FRIENDS OF STATE PARKS CONFERENCE NOTES

January 21-23, 2011

Attended by Don Clapp and Larry Hyde

(Larry was 1 of 3 park superintendents; his supervisor was there along with 3 from the Raleigh office)

·         Lewis Ledford’s (NC State Parks Director) comments

213,000 acres in NC state parks

40,000 acres added in past 8 years

Average person visits a national park once every 3 ½ years

Average person visits a state park goes 4 times a year

PARTF

            Helped 32 communities in 2010

            State Parks get 65% of PARTF funds

            Local grants – 30% (???$130 million land for ???)

            Beach access – 5%

            Has authority to borrow $75 from Clean Water Management Fund and       Conservation Trust Fund

AmeriCorps works with parks and funds salaries of 6-12 workers

Challenges faced by Friends groups

            Advocacy

            Volunteerism

            Vision

            Lobbying

Friends groups

            B. W. Wells (part of Falls Lake SRA) – has 9 Board members and 4 officers

            Eno River       

            Fort Macon – 1,100 members

            Haw River – 156 members, including Park staff

            Hammocks Beach

            Hanging Rock

            Mountain to the Sea Trail – about 500 members

            Jockeys Ridge

            South Mountains

·         Friends Panel

Haw River, David Croft– has Facebook page which works better than website

MST, Kate Dixon – founded in 1997; became part of NC Parks in 2000; 20,000 hours of volunteer work in 2010; 20 have hiked entire length of Trail;  has set up an endowment

BW Wells, John Pelosi – Rockcliff Farms is 83 acres within the Falls Lake State Park; Wells wrote “Natural Gardens of North Carolina”; has Heritage Days each March

Hammocks Beach, David Pearson – has civic and community groups involved

Increasing membership

            Have each member ask a friend to be a Friend each month

            Have a speaker’s bureau and a Power Point presentation or DVD

            Crowders

                        Have an award for hiking all trails in CRMO – how to validate award

                        Newsletter/website articles on history of Crowders Mt. area

                        Retreat for PAC & Friends Board, possibly at Fort Macon SP or Haw River SP (both                                have lodging)

·         Mike Lambert, Chief of Operations, NC State Parks – Friends Groups Best Practices

Celebrate success

Strive for excellence

Take a look at your mission and organizational culture

Ensure good communications between Friends and Park staff (?and PAC?)

Peggy Birkmeir, Jockeys Ridge Friends’ practices

            Adopt a shared vision with the Park

            Refresh the mission statement every 3-5 years

            Annual retreat with the Board and the Park staff

            Good recordkeeping & history

            Term limits for Board members

            Diversify funding resources

            Put things in place to reinforce Board and Park relationship

·         Parks by Nature Network

PNN will have a smartphone app available for the iphones and droids within about a month, and for Blackberrys soon.

App is free and will include all NC State Parks and is being developed with NC Div. of P & R & Friends of State Parks.  A $4 annual fee app will provide significant enhanced tracking and notification features.

·         Growing a Group

Find a good PR person

            Newspaper articles

            NC Now, and Our State magazine

            Clubs – Rotary, civic clubs, scouts

Entertaining website

Tours for media, funders, elected officials

Constant Contact & I Contact email services – have templates for newsletters & emails, list maintenance

Have a regular service day

Affluence and influence

Reward hours of service with membership – some felt that didn’t help with retention

Annual Report, include membership & their levels

INCLUDE KIDS

Programs for scout – earn points & awards

Discounts from local merchants for members

Create a website that changes regularly

·         Financial Nuts and Bolts

Groups should have budgets available for potential grantors

Groups should have audits available for potential grantors

2 handouts were included in the session

NOTE:  Total conference costs per member were $125; all, except $49 registration fee, was underwritten by many sponsors who donated $9,000-11,000.  $49 included all meals, snacks, and a box lunch for Sunday.