Discussion: 3 year anniversary of USOF ED

Today (Apr 15, 2012) marks the end of the 3rd year of our federation's paid Executive Director initiative.

Ousa?

Yes, Orienteering USA. And we're lucky to have found someone with his energy and passion for promoting our sport.

I think Glen is doing a great job. Cash flow is currently positive and there is energy and money now for new programs that weren't possible within the old orgstructure. Hard-cash sponsorship is one, but the most important to me is the continuous oversight of what matters the most—starts. After tanking on Glen's watch (a drop partly attributable to the old way of doing things, effect delayed), starts are up in 2011 and strongly in Q1 of 2012. A event starts are also up in 2012, but have a way to go to their early-2000s mark. There are more qualified people here who can give the hard numbers!

Starts are doing very well, but be careful not to over-rate the Q1 numbers since a regular annual event (Flying Pig) is normally Q2, but this year the dates overlapped Q1-2, and it was counted in Q1.

For those trying to analyze any shift from quarter to quarter, the Pig had 3 races with 558 starts in Q2 of 2011; in 2012 it had 4 races and 959 starts in Q1.

Glen's work on starts, partnerships and sponsorship is really beginning to pay off, and we really appreciate his enthusiasm and efforts.

Awesome increase for the Pig! Remember, too, that the GA A-Meet was pushed from Q1 to Q2 this year. 394 starts in Q1 of 2011 and 1016 starts in Q2 of 2012 although 2011 was exceptionally bad and 2012 exceptionally good. Sanctioning fees being paid to OUSA for the US Champs are $4,939.50.

Glen has been working very hard on sponsorships for some time and this is only now starting to produce results. We are waiting for a few items to be finalized, but OUSA will easily exceed the budget for sponsorships this year. To be sure, there are expenses to be met in fulfilling the sponsorship requirements such as making new maps, but these will generally lead to more starts and therefore even more revenue.

The OUSA Board has made a great start by guaranteeing to cover 50% of TeamUSA's expenses at world championships. However, it is hard to see this being able to grow much without some major sponsorships. Since 2005 we have had a sponsorship policy in place that offers a 10% commission to anyone who secures a sponsorship for OUSA, and apart from Glen's successes, I'm not aware of a single one. Perhaps the incentive just isn't great enough and we are working to revise the sponsorship policy to provide a greater one.

I also think it has been important that Glen as Executive Director has not been an insider. He has been able to evaluate issues on their merits and has been able to mediate where necessary. This has meant that it has taken some time to become facile with all the issues that OUSA has to face, but well worth it.