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Dear members and friends of ipernity,

It is now 5 years since the former operator of this website announced the end of our beloved photo sharing platform (see announcement from December 1, 2016). Thanks to the donations of 548 loyal members and the efforts of some engaged enthusiasts, this tragedy was averted as we raised nearly $30,000 in 15 days!

Since then we paid off all inherited debts and have managed this website successfully on our own. We can be very proud of this, because there are not many examples of successful takeovers of professional websites by users. In thousands of hours of voluntary work, we eliminated most of the old weaknesses and fulfilled new wishes. The user experience has been greatly improved. It has never been as good as it is today. Apart from the known risks and some minor malfunctions, our website is currently running smoothly. Financially, too, our association stands on solid ground.

During this time, we have made photo sharing our primary focus. Even though some members left because of this, with a clearer profile, we are in a more competitive position with the other commercial photo-sharing services on the web. Thanks to all of you, the quality of the content has increased noticeably. The newly created group of ambassador pictures provides a good snapshot. In summary, we have achieved a lot in the last five years. In addition, we have come through the pandemic well compared to so many websites and organizations.

Nevertheless, we are faced with two major challenges. One, the technological platform of our website is inexorably approaching the end of its life cycle. Two, the other is to attract new club members to gain the financial means to upgrade our platform. In order to master these challenges, further efforts and voluntary commitment will be needed in the future.

My focus as your elected President is therefore on the General Assembly in three months (IGA 2022 on March 27, 2022). At this General Assembly, two mandates have to be reassigned: that of the Vice-President and that of the Treasurer (*).

Without a Treasurer, we will not be able to operate our website from April 2022 onwards due to statutory requirements and the fact we would have no one to pay the bills to keep the site operational and online. Without a Vice President, we would have no one for regular internal and external communication or for the continuation of the wide-ranging promotional activities that have been launched.

I therefore call on interested members to get involved. Ipernity needs you!

With this, I am addressing those who have a passion for actively shaping the future of our association as an elected member of the ima team. Please contact the ima team.

Yours sincerely
William Sutherland
President

(*) In order to be able to make cashless money transfers to and from the French bank that holds our association account (Crédit Agricole Ile de France), it is advisable for the treasurer to reside within the SEPA area.