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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MKPI CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
November 2011

FROM: Ken Fearnley, MKPI Elected Chairman
DATED: November 29, 2011
TITLE: ManKind Project International report on global operations and expansion

To the Men of MKP:

I am Ken Fearnley, Chair of MKP International, and I am happy to report to the men of ManKind Project around the world some of what we have accomplished since taking office in February earlier this year.

Our Global Support Team headed by Gautier Hankenne Gautier Hankenne from French-Speaking Europe has been active in assisting men in new areas of potential growth in MKP around the world. Costa Rica and Mexico have active IGroups and desire to have NWTAs on their soil. Sweden, Spain and Italy are slowly coalescing into small, organized groups. It is a challenge to find a balance of support for these men in difficult economic times.

Mish Middelmann of South Africa has been working assiduously to institutionalise multicultural work internationally on the MultiCultural Committee. There have been few multicultural training for the past 3-4 years outside of the US, and those are recommencing. All important announcements from MKPI and the Leader Council in the future will be translated into the major languages of the men to whom they are directed, e.g. French for French-Speaking Europe and German for Germany.

One of the jewels of these last months has been our face-to-face Council Strategic Planning Session at Gaia in Maryland, near Washington DC in October. As many men as could from around the world gathered there to plan the future of MKPI. Like most MKP gatherings, there was great joy and difficult moments as we authentically faced our shadows and our gold.

We hammered together what the purpose of MKPI is, coming up with the following:

• To hold the global vision and the structure to implement it.
• The balancing of independence of regions with belonging to MKPI.
• To institutionalise multicultural work internationally so deeply, that the MCC (Multi-Cultural Committee) becomes obsolete.
• To make “mentoring men through the passages of their lives” central to what we do.
• To create and support a functional and healthy institutional structure.
• To create value without draining the resources of our regions.
• To provide and create training opportunities.
• To reach out to men globally.
• To create a strategic plan and carry it out.
• To support a functionally healthy and truly international Leader Council.
• To share and model our core values.
• To hold the balance between the power of the big regions and the possibilities of the smaller ones.
• To create a community that recognises and acknowledges its shadows.

To achieve much of the above, we consolidated committees and created new ones. We invite any man who has a fire in his belly to contact me or the committee chairman. Join the committee. Make a difference in the how MKP interfaces with the world:

Committee Chair

Finance Joe Dolan
Global Support Team Gautier Hankenne
Multi-Cultural Mish Middelmann
Planning Harris Marx
Constituencies Lonnie Hamilton
Communications Jamie McKelvie
Translations Antoine Gilliott

There are also two administrative committees:
International Operating Team Chair, Vice Chair, Executive Director & CFO
Human Resources Chair, Vice Chair & one Council member

Finally, facing our shadows, we discussed the financial state of affairs. MKPI is struggling financially. It came to light that there was a $30,000+ error in the 2011 budget (a mistake that had been telling us we had more money than we do have), and confusion around what some of the regions will be contributing to the 2012 budget. We worked through a lot of guilt and shame, anger and fear, and are moving forward toward making adjustments to our budgets so that we remain in integrity. We are looking at new sources of income to do this grand work that we do for the planet. If you have any suggestions or donations, please contact me.

MKPI has held monthly Project Council meetings this year; at the November meeting a new Vice Chair was elected. Migs Helpern has stepped down and Nick Schalk from St Louis USA was elected to a two year term beginning January 1, 2012.

This has been a momentous year for MKPI - one of restructuring, new understanding, moving through fear in a good way, and shining a bright light on the future. I thank all of you for your support and involvement in the coming year.

Ken Fearnley,
Hawk with Gold
MKPI Chair

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MKPI CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
MARCH 2012

FROM: Ken Fearnley, MKPI Elected Chairman
DATED: March 13, 2012
TITLE: ManKind Project International announces continuing global growth and financial stability into 2013.

Men of MKP,

I am writing to you as a follow up to my letter of last November and my
commitment to send a message to warriors around the world 3 or 4 times a
year to let you know what is happening with MKPI.

First of all, I want to say that although 2011 was a difficult year financially for MKPI with unforeseen expenses and reduced revenue, we finished the year with a small surplus and all debts paid. The Council passed a budget for 2012 that is balanced and reduced the contributions from the Regions from what it was in 2011.

Part of the balancing of the budget was the inclusion of fund raising at the MKPI level for the first time. The budget includes $40,000 of revenue from fund raising. We have raised over half of that already even though we are still in the first quarter of the year. Several individuals around the world have been very generous. If you would like to help MKPI with our mission to spread this work around the world please visit this site http://secure.mkp.org/mkpi/donate-to-mkpi/ or contact Bob Selig, CFO for MKPI at cfo@mkp.org.

The MKPI Council has been meeting every month by conference call and the many committees have also been meeting at least monthly. The committees are working on the goals identified in the strategic planning session that was held as part of our face to face meeting last October. The MKPI Council will be meeting face to face this year in London at the end of September. It is my hope that we will continue the strategic planning with action in several areas.

Some of the areas we are working on include the following:

• The GST [Global Support Team] committee has members from many communities outside of existing regions that need mentoring towards growing into full regions. Costa Rica, Holland and Scandinavia are moving quickly.
• The MCC committee is working to assist all Regions with their Multi-cultural programs.
• The Finance Committee is tracking our financial performance and already working on next year's budget.
• Other committees include planning, constituencies and communications. The committees have at least one representative from the Council but have many other men involved.

If you are interested in helping out on a committee please contact me at kenfearnley@mkp.org

Lastly 2012 is the second year of my 2 year term. There will be an election for Chairman at our annual meeting in November. I have not yet decided if I will stand again, however the position is open to any warrior from any Region. If you are interested in serving on the Board please contact Tony Wilkinson, MKPI Executive Director at mkpi.executivedirector@mkp.org.

Blessing to all of you for your service.

Ken Fearnley
Chairman, MKPI
kenfearnley@mkp.org

What's Possible?

For 25 years we've been doing this work - and we have changed the lives of many men - and this is a stunning achievement.

And there are some of us who look out into the world and wonder when our message will finally 'tip'? When would higher concentrations of MKP men in cities around the globe start to have deep and visible impacts on our society? Why couldn't we be initiating 20,000 men a year, 40,000? 100,000? Why do we still have trouble filling trainings when we see so much desire and hunger and passion in the eyes of men who participate in our work?

One part of the answer may be that the campaigns, ideas and movements that succeed and grow today are backed and created using new technology and innovative ways of connecting people to their passion. We have, as an institution, grown by word of mouth. Some of us believe we need a bigger mouth. We need new media, pro-active campaigns, updated technology, and human resources dedicated to promoting, explaining and inviting men and women to discover who we are ... and get on board.

One of the intentions of this year's Chairman's Campaign is to raise $100,000 toward building our marketing and IT infrastructure. You have seen what can be done on a shoe-string over a long period of time in our launch of the new ManKindProjectJournal.org and ManKindProject.org web sites. Maybe you’ve seen us on FaceBook and YouTube, and checked out MeetUp.com. What could be done with dedicated resources and pro-active action? I think MKP should be on Oprah, Leno, Letterman, Bill Moyers. I think anyone wanting to say something about masculinity in the 21st century should be calling us for an interview.

Isn't it our role to help bring the modern initiation into our cultures as a recognized and respected path for nurturing the mature, sacred masculine? Aren't we that brotherhood?

We have the intention, passion and vision. We need time, money and focus.

Missed Opportunities

Every time a new film, a new web site, a new initiative, a new book about shadow, archetypes, men's health, fathering, mentoring, masculinity, violence, addiction, healing, personal growth, etc. comes out without the creator knowing about MKP, we have missed an opportunity. I believe that one of our missions over the next 5 years should be to consciously work to build 'top of mind' awareness for the ManKind Project. People should recognize who we are. On some level, it doesn't matter whether they hate us or love us.

The ManKind Project is part of a great awakening, a great turning happening in parts of our culture. With focused effort we could be helping a vastly greater number of men create the solutions we need in the world. There are multiple ways that we could be doing this - and we need the focused full-time attention of a team to increase our search engine standing, to run proactive awareness and education campaigns, to build more, better and interconnected web sites for the ManKind Project, to streamline and automate the critical functions of the Center Administration Application, to create a conscious mechanism to track prospects so that more people will hear about us and know what we are doing in the world, to build bridges to other organizations and initiatives for mutually beneficial partnerships, to have top notch professional marketing and media materials readily available. These are all doable.

Money is just another form of energy.
Help us increase our energy.

Love and Service,
Boysen Hodgson
Marketing Coordinator
The ManKind Project

CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

When the reality is too big to be understood at a glance, like the finances and day-to-day workings of a large non-profit organization, we go back to a very basic question:  In metaphorical terms - Imagine a weekend with 10,000 staff men and 125 Leaders and Co-Leaders. Each of these men is going about his role, unaware of what may be happening behind the scenes.  But when needed, any one of these 10,125 men may call on the leader team.

It is the responsibility of this leader team to know everyone's name, to know what they are up to, to mentor them on their path to leadership, to know their capabilities and proficiencies.  They have to know where we are on the outline and make sure everyone else knows.  They coordinate and facilitate communication, run staff meetings and handle all the money.  They make sure that the weekend will be available for the next group of 1,000 initiates that are coming up the hill.  That is the role that MKP USA plays in this organization. We still rely primarily on volunteer labor, but we pay small stipends to some and salaries to others to make sure that what needs to happen is happening.

• Launched a new ManKind Project Journal website
• Completely upgraded the ManKindProject.org website
• Provided detailed monthly Enrollment Reports covering all centers
• Created and launched an aggressive approach to search engine optimization
• Responded rapidly and effectively to damaging articles in the press
• Created a Wordpress installation for constituency and center websites & blogs
• Created an MKP presence on YouTube, FaceBook, LinkedIn and Meetup
• Created a Vistaprint account enabling centers to order customizable print marketing materials
• Crafted a new Strategic Plan
• Developed a process for restructuring MKP USA in accord with the Stanford recommendations
• Supported the funding of a Diversity Scholarship Fund providing financial assistance to African American, Latino, and Native American men from the US who desire to participate in the NWTA
• Provided full-time specialized financial services including credit card processing and guidance with bookkeeping through the Chief Financial Officer
• Provided and maintained an IRS 501c(3) group exemption for U.S. Centers
• Filed taxes for MKP USA and most U.S. Centers
• Provided $70,000 in General and Professional Liability and Directors & Officers insurance, saving centers thousands of dollars over separate policies
• Enforced trademark and copyright protection for our work worldwide
• Updated the Primary Integration Manual available to all Centers and I-Groups
• Supported the creation of additional trainings: Integration Group
  Leadership Training (available on CD) and Introduction to Personal Leadership
• Provided access for initiated men to highly effective training in NWTA leadership, carpet work, and multicultural awareness
• Supported extensive revisions of our Leader Trainings
• Continued the development of the Center Administration Application (CAA) a custom-built web-based community and training management tool available to all Centers
• Managed a synchronized international database of over 30,000 New Warriors
• Maintained almost 800 email list serves and 30 Center websites
• Served as an information clearinghouse, supporting networking between centers and individuals by redesigning the New Warrior Circle, a repository for MKP documentation, protocols, and other information
• Drafted a Peer Review Procedure for Centers and supported centers in addressing ethical violations and resolving disputes
• Evaluated and certified our NWTA Leaders and Co-Leaders through
  consistent, stringent international processes
• Trained Ritual Elders, Leader Trainers and LKS Lead Men to international standards for consistent excellence

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