Our Club is dying

[green40]

Yankee Toys is a small TLCA member club located in New England. Most of our members live in Mass, RI, Conn, NH and VT. Everyone is probably within 150 miles of each other, traveling to the few trails we have isn't a big problem.
Membership is declining, getting people to volunteer is difficult (same few always help).
We need to know the secrets of the big clubs (LSLC, Rising Sun and others) What do you guys do to keep things fresh, attract new members, keep the others coming back?

Thanks
Lane Noyes
74FJ40
TLCA
Yankee Toys
Swanzey NH

[Texican]

Lane read thru " yet another perspective " I just bumped for you, then go thru the pages here, there are several threads on what you are asking.
At LSLC since several of us migrated from a large generic 4x4 club in Dallas, we took the good from that club and shitcanned the bad. if it ain't fun, we don't do it, or the club officers handle it without making the members sit thru it. Boring meetings with parlimentery procedure is one thing none of us could stand from our former club, so we never have banged a gavel.
If I can help PM me.
Butch

[green40]

Thanks Butch!
Lane

[dd113]

Funny enough, Butch is 100% right. We have a 2nd club in ATlanta in the footsteps of LSLC. No crap ever. Its hard to make it work but worth it in the long run. The biggest challenge I see is keeping people motovated. Personal calls go a long way.

[Exiled]

I've been a member of four different TLCA chapters, some very successful, some not nearly as much, and there is a single secret: having fun. When it stops being fun, then what's the point? I work 60, sometimes 70 hour weeks, have a 4-month old at the house and a boatload of projects. When I go to a Cruiser meeting, I want to relax, shoot the shit, look at other people's Cruisers, share my ideas with them, and just generally spend a good time with like-minded people. When I start taking crap because I haven't gone on the last X number of wheeling trips, when I take flak because I'm not as "hard core" as the other hard core big dogs, then I start questioning the validity of devoting my precious free time to attend the meeting....

Proximity to good, VARIED trails is another important factor to a club's long-term viability. When the wheeling is limited and trips involve long drives and/or serious schedule juggling, it's tough to commit.

Clubs/chapters that do not accomodate for different attitudes/approaches to being a Cruiserhead are doomed to fail. If every meeting is just a social gathering, those that are wheeling-oriented tend to fade away. At the other end, if the club is heavily focused on wheeling, then those that are focused on restorations or daily driving of their Land Cruisers also tend to feel unwelcome.

Finally, when personalities begin to dominate a club and participating becomes a hassle, people just fade away....

[hatfieldcb]

I've been with Rising Sun since 1993, and when it was smaller we had some of the same issues. The reality is, not everyone wants to volunteer for club positions. Some people just want to "belong" and go wheeling. With a bigger club I think the percentage of people who want to volunteer is about the same, luckily with more people to chose from the work is spread around some.

Some of the ways we tried to attract new members: in the early days of my being there the club would run a classified ad in the 4x4 parts for sale section of the newspaper prior to monthly meetings, go to your local Toyota dealer's parts counters with extra copies of Toyota Trails and your club contact information/meeting schedule, etc. and hand out "contact" cards when you see a possible perspective member.

People seem to be finding us now. I think some of it is because of TLCA and Cruise Moab and some of it may be exposure from club members on BBS's. I think some of it, too, is just word of mouth.

Chris Hatfield
Rising Sun 4 Wheel Drive Club of Colorado

[TRT2]

Lane...

First off, don't confuse dying with re-organizing.

quite frankly, many chapters contact me about their clubs faltering status, or as it has been stated re-organizing.

Often it seems apathy can affect a club. Perhaps a key player has moved on and no one has filled thier shoes. Remember, as noted here many times, most folks join a club to have fun, not undertake another job.

So take a close at your club and don't be too politically correct... has it become routine? Are personalities affecting attendance? Is club communications going out as scheduled?
Is it still fun? It is varied? Does it support your current membership's goals or values?

All these components equate to a healthy club.

If you are looking for advice, here is some:
Make the club members who perform the work feel appreciated. If they are not appreciated, they'll move on to some place where they are.
What are you membership requirements? Too much, not enough?
How does your club communicate? Is is regular or consistent? or sporatic and 'hit and miss'?
What type of activities do you do? Just one type? or many types? Do you support the newbies, as well as the experienced folks? Is it routine, the same run over and over?
Does your club support new activities or ideas?
Do you have a healthy kitty or bank account? or are you broke?

There is no single recipe for club success; however, there are components that are absolutely needed in some form or another.

What works good for one group may not for another... but your membership can help determine that. What are they looking for, or what do they want from their club?

Once you identify that, you'll have more participation that ever dreamed. and participation grows into new members, new activities, a healthy bank acct, etc.

and remember, your club is not dying, it is merely displaying a symptom of another problem; that is, declining membership is being caused by something... find it and remove it.

A club is only as good as it's members...

If you would like to chat more, feel free to drop me a note: tonytwiddy@yahoo.com
I don't really have answers, just ideas and ways to benchmark against other clubs.

I'd recommend you start with active communication... and then make sure your key players are confortable in their roles, including duties and time commitments.

keep us posted...

[green40]

Thanks to everyone for their insite.
I'll keepyou posted on our status!
Lane Noyes
Tlca
Yankee Toys

[ginericLC]

Lane,

Are you guys still selling merchandise. My Yankee Toys T shirt is one of my cherished possessions. I miss my old Yankee Toys sticker on my 60 (sold 60, removed sticker prior to selling) :( Would love to get the 80s outfitted!

Later!

Eric V.

[Cruiser_Nerd]

Eric,

I have T-shirts left from our Fall Gathering. Hit me direct if you want to buy one ($15 + shipping). Club shirts and stickers are presently at a premium and we need to take care of the new members first.

YTFG Shirt Front

YTFG Shirt Back

Also, as an update I think the club has a lot of new energy following the Fall Gathering.

[woody]

Originally Posted by Cruiser_Nerd

Also, as an update I think the club has a lot of new energy following the Fall Gathering.

PS: if you are interested in your own discussion corner on the forum, let me know...easy to setup, and possibly a way to attract still more addicts.

[Cruiser_Nerd]

Thanks for the offer Woody, we're set up on Yahoo Groups and probably should stay in one place.

Anyone (as long as your not an asshat spamming insurance) can come join us at: Yankee Toys Group You have to become a member of the group to participate, but you DO NOT have to be a club member.

Or you can also visit us at Yankee Toys Website

[Junk]

Originally Posted by Cruiser_Nerd

Anyone (as long as your not an asshat spamming insurance)

i've been told i'm an asshat buy i don't sell insurance.

[Cruiser_Nerd]

Originally Posted by Junk

i've been told i'm an asshat buy i don't sell insurance.

You don't have to sell insurance to be an asshat!

[green40]

After a rocky start things seem to be picking up here at Yankee Toys. Our Fall Gathering seemed to be a success, we had about 30 rigs show for the 3 day event. With people and vehicles from Canada (3) and a few rig-less guys from Florida! We were somewhat limited on the # of trails we had to run but a group of us managed to stay out until midnight on saturday (carnage)!
The event seemed to spark some interest in people. Many folks have stepped up to lead several trips this fall, The Long Trail Brewery Run, several trips to Mabell and this past weekend some of the Big Dogs made a trip to the Homestead.
So, I think we are starting to get some diversity here with the guys who are taking an active role, this is good!
Thanks to everyone on the Board who helped, and thanks to the guys at YT who are becoming involved.
Lane