Annual Report to Friends Membership
Annual Meeting, July 20, 2011

We're healthy! It has been the year of the Magazine and instant fame. Our membership is up 32% from last year at this time. The first edition of the Magazine was published in late June of last year. From July 1 to December 31, 2010 we experienced a 12.7% increase in membership revenues. From January 1 to June 30, 2011 membership revenue increased 24% over the previous corresponding period. Net income from the first edition was $4,000, and this year we expect approximately $7,000. The person responsible for these successes is Glenn Ritt, publisher and editor, and a very dedicated Friend.

We have tried to offer members more benefits. Our member-only events have been well attended: Park Historian Bill Burke's Living the Dream: First Fifty Years on March 30^th, and the Old Harbor open house and beach apparatus drill on June 30^th. We hope to have an exclusive tour of the newly acquired historic Biddle property for our sustainers and partnering members in the fall. W.H.A.T. offered our members two tickets for the price of one for the season's opening on May 25^th.

On July 30^th, the Addison Art Gallery is hosting a reception for the Friends as part of its Inspired by the National Seashore two-week show. We are asking those who attend to consider a $20 donation to Old Harbor. The paintings and photographs of the Seashore are by some of the country's finest artists and are spectacular.

The Old Harbor Capital Campaign is in the final stretch. Initially, our goal was to raise $180,000 over a 3-year period. $111,000 has been raised to date. We continue to make adjustments in the Campaign goal, as the costs of many items have turned out less than expected, and we have received many in-kind donations from generous folks. This is all thanks to our refurnishing committee members. If you haven't contributed to the campaign, I invite you to consider helping us to reach that finish line.

Our volunteers continue to chalk up many hours of labor for the Seashore. The adopt-a-trail program continues at the forefront. This winter, under Carl Sylvester's leadership, volunteers totaled 225 hours in helping the National Seashore Fire Service with its brush cuts and burns. The Friends joined Safe Harbor, the Truro Non-Resident Taxpayers Assocation and others in initiating a unique restoration project at Ballston Beach. We handled contributions and furnished a majority of the volunteers for grass planting days on May 14^th and 21^st. Eleven of us serve on the the Seashore's Seal Education Team.

This year, as everyone knows, is the 50^th anniversary of the Seashore. We have joined in the festivities. The Friends is sponsoring the 50^th Anniversary Memories Album and the the 50^th Anniversary Challenge. Both have links on our website. If you have yet to enter the Challenge Hunt, pick up a handbook at either visitor center. We have also allocated $15,000 to help the Seashore with its celebratory activities.

Lastly, it has been a year of recognition for the Friends. We were selected by the National Park Foundation as one of seven park friends groups nationally to participate in its Park Partner Project. Our selection includes a $5,000 matching grant to help us in the areas of expanding membership, marketing, and fundraising. Hopefully this will result in the Friends being a more viable and helpful partner of the Seashore. On July 9^th the Friends, as part of the Seashore's 50^th Anniversary of Volunteers-in-Parks Celebration, received the community volunteerism award. Let me say, it is a privilege to work alongside George Price, Sue Moynihan and everyone else at the Seashore.

Growth is not without growth pains. We depend on members for financial support. We all need to reach out for more members. We need more volunteers as committee members, organizers and greeters at events and fundraisers. Thank you.

Richard Spokes
President