IA4WD Association
There has been some discussion of making a donation from our raffle proceeds to an organization that is in tune with expanding the wheeling opportunities in Iowa. I contacted Brent Champlin, the current President of IA4WD Association and here is the result of that discussion. Please read through it entirely and post your thoughts. Also, if you have other ideas for making a donation, please toss those out as well.
Brent,
We met back in January at a Tall Corn Cruisers meeting down at Rookies. We just got done with our event this year and are looking to take some of the funds raised and donating them to a local 4WD Association that is working to represent us all. We are going to be having our annual meeting sometime in the next month or so, and we will be deciding on what to do with the money. I see that you have a fairly decent account balance based on the last set of meeting minutes that were posted, so I'm not sure if you all are still looking for donations, etc. Also, the members would probably want to know where things stand in regards to the whole Land Use project you have all been working so hard on. I know when you came and visited with our chapter in January, we discussed becoming a member of the IA4WDA. I don't remember off hand, what the cost was for the whole chapter to join, so if you could let me know, that would be much appreciated.
If you have any questions, or want to get in touch with me, I can be reached at XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
Thanks,
Art Schramm
Tall Corn Cruisers-President
TLCA-Secretary
RESPONSE
Art, I appreciate your clubs interested in donating to the IA association. This year's goals were pretty steep and required a lot of money. The association wanted to pursue their 501(c)3 charitable not for profit status , pursue inactive quarries in Madison county and recruit new clubs into the association. The charitable status allows us to get donations that are a tax write off. We were hoping to get donations of land from quarry owners who did not want to spend the millions required to return the land back to it's original, pre mining, condition. Well that turned into a huge ordeal that would require an attorney on retainer to answer ongoing IRS questions and file the paperwork for us. The land acquisition project fell through as well. Originally John Buttz allegedly made contact with 2 quarry owners in Madison county and said that the quarries were exhausted and that the owners had abandoned them. John quit the association and we tried to pick up the pieces. Turns out that the land is still in use and is expected to be in use for the next 15 years. So that turned out to be a dead end. I talked to 3 different clubs about joining the association. The Tri State Stump Jumpers, Trailhogs, and the Tall Corn Cruisers. The first two were unorganized and not interested in anything formal. This year we voted to waive the $100 sign on fee and only charge the $15 per member fee. I am sure that will stay in effect for next year. Feel free to come to the November meeting and meet the other clubs and see what's going on before you make your donation or join. Also, we are having 4x4 night the 3rd Friday of each month at Ice Truck Works on Hickman. They have an RTI ramp and we hope to get more people exposed to organized off roading.
Brent Champlin
