Happy New Year!  

The subject line of this email might convince you that we have finally gone crazy, but for the office staff a new year really has begun. The Downtown Sailing Center's fiscal year runs from December 1 to November 30, and we are celebrating another year in the history books and beginning the hard work to make the next year our best.

Just as we did last year, we are kicking off this new season with our December Membership special as well as our annual giving campaign. Early membership dollars and end of year donations are crucial to helping us make the most of the slower winter months and we hope you will consider joining and donating before the end of December.

When you join early in the season you not only get great savings, you receive great member benefits that make sailing accessible and affordable for everyone. Skipper and Crew level memberships provide you with recreational access to an exciting fleet of dinghies, day sailing keelboats and cruising vessels as well as regular social events. And while the discount does not apply to volunteer and supporting level memberships, renewing any membership shows your support for the Downtown Sailing Center.

When you upgrade your membership with a cruising or racing crew or skipper "upgrade" you open the possibility of Thursday Night Racing and cruising events. There are great education benefits for members as well. All Crew and Skipper level members receive significant discounts on Downtown Sailing Center clinics and education classes including US Sailing Basic Keelboat and US Sailing Powerboating courses.

Last year 135 members joined in December. Those members who joined in December provided the organization with the infusion of financial resources that it needed to start the sailing season off strong and plan for the year. This year, we hope to increase the number of new and returning members who will take advantage of the December discount in order to address our fleet and facility maintenance needs, plan member events and make the 2012 season the best yet. Many of you have already renewed and we thank you for your membership.

Renewing your membership is easy. To renew your membership, log on to the Downtown Sailing Center website (your email and password are required) and click on View Profile. You will find both the log in section and View Profile link in the upper right corner of your screen.

You will have a choice of renewing at your existing membership level or changing your membership level. Once you decide which level you want you will be asked to input your most recent contact information, select upgrades (for instance racing/cruising skipper or crew), select a volunteer type and more.

You can also update your bio, load a new picture and set your privacy settings. Finally, you will be asked to select online or manual payment. You can quickly and easily pay with a credit card by selecting online payment. We use PayPal to handle our online transactions, but a PayPal account is not required. If you would prefer to send a check, select manual payment. In just a couple of minutes you will be renewed for another year. If you have any questions about renewing your membership please contact the office at 410-727-0722 or email Grady.

As you know it takes more than membership dues to make the sailing center the special place that it is. Donations to the organization are crucial to delivering safe, affordable, high quality and life-enriching programs to Baltimore area youth and people with disabilities. We have made donating this December a breeze. Many folks are taking advantage of our "donate your discount" campaign by selecting to immediately donate their 10% December discount back to the sailing center. Other folks are heading to our donation page to make donations from $5 to $500. We thank all of you who have given this year. 

When you give you support the Downtown Sailing Center in multiple ways. Your tax-deductible donation directly supports programs that make the DSC an irreplaceable community resource in Baltimore. We strive to serve as many Baltimore area youth, people with disabilities and others with limited opportunities though our community outreach, accessible sailing and public free sailing programs and we need your support to fulfill our mission.

Additionally, as we seek funding from corporate and foundation donors we are often asked about the "culture of giving" at the sailing center. We are well known for the volunteer support that you give, but more and more funders want to know how financially supportive our members are. That is why every donation - regardless of amount - matters. One of our goals this year is to show that the Downtown Sailing Center has a proud and strong culture of service and giving.

Thank you for all you do for the Downtown Sailing Center community. We'll see you on the water.

Happy Holidays!

Kristen Berry
Executive Director
The Downtown Sailing Center