Development and External Relations Update

The Development and External Relations office UPDATE is a monthly summary of activities in the section and is published for your general information. If you have questions, please contact Jim Goit or call at (902) 893-7950

• Jim was able to report that after a long period of negotiation with the Canada Revenue Agency they had reversed their decision and NSAC would now be considered designated as a University to receive research funding under the third party payments portion of the Scientific Research and Experimental Design (SR&ED) tax credit program. This decision will help NSAC attract additional research funds from farm commodity groups. A communication plan will be developed to let those group know of the change.
• Jim took the department's new Deputy Minister, Roz Penfound, on a tour of the facilities of NSAC highlighting some of the key research projects capabilities.
• Jim organized an information session between the CGI company and several NSAC scientists involved in Genomics research. CGI is interested in providing bioinformatic services to organizations like NSAC.
• Development Office staff handled a number of calls concerning the Alumni Directory. The Harris company is in the last stages of gathering the information before the directory is published in the late fall.
• Jim completed the inventory on behalf of NASC for the Program Inventory and Costing Initiative (PICI). PICI is a government wide initiative that will attempt to captured all government programs in a comprehensive database.
• The AgriTECH park board met during the month and options for the continued development of the park were considered.
• Jim made contact with the Atlantic Agricultural leadership program based in News Brunswick to discuss the possibility for increased partnerships. The AALP has just expanded from being based in NB and they have already begun to use some of the resources at NSAC. More collaboration is likely.
• Letters were sent out to all the contacts of the various funds that the Foundation manages to inform them of the status of the funds for the past year. This effort was begun last year and donors are known to appreciate having the information.
• Jim worked with the Department's lawyers on the drafting of a new agreement between the Foundation and the Alumni Association for the management of the endowed funds currently in the the Alumni Association's accounts. Have the funds combined will allow for more efficient management and reduced cost for the Alumni Association.
• The annual Open house was held on Thursday, July 29th, the first time on many years it was not held on a Saturday. Response was very positive and there was excellent attendance from the public. All Development office staff were involved in the organization and execution of the event.
• Jim attended the Field crops tour hosted by the Plant Science group. While numbers on the tour were low the quality of research was evident.
• Jim and Barry Diamond met with Shelly Manning, associate director of AAFC at her new offices at AgriTECH park. We discussed the opportunities for AAFC support of the AASTW program. Some good ideas were generated and Barry will be incorporating them into the program for the broader committee. There were several meetings held to discuss AASTW and the program and website are progressing
• Tim provided on-going maintenance of our current website, while working on the development of the next version of the site. Some maintenance included the development of web pages for the International Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology 2004 Meeting as well as the Atlantic Agricultural Science and Technology Workshop.
• Tim met with Dr. Don Crober and Neil Ritchie from Performance Genomics, to consult with them on their Internet needs and the level of service we offer them.
• Tim met with Rene Wall in IT-CSU to discuss dynamic elements which could be integrated into the next version of our website and a reasonable timetable for deployment.
• 42 lost alumni were found during the month of July
• Coordinated Open House 2004
• Managed publication of Agricola News
• Coordinated NSAC article in Maclean's Guide to Universities
• Consulted on positioning of NSAC in international student recruitment initiatives
• Arranged three tours of campus for various groups and VIP visitors
• Coordinated NSAC footage and photography to be included in an inter-university International Student Recruitment website and video
• Successfully pitched an article on NSAC's wild blueberry research to Maclean's Magazine to appear in their special Innovation in Canada issue
• Coordinated video shoot of Heather Topley who won a Young Scientist in Canada award
• Redeveloped trade show display for Recruitment Team
• Wrote monthly article for Quebec Farmers' Advocate
• Contributed article to Edge Magazine, marketed to prospective university students in Ontario
• Coordinated development of recruitment advertising campaign for August and September run (television, radio and print)

• Summary for all donations Jul 2004
  Fund Name	# of Donations	Total $
  NSAC	7	$11,033.58
  Hall of Fame
  Total Receipts	7	$11,033.58

  
  

  Website Statistics, Jul 2004
  Category:	July 2004	June 2004	July 2003
  Requests (hits)	282,727	269,492	173,315
  Average hits per day	9,120	8,983	5,590
  Unique Visitors	23,564	23,600	19,849
  Distinct Files	6,439	6,776	5,327