Monday was the three-month anniversary of Friends of the Little Miami State Park.
To date we have 210 people who receive our email communications, 38 dues-paying members, and over $2,700 in the bank --- after paying for the 14 pipe-safes and other incidental startup expenses.
As for the Board, we've now established three chairpersons:
- Nadja Turek of Woolpert (Engineering@flmsp.org) is the Civil Engineering chairperson
- Ann Marie Williams of the Dayon YMCA (GrantWriting@flmsp.org) is the Grant Writing chairperson
- Aaron Rourke of Scenic Rivers (Adopt-a-Trail@flmsp.org) is the Adopt-a-Trail chairperson.
Depending on the "interests" you expressed on your signup sheet, one or more of these three chairpersons may be contacting you. However, feel free to take the initiative and contact them if you want to contribute your time and talents.
We've targeted the three bridges south of Hedges Road for our first project. We're developing specifications and will soon have quotes. Because a significant part of the cost in resurfacing bridges is getting men, materials, and machines to the job site, it makes most economic sense to do all three bridges at the same time. In addition, doing all three bridges at the same time would mean we've eliminated the top three safety hazards on the trail.
However, our challenge is that we currently only have the money to do one bridge. Therefore, fundraising over the next 30 days is critical. As we think about ways to make up this fundraising shortfall, keep in mind that potential donors have four options:
- Outright donation
- Pledge, i.e. a promise to pay. For example, a $500 pledge paid in $125 quarterly installments, preferably by credit card.
- Challenge Match. A donor might offer to match $1 for $1 every donation during a set period of time up to a maximum dollar amount, e.g. $1,000. Or the donor might offer to match $.50 for every $1 donation. A Challenge Match is a way to "leverage up" an organization's donations.
- Loan. Clearly Friends of the Little Miami State Park doesn't qualify for bank lending. However, one or more of our supporters might consider us "credit worthy".
And there are signage opportunities on each of the three bridges for larger commitments.
Which leads me to the subject of expanding our base of support. Specifically, we need to:
- Expand our list of people who are interested in our cause and would like to receive our emails.
- Expand our list of dues-paying members.
- Expand our list of merchants and vendors that have a vested interest in a safe, revitalized, and vibrant Little Miami State Park, e.g. eateries, bicycle shops, bed and breakfasts, etc.
Within your circle of friends and acquaintances, the easiest option for you is to direct all those interested to our web site www.flmsp.org where they can signup to become a member or just signup for our emails.
Mark your calendars --- our next Public Meeting will be April 26 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM in Loveland. More details to follow.
Sincerely,
