Fed up with TU.....

[fish4trout]

at least in Northern Calif. I have tried to contact my local chapter on serveral different times via email and phone (left msg) to volunteer my time and I have been completly ignored. But I do get somthing in the mail almost weekly wanting more money. I do not have a lot of money to give but I am more than willing to donate my time but I guess that is not good enough, so from this point on I throw all their mailings in the trash.

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Born to fish forced to work.
Alan



[This message has been edited by fish4trout (edited 30 March 2006).]

[mantis]

Why not simply go to a monthly meeting. They are open to the public and after a short business meeting have a speaker or slide or power point presentation. Officers change as do addresses and although it has been 5 years since I was president of our chapter I still get stuff addresed to me as president! I don't know of a single chapter that would turn down new members.. Meetings are usually announced in local papers or often chapters have their own web sites that you can get from national. Did you send in a form joining TU from a magazine?

[fish4trout]

I would love to go to a monthly meeting. The closest chapter is 150 miles away (Arcata, Ca.) and I get no response when I try to cantact them.

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Born to fish forced to work.
Alan



[This message has been edited by fish4trout (edited 30 March 2006).]

[gadabout]

Alan,

I guess most chapters have local projects that they are involved with and usually solicit volunteers for these at the meetings. I'm not sure what kind of help you could offer on these types of projects being so far away. In any case, they should at least acknowledge and answer you. I would try contacting the chapter president directly if you haven't done so already.

The mailings you get are most likely from the national organization and not the chapter. Don't let them sour you on the workings of your local chapter.

[mickmcco]

As President of the largest TU chapter in the country (about 4500 members), I can tell you that it is sometimes a challenge to stay in touch with and meet the needs of all the members of a chapter. We get chapter members through local or national renewals, generated from the TU headquarters in Virginia. Many of our new members come to us via a free membership offered with a fly rod or pair of waders, so it's often hard to keep track of everyone, especally here in Texas, where anyone in the state who joins TU becomes a member of our local chapter (Guadalupe River Chapter), even if they live 500 miles away in Amarillo or El Paso and may be much closer to chapters in New Mexico or Colorado than they are to us.

I personally take very seriously the responsibility that our Board and Officers have to stay in touch with our members and do what we can to answer their questions, include them in our activities, and invite them to join us in fund raising or conservation projects, when possible. We send out three printed newsletters a year and try to use e-mail for notices and monthly e-letters. We also use our website (www.grtu.org) and its bulletin boards to keep people informed and communicating with each other.

I admire your persistence and hope that you will eventually be able to make a good connection with your local TU chapter. In the meantime, it's also important for us all to realize that TU, as a conservation organization, must be constantly fund raising to continue the advocacy and stream projects that is at the heart of its mission.

Mick McCorcle
President
Guadalupe River Chapter
Trout Unlimited
Boerne, TX

[ELKHUNTER]

Alan I can relate to what you are saying. Several years ago I decided to join up with the Northwest Steelheaders. I sent my money in and it took them four months to deposit my check, I never recieved any confirmation of my membership, never recieved any of their newsletters, I could not get them to return my phone calls, and to add insult to injury they called me a year later and asked if I wanted to renew my membership. Needless to say I told them no in a not so pleasant way. Then the guy who called said I should have called them. I broke my phone when I hung up on him.

Rocky

[mantis]

Mick, A question for you. With that many members why don't they break off into other chapters. We have helped 2 new chapters spur off from our Clearwater chapter in NT, Albany area, and are still at around 700 members. We get 70 to a 100 at a meeting depending on the speaker.
Are they just members on paper only? Must be some banquet you guys throw!!!

[fish4trout]

Yeah I want money too!

[Warren Albert]

I think a club that constantly asks for money from their members above and beyond their yearly dues, 50/50 raffles etc is a very poorly run club. It sounds like the club directors want to spend the money that comes in, but are too lazy to EARN money for the club.

If a club is hurting for money, then they should do what any household does when in a money crunch, re-adjust their spending and look for ways to earn more income.

You should not have to spend money directly out of your pocket to help keep a club going. What your club should be doing is holding various fund raising activities, banquets etc. that utilize the members time instead of their wallets. Start out small and only do what you can afford, with time the money will be there.

I have been the president of a FFF club for four years now and I realized long ago that for the most part, members want to be involved, not constantly bothered for money.

If I were you I would find a new chapter to be a member of.

Just my opinion, but based on a lot of experience.

Rusty

[mickmcco]

Mantis, there have been numerous attempts to split off and form other TU chapters in Texas, but none have taken hold, since the Guadalupe is the only year round trout fishery in the state. One of the big draws here is that the chapter leases access at numerous spots along the river and uses the money it collects for lease memberships to pay for the leases and stock around 10,000 14-24" trout each winter (Thanksgiving through Spring Break). We also have a minimum flow agreement for the summer months and a special regulations section (artificials only, catch and release) on the prime stretch of the tailwater. We are active in sponsoring river cleanups, river studies, and conservation projects that allow us to work to preserve and improve the place we fish. With no other trout streams in the state, it's hard to generate enough focus and enthusiasm to start and perpetuate a TU chapter.

Also, I'm betting the $$ requests he is mentioning come from TU national's mass mailings, not local chapter appeals. We simply do not have the funds at the local level to afford many direct mail appeals. When we do ask for money, it is for a specific project or coincides with the annual membership renewal process, which happens once a year.

We don't do a banquet here, but are looking into starting one. We meet in a gymnasium and take over the local community center once a quarter for a day of activities. Our highest attendance comes during our January meeting, at the height of our trout season, though we've been able to fill the room if we have a conservation battle to fight, as we did with the minimum flow issue, when we took the local water authority to court.

[This message has been edited by mickmcco (edited 30 March 2006).]