In a strong showing of solidarity, the Off Road Business Association is proud to announce the National Advocate first edition. In partnership with the largest and most active motorized recreation advocacy groups, ORBA will move toward a unified Quarterly Newsletter with a focus on developing a unified voice.
The business model of all land use associations is that all OHV users benefit, regardless if they participate in supporting the cause equally or not. The effort or money one person contributes does not grant the participant any additional opportunity to recreate. Perhaps the hardest goal will be changing our own culture and fostering an entire community of trail stewards.
The idea of ORBA is to build an Association which will ;
• Become a singular organized national Voice.
• Best use of the limited funding.
• Builds a library or resource of Best
practices to help regional trail advocates.
• Building a relationship with state and
federal legislators.
• Maintains an office and staff in the
location policies are Being made.
Unfortunately, some of our land use associations want to cling to the old ways of doing business and protect their funding streams. The days of pounding on tables and making demands have not yielded positive results for our community. Our small victories pale in comparison to the massive offense against motorized recreation, but we are making progress. Attending meetings and sending email blasts with no clear objective is not saving our trails. By the time meetings are scheduled, the choreographed outcome is set in motion. If we are going to reverse the wave of closures we must try something new.
Our industry comes to the rescue when it comes to funding. Quietly, the manufactures, retail out-lets and service providers often times back fill this shortfall. In some cases, the regional associations pool resources with amazing results. The best example of this effort is the project currently underway to form a
national umbrella organization that unifies these efforts and hopes to obtain an office in Washington DC. The working title of this proposal is the “One Voice Plan”. Many associations such as ORBA, SEMA, Cal4Wheel, AMA D37, The Southern Four Wheel Drive association, and a growing number of supporters have embraced this opportunity.
There are many more great articles including one about the challenges of Mission Driven Associations which is a great analogy for SFWDA.
Be sure to check out pages 25-26 all about SFWDA.
Read More, and Download the complete first edition of the One Voice publication.