February 2010 Archives

The RMBL Board of Trustees met in January at the Jasper Ridge Field Station in Palo Alto, California. In addition to the meeting, we also had a fundraiser at a private home. The fundraiser was interesting because it was one of the first times RMBL reached outside our direct community for support. Generating support from people with no direct experience of RMBL requires making the case that the world is a better place because of the students that are trained and the science is done. The Lab is uniquely positioned to understanding a changing world, but we have not always been effective in making that case. The event was a good start.

During the meeting, the Board adopted a 3 year strategic plan. The plan involves building annual, unrestricted fundraising to $500,000/year by 2012. That will allow us to recruit and retain the staff needed to manage the Lab, as well as invest more in basic operations of our physical plant. Additionally, the Lab identified approximately $1,000,000 of capital projects to be accomplished during the three years, including upgrading the water system and making progress in archiving valuable data. Finally, the Board committed to positioning itself to be able to take on more expensive projects in the 2013-2015 planning cycle. We’ll need to make strides in our fundraising capacity if we are to chip away at needed physical plant improvements that will cost $5-10 million.

The Board continues to talk about the role of voting members in the Lab’s governance structure. We visited and learned about the California Academy of Science; it was quite interesting to hear how scientists are involved in governance of that institution. The Lab needs to adapt to changing times and needs to think about the best way to meaningfully involve members in governance.