The future of MoBikeFed . . .

Missouri Bicyclists,

The following is from an article about the Texas Bicycle Coalition in Pro Bike News, February 1994.

Starting from no paid staff and a small membership in 1994, the Texas Bicycle Coalition now has 10 paid staff and a membership base to match. They are a powerful force for better bicycling in Texas.

The MoBikeFed board feels strongly that the direction outlined in the article--moving towards paid staff, starting with a paid executive director--is the direction MOBikeFed needs to go now.

The alternative, as the article says, is to face "organizational extinction".

For MoBikeFed's future, we prefer to avoid extinction and its close relative, "directionless dawdling".

We greatly favor the alternative: "accelerate membership growth and generate successes that will surprise even the most optimistic observer."

That's where we're going folks. Hang on for the ride. It's going to be a wild one!

Read on . . .
The advice given to the new Board member of the Texas Bicycle Coalition by the consultant was stark and prophetic. "If you don't hire an executive director within six months your organization will either not be in existence or it will exist only on paper and in your minds." Within just three months of existence, we could see she was right.

Hiring staff for a statewide advocacy organization is not an option, it is a requirement that entails one thing: a leap of faith. Courage. Risk. Taking that leap signals the difference between growth and merely existing, between professionalism and amateurism, visionary Leadership and directionless dawdling.

The consultant handing out this advice to the interim TBC board was Carol Green of the Center for Non-profit Management speaking at a training seminar in Austin.

Her point was that most people's experience with volunteer organizations is at the local level. Unlike local organizations, a statewide group has several unique characteristics requiring a different approach.

Having professional staff in place, under the management of an effective Board of Directors, will enable a statewide group to avoid organizational extinction and can accelerate membership growth and generate successes that will surprise even the most optimistic observer.

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