Progress and Scope

[Artsay]

Hey all,

To keep on track, I want to outline my goals for the next two months and get some answers to some things I'm unsure of.

My stuff:
1. Secure date for UK Fundraiser (April 5th)
2. Help plan press release
3. Make T-shirts (I'm working with several people on a KICK ASS design and hope to have these made by mid-February)
4. Help secure more local shwag for UK Fundraiser (gift certs to shops, bowling, restaurants, etc.)
5. Create the next fundraiser - I'm going to setup a site where people can pledge a percentage of their tax return. This is my next big push for fundraising.

Where are we going with?
1. Mountain biking trail building and donation campaign (Matt?)
2. Access Fund (when should we hear back?)

Questions for Charlie (RRGCC):
1. What is the RRGCC currently doing to generate funds?
2. What's the status of the RRGCC's non-profit IRS approval?

[charlie]

1) Have some stuff at home I can get together to answer that question, but off the top of my head that's a tricky one. Lots of people out there working on this stuff.

2) Good news! We actually got an agent to review our application. We just got a letter asking for clarification on some things but it looks like we're going to get it soon.

[Artsay]

Thanks for the reply, Charlie...
That is GREAT news! Please keep us informed. As soon as it's official we can start going for corporate donations.

[Meadows]

3. Make T-shirts (I'm working with several people on a KICK ASS design and hope to have these made by mid-February)

Hey Michelle: I saw Josh's designs. One was a little off the wall, but the other was really awesome. How are you going to determine which to use? Let us vote?

[Artsay]

Once I have the final design, I plan on posting it for feedback. Everyone that's seen what we're going with so far loves it.

[Meadows]

Thanks for the reply, Charlie...
That is GREAT news! Please keep us informed. As soon as it's official we can start going for corporate donations.

I might've mentioned this before, and I was able to do this my current company, but a lot of companies match donations to organizations that benefity humanity and the environment. And many employees do not know this so once we're official, we could bring this to everyone's attention to see if it's a possibility with their company.

[Paul3eb]

time to post my sorry reports:

doing (dated to before "red" meetings):
1. trying to figure out what i can and want to do for the "climbers that care" type stuff (have to contact other non-profs)
2. wrote a few small things for the coalition, including a "thank you" letter for paypal donations.. but it's not been finalized and sent out i guess.
3. talking to whitney boland about getting some articles published (she said one in paducah is pretty much go; she sent a query letter to "outside"; could be working on a bigger project for "rock and ice")
4. going to contact j_ung at rockclimbing.com about having a direct link on the front page to the paypal donation site
5. still working on a map of the property (sorry, things at work have put this at complete stop for the last two weeks)
6. currently putting together a newletter; have what would be a paper version done (one piece of paper, front and back, trifold); working on something more like the fomv e-newsletter. would be several more pages with different stuff.. waiting to hear back from some people.
7. talked with morgain briefly about a social-type event in april

don't feel like i've actually got much done, honestly. i've "worked" on a bunch.. but not much has happened with it i guess. i just don't know where to go with a lot of it, i guess. i don't have any contacts, really. i don't feel like i should approach a lot of people (read: business owners) about donating stuff since, 1) don't know if they've been contacted already or will be, and 2) i've never done it before and don't feel very good/comfortable about my ability to ask and get something out of it.

questions:
1. are we still aiming for paying it off early? if so, what's our plan? and how do we express need when it appears we don't have much of one?
2. can we or the rrgcc have more money raising events? i'm talking about net $3000 or more events. the best i can come up with is something like a "relay for life" type thing: get people to pledge .xx cents per foot of climbing that you do on xx day. work out the math and make it work.. make any sense?
3. anyone have any new ideas about what can be done? other than piecemeal raffles or events, i feel like we don't have much we can do to really generate funds.. corporate? that hasn't seem to really come through big like we need it to..

ok.. that's all i can come up with for now. sorry there's not more to say i've actually done.

hope all is well with everyone.. i've heard some good things are happening.. let's hear 'em

[RRO]

Im sorry I have been out of the loop. Its late tonight, I will post my stuff Saturday.

[Pete]

i'll try to update from my end sometime this week, it has just been crazy busy...

please ask bob/bill about the Access Fund timeline, I'm not sure of that...

diane

[Pete]

Ok, back for my update, but I really don't have much to say - I handed off text on the Business Plan, etc. to Bill and Bob; I made contact w/ Rep. Smith and passed that contact info on to Bob; I wrote the AF grant and passed it on to Bob and Bill... since then I've not been doing a whole lot. I'm happy to help out w/ fundraising events, etc. as needed, but haven't been checking the board a lot...

I'm happy to do any other writing/press release kinds of stuff as well - probably best to just PM me if there is something specific I can do.

Thanks for keeping the fire going - I know progress has slowed, but now that the climbers are coming back we can start to get the word out at Miguels, RRO, etc. - and that should capture a different demographic than the site alone has.

Diane