Muir Valley - 2012 Fundraising and Awareness

[ynp1]

There are very few signs in MV... I think one about donations would be great, also more GATES! It worked in the PMRP so well. I don't know about you but I love pushing gates open, and if they are locked I really like kicking them open!

Good luck with the donations, and yes I have donated in the little white box a few times, but don't climb there to much.

[kato]

Artsay, I was thinking about this some more and something just hit me- not sure why it took me so long to realize this. A comp to benefit Muir would probably work best not as a donation drive, but as a pledge drive. In other words, you don't take people's cash, you take their credit card number along with a pledge to donate X$ every month. Once you have the cc number, they do not have to worry about it or carry cash to the crag, you just deduct the pledged amount every month.

This way, people with the intention to donate will not have to worry about remembering, and you only have to convince them one time, not every month. Also Muir will have a more reliable way to anticipate what the income will be for coming months.

[JeffCastro]

If this was already covered i apologize. I am wondering if donations to FOMV are tax deductible? I always put cash in the box when i climb in Muir valley but i thought if it is tax deductible i will just send a check once per year to make it easier for my records.

[toad857]

Artsay, I was thinking about this some more and something just hit me- not sure why it took me so long to realize this. A comp to benefit Muir would probably work best not as a donation drive, but as a pledge drive. In other words, you don't take people's cash, you take their credit card number along with a pledge to donate X$ every month. Once you have the cc number, they do not have to worry about it or carry cash to the crag, you just deduct the pledged amount every month.

This way, people with the intention to donate will not have to worry about remembering, and you only have to convince them one time, not every month. Also Muir will have a more reliable way to anticipate what the income will be for coming months.

that's a good idea

[Steve_RRG]

If this was already covered i apologize. I am wondering if donations to FOMV are tax deductible? I always put cash in the box when i climb in Muir valley but i thought if it is tax deductible i will just send a check once per year to make it easier for my records.

I traded emails with Rick a couple weeks ago and he said FOMV is not 501c(3) tax deductible yet. They are working on the application for it and hope to get it this year.

The tax deduction would help some. RRGCC is tax deductible.
Steve

[truthmiracle]

Comps are a great way to raise cash. I was at the first 3 Phoenix Bouldering Competitions in Phoenix, Az. From very humble beginnings in 1982, long before climbing was mainstream, it grew into a monster- drawing top talent, having huge prizes and a very large field of thousands of participants, and drawing all the big corporate sponsors. (Aside- I've been gone from the southwest for a long time now, and don't know the current state of the PBC, which I think became the AZ BC. I heard through the Access fund that a mining company was likely going to, finally, get the authorization to mine the area and obliterate the bouldering field and numerous short sport routes in the area. Haven't kept up with that either. Too many battles going on to fight them all... I took third place one time and got a #3.5 cam, which I dropped off of Half Dome a short time later, LOL!)

I foresee some issues with doing a major comp at Muir Valley: 1)Impact 2) Logistics

You can't have everything and if you want to do a major fundraising comp at MV, there will be significant environmental impact. There's plenty of suitable (Flat and open) ground in the bottom of the valley, but the shuttle up and down the hill would be very problematic. There would be significant impact with everyone camping and hanging out, etc. Portapottys, the whole 9 yards. The available space at the top of the hill is too small for a major comp. A possible solution would be to have the camping and festivities elsewhere, perhaps Land of Arches or someplace even bigger, someone's empty field maybe. We could even use shuttle vans, etc. Then the impact to MV would be minimal- just another very high volume climbing day. That would be my suggested solution. (I have an awareness that is not shared by all- that the impact of just traveling to the RRG is considerably more damaging than anything that happens once people are there. Fossil fuels are a finite resource and oil is running out and the consumption of fossil fuels is wrecking the world in many different ways.)

I can likely reestablish long dormant connections to the organizers of the PBC for advice. I know that judging and having many different categories for people to compete in are important details. Please LMK if you want me to do that. Thanks. I'd like to help MV very much. I'm blown away by what the Webers have done. I'd bet that the PBC generated near $100,000 for many years running. It may have even exceeded that amount. This can be done, and it's a hell of a lot of fun too!

[truthmiracle]

Correction- Reading the newspaper clipping, I can see that it was originally the Central Az. BC and I guess it became the PBC later. It began with a group of us just all showing up at the same time and competing with each other. It became an official comp with an entry fee, judges, prizes, etc. a few years later.

[truthmiracle]

The Beanfest was the original climbing party that helped generate the PBC. I can't find any current info on the PBC, so I guess it finally died after what I think was a 20+ year run. If something like this were attempted for MV, I'd recommend having both a fun section along the lines of the "Clip and Go" contest of Rocktoberfest and a serious section for very advanced climbers. It would be necessary to include other areas like the Lode, and really hard routes at other areas, if this was done. Super hard routes would need to be included to bring the really big names and increase sponsorship. It's a hell of a lot of work, but a very good time and could benefit both MV and the RRGCC. A significant downside might be further publicizing the Red and therefore increasing usage and benefit dinners, concerts and the like might be better options.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beanfest

[Spikeddem]

Okay, so the concern is reaching people that would normally not see the requests for donations? These kinds of groups would be like spring breakers, gym rats, etc, yes? There's one thing that all of these people do at the Gorge. The Saturday night's filled up parking lot, filled up overflow parking lot, and parking down the road suggests that getting some 'za at Miguel's Pizza is still considered the thing to do (for some of these people, I honestly think it's the most important thing to do...more so than the actual climbing). How has this strategy worked for the RRGCC with that kiosk?

Perhaps Miguels Pizza could do some kind of a "Your total comes to $32.00 for the group, would you like to donate $5 to help keep Muir Valley open?" I admit that could get annoying for any rrg regulars that are still addicted to the pizza.

Perhaps a sign in the bathroom--opposite the toilet--that says, "we will release the toilet snakes if you do not drop $5 into the container to your right." Best to make it holographic so it cannot be seen until it is too late.

Or, going back to Muir Valley, perhaps a second donation box along the main access road (the Weber private drive road)? Ideally it would be two-sided such that people see it walking in AND walking out.

[truthmiracle]

It's fine to ask for donations, but I'm not surprised by the results, or lack thereof. To really make a dent, it'll take a major effort at fundraising in some way.