STARFLEET PRESS KIT April 2013 Edition Published by: ADM Brandt Heatherington Director, Public Relations STARFLEET, the International Star Trek Fan Association, Incorporated, is a not-for-profit corporation chartered by the state of North Carolina, and is dedicated to uniting the fans of Star Trek as well as pursuing the future envisioned by Gene Roddenberry as depicted in the Star Trek television series and movies. This document is the official Press Kit of STARFLEET. Its contents are copyright © 2013 STARFLEET, and all rights are reserved. Star Trek and related marks are registered trademarks of CBS Studios Incorporated and/or Paramount Pictures Corporation. Neither the STARFLEET copyright in this material, nor any part of the material itself, nor STARFLEET’s use of the name Star Trek, are intended in any way to infringe upon any copyrights or trademarks with regard to any of the Star Trek television series or any of the movies or any other licensed use of the properties previously or currently held by CBS Studios Incorporated, Paramount Pictures Corporation, nor any other persons or organizations. Permission is granted to the general news media and to STARFLEET chapters to reproduce and utilize sections of this material dealing with STARFLEET information and member activities--except in such cases as said material falls under the registered trademark of another entity. 2 CONTENTS Media Quick Facts. .4 About STARFLEET. 5 Organization. 6 Chain of Command. 6 Media Citations. .7 Corporate Structure . 8 STARFLEET Is All About Education. 9 STARFLEET in the News. .10 Community Outreach. .11 Celebrities in STARFLEET. 14 Advertising Rates . 16 History of STARFLEET . .18 Recent Press Releases . 21 Contact STARFLEET. 24 3 MEDIA Quick Facts Year Founded: 1974 Number of Members: Approximately 4,800 (90% of our members are in the United States; 10% live in such foreign countries as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, and the United Kingdom) Number of Chapters: 250 worldwide Web Site URL: www.sfi.org Annual Membership Rate: $15/year for an individual (family membership dues range from $22 to $34/year depending on family size) Membership Materials and Benefits: • Printed ID card and certificate • Vessel Registry (listing of all chapters) • Membership Handbook • Four quarterly issues of the STARFLEET Communique Newsletter (mailed to members and available online) • Special discounts at selected hotels, car rental companies, office supply stores, and more ' Special Programs for Members: STARFLEET Academy (over 3,000 correspondence courses in subjects both inside of Star Trek and beyond) STARFLEET Marine Corps (for those who want a more structured military-like flavour to their Star Trek fandom) Department of Technical Services (resources for members interested in the technical aspects of Star Trek) Holodeck Programs (Special support services and information in topics ranging from medical and health issues to science, charity services, spiritual outreach) Philanthropy Raised over $100,000 for various charities (including donations of food, toys, books, personal necessities, as well as volunteering time and effort in local community projects) Achievements • Participated in an Advisory Committee for Star Trek Online video game • Supporting the Galileo Restoration Project of original series shuttlecraft prop • Recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest Star Trek fan club • The first Star Trek fan club with a chapter in Cuba 4 About STARFLEET STARFLEET is an organization of approximately 4,800 enthusiasts who have united in their appreciation of Star Trek, science fiction, and space exploration. Founded in 1974, STARFLEET remains the oldest and largest continuously operating Star Trek fan organization in the world. STARFLEET celebrated its 35th year just as Star Trek received a new injection of energy and enthusiasm in 2009 with the release of the 11th feature film in the franchise. For almost 40 years, STARFLEET has provided Star Trek fans a way to meet each other, make friends, have fun, give back to their communities, and show that the dream of Star Trek’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, can live long and prosper. On the local level, members gather with other fans for a variety of activities. This unique organization has over 250 chapters worldwide linking members from one corner of the planet to the other into one huge fan-run organization. On the international level, STARFLEET offers our members a wealth of unique fan resources and cross-cultural connections that cannot be found in any other Star Trek fan club. Who joins STARFLEET? There is no “typical” STARFLEET member. We are people of all ages and from all walks of life who enjoy Star Trek and science fiction in all its forms: the major motion pictures, the television series, and the numerous books and magazines. There are members in high school and college, people at middle age, great-grandmothers in their 90s and children in preschool. Some members with families have signed up their newborns as cadets. There are no restrictions on joining STARFLEET. We enthusiastically celebrate the Vulcan concept of IDIC: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Our Prime Directive is to make new friends, to share our interest in Star Trek in an open environment, to serve our communities, and most of all, to have fun. Each member brings his or her special abilities to the group. We recognize this value by assigning fictional ranks and positions within the Fleet, reflecting the interests of the members. Members get promoted for participation in their local Chapter, or at the Regional or international Fleet level. New members in Chapters can start with introductory ranks like Cadet and Ensign and get promoted up through higher ranks like Lieutenant and Commander. When members get involved more actively at higher levels of the organization, they can get promoted even further to Captain or to flag ranks like Commodore or Admiral. Why Star Trek ? The show’s debut on television back in 1966 was the first successful mass visualization of the future. Star Trek’s enduring strength arose from the fact that it was the first science fiction show to emphasize plot and character—and to present a universe where people of all races worked together to solve common problems. In short, Star Trek presents a hopeful future. 5 STARFLEET Organization REGIONS and CHAPTERS STARFLEET is currently divided into 250 local Chapters spread across North America and onto three other continents. Each chapter is named as a different starship or space station. Chapters range in size from as small as ten members to as many as a hundred. Each chapter is unique; some meet in person, others gather over the Internet for online chats and e-mail exchanges. STARFLEET Chapters are grouped into Regions with each Region covering a different geographical area. These regions will often hold gatherings where crews of many Chapters get together for conferences, parties, charity events, and a whole range of other activities. All STARFLEET members can gather at our annual International Conference, which is held in a different location each year. Some of our recent International Conferences have been located in such diverse cities as Dallas in 2013, Philadelphia, Denver, and San Jose. Other International Conferences have been in rural locations such as upstate New York; Greensboro, North Carolina and Wagoner, Oklahoma. STARFLEET Chapter events and activities have been featured in the news media, both press and televised. STARFLEET Chapters work both with local communities and with national charities. Chain of Command What the casual member sees As in Star Trek, STARFLEET has a chain of command. Each Chapter is led by a Commanding Officer and an Executive Officer. Most members never need to go beyond their Chapter CO or XO to get a problem solved. Chapters report to Regional Coordinators, who form a legislative body known as the Admiralty Board. Each Region elects their Coordinator for a period of two years, usually from a pool of Commanding Officers who wish to run for the position. If a member has a problem which their CO or XO cannot handle (or a problem with the CO or XO themselves), the member can approach their Regional Coordinator for assistance. The members of STARFLEET also elect a president and vice-president for the entire organization once every three years via a club-wide mail-in ballot. The Commander and Vice-Commander usually run with a “cabinet” of members who will take the positions of the 7-member Executive Committee (see page 8). The Executive Committee handles the day-to- day business of STARFLEET along with certain key club functions. 6 Media Citations • The New York Times • Newsweek • MSNBC • The Wall Street Journal • The New York Daily News • The Boston Globe • Maxim Magazine • Fox 5 in New York City • CBS affiliate News10 in Tampa Bay, FL • Q13 Fox in Seattle • WAFB Channel 9 news Baton Rouge, LA • KYW1060, Philadelphia’s news radio station • The Daily Record in Morris Country, NJ • The News and Advance of Lynchburg, VA • The Pittsburgh Post Gazette • South Carolina’s The State • The Advocate in Baton Rouge, LA • The West Virginia Gazette • The Asbury Park Press in New Jersey • WashingtonPost.com • PressOfAtlanticCity.com • Boston.com • NJ.com • AirlockAlpha.com 7 Corporate Structure Operating as a Non-Profit 501(C)7 Corporation Most members never encounter the corporate aspects of STARFLEET, but the organization must still adhere to the reporting and regulatory requirements outlined by the IRS and the State of North Carolina for non-profit corporations. STARFLEET was incorporated back in 1991, and the advantage of being non-profit to an organization of our size is immense when one considers the revenue generated from thousands of new and renewing members each year. The Admiralty Board forms the Board of Directors for STARFLEET, with the Commander, STARFLEET serving as the Chairman.