support for the ongoing development of the California Fire Safe Council by providing for the Fire Safe Council executive director and council administration and development of public education outreach materials including a new Fire Safe Council webpage (www.firesafecouncil.org)." A total of $716,665 was received from the Sacramento Regional Foundation for these grants. The SRF operated the Community-Based Wildfire Prevention Grants Program for 2001 and 2002, at which point it was nearing the $10 million limit it had agreed. Something else needed to be done. Formation of the California Fire Safe Council, Inc. The idea of formalizing the California Fire Safe Council as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation was first proposed at a monthly meeting on May 24, 2001. Discussions eventually resulted in the Administrative Action Group (AAG) subcommittee taking on this task in April 2002. The work of the AAG resulted in the following: Articles of Incorporation for the California Fire Safe Council, Inc. (CFSCI), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation Final draft Bylaws Selection of a slate of candidates for the first Board of Directors Election of the first Board by local fire safe councils; i.e. the general membership of the CFSC The California Fire Safe Council, Inc. (CFSCI): an independent corporation The CFSCI begins In mid-2002 the CFSCI was established as a non-membership 501(c)(3) corporation under non-profit law. The CFSCI Board of Directors and its staff comprise the CFSCI. (Subsequently, the CFSCI Board amended the bylaws to create a class of "at-large members," however the at-large members have no voting rights.) The CFSCI was set up as a non-membership organization because the AAG felt it would be too cumbersome to include representatives from all local FSCs in future voting, due to how many local councils there were and how difficult it was to determine how the various FSCs would be represented, given how many different types of FSCs there were. Instead, the AAG divided the state into three regions: Coast, Sierra, and Southern California, and created a seat on the Board for each region. The intention was for these representatives to have an ongoing two-way dialog with the local councils in their regions and thus allow local councils and the Board to be in communication through the local representative. The following people were elected as the initial Board Members: Bruce Turbeville, Chairman; Ken Blonski, Vice Chairman; Leo McElroy, Secretary; and David Horne, Treasurer. A nominating committee, a legislative review committee, a