State of the NAR February 2015 Ted Cochran NAR President
NAR Officers and Trustees Ted Cochran, President John Hochheimer, Vice President Joyce Guzik, Secretary Tom Ha, Treasurer Ryan Coleman Randy Gilbert Vince Huegele John Lyngdal Mark Wise 2
Safety Minute: Keep Spectators Safe Significant risk reduction can be achieved by positioning people and vehicles crosswind from the launch pads. Wind Direction Angle the rails away from the crowds! (5, or 1 per foot of launch guide, is a good rule of thumb) Put spectators here 3
2014 was a GREAT year! Our membership reached an all time high; We reached 166 Sections; Our financial position remained extremely healthy; Our magazine is the best it has ever been; Our high power certification rate has achieved record levels; We partnered with the Museum of Flight to establish a significant new sport rocketry exhibit; Our liability insurance was increased to $5M; Our membership dues were reduced for Senior members age 25 and under; We launched a new web site; We maintained a robust section grants program; We consistently delivered on our partnerships with AIA on TARC and NASA on SLP, and shared the Brewer Trophy from the NAA with AIA, and We significantly increased our budget for educational grants and scholarships at $30K, it's now one of the biggest components of our budget. 4
How Are We Doing? Our membership levels remain high Around 5800 (+700 in last 3 years) thanks to focused efforts including kit flyers and the $5 recruiting bonus to members 5960 6000 5800 5600 5400 5200 5000 4800 4600 4400 4200 4000 About 30% of new members cite member referrals; 15% cite vendor contacts ~4700 SR (+950 since 2010) ~570 LR (+225) ~600 JR (+167) ~35 life members (+11) ~300 3 year members 3313 Section members 5
How Are We Doing? Our finances remain healthy ~$400K annual revenue, ~breakeven budget, appropriate reserves We continue to increase services to meet emerging needs Section grants, educational support and outreach, launch infrastructure, upgraded technology Funds Balance 6
Income and expenses Income Expenses 7
How Are We Doing? Our magazine is the best it has ever been Paying for top-quality how to and technical articles Still looking for great content to sustain 56-page issues Now the only rocketry magazine Our outreach programs are doing well TARC: 13 years! 685+ teams! Educational funding: Cannon Grants, Scholarships, R&D Prizes, Travel grants 4-H partnership: Strong and growing NASA SLI: Back strong in 2015 Seattle Museum of Flight: We re heeeeere Civil Air Patrol: New Memorandum of Understanding signed 8
Our Association is Diverse Age Membership duration (~20% <1 year; ~14% > 20 years) ~300 Contest flyers 3019 High Power flyers (~60% of eligible members) 142 Jr (-6) 1217 Level 1 (+36) 250 1217 Level 2 (+13) 200 443 Level 3 (+0) 150 150+ Teachers 100 166 Sections, 50 3260 Section members 0 # Members 1 5 All 2012 ytd >15 years 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69 73 77 81 85 89 93 97 Age 9
Our Priorities Continue to make flight safety our organization s first priority Support and celebrate all forms of commercial sport rocketry: Model rockets to Level 3 high power, High performance to oddrocs, sport rocketry to international competition. HPR Awards New web content for contest flying Increase our organization s size: Members and sections, then increase member services as our size goes up Headquarters support, section support, member support Support and expand outreach and educational efforts Offer members full transparency and the opportunity to participate Continue to provide national support to our local sections More grants, New Section Manual, effort to leverage partnerships with 4H and CAP Be safe, have fun, pay forward 10
Our Primary Concerns Rockets that should not be flown too often do get flown Near misses and landing mishaps occur too frequently Financial health would be significantly impacted by a major incident Minor incidents happen too often (several times per year) 11
Our Other Concerns We need to continue to attract and retain new NAR members to sustain our future Development encroachment and landowner fear of safety or litigation continues to reduce access to launch sites We could use still more sections; too many members do not belong to one We need sections with flying sites near every major population center We need more NAR volunteers to improve our services and programs, both locally and nationally 12
Membership Survey About 725 NAR members responded to our online survey Good consensus on priorities, and we will continue to address them: Increase support to sections Provide better support for efforts to gain/maintain launch site access Redo the NAR website Enhance the how to article content in Sport Rocketry You also support significant growth in two areas: Teacher support and student scholarship programs Establish exhibit on Sport Rocketry in major museum Your feedback will continue to drive the NAR Board s agenda 13
Survey Highlights How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the quality of services that the NAR currently delivers? 0.9% 0.9% 23.4% High 46.2% OK and improving OK OK but declining Low 28.7% 14
Survey Highlights 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Headquarters services Please rate the importance of further IMPROVING each of the following major NAR services beyond their current level of quality. Please use "critically important" no more than four times. Good as it stands Nice to improve Fairly important to improve Critically important to improve Sport Rocketry magazine erocketeer monthly newsletter NAR website NAR Facebook page NAR's member liability insurance for members NAR's site owner fire and liability insurance for site Suport for Sections Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) NASA Student Launch Program competition for advanced High power certification program Model rocket competition program NAR National Events NARTS technical services NARTREK skills development program Educational grants to teachers Educational scholarships for kids 15
Survey Highlights Would you be in favor of the NAR conducting a major fundraising drive for one of the purposes listed below (dollar amounts approximate; per member amounts to give you a feel for the scale of the effort)? 100% 90% 80% 70% No opinion 60% Strongly opposed 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Mildly opposed Not in favor Mildly in favor Strongly in favor 0% Purchase national launch site ($1M range/$200 per member) Endowment to make NAR HQ a full-time professional operation ($500K range/$100 per member) Endowment for major increase in teacher grant and student scholarship programs ($250K range/$50 per member) Establish exhibit on sport rocketry in a major national museum ($100K range/$20 per member) 16
NAR Board Actions Reaffirmed goals: 5800 members (2900 HPR certified), 140 sections with 3500 members Reaffirmed Section support: Section grants on continuous basis Not limited to safety items Will have a list of suggested items (Horns, signage, range safety vests, etc) Raised Liability Insurance limit to $5M Significant new support for Education: $30,000 (+$15,000) allocation for scholarships and grants in 2015 Details to be determined by Education committee, but amounts will likely be higher and there will be more of them. $1000 support for student teams who participate in the Small Satellites for Secondary Schools program in 2015 Lowered dues for late-college-aged kids: Now $25 for everyone aged 25 and under. Support for Museum of Flight Sport Rocketry exhibit: $10,000 Support for another round of kit stuffers in Estes kits 17
Still Happening Still paying for Sport Rocketry Articles Recognizing HPR skills with Rocket Science Achievement awards $5 recruitment bonus for new members Expired Motor testing program Motorcato.org Facebook page, now 3100 members (+1100) 18
And one more thing 19
Our Value Proposition At $62/year ($25 for Age 25 and under) dues, we are the best value in the hobby and should say it proudly: The hobby s only magazine, 56 pages, every other month Includes $5M insurance that is valid anywhere in the US & Canada, any time, including fire insurance for launch sites Includes HPR certification through Level 3 Includes US & international competition programs Offers a family member discount of $12 We all need to recruit personally to keep our NAR going and growing! 20
What Can You Do? Fly safely, and ensure that others around you do the same! Recruit new NAR members, HPR flyers, competitors Take your own turn volunteering to help with your section or with the NAR nationally (see me for our pressing needs) Do community outreach to community leaders, young people, parents, and to those who work with young people Make sure everyone knows and takes advantage of our scholarships and grants Be safe, have fun, pay forward 21