Total Team Effort

We’ve got challenges and it is going to take a team effort to meet them. Last year we started two new non-profit organizations to address specific concerns within our overall Grow Boating effort. We also found ourselves in the midst of a very expensive appeal of a storm water permit for boatyards in the State of Washington.

I decided to write about these three challenges because right after the Seattle Boat Show is over, you will get a letter from me asking for financial support for these efforts.

Before I get into the specifics, it is worth reviewing the basic value proposition of membership in an association. I think it goes like this. Companies pay dues and receive an agreed-upon set of benefits. In exchange, the association tries to deliver as many services while minimizing the annual dues. Agree?

But what happens in the real world is that stuff happens and challenges come up along the way. Association revenues do not cover these unexpected issues so from time to time there are special “asks.” The church I grew up in always passed the plate once before communion, but on some Sundays there was a second offering and that is what I am suggesting we do this month.

There are three issues where we need special funding. We have talked about them before so here are the Reader’s Digest Summaries of the challenge and the need:

Fish Northwest – We started this organization in 2006 because we needed to create a broad-based group that could put a “Business Face on Recreational Fishing.” To put it another way, we knew it was time to step into the public policy debate and advocate for recreational anglers. Bottom line: more fishing opportunities are good for our industry and we need elected officials and the regulatory agencies to appreciate the economic value of recreational fishing. We raised enough money to get the organization off the ground and incorporated; now we need to give it proper funding so it can do its work.

Shoreline Property Owners and Contractors Association (SPOCA) – We started this organization at the end of 2005 because we needed to level the playing field in the public policy decisions around shoreline development. The rules, regulations and permits for doing work on docks, pilings, piers and bulkheads was drastically hurting our industry. More than anything, our members who do this work were being frustrated at every turn by the inconsistent application of rules and mounting red-tape between all scores of regulatory agencies. Again, we raised enough money to get the organization off the ground and incorporated; now we need to give it proper funding so it can do its work.

Boatyard Legal Defense Fund – We started raising money four years ago but in 2006 we really stepped it up in order to try and get a fair and reasonable storm water permit for the boatyards in Washington State. This is a complicated issue but the simplest way to look at it is this: Boatyards are a key piece of the recreational boating industry. They have been unfairly singled out by regulators for the copper runoff from their yards when it rains. We have spent over $120,000 in legal and consulting fees to defend the Department of Ecology’s most recent permit. We still do not have the results from the hearing which was held last July. We have raised over $67,000 but this has created a huge whole in our annual budget. Bottom line: This is not a boatyard issue; it is a boating industry issue.

I want to express my appreciation and thanks to everyone on the Board of Trustees to the members who have already contributed to these three special appeals. When you get a letter from me this month there will be three separate contribution envelopes and more detail on each of these three challenges. I hope that you will take the time to learn more about each of them and then pick the cause or causes that you choose to support over and above your annual dues.

We have a world-class organization and as we start 2007 we have some mountains to climb. We need everyone pulling their oar in the same direction and we need all the resources that you can contribute to achieve our goals.

With warm regards,

Michael Campbell
President
michael@nmta.net