President's Logbook
By Jim Fetig
Everyone’s heard of Occam’s Razor: The simplest and most obvious answer is usually the correct one. Writer A. O. Scott coined a corollary he called Occam’s Chainsaw: Whoever makes the most noise and debris gets the attention. No matter why, we’ve been converting gasoline to noise and generating a lot of sawdust lately.
VolunteerFest, primarily organized and managed by Jayne Mayne and Iva Gillett, by all accounts, was enjoyed by those who participated. The event’s purpose was to celebrate our tradition of volunteer service and stewardship. It brought together people who normally don’t see one another no matter where they volunteer across our entire 45,000 square mile footprint.
The constitutionally required November annual meeting will take place virtually on November 18th at 7pm EST. All members are welcome to join. Our annual awards ceremony was at VolunteerFest, so please join us for a short and sweet meeting highlighting PATC’s work from the last year, the president’s state of the club message, and the treasurer’s report. For more info and to register, click here.
Our club is strong and vibrant. However, we are living in “interesting” times with a range of questions that cannot be answered now. For example, how will changes to the federal workforce affect membership and cabin rentals? What will happen to public lands? Depending on what does or does not happen to public lands, how will PATC’s mission be affected? There are many more questions than these.
A member at the VolunteerFest town hall meeting asked for my vision for the club. If anyone expected me to say something like growing the membership by a large percentage or the number of cabins, they aren’t looking at the same data as me.
My vision is to strengthen the club to weather any storm that may come our way. To that end, we’ve continued to improve our business processes and we have added rigor to the budgeting process. In keeping with council’s directive, we have reduced the deficit well within the amount the quasi endowment is expected to cover.
In that same vein, the endowment committee has managed our invested funds conservatively and well. The quasi-endowment’s value has exceeded $6 million for the first time ever. It is a bulwark standing against unforeseen costs and provides money for land and cabin acquisition when appropriate. It is an asset that most nonprofits like ours do not have.
We are starting to see some trends. More newly retired civil servants are attending our monthly new member meetings. Most of them want to volunteer, suggesting that their public service ethos is alive and well. On the back side, we are losing about as many members as we attract. Most of the folks not renewing their memberships joined solely to rent a members-only cabin.
We are working hard to address our liability issues. I’ve used the metaphor about running the club out of a “cigar box” before. We have determined that we must increase our liability insurance coverage and take other steps to financially protect our leaders at all levels. We have grown beyond the ability of flying under the radar.
We also are planning some cost-effective brand projection in conjunction with two national park fee free days next year – Show Your Love Day and National Trails Day. The heart of the effort will be underwriting on WAMU radio and targeted ads on Instagram and Facebook. Success will be measured by new members gained and donations received.
The Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group has asked to sign a partnership MOU with the club establishing a nonlegal and nonfinancial relationship. Their legal and financial affiliation was dissolved several years ago due to liability insurance issues.
When the government shut down, although parks remained open, volunteering was initially not allowed. That changed quickly but with some limitations. Hats off to our dedicated volunteers who continue to help keep the parks and trails accessible. You are the heartbeat of this organization.
