October Minutes

MORE Board Meeting 10/19/15, 7 – 9 PM
Discovery Center; Germantown MD

Full board in attendance:
Ernie Rodriguez
Jason Ashmore
Dave Magill
Bob Compton
Jason Miller
Russ Adams
Martin Fernandez

Staff:
Ryan Delaney

Members:
Todd Bauer
Larry Cautilli
Kevin Adams
Bob Caverly

On call:
Eric Crawford
Anne Mader

Budget – Bob Compton: (attached PDF)

• Waiting to receive final MoCo epic info to come from SCORE
• Most Cash (revenue) is coming from eventsFunds from membership have remained level since IMBA Chapterization
• IMBA will introduce a new level membership; Couples and will have a true family membership.
  • November 1st – Chapters will have an opportunity to submit input on new levels
• Todd Bauer: From Member perspective – If there will be changes in dues these should be run by members first – before anything is done; Don’t decide in “executive session.”

Fall Membership Drive – Ryan Delaney:

• 1183 members as of June 15
• 1221 members currently
• Current contacts in the MORE terrirory is around 15k, of those ~14.3k are mailable i.e. still in region, etc. Need to figure out how to convert more of these into members.
• Up to this point we’ve had 136 membership transactions which shows 113% growth from same period last year
• We need to Leverage social media now to reach people who participated in MoCo and capitalize on the success of the epic
• Our current member breakdown IMBA show 26 members in our territory that are not affiliated with any club – Ryan will do direct outreach to them to find out why. 45 IMBA members in our territory who are affiliated with other chapters (some overlapping with neighbor chapters) – not sure if these should be approached.
• Todd Bauer: How do we reach the 1,000s who benefit from our work that are not members?
• Jason Miller started personal outreach program last year, Ryan is continuing this.
• We have phone numbers – should we do a telemarketing campaign?
• Larry Cautilli: Why can’t we sign members on the spot? i.e at a ride? trailhead, event? MORE can collect own dues – square/PayPal readers?

MoCo Epic Review

• Currently waiting on final numbers and financials from SCORE; We should have them this week.
• Todd Bauer and Bob Caverly:
  • Numbers up from last year (about 60 – 70) total 776.
  • Montgomery Park waived $250 vendor fee for us (did not waive it last year) huge boost
  • From a person who worked there ecstatic how things went.
  • Holly did outstanding Job on organization
  • Trails signage was fantastic; Had to tweak some things early Sunday but no real issues overall
  • All in all a home run by aid stations – Bike Lane stepped up in Damascus
  • No Aid station complaints.
  • No major complaints
  • Could have used more volunteers
  • No one ran out of water

Questions:

Have we ever used a rain date?
Rain date was utilized two years ago; substantial financial hit; ie, have to reserve additional items for additional time; Porta Potties

What did you differently this year? what is worth it?

Layout – helped by showcasing bike park and beer garden
Food trucks – huge success – food and beer was smooth – no major waits;
Sean held Pump and Jump contest – not a big draw but still fun side activity

Did you have more kids this year? was family day worth it?

Family day had a great turnout – more kids than ever before; thanks to beautiful weather

Are sponsors satisfied?

Some yes, some no. Some do it for the community. Others expect ROI.

What was missing from planning this year?

Immediate marketing for next year’s MoCo the day after this one was over. We need to do more focus marketing on Sponsors; get more sponsorship $$

Take a Kid Mountain Biking – Jason Miller/Todd Bauer:

• VA – a dozen kids showed up at Laurel Hill – Cold day had impact. Lots of new faces; most very young; Some from the Montclair areas – fringe of our territory; need to market more in PW County.
• MD – will be on the 31st; Schaeffer Take a Ghoul Mountain Biking.

New MORE Jersey – Jason Miller/Martin Fernandez:

• We will run a Jersey contest like we did several years ago – more people voted for Jersey contest than any MORE Board election. Should have something up in a week or so;
• We will us Pactimo; The club has worked with them in the past; We have the system down, we know what they will charge. This time we are going to use it as an opportunity to raise some funds
• Bob Caverly, Have you considered Voler?
• We will do a Wool Jersey for our 25th anniversary (2017)

Trails report – Dave Magill:

Fountainhead

• Larry Cautilli:
  • After 10 years – Fountainhead is done; Went through 5 MORE treasurers.
  • Official Map is out from Knobby Trail Mapping
  • Official distance is about 14.35 miles
  • Spent ~400k for the total project
• Jason Miller: requested a project timeline (including very beg 1994) – Larry has key dates and will put it together for us. Should be included in future Trailhead news.
• Ernie Rodriguez – Thank you and Anne for work done.

Patuxant

• Dave Magill:
  • 40K grant for Patuxent approved; work started
  • Additional grants add up to 100k
  • Dan Hudson has helped considerably in process.

Rivers Edge Trail (Brunswick)

• Trails committee allocated 1k for Rivers Edge trail in Brunswick – approved from general trails fund;
• VOTE:
  • Dave moved: Create a special purpose fund for Brunswick and allow them to collect additional donations.
  • Ernie second
  • All in favor

Patapsco

• SFF offered a one time grant for up to 10k for re-investment in the epics in support of building a bridge in the Daniels area of Patapsco (one that got wiped out in 2011).
• This bridge will be a major win for all members of the Patapsco community

Misc.

Jason Miller: How do special funds get retired?

Whenever the board votes to retire a special purpose fund; On advice from the trails director and treasurer. If funds exist they are moved into the general “trails” fund. Want to make sure that any special funds given specifically for a trail by donors are addressed. A recommendation will be made by trails committee on how to address this if any funds are left on any specific special purpose fund.

Larry Cautilli: there really is no real accounting on how “those (special purpose) funds” have been spent.

MORE currently has two bank accounts; How money is moved is kept on spreadsheets – i.e we (treasurer) knows we have $XX for a specific project but generally not specifically who gave how much when (big donations in are exceptions). No sophisticated accounting system to track down at $25 – $100 level. Reason for limited number of accounts is for ease of bookkeeping.

Russ Adams : Probably need to do status reports for donors. Maybe too time consuming

Activities – Russ Adams

Winter Party

• Feb 6 – Gwendolyn E. Coffield Social Hall
• Same place as last year. Central access.
• New Beer Sponsor: Details to be communicated soon.
• Survey went out to trail liaisons – how will you like to be recognized – surveys are in; reviewing them now.
• Comms will go out with specifics on main dish.
• No RSVP – FB invite
• Have Contacted Bike Shops – SWAG to give out.
• Looking for larger giveaway
• DJ
• Photos – Hugh (handle slideshow); Created email to get photos.
• Blast membership for submissions.
• Will re-open Trail Liaison Survey
• We want Winter Party to be in recognition for our best volunteers. Trail Liaisons and Ride Leaders
  • Jason Miller: Try and recognize members on a more “regular basis” rather than just at winter party. Quarterly…

Communications – Martin Fernandez:

• Little to report; Comms plan in place – need to have member input and then execute.
• We have been doing better communicating to members but still have lots of work to do. Need to document what we do/don’t do/should do so future board do not make the same mistakes
• Need to learn from our mistakes; not acceptable that we are making some of the same mistakes over and over again
• Jason Ashmore – New trailhead news coming out.
• Ernie/Martin/Russ have been promoting CFC; Need to make a big push for it – big opportunity with government employees.
• Todd Bauer: Expressed concerns with recent Executive sessions regarding event Coordinator; Board HAS to share information with what is happening. Whether we (members) have a say or not – just keeping members in the loop is important. Especially things that affect us. Understand the need but feels that recently there have been too many.
• Ernie/Jason A. – First time in 2 years that Board has exercised Executive sessions. Timing was unfortunately bad/coincided with epics. Board is working to make best decision for club and why it put together focus group of key members to help guide strategic planning.
• Martin Fernandez – to Todd: Was being included in focus group useful regarding communication? Personally no, because focus group was confidential; and put focus group members in difficult position – not being able to communicate what board was working on and trying to achieve.
• Communications with members; Need to be more proactive in letting our key members know what is going on.

TRANSPARENCY – WE NEED TO BE MORE TRANSPARENT.

• We need to have to figure out a way how to communicate issues that are discreet without “rumor mill” getting out of hand…
• Board working on making a decision on staffing options and status of events; Our goal is to continue to have both; It’s challenging.
• From MoCo team – YOU HAVE to have a dedicated event coordinator to run one of the epic events. Volunteers can help, but can’t without a dedicated event manager.
• Jason Miller: MoCo Marketing; Club has become an event organization. Marketing events. By doing more marketing for Epic events, do we lose focus of MORE’s mission? Wed do not do a very good job communicating our wins.
• Bob Caverly and Todd Bauer – talking more about marketing to sponsors – not necessarily membership. Event Coordinator: Phone calls, Knock on doors, get sponsors to come in, critical …
• We need to figure out ways to fund the club. We are at a critical point; Need to figure how to get more members to try and give beyond membership. Extend membership…
• Board working to finalize staffing issues – should have something completed by first week of November in partnership with IMBA, SCORE and SFF
• Ryan reported progress with NoVa Parks. NoVa Park has asked MORE/IMBA to provide a trail assessment of the Bull Run Marina to Fountainhead trail.

Adjourn