utahmike
Lobbyist \ Consultant
- Location
- Salt Lake City, UT
Let me start this thread by saying, I love our sport, and Utah's lands and scenery! I am in this position because I am fiercely loyal and committed to protect access for ALL of us. This is not a temporary gig for me. I will be involved w/ this stuff till the day I die or someone nukes SUWA's 4 offices. Kidding. I love U4WDA, and think everyone who owns a full-size should be a member. In fact I need to repent and sign up myself, and I will do so.
I get this question allot, "If I am a member of XYZ Club or Association, am I a member of USA-ALL?"
This is a tough one for me to answer. But in general the answer is almost surely, "no."
We have many great club and organizational supporters. Until recently a club could join for $100 / year. We have been so grateful to those who have joined. But with respect to the question am I member of USA-ALL by virtue of a certain club. You need to ask yourself if it makes sense if an organization like U4WDA, joins USA-ALL and gives a hundred bucks does that make all 80+ members of U4WDA members of USA-ALL? First off look at it financially, $100/ club or (80 members x $30.00) $2400? What do you think? You know we're not a club, we operate like a business, and we have office expenses, lawyer salaries, court costs, payroll, and other operating expenses. We need those membership donations, without them we're dead in the water. I would love to offer memberships to everyone and anyone, but what good would that do any of us if we couldn’t afford to operate?
You also have to look at it from a political standpoint. We need names, addresses and other contact info, in our membership database. When I meet w/ elected officials, and I often and regularly do, I need to be able to honestly say I represent “X” amount of people. The larger this number the better off we are. Now I know that in a way, having a club on board means we indirectly represent that clubs members. But it isn’t quite the same.
We have restructured our donation amounts for Individual and for clubs/organizations. That info is in our latest newsletter and will soon be on our new website. We will allow members of member clubs to join USA-ALL for ten dollars less than the normal membership donation (normally $30.00/year). You just need to indicate which club you belong too. We are still working some of this out but for the most part it's a done deal.
Ideally your club would collect membership fees from you and have you fill out a USA-ALL membership form and then mail in your money and form. But we realize most clubs for various reasons won’t do that.
U4WDA is the first organization I would recomend a person into 4-wheelin join after ours. Our organizations can compliment one another. Over the past few years U4WDA has been a great supporter in word and ($$) deed of USA-ALL, lately they have been investing money into their jeep. As, I understand it some of this money will be donated to USA-ALL. I completely support their efforts and think it is a great idea. Nevertheless, we are always in need of your individual memberships.
Those clubs who claim joining them "automatically" means you are a member of USA-ALL are guilty of robbing a noble organization of funds. It really bothers me when clubs and organizations claim to be defending public land access, and then do nothing but talk. Those funds they collect could have been placed with us and used to produce constructive results. We truly work on the issues and get things done. There is no other organization in Utah like us and that has our experience, connections, and infrastructure. To place money or time anywhere else is wasteful. It only dilutes our ability to be more effective. An exception to this would be if another organization was working on an issue that we don’t have the time or resource to get into. Such as a small local issue that affects you immediate club only. I think I am making sense here, if not call me don’t assume I am belittling smaller organizations because I am not.
When joining or renewing with a club claiming to be involved w/ access issues, you should always ask the questions, where do the funds go, what accomplishments have you done lately, and what issues are you currently working on? If there is ever a question call our office, our fingers are on the pulse of all of the issues across the State, we will let you know what the real skinny is.
You know, all we want to do is keep routes open, we aren’t trying to milk people, nobody is getting rich off this, my wife is about to kill me cause all I do is work on these issues, you have to know how much we care about responsible access and the welfare and quality of our lands. We care deeply. We are all on the same team, It's the right side and we're proud to be among such fine organizations and individuals.
I hope this thread doesn’t piss anyone off but again the answer to the original question is, "no, you're not a member, but you can be." We truly need support from ALL of you, and your friends, family, neighbors and associates. Spread the word and help us out. Look for a new buddy sign-up program to hit in a little over a month, I promised BRC we wouldn’t do ours until they release their program, since it was originally their idea. Stay tuned for ways to sign up your buds for very little. In the meantime get yourselves signed up and let’s kick some enviro butt.
I get this question allot, "If I am a member of XYZ Club or Association, am I a member of USA-ALL?"
This is a tough one for me to answer. But in general the answer is almost surely, "no."
We have many great club and organizational supporters. Until recently a club could join for $100 / year. We have been so grateful to those who have joined. But with respect to the question am I member of USA-ALL by virtue of a certain club. You need to ask yourself if it makes sense if an organization like U4WDA, joins USA-ALL and gives a hundred bucks does that make all 80+ members of U4WDA members of USA-ALL? First off look at it financially, $100/ club or (80 members x $30.00) $2400? What do you think? You know we're not a club, we operate like a business, and we have office expenses, lawyer salaries, court costs, payroll, and other operating expenses. We need those membership donations, without them we're dead in the water. I would love to offer memberships to everyone and anyone, but what good would that do any of us if we couldn’t afford to operate?
You also have to look at it from a political standpoint. We need names, addresses and other contact info, in our membership database. When I meet w/ elected officials, and I often and regularly do, I need to be able to honestly say I represent “X” amount of people. The larger this number the better off we are. Now I know that in a way, having a club on board means we indirectly represent that clubs members. But it isn’t quite the same.
We have restructured our donation amounts for Individual and for clubs/organizations. That info is in our latest newsletter and will soon be on our new website. We will allow members of member clubs to join USA-ALL for ten dollars less than the normal membership donation (normally $30.00/year). You just need to indicate which club you belong too. We are still working some of this out but for the most part it's a done deal.
Ideally your club would collect membership fees from you and have you fill out a USA-ALL membership form and then mail in your money and form. But we realize most clubs for various reasons won’t do that.
U4WDA is the first organization I would recomend a person into 4-wheelin join after ours. Our organizations can compliment one another. Over the past few years U4WDA has been a great supporter in word and ($$) deed of USA-ALL, lately they have been investing money into their jeep. As, I understand it some of this money will be donated to USA-ALL. I completely support their efforts and think it is a great idea. Nevertheless, we are always in need of your individual memberships.
Those clubs who claim joining them "automatically" means you are a member of USA-ALL are guilty of robbing a noble organization of funds. It really bothers me when clubs and organizations claim to be defending public land access, and then do nothing but talk. Those funds they collect could have been placed with us and used to produce constructive results. We truly work on the issues and get things done. There is no other organization in Utah like us and that has our experience, connections, and infrastructure. To place money or time anywhere else is wasteful. It only dilutes our ability to be more effective. An exception to this would be if another organization was working on an issue that we don’t have the time or resource to get into. Such as a small local issue that affects you immediate club only. I think I am making sense here, if not call me don’t assume I am belittling smaller organizations because I am not.
When joining or renewing with a club claiming to be involved w/ access issues, you should always ask the questions, where do the funds go, what accomplishments have you done lately, and what issues are you currently working on? If there is ever a question call our office, our fingers are on the pulse of all of the issues across the State, we will let you know what the real skinny is.
You know, all we want to do is keep routes open, we aren’t trying to milk people, nobody is getting rich off this, my wife is about to kill me cause all I do is work on these issues, you have to know how much we care about responsible access and the welfare and quality of our lands. We care deeply. We are all on the same team, It's the right side and we're proud to be among such fine organizations and individuals.
I hope this thread doesn’t piss anyone off but again the answer to the original question is, "no, you're not a member, but you can be." We truly need support from ALL of you, and your friends, family, neighbors and associates. Spread the word and help us out. Look for a new buddy sign-up program to hit in a little over a month, I promised BRC we wouldn’t do ours until they release their program, since it was originally their idea. Stay tuned for ways to sign up your buds for very little. In the meantime get yourselves signed up and let’s kick some enviro butt.
good info...next paycheck you will have a new member 
