This brief overlook covering some of the basics in getting your very own off road club successfully off the ground.
GET TOGETHER: The most important thing to any club, is the people within it with the driving force to make it happen. Without an enthusiastic few, the rest might not fall in line. Gather up your friends and past acquaintances, and begin planning and doing things together as a group, rather than simply just meeting wherever and whenever. This is the most important step in beginning your quest.
HAVE FUN!: That's the point of a club. If it's more work than it is fun, then it's not worth the effort and no one will benefit in the end. This is not to say there will be no work involved, because it takes a lot of effort to create and maintain any club of any size. Just be sure there's a valuable reward for it in the end.
SET DOWN GOALS: Put down in writing everything you wish to achieve in your club, as well as everything you wish to avoid. See what the consensus is and go with it. You have to start somewhere.
DON'T LET IT GET YOU DOWN: In any organization where there is more than one person, there will be "politics." This is a necessary evil to make the club fair and diverse. However, many a club has been ruined, and many a member has been tarnished at one point or another due to interclub controversy. This can be avoided by thoughtful effort and compromise within the membership and management, but not eliminated .The formal voting procedures to achieve this is a significant step up from "just a group of guys getting together." If you wish to make the club all it can be, then proceed here. If not, simply enjoy what you have right now.
ON TO THE FUN STUFF: If you haven't already, settle on a name for your club. Think of how it would sound in a church. Think of how it would look on a jacket. Look into the future and see how it might seem 10 years from now. Most importantly, make the name what you want it to be.
BEGIN THE ORGANIZATION: Once you've found that this is the thing to do, you will want to formally vote in an interim board to get things going. The board needs to include at least a President and a Treasurer, but they can not be held by the same person. All other positions are purely at the discretion of the club, but the Vice President and Secretary positions are usually the standard additions.
GET THE HARD STUFF OUT OF THE WAY: Either draft up your own, or better yet, borrow another organization's by-laws and modify them for your own use. You can always adopt amendments as you go along to better fit your particular club's needs if you overlook any in the beginning. By laws do not have to be intricately detailed at first, just cover the bases to get things going.
DO THE LEGAL STUFF: While it's not required, it is the best thing your club can do. That is to incorporate in your state as a non-profit organization. With this legal and official umbrella, your club will be a legitimate organization and can benefit from legal liability reduction, and can obtain licenses to hold raffles and events as well as acquiring insurance for events and activities. You can contact your Secretary of State to gather the papers that you need to incorporate. Most States have made this easy enough to be completed by the layman, with no need for a lawyer's assistance.
MEMBER DUES: By now you already know this is costing money. Not a lot, but some. You will have to structure a fair and inviting membership dues program. How much you will charge your members is dependant on what benefits you offer, and what income is needed. Be fair, yet ambitious. You don't need to charge any dues if it's not necessary.
MEETINGS: You will need to hold meetings with advance notice given to all members. Club decisions need to take place at a public meeting with detailed minutes taken. It is this record of these voted and accepted decisions that keep members out of hot water in case an incident would happen later on as a result of these decisions. This way no one single person can be held liable as much as the entire club acting as a corporation, will be. Thus the importance for formally incorporating your club within the State in which the meetings are held.
COMMUNICATION: In any club, good, solid and reliable communications are the key to success. Advance notifications and reliable calendars are what get members to events. Periodical and reliable delivery of a simple newsletter can accomplish this best.
PARENT ORGINIZATIONS: You may wish to support regional and nationwide efforts in the name of 4-Wheeling by joining, supporting or donating to major organizations. This is a good thing and everyone's assistance is needed somewhere. There are a bunch of them out there, so look them over and choose which ones are best for your group.
START ENJOYING THE CLUB: Now that you're a full fledged club, let the others know it. Do this by getting jackets, T-shirts, decals and other club merchandise to the members. They will be the best promotional tool. Start your own website, and even advertise in the national magazines.
EVENTS: This is the whole point of any club, to share in the activities of the club's orientation. Get together's in the form of outings, parties, and rides are all apart of the deal. Get input from the members and plan their implementation.
FUND RAISING: At some point you will find the need to create additional income for your club. Being incorporated will allow you to do this more efficiently and legally without having to be taxed and go through detailed accounting procedures. Fund raisers can be incorporated into charging for your own outings and events to your members, or by allowing the general population to participate and charging them as well. Setting up and selling raffle tickets is also another popular method of generating additional income.
INSURANCE: Always consider acquiring insurance when holding physical activities, especially when charging to participate. Event outings of your own members can and sometimes should be insured to protect the owner of the property the event is held on as well as the members from increased risk to liability lawsuits. Nothing can ever prevent you from being sued, only reduce the risk. The only thing preventing anyone from suing your club, is to make sure the incident never happens in the first place. This is not always possible to foresee or anticipate, but simply trying will do more than anything.
Members have been offering ideas for other members to use when planning their own event, and here are some...
Other possible ECBR event names:
East Coast Bronco Stampede
East Coast Bronco Spring Stampede
East Coast Bronco Spring Rumble
East Coast Bronco Triple Crown Trail Ride
East Coast Bronco Rodeo
East Coast Bronco Winter Rumble
East Coast Bronco Outback Expedition
East Coast Bronco Tango in Tellico
East Coast Bronco Jamboree
East Coast Bronco Sand-sation
East Coast Bronco Rock n' Roll
East Coast Bronco Mud Madness
East Coast Bronco Cattle Drive
East Coast Bronco Fawl Brawl
East Coast Bronco Attica Attack
East Coast Bronco Attica Breakout
East Coast Bronco Badlands Bash
East Coast Bronco Badlands Brawl
