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Chris Simmons
04-14-2005, 08:36 AM
This is meant to start a conversation:

My principles for outreach.
1. Membership should be easy to obtain.
2. Membership should be open to all.
3. Membership should include businesses related to the sport.

So, membership…

· …at this time should be free. We want to encourage people to join without yet seeing any tangible benefits.
· …gives the WCC a contact database from which we can rally for the cause and survey the membership.
· …should be available by paper forms (1/3 of a pamphlet, for example), and on the WCC website.
· …can also be an opportunity to donate. Instead of charging a membership fee, I want to give new members the opportunity to donate any amount – even $1 – or nothing at all. New members joining through the website could be offered the opportunity to “pledge” a donation and then be contacted via email or snail mail.
· …in return, members will receive semi-annual newsletter via email in a pdf form (saving paper). They will also receive Action Alerts, and other special notices that can’t wait for the next newsletter. Further down the line, if businesses offer special sales to WCC members, this would be another benefit.
· …should also have their own forum on the WCC page that allows them to post access related questions or comments. This forum will have to be heavily policed to keep the tangent conversations and spray confined to other websites.

I also want to have a special “business” membership…
· …that would have all the same standards and benefits of personal membership.
· …would also create for the WCC a group to contact for event sponsorship and prize donation, in return for WCC’s promotion of their businesses during the event.
· …that could provide links from the WCC to donating business members.
· …when clean ups, action alerts, or others events happen, pdf fliers can be made and sent to business members, with a polite request to print off and post.

Think of NPR/KUOW’s example…

I would also like to formally create three to seven Regional Representatives, whose volunteer position would be to attend and/or organize a physical presence at events of interest to members or potential members of the WCC – university gear sales, outdoor mountain film showings, REI’s garage sale, etc. They would also physically check in with gear stores and local clubs – Feathered Friends, Second Ascent, the Seattle Mountaineers, etc. – to promote business membership of the WCC, deliver membership pamphlets, and put a face to the WCC for the business owners and organization leadership.

Matt Perkins
05-01-2005, 09:18 AM
The 2005 climbing season is upon us. Now would be a great time to launch the effort Chris describes. We have had some tremendous success lately -- let's keep the momentum going!

Chris Simmons
05-16-2005, 09:03 AM
This is a quasi-double-post, but it seems fitting...

Sorry to be so slow jumping back in. Getting caught back up at university was a bitch.

I'd really like to get a membership list started. To me this should be our number one priority. Hand in hand with that should be a member's forum, where members can post access-related questions for the WCC to investigate and address. Both of these items would be best served by the website - so I can't do it. Thoughts?

As soon as that list and forum are created, we can then put together a electronic and paper flyer and prepare a membership drive. People active in this forum can go to their local businesses that may support the WCC's mission to enlist their help. The electronic flyer can be posted at cc.com and other bulltin board services. Paper flyers can be printed out by whomever is managing our Access Fund grant money (is there any left? Who is managing it?) and mailed out to people like me, who will go to local business to post them.

Just in case I'm not clear, I propose a second forum be created for the membership - I think having two forums (one for WCC coordination, one for public) - will allow us to manage the WCC from long-distance, and minimize the need for face-to-face meetings, which can be hard to do state-wide.

I intend on starting a new club at WWU next fall, the WWU Chapter of the WCC. Membership will be open to both students and non-students. I intend for us to be active in Whatcom and Skagit counties. I'm hoping to involve the WWU Outdoor Center, the AAI retail store, Mt. Baker Ski Shop, Graham's, and local guidebook authors (is Dallas on this forum?).

This might turn into that "Regional Representative" position I spoke of earlier. Perhaps what I do here can be an example to what can be done elsewhere. I thought that I could somehow coordinate outreaches like this state-wide, but I'm starting to notice that the day doesn't have enough hours. Can anyone fix that for me?

Feedback would be great.

Chris