTC 2020

Ohio,

You should be very proud but the work is not done yet look at us number four.

President’s Notebook

National Federation of the Blind

Mark A. Riccobono

officeofthepresident at nfb.org <mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org> 

410-659-9314

Dear Fellow Federationists,

June is here and based upon the first five months of 2020 I have two certainties in my mind and heart. First, the next month will be unpredictable. Second, the Federation family gives me great hope for the future.

The last week has been especially….complicated. I expressed my feelings in my open letter to Federation members <https://www.nfb.org/blog/open-letter-members-national-federation-blind> , which you should read if you have not already. I have asked the co-chairs of our Diversity and Inclusion Committee to give more detailed guidance to our affiliates and chapters regarding the note in my letter stating that we need to be careful about using NFB communication tools to enter the national conversation about race. This was not to create silence but rather to avoid unintentionally contributing to the problem. I continue to urge us to coordinate and to take seriously the perspective of our black leaders in steering this conversation. We are against racism, we are against hate, and we do not tolerate discrimination. Please continue to share the love with our members who need it most in this time.

You will note that we are now in the time when the national board has said that local circumstances should govern when in-person meetings of the Federation may resume. The attached policy should give you guidance. In general, the affiliate should carefully manage this based on the local conditions, coordinate with me when in doubt, and continue to offer virtual participation options to in-person meetings in the near future. We should recognize that beyond the COVID-19 situation, this is an opportunity to consider how we keep participation in our movement strong and broad in scope. It is going to be a while before big in-person meetings are feasible, but we should be able to offer in-person and virtual meeting participation at the same time. Our state affiliate leadership listserv is a good place to discuss ideas about this as well.

Note that we have just two more weeks to get members to register for convention. I thought I would share with you the registration stats as of last Thursday. Which affiliate will have the largest delegation? Will we break the attendance record? You all will answer these questions through your work in the next two weeks. More registration information is below. For now, here are the stats:

Total number of convention registrants – 2,473

Top ten states with registration numbers:

1. Maryland – 202 

2. Texas – 184 

3. California - 137

4. Ohio - 128

5. Colorado - 102

6. South Carolina - 93

7. Virginia - 86

8. New Jersey - 85

9. Louisiana - 82

10. Florida – 82

Thanks for your continued leadership and your outstanding work to connect and protect the blind of this nation. See below regarding some great victories from the past week.

Critical Actions:

Complete and Share the NFB-NEWSLINE® Survey by June 10:

As you know, we are deeply committed to delivering critical resources, information, and support to all blind Americans. As part of our continued effort to provide valuable programs and services, we are partnering with Deloitte, a third-party consulting firm, to better understand how media is consumed and how to optimize the NFB-NEWSLINE service. In order to capture a wide range of opinions and perspectives from our members, I ask that you distribute the survey link below to your members and encourage their participation. The survey should take roughly ten minutes to complete and will be open through June 10. To complete this survey via telephone, call one of our consultants, Sophie Lehrenbaum, between the hours of 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. eastern from Tuesday through Thursday. She can be reached at 202-365-7605. 

Please access the survey using the following link: http://sgiz.mobi/s3/nfbnewsline

National Convention—Two Weeks Left to Register:   
National Federation of the Blind members are requested and non-members are invited to register at no cost for the national convention, July 14 through July 18. Registration gives access to exclusive offers, convention announcements, door prizes, and other exciting content. The deadline to register is June 15. Learn more and register for the national convention today <https://www.nfb.org/get-involved/national-convention> . 

Other Options for Convention Registration:
Affiliates should be reaching out to members who may not have the means to register for convention. Some affiliates and chapters have asked about members who don’t have the means to register online. We appreciate that those who have asked have not used an affiliate or chapter president’s email address. This is the right approach as our system may end up overwriting or confusing individual records in our Connections database. There is an accessible fillable PDF on the convention page that can be completed on a computer and emailed to the Jernigan Institute. It doesn’t require an email address. Of course, the PDF can also be printed and mailed in through the postal service. If this is not a convenient option, affiliates could also opt to send us a spreadsheet with attendees’ information included. The spreadsheet is attached to this notebook, but you could also contact Susan Skaarer (sskaarer at nfb.org <mailto:sskaarer at nfb.org> ) if you’d like to receive a copy of the spreadsheet.

Convention Door Prizes:
The National Federation of the Blind is excited to continue our tradition of door prizes during the national convention in July. All affiliates and divisions who wish to make door prize donations can do so in two ways. Organizations and groups that want to donate products like Louisiana spices, Iowa scissors, or Wisconsin cheese curds (yes, please), please send an email to FSteam at NFB.org <mailto:FSteam at NFB.org>  with a description of the prize(s), quantity being donated, and the name and contact information of the person in the affiliate or division who is responsible for providing the prize. To reduce shipping expenses, we will provide affiliates and divisions the winners’ information describing where prizes are to be sent. Affiliates and divisions will send product prizes directly to the winners.

Organizations and groups that want to donate cash prizes, please send an email to FSteam at NFB.org <mailto:FSteam at NFB.org>  with the amount of the funds you are sending for the door prize and the exact name of the organization or group donating the prize. A check payable to “National Federation of the Blind” should be sent to NFB, ATTN: Conv – FS, 200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230. Please note in the memo on the check that it is for “Door Prize(s).” The national organization has controls in place and a relationship with a company to issue gift cards. Winners’ names will be collected during the convention and a list of winners, with addresses, will be provided to the company to process and mail Visa gift cards directly to the winners.

News:

June Presidential Release Reminder:

The June Presidential Release <https://www.nfb.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=392>  of the National Federation of the Blind will be delivered on Thursday, June 4, 2020. After the remarks, there is opportunity for questions. Submit questions in advance to cdanielsen at nfb.org <mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>  and put PR495 in the subject line, or call 410-659-9314, extension 2473. More details coming soon. 

Open-House Gathering—Calls for Prospective Members:

Share this event information with contacts who are interested in the National Federation of the Blind but are not members yet: On Wednesday, June 10, 2020, at 8:00 p.m. eastern, the National Federation of the Blind is hosting another call for blind people to learn more about the benefits of membership. Take advantage of this opportunity to hear from active members and leaders on the myths and uncertainties of the Federation. Sign up by emailing membership at nfb.org <mailto:membership at nfb.org>  or calling 410-659-9314, extension 2509. 

The 2019 Annual Report Is Available:

Every year the National Federation of the Blind's annual report highlights progress made, milestones achieved, and powerful stories told by blind people living the lives they want. Review our 2019 Annual Report <https://www.nfb.org/about-us/annual-report-and-financials/2019-annual-report> . None of these achievements would be possible without you, our members, partners, and supporters. Thank you for continuing to build the Federation. 

Hotel Contracts – Canceling and Postponing Events:

A number of affiliates have been asking about hotel contracts as they relate to postponing or canceling events. If your affiliate needs to reschedule or cancel a convention or another event, we recommend calling the hotel to ask what their position is on this. Almost all hotels have been quite cooperative, especially if we are in a position to reschedule an event. If you receive pushback, you should look at your contract and see what your “impossibility” or “force majeure” clause says. Generally these clauses give you leverage to use in dealing with a hotel. Patti Chang has been helping some of our affiliates strategize on this topic. If a phone call and pointing to your contract do not resolve the issue, please reach out to her at pchang at nfb.org <mailto:pchang at nfb.org>  or extension 2422. This also brings home the need for you to be sure that in new contracts we have good language around impossibility. Please be sure you are reading through new contracts carefully and that these clauses apply to NFB as well as your state. Below is good language. You should expect push back on such language, but it is key that you get as much of it as possible, especially the disaster language and the curtailment of travel provisions. 

Force Majeure: The performance of the Agreement by either party is subject to acts of God, war, government regulation, disasters, stay at home/shelter in place orders, fires, disease, strikes, terrorism or threats of terrorism, civil disorders, curtailment of transportation facilities preventing or unreasonably delaying at least 25% of Event attendees and guests from participating at the Event, or other similar cause, including emergency or non-emergency conditions, beyond the control of the parties making it inadvisable, illegal, impossible, or commercially impractical to hold the Event, for the Hotel to provide the meeting and sleeping rooms or related facilities and/or services for the Event, or for either party to fully perform the material terms of the Agreement. The Agreement may be terminated without penalty and with performance fully excused for any one or more of these reasons by written notice from one party to the other. Should the Organization decide to proceed with the Event when a force majeure event exists, all attrition penalties under this Agreement shall be waived by the Hotel.

Reminders:

Affiliate Roll Call Donations and Pledges:

This year, affiliates and national divisions are asked to send their fund donations directly to the national organization in Baltimore, Maryland. Below is the process to notify us of your donation or pledge and how and where to send the checks.

1.	Presidents will send their treasurers an authorization to issue payment. Below is template authorization text that can be used. Presidents should clearly identify each fund and the amount to be given to that fund. The NFB funds are the Kenneth Jernigan Fund (KJ Fund), the SUN Fund, and the White Cane Fund. The JtB fund is the tenBroek Fund (JtB).
2.	Presidents or treasurers then will send an email to rollcall at NFB.org <mailto:rollcall at NFB.org>  listing the funds and the amount to be donated to each fund. To reduce work, presidents may copy (CC) rollcall at NFB.org <mailto:rollcall at NFB.org>   on their authorization email to their treasurer. We will use the presidents’ authorization to add the affiliate’s or division’s donated or pledged amounts to a tracking spreadsheet.
3.	Treasurers can write one check payable to NFB for the total amount to be given to NFB funds and one check payable to JtB for the tenBroek Fund. It is very important to keep the tenBroek Fund separate and not identify NFB anywhere on the check. To help us keep all of our funds, we ask that you mail checks and not use credit cards. We are charged a processing fee of at least 3.25% for each charge; these fees on roll call donations will take a large chunk of our much needed funds.
4.	Checks are to be mailed to National Federation of the Blind, ATTN: Roll Call – FS, 200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230. This ensures our mailroom staff deliver the envelope to the correct department (Fiscal Services) to be processed.

In summation, affiliates who are making pledges should send an email to rollcall at NFB.org <mailto:rollcall at NFB.org>  that clearly identifies each fund that the affiliate or division plans to donate to and the amount pledged to each fund. Checks should be made payable and mailed as directed in steps 3 and 4. We ask that pledges be fulfilled by August 31, 2020. 

Dates to Keep in Mind:

*	June 1-12: NFB BELL® In-Home Edition 
*	June 4: Presidential Release Live
*	June 10: Membership Open House
*	June 14: National Leadership Call during #COVID19
*	June 22-July 3: NFB BELL® In-Home Edition
*	July 27-August 7: NFB BELL® In-Home Edition

*	July 14-18: NFB National Convention <https://www.nfb.org/convention> , Everywhere

*	February 8, 2021: Washington Seminar Great Gathering-In

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.

Mark A. Riccobono, President

200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230

(410) 659-9314 | officeofthepresident at nfb.org <mailto:officeofthepresident at nfb.org>  

 <https://nfb.org/> 

                          <http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind>      <https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice>      <https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind> 

The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want. 

Authorization template text:

As president of the National Federation of the Blind of (enter your state), I authorize two checks to be issued for the following contributions and to be mailed to 

National Federation of the Blind

200 East Wells Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21230 

ATTN: Roll Call - FS

Check payable to NFB for:  $(total amount): for KJ Fund $(amount), SUN Fund $(amount), and White Cane Fund $(amount).

Check payable to JtB for $(amount) for tenBroek Fund.

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