Northwind October 6, 2016

Posted by Linda Quinn on Oct 12, 2016

President Elect Tim Vilhauer called the meeting to order and led the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance. (Tim was filling in for President Dale Holt, who was on vacation.)

Sharon Robinson provided a moment of reflection called The Golden Chain:

Rotarians in attendance included:

18 WCNR Club Members
1 Visiting Rotarian: Bill Kirby from Carson City
0 Guests

Returning Rotarians included: (1) Deb Wiggs, who was returning from a variety of places (and 20,000 miles in the air); and (2) Patti Vilhauer, who was returning from breaking her ankle and also a trip to Boise

Birthdays included: Jim Sands and Rocky Richardson, both of whom have birthdays on October 13; and Dan Park’s son, Isaac, who turns 12 on October 11.

Vice President Tim and others shared the following announcements:

The Club’s annual Career Fair has been scheduled for March 30, 2017, at Bellingham Technical College.
The Foundation Dinner is coming up on Monday, October 10, at Northwood Hall. Please bring cash or a checks. The reception will begin at 5:30 pm with dinner served at approximately 6:15 pm. For more details, see the email from Ken Richardson.
The Highway Clean-up activity on Saturday, October 1, was attended by six people. Dan Parsons reported that it had been a good day, except that he left his cell phone at Bob’s Restaurant.
Our Club is supporting Peter Adams for the YES (Youth Engagement Strategies) program.
All Club members are encouraged to check out the calendar on WCRN’s website.

Vice President Tim highlighted several upcoming dates from the calendar:

October 10 (Monday): Foundation Dinner 2016, Northwood Hall
October 13 (Thursday): Jeanie to be inducted at the weekly Club meeting
October 13 (Thursday): We are in need of a program for the weekly Club meeting .(Contact Patti with suggestions.)

Rotarians shared Happy and Sad Bucks:

Greg was happy ($5) about the good time he had at his niece’s traditional New Orleans wedding.
Bill was happy ($5) about the car show is going to in Monroe.
Deb was happy ($10) about the magnificent cruise she took to Alaska with her sister to celebrate their birthdays. She was also sending positive thoughts to those impacted by Hurricane Matthew.
Stan was happy ($1) that Patti is back; sad ($1) that the Mariners lost; sad ($1) about the destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew; and happy ($1) that he wasn’t in Florida.
Rollo was happy ($2) about going to a “guys weekend” in Oregon.
Jim Sands was sad ($100) that he missed three club meetings and happy that he is only 32 years away from 100.
Dan was happy ($10) about the performance of the Huskies against Stanford.
Ken was happy ($5) that Rocky is back and that the Giants are still alive.
Rocky and Sharon were just generally (an unspecified amount) happy.
Jeanie was happy ($3) just to be present and also that she has a grandson on the way.
Jake was happy ($0.90) that his back was out but had gotten better and that the Huskies beat Stanford; he also had $0.10 worth of sympathy for the Oregon Ducks, who will meet the Huskies the next weekend.
Lori was happy ($3) about the Giants being in the playoffs.
Patti was happy ($5) about the success of the Seahawks.
Tim was happy ($5) about the Seahawks, about seeing his mother, and about the end of baseball season.

Rocky Richardson served as fine master. He levied fines against:

Everyone not wearing a Rotary pin ($1).
Ken for not knowing who was in first place in NFC East Division ($2).
Tim for not knowing who was in first place in NFC East Division ($2).
Anyone who did not watch the Giants v. Mets game ($1).
Dan for not knowing who hit a homerun ($1). (Lori escaped the fine by answering the question correctly.)
Patti for leaving her phone behind ($1).
Dan for being last to the meeting ($1).
Jim for not being able to figure out the banners ($1).

The meaning of the day’s Rotary banners was revealed to reflect two different messages:

The first group of banners commemorated the 85^th anniversary of the first non-stop flight from Japan to the USA, which took 41 hours to complete.
The second group of banners spelled out the word “Vodka” in honor of National Vodka Day, which is celebrated each year on October 4.

The program for this meeting was a Club Assembly on fundraising facilitated by Tim Villhauer, who was assisted by Ken Richardson and Rollo Van Slyke.

Tim began the conversation by providing Club members with an overview of 2016 Rubber Duck Derby:

We procured $5,750 in sponsorships from 12 companies as follows:

First Federal $1000
Smith Kosanke & Wright $1000
Heritage Bank $ 500
Roy, Parsons, Simmons & Smith $ 500
Rollo Van Slyke Agency $ 500
Eric Battles, Sterling Real Estate $ 500
Zervas Archetecs $ 500
Ludtke Trucking $ 250
Cascade Prosthetic $ 250
BCS $ 250
Sexton Construction $ 250
Metcalf Hodges $ 250

We sold 1325 tickets at $20 each for a total of $26,500.

Four Club members sold 100 tickets or more. Seven sold 50 or more. Three sold 11 or fewer.
Many of the sales that were made at places like the Old Settlers Picnic and the Street Festival were difficult to ascribe to a particular member.
Kudos go to Sharon Robinson for tracking tickets and ticket sales throughout the fundraiser.

We awarded a total of $15,000 in prizes according to the following breakdown:

One prize at $10,000
One prize at $ 2,500
Five prizes at $ 500

Our profit from the Duck Derby fundraiser amounted to more than $15,000:

Duck Race proceeds = $32293.00
Duck Race costs = $16890.53
Total NET profit = $15402.47

Following his review of the 2016 Rubber Duck Derby, Vice President Tim led the Club in a discussion of possible improvements for next year (2017). Suggestions included:

Get more sponsorships and get them earlier.

We need more sponsors making bigger contributions, and we need them by middle of December, preferably sooner. We NEED to raise enough money through sponsorships to cover $15,000 worth of prizes, the cost of printing tickets and banners, and the fee for a booth at the Ferndale Street Festival.

Strategies:

All club members reach out to people with whom they have personal relationships at corporations like Intalco, Ferndale Ready Mix, Phillips 66, and so on
Create a letter inviting these corporations to become sponsors and then follow up a week later with personal contacts. (What if the letter also contained a link to a short video tape of the race that showed the excitement?)
Consider ways to up the recognition of sponsors. (What can we offer them that is unique? Where can we display their names besides on our tickets and banners? Perhaps on big rubber duckies they can display in their businesses? In newspaper articles? On flags along the race course? In PA announcements at the Street Fair? On radio spots?)
Thank our sponsors more often and more publicly, displaying their names at every Club meeting and every event where we sell tickets.
When we contact sponsors to make the ask, be more explicit about how they will be recognized for their contributions.
Consider tracking sponsorships on a large thermometer in the same way we track ticket sales with a thermometer.
Take an afternoon to go door-to-door down Main Street asking local businesses for their support. (Now that they have witnessed the excitement of a Duck Derby Race at the Street Festival, they might be more inclined to participate.)

Print tickets sooner.

We need to have tickets ready before the holidays so that they can be used as Christmas, New Year’s, Hanukah, or Kwanza gifts. If we don’t get tickets printed before the holidays, they will get lost in all the hubbub and we will actually lose several months of selling.

Set the expectation that every Club member sells and/or buys a set number of tickets.

This needs to become a requirement of membership in the Whatcom County North Rotary Club, a fundamental part of who we are.

Recruit more members into the Club

More members will result in more selling. More members will result in more sponsorship opportunities. We need more members! Another way to look at the equation: With 20 active members, we each have to sell an average of 150 tickets to meet our 3000 ticket goal. With 30 members, we would each only need to sell an average of 100 tickets.

Take advantage of big events as selling opportunities.

Tickets sold well at events like the Old Settlers Picnic and at Ferndale Street Festival. Such events were more productive than setting up a table outside Haggens.. We also learned that our greatest success at large events came from working in teams, with one or two hawkers out front bringing in buyers to two or three closers.

Restructure the prize money.

The $10,000 prize worked well to get people’s attention. The $2500 prize seemed less effective.

Strategy:

Maintain the big prize, but increase the overall number of prizes by dividing the rest of the money into one $1000 prize and eight $500 prizes or just ten $500 prizes.

Improve the race course.

Although the new venue worked well, we think it could be even better.

Recreate a Club brochure or flyer.

As part of our ongoing promotional campaign, we need to develop a piece of print material about who we are and how the Rubber Duck Derby supports our mission.

Vice President Tim concluded the Club Assembly by making the following assignments to all members:

Review the list of sponsors below. Identify any that you know and with whom you can make a personal contact. (Tim will follow up by sending more information about levels of sponsorship and the benefits of each level.)
Fill out the suggestion forms provided at the meeting and return them Tim, Ken, and/or Rollo.

Door Prizes were awarded as follows:

Greg Iwasaki won the daily prize, which was a teapot.
Ken Richardson’s number was drawn for an umbrella and a chance at the $1,262 in the pot. Ken, however, drew the Eight of Diamonds (sigh), not the lucky lady, so the pot continues to grow.