Letter from Board of Directors, CPAHA

 

Summer 2005, what’s happening at CPAHA? 

 

Well, it is almost all, good news.  I left the recent Board of Directors meeting feeling our club is indeed on a positive track.  Everybody is energized by AHA President Myron Krause’s positive new direction, energy and vision.  To paraphrase, he is saying, “we have driven a stake in the ground and from this point on - we go forward”. 

 

An overview of CPAHA:

Financial

This picture is a good one.  There are three key financial drivers for the club.  First key is memberships; the club makes $10 dollars on each member.  So eighty-five members equal $850.  Second are the Fuzzy Fun shows.  They generate $800-$1000 net per show.  We typically have five per year.  The third key is our Class A shows.  In recent years it has netted between $5,000 and $10,000 for the club annually.  So, barring disaster, we generally have a net gain of $6,000 - $8,000 (after other expenses) per year. Thru the prudent and careful stewardship of past and present leaders we are on a sound financial basis with of about $42K in the Treasury.

 

Leadership

The picture here is good also.  We have a new and energized President - Pat Brown.  She is in it for the long haul and is working hard to make CPAHA all it can be and at the same time to be of value to its members.  She will be going to the National Convention this year for the first time.  Expect her to come back on fire.  The members and the board have all rallied behind Pat.

 

Class A show

This has been a great show for many years.  It is one of the largest Class A Arabian Horse shows in the South East.  It is largely a show that targets amateurs.  Not that the trainers don’t come.  They do come and thank goodness they do.  But the classes and class schedule are aimed providing a fun time for the exhibitor.  With that in mind, this year the club has some terrific prizes in addition to nicer ribbons.  They are spending some extra money to make the prizes very special.  They are offering embroidered coolers as prizes for many classes.  See the show bulletin for details.

 

Festival in the Park

Annually, Charlotte has an annual festival at a very large park in the center of town.  It is called the Festival in the Park.  It typically draws 100,000 people over a weekend.  As an experiment, the club is having a booth/stall there to introduce as many new people as possible to the Arabian horse.

 

Fuzzy Fun shows

Next year we are going back to the original class schedule and location (Latta Park) for this show.  It is usually well supported by the local riding academies as a learning opportunity for their students.  We hope to encourage that.

 

Full participation in Convention

Again this year CPAHA will be sending all of its allotted delegates to the National Convention in Texas.

 

Membership

This is an area that needs attention.  Currently we have about 85 AHA members. That number is down from the recent past.  We put in place a plan to drive that number to 105 by June 30th of 2006.  More on that next time.  

 

On balance, things are good at CPAHA.  It is functioning well.  As with any organization or business, to grow we must make an honest evaluate the situation, looking at what has worked and what has not.  Then develop a plan of action based on that reality.  Work the plan, grow and get better in accordance with the plan.   The AHA is leading the way.  Going forward they are offering new tools, resources and collateral to develop membership.   More on our growth plan later on.

 

 

Dan Regan

CPAHA Board Member