September 17, 2013
Strategic Planning Committee Organizing Meeting, Finger Lakes Land Trust office,
Ithaca, NY
Attendees: Roger Fulton, Tom Reimers, Phil Dankert, Carol Mallison, Gary Mallow,
Jack VanDerzee, Barbara Nussbaum, Roger Hopkins, Sigrid Connors, Paul
Warrender,
Welcome
Roger discussed trend of lower memberships, reduction in hike attendance, hike
leaders not interested in leading hikes if no attendance,
Carol – Steve Hesse, informal attendance – Sunday Hikers group, 25-50 attendees, 2
hour hikes, 9:30-11:30, no car shuttle
SWOT –
Strengths
Long history
Trail maintenance
51 years of existence
Contributions to FLTC
Formal structure of organization
Strong financial position
Hikes with growing attendance
Reservoir of community goodwill
Guidebook
Strong treasury compared to most clubs
Wonderful trail to maintain
Condition of trail maintenance
Trail maintenance
Leadership capability as a group
Very active board
Connections to a lot of community entities
History and experience in support of trails
Active members in club who are fun to be with
Guidebook
Remarkable history
Strong relationship with other businesses and organizations through sales and
brochures
Friendly and helpful members
Wealth of teachers-former and current high-school college- professionals
Wide variety of accomplishments every year
Leadership with experience
Volunteer commitment of board and other members
Good way to learn about trails; hiking and the area
Strong forms of communications – newsletter; listserv and website
Longevity in terms of institutional memory
Strong social connections
Landowners committed to allowing trails on their land
Well documented history through minutes; newsletters; etc.
Trail guide
Strong financial base
Consistent format with board meetings and annual meetings
Camaraderie of members
Trail maintenance
Longevity
EMS – Ithaca partner
Good relations with EMS; Friends of the Gorge; FLTC and FLLT & Cornell Plantations
Weaknesses No regular hikes
Many older members- not many younger members
Spotty trail maintenance by adopters
Need to improve the brochure
Outings need to be scheduled far in advance by hike leaders
No strategic plan
Recent trend to compare CTC to another hiking group and saying we are not doing
as well
Board meeting tone
Mission no longer fits current activities
Too few active members
Not many hikes
Poor participation by board members on hikes and other opportunities
Increase number of hikes
Limited number of hikes
Inconsistent landowner communication and outreach
Suggesting that board members aren’t doing enough if they do not attend all hikes
and activities
Leadership long in the tooth
Hiking model that’s worked for half a century does not appeal to many now
Hike reports are outdated by the time they appear in newsletter
Every hike is local
Publicity- devices are weak – brochures; etc
Can do better job of getting our name out to the public
Communication- like a “meet-up” group is not in place (Syracuse – 2500 membersfind out about it through the meet-up group
Lack of leadership recruitment for the future
Ability to inspire more people to lead hikes
Timidity when challenging to do something innovative
Competing organizations for volunteers to choose from
Too few hike leaders
No weekend trips (overnights)
Better communication with landowners
Apparent lack of social media connections- twitter
Fewer members providing more services
Membership brochure
Opportunities –
Hike reports should be after hike via email rather than in newsletter
Spend more money on trails
Working closer with FLLT as an organization rather than with individual members
Recruiting younger members
Cooperative like ADK; Syracuse Outdoor Adventure Club; Lime Hollow
Effort to increase business relationships and partnerships
Increase our publicity by each board member adopting location to leave brochure
and monitor same
Eliminate road walks on FLT
Improve the brochure
Call members and ask them to volunteer for hikes and or other activities
New brochure
50th anniversary of Cayuga Trail in 2014
Cooperative relationships with college outing clubs
Canoeing and kayaking outings with or without hiking
Business and organizational memberships
Put CTC bench on Cayuga Waterfront Trail
Create an online meet-up site
Talk to Steve Hesse to include his hikes on CTC website
Regular hikes-every weekend
Have a lot of money and we should spend it
More loop trails
Trail section business sponsorships
Rethink timing, content and purpose of newsletter- maybe web-based only
Hikes can be planned and posted on website within a short period of time
Regular hike schedule
Outdoor learning classes-hiking for beginners in general (GPS. Compass, trail safety)
Relationship with local YMCA
Strategic plan
Water resistant brochures
Youth agenda and group outreach
New president
Increased exposure at local events-Grassroots-Ithaca Festival
Offer training and leadership opportunities
Hike-leader training
Increase activities in Tompkins and Schuyler publications
Youth hikes including grandchildren
Regular hike schedule published in local publications
Local advertisements of board meetings
Hike leader training
Eliminate hiking as a club activity and focus on trail maintenance activities
Increase member recognition and awards
Rewards for outings leaders ($20 gift certificate at EMS, patch,- ADK)
Buy donuts (including gluten-free) for every board meeting
Awards for trail adopters and trail maintenance workers
Working with friends groups of State Parks-like Friends of Treman Parks
Threats –
Not in step with cultural changes in communication like social media
Long-term board members pull rank
Occasionally a few board members hold too much power over decisions
Landowner whims
Lack of volunteer participation (similar to many organizations)
Few young members
Jerks jeopardizing our trails either members or non-members
Board growing older
Not being attractive to younger members
Competing organizations working on similar missions
Landowners withdrawing permission
Fracking
Decreased membership numbers
Failure to recruit young members
Decrease in membership
Declining recreational time for members holding multiple jobs
Members are getting older
Neglect of trail so we lose landowner permission
Internal negativity
Negative attitudes
Inconsistent communication to hikers about trail preservation- doing anything to
Damage our ability to hold onto a trail
Resisting change
Resistance to change
Land development that reduces trail opportunities
Low hike attendance
Losing members
Other hiking clubs not supportive of club membership or value of club
Disrespective hikers threaten trail availability
Training of hike leaders inconsistent with trail preservation
Apathy
Few participants in activities
New landowners
Growth of other hiking activities that dilute participation
Hike groups not committed to our mission to preserve the trail
Aging membership
Fracking
Price of gasoline- limiting car shuttles
Politics-Tea Party
My mind is made up and don’t confuse me with the facts
Local politician awareness of CTC mission
Participants grouped ideas on the SWOT
Strengths –
Longevity (2)
Trail maintenance (7)
Financial (2)
Leadership capability (10)
Strong relationships with business and organizations (0)
Trail guide (3)
Consistent business format (0)
Strong social connections (2)
Hikes with growing attendance (0)
Committed landowners (0)
Weakness –
Aging membership (1)
Trail maintenance problems(0)
Lack of participation in hikes (7)
Communication problems (3)
Fewer memberships (7)
Landowner issues (1)
Administration and board activities (7)
Opportunities –
Diversification (1)
Awards (0)
Trail maintenance (3)
Marketing-outreach-publicity (8)
Alliances (5)
Youths (2)
Leadership strategy (8)
Threats –
Aging membership (4)
Resisting change (3)
Landowner issues (2)
Future land uses (0)
Negativity (1)
Lack of volunteer numbers (3)
Decreased memberships(1)
Politics/politicians (0)
CTC board behavior(5)
Jerks on the trail (8)
Participants put 3 penquins on each page representing most important ideas for
them.
Roger will set up listserv CTCplan@cayugatrailsclub.org
Next meeting – October 8
Tuesday
7pm