Outreach, fundraising will make us more effective

 

 

At the end of a truly beautiful summer, there are some positive items to report and certain areas that need to be beefed up.

 

Vice Chair Erin Riddle and I continue to focus on reinvigorating the Chapter by emphasizing recruitment of new members—any organization needs new blood to remain vital.  To help this along, the Chapter term-limit proposal was recently approved by National.  Also, when people note their interest in the Club online, their names and contact info are sent to the appropriate group. We hope you take recruitment very seriously and encourage such newbies to become part of whatever issue or campaign they’ve expressed interest in.

 

Another essential area is the need to reinforce our fundraising capability to better engage in actions and lawsuits.  After months spent finding our new fundraising chair, he recently had to leave. We’re in the process of seeking a new volunteer for this crucial position.

 

I’ve made a special effort to facilitate conversations among the various silos of the Chapter and the national Club (Water Sentinels, Chapter outings and Inner City Outings (NYC), Beyond Coal, ExCom, the Foundation) to discover common grounds to deepen our work and make it more effective.

One intention is to expand the reach of Outings to include western New York, which has not been covered of late. Recently there was a hike in Harriman State Park with both Inner City Outings (NYC) and Beyond Coal participating. It was meant purely as an enjoyable day with two Sierra Club groups, yet some helpful networking inevitably occurred.

 

I’ve also been in touch with the chair of the National Student Coalition with the same idea in mind—to overcome the invisible border and see how we might work together. Similarly, I’ve approached outside groups (e.g.,  AlignNY, Uprose) and came close to getting National funding for the Northeast Pipeline Group.

George Klein (Lower Hudson) and John Kolp (NYC) are spearheading adoption of electronic voting for the entire Chapter (the NYC Group already uses it) with the intention of lowering cost and increasing voter participation.

 

In regard to maintaining a sense of urgency in our work,  James Hansen, former chief meteorologist for NASA, has co-written a new paper stating that sea-level rise is now expected to be 5 to 9 meters (15–30 feet) by the end of this century.

 

The next Executive Committee meeting will be in Binghamton on October 24. Keep in mind that any Sierra Club member is welcome to observe.

 

In the coming Chapter elections, please consider supporting candidates whose names may not be familiar to give new folks a chance to assume responsibility and widen the effectiveness of the Chapter.

 

My email is carlarnold@mac.com.