So about the corporate sponsorship of the NSMBA

[trail worker]

How exactly will the NSMBA benefit from these sponsors? No doubt they will be a good thing, but exactly what are they donating?they're name on a sheet of paper? money to buy materials?
I was a little unclear exactly what the get go was..
thanx

[cam@nsmb.com]

Corporate sponsors = cash

[trail worker]

Originally posted by cam@nsmb.com
Corporate sponsors = cash
cool,thats great.
thanks for clearing it up for me:)

[TheGiggler]

can't hurt with Crediblity either (not that I think it was lacking before) :)

.... is there any need for members such as ourselves to thank these Companies for their support. or hassle others to step up?

[dirty deeds]

The following was my initial correspondence with industry companies and pretty much sums up the program:


Re: Corporate support for NSMBA

North Shore Mountain Biking Association (“NSMBA”) (www.nsmba.bc.ca) is currently facing some of its biggest challenges in our 5-year history.

As a result of the recent dramatic increase in mountain biker usage of North Shore trails we have seen:
 An increase in the time and cost to maintain trails;
 Parking and traffic flow concerns by residents being taken to municipal authorities; and
 Increased dealing with land managers in regard to access, maintenance and the nature of trails.

Up until now NSMBA, with the limited funds provided by membership fees and many thousands of members volunteer hours, has managed to keep our trails maintained, open and challenging, as well as being the voice for mountain biking on the North Shore.

However, we feel that in order to successfully face our responsibilities as a legitimate sport on the North Shore and to assert our rights to land access, we now need the support of corporations within the mountain biking industry. We can no longer face the challenges by relying solely on the generosity of riders.

In order to have more clout with the municipalities we need a bigger membership base. We would like to offer free individual memberships (with a donation option). We feel this would attract thousands of members and give us a much stronger voice within the community. Obviously this would leave us in a financial shortfall at a time when the costs of maintaining the trails and administering an organized response to those who may oppose us is rising dramatically.

Hence our desire to establish a corporate membership program within NSMBA. We are not looking for a title sponsor, or a company looking to leverage their support into increased bike sales. What we need is for those bike industry companies who derive a large revenue stream and advertising exposure from the North Shore, to step up the plate and support those who have made the North Shore what it is today – the riders.

We see the program working in the following manner:
 An annual corporate membership fee of $500. All corporate members will receive recognition on our web-site, trail days and member mail outs etc.
 Professional rider membership. We would like to see all of your professional riders as members, a step that we feel would help add to our individual membership drive.
 Product donations as prizes will encourage members to come out on trail days to help the cause.

We feel we are facing a critical time in the evolution of the sport on the North Shore. The next couple of years may be defining, not only for our patch of earth but for others around the globe. We are one of the birthplaces of mountain biking and have been at the forefront in the evolution of the sport. We would like to think we could develop a template whereby we can not only exist, but also thrive in harmony with the environment and neighborhoods around us.

To achieve our goals we do need your support.

[Lady Gravity]

that's totally awesome - props to all those companies that stepped up to the plate.

[SIDESHOW]

give me a hit list of all the "honches" you need on board and I will get em.............if it will help. I saw that in your goals section.

[ride24/7]

Not that I needed any encouragement cuz they are all quality companies, but I know who will be getting my hard earned $ next time I'm gear shopping. Good to see thes companies stepping up. But that doesn't mean the volunteers and regular members should think they are off the hook. All the riders need to step up as well... So if you aren't a member and haven't thrown a few $ to the nsmba it's time and past time you did. I want to be rippin' it up on the shore for the next 30 years at least .

[bruiser d]

this is excellent news for nsmba as well as the north shore.thanks to the sponsors and to all the hard work the nsmba executive does.props to all of you and if you have not joined.........THEN JOIN NSMBA:thepimp:

[dirty deeds]

For people who have emailed me asking what they can do to help, I would say the most important thing is to join NSMBA by the following link and come out on some trail days and join in the fun. Once you meet a few of the people involved you may see an other role where you could step up your involvement in some way.

http://www.nsmba.bc.ca/cms/index.php?option=displaypage&Itemid=62&op=page&SubMenu=

It is a print off, fill out and mail back process right now. We are working on upgrading to an online enrolment system... but hey, we're all volunteers trying to do this in our spare time and so it takes time to get things rolling. For now, please take the time to join. Every single one is important

Thanks

[LeeLau]

Big thanks to Dirty Deeds who is making the corporate sponsorship thing happen after many years of my haphazard effort.

[polytics]

Originally posted by ride24/7
Not that I needed any encouragement cuz they are all quality companies, but I know who will be getting my hard earned $ next time I'm gear shopping. Good to see thes companies stepping up. But that doesn't mean the volunteers and regular members should think they are off the hook. All the riders need to step up as well... So if you aren't a member and haven't thrown a few $ to the nsmba it's time and past time you did. I want to be rippin' it up on the shore for the next 30 years at least .

I was going to say the say thing... Think I'll buy that Rocky after all :)

[Zaskar]

i am super stoked.

my feelings are,

on the down side, in a way its a bit of a slap to the face of the nsmba from us riders. to me it's saying that not enough riders are signing up and contributing so they've turned to corporate sponsors to give them the politicial credibility and money needed. the membership numbers weren't big enough to have the clout required to fight for the mountains. why? because the percentage of members to riders is still not large enough. more riders sghould sign up, and despite the fact it's free i think people should still throw in some cash if they're riding the shore alot. i mean, you pay your city taxes for god only knows what (apparently building roads and stuff?) so wouldnt you feel good actually giving money to an organization for trail construction and feel GOOD about it.

on the other hand, i think its a win win situation. corporations give back and help out the shore while they get some publicity and good deeds are a killer promotion for your product. so the NSMBA gets money and the corporations don't really lose out on much more than 500$. also helps the NSMBA get some more back up for mountain issues, never a bad thing either (on a side note: did the counsellors proposal and the outcry from bikers sway these companies to help? or was this a work in progress even before that?).

...overall. very cool. i just think people shouldn't forget the NSMBA depends on rider membership, i'll be signen up for 04 when my computer starts letting me print hahahaha

[ATN]

On a whole I think it's a very good thing.

As for individual registrations, I'm registered myself, I worked the IDNS booth, I have the sig link, yet still it's hard to sign people up :???: Beats me!

[Zaskar]

maybe once the NSMBA amkes completely online registration available, NSMB could add in to their bulletin board registration a requirement (or suggestion/entry box below) for the NSMBA?

couldnt hurt.

[dirty deeds]

Originally posted by Zaskar
i am super stoked.

the percentage of members to riders is still not large enough. more riders sghould sign up, and despite the fact it's free i think people should still throw in some cash if they're riding the shore alot.

You nailed it. The money these companies put in won't cover the total annual cost of running NSMBA and our trail work. It doesn't take the onus off individuals. We need those membership #'s and donations.

Also, we would like to be able to help and be more proactive for groups like the 'Shed Club and Woodlot etc. and other areas around the lower mainland. It all takes people and $

Originally posted by Zaskar
(on a side note: did the counsellors proposal and the outcry from bikers sway these companies to help? or was this a work in progress even before that?).

I've been working on it since last October and most companies were committed before the council meeting. They recognize the work we are doing, on the trails as well as behind the scenes, and they realize that the threat of trail closures is happening all over the globe not just in our world. It's in there best interests.

Originally posted by Zaskar
i just think people shouldn't forget the NSMBA depends on rider membership, i'll be signen up for 04 when my computer starts letting me print hahahaha

Don't forget.

One of our problems is that a lot of people just put joining off because it's a nuisance. It's means printing off and filling in a form, and maybe sending off a $20 donation with it. Is that so hard?

[aShogunNamedMarcus]

Originally posted by dirty deeds
Don't forget.

One of our problems is that a lot of people just put joining off because it's a nuisance. It's means printing off and filling in a form, and maybe sending off a $20 donation with it. Is that so hard?

I'll start canvassing with forms today :P - j'k

how about this for an idea - some how get the LBS's who support the NSMBA to include the $20 in the cost of a new bike and then in turn, when a bike gets purchased, this proud new owner can also be a member before he starts riding. Maybe even have a card detailing ettiquette and such to attach to the bikes.

just a left field thought.

And thanks Peter - the hard work is definately appreciated.

[dirty deeds]

Originally posted by aShogunNamedMarcus
how about this for an idea - some how get the LBS's who support the NSMBA to include the $20 in the cost of a new bike and then in turn, when a bike gets purchased, this proud new owner can also be a member before he starts riding. Maybe even have a card detailing ettiquette and such to attach to the bikes.


Sharon knows a lot more than me about who does what, so what I say here may be totally wrong, however it is my understanding that all the NS bike stores are armed with a stock of membership forms and they have all said they will try to get 1 membership for every bike sold.

In practice, I don't think it happens too much. It's one of those, 'yeah, we'll do that' things where there's no follow through.

I'll talk to Sharon about it though. NSMBA should probably have a person who is willing to take on the task of visiting the shops every couple of weeks and picking up the forms and reminding shop staff to do it. Volunteer, anyone?

[bunny]

that would be me :)

if anyone else would like to take this over i am usually short of time so i'm not there nearly as much as i should... also at the moment we have nobody doing this off the shore so anyone who can do this at their lbs let me know.

as for adding the $20 to the cost of the bike i don't think (i may be wrong) we can really force people who buy a bike to sign up or pay, although it would be nice.

[ATN]

I'm sure we will have a good discussion on this at the meeting at the end of the month, including how many members we'd get if the focus was expanded including Burke, Shed, Woodlot, etc. I will be there pitching the off-shore idea because Burke needs it.

[dirty deeds]

Our friends at Norco go an extra step:

http://www.norco.com/news/0403_nsmba.htm

Thanks guys

[aShogunNamedMarcus]

I'll tentatively take on the off-shore duties for NSMBA

Just give me some details :)

[aShogunNamedMarcus]

Also - from my limited experiences in the past I've noticed that say you have 300 members and have a trail day coming up, usually only a small core group show up - how can we get the maximum number of members to show?

Perhaps we need a steward for each mountain or certain trails that essentially advocate for their 'territory'. I only know of Jeremy by his name in regards to Neds (I hope its Jeremy) and he seems to take it upon himself to do this. Is there a way this can be incorporated?

Or take some polls on here to see which trails the riders view need the most work and hopefully that can lead to a greater turn out since those people like that trail and have always thought ' hey i wish someone could buff this up'.

[piledriver]

Big PROPS to you Peter, great job with the Corp Membership drive since coming on board to help out.

Also Big Thanks to all companies signed-on so far, and to those who will sign on soon.
Other than just helping out with much needed funding (for tools, supplies, administrative materials, etc) and inspriring others to pitch-in, a critical benifit from Corp Sponsorship is that it demonstrates to the rest of the public the re-investment of earnings into the community. Don't underestimate the value of this.
The various landowners, including local governments and others like the District of North Vancouver (DNV), Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve (LSCR), BC Parks, GVRD , District of West Vancouver (DWV) etc ALL have stated repeatedy that if they are going to be asked to provide services and / or other forms of support to allow continued Mountain Biking on the North Shore, then those companies who directly profit from the existence, scope and ongoing maintenance of the north shore trails, such as local bike manufactures and bike shops, should all be contributing back rather than just taking from.
And don't come back with the argument "why should they when sports stores don't do the same for soccer fields and hockey rinks", because this is different! If you want it the same (which eventually it may well be) then to have local governments redsitribute significant tax dollars to trail maintenance will require not only user fees for everyone but will result in the likelyhood of politicians, burocrats and lawyers (nothing personal folks) who may not have a clue about MTB'ing establishing how, when and where you'll be riding, or, there will be nothing other than Whistler-type bike parks. Neither appeals to me.
We are incredibly fortunate to have the terrain conditions and the relatioinships we do with the landowners. Let's all appreciate it and work to improve it for the benifit of all of us.

And for evryone else...helping out like Dirty Deeds is exactly what it takes for us to continue to improve in all areas. Volunteers willing to take on tasks, any tasks, even the smallest ones....but the key is to actually step up and do something.

We'll even start publishing regular lists of specific things needed doing if that will help.
Thanks for listening.

Keep Diggin' The Shore......PD :thepimp:

[ATN]

Originally posted by aShogunNamedMarcus
Also - from my limited experiences in the past I've noticed that say you have 300 members and have a trail day coming up, usually only a small core group show up - how can we get the maximum number of members to show?

Perhaps we need a steward for each mountain or certain trails that essentially advocate for their 'territory'. I only know of Jeremy by his name in regards to Neds (I hope its Jeremy) and he seems to take it upon himself to do this. Is there a way this can be incorporated?

Or take some polls on here to see which trails the riders view need the most work and hopefully that can lead to a greater turn out since those people like that trail and have always thought ' hey i wish someone could buff this up'.

It could happen like:

NSMBA Pres
Vice Pres
Etc
-Shore Director
--Seymour Coordinator (Jeremy prolly)
--Fromme Coordinator
--Cypress Coordinator
-Simon Fraser Director (I'll volunteer)
--Burke Director (me again)
--Eagle Director (when the time comes)
-Fraser South Director (ASGNM)

and etcetera.