BULLETIN August 1999 Issue

In this Issue... President's Message Message from NRPA President Issues and Answers Prophet of the Parks Opening of National Library Friends of Parks and Recreation

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Message from NRPA

President and Academy Member, Ted Flickinger, Ph.D.

 

Summary Report On the

Assessment of the Structure

and Governance of the NRPA

 

Some of the highlights of the consultants report are as follows:

 

An Overview:

The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) grew out of the 1965 merger of five organizations. The largest, the National Recreation Association (NRA) was primarily supported and governed by leading business and civic leaders.

 

The largest professional group was the American Recreation Society, with over 4,000 members organized into special interest sections, with 70% of its income coming from dues. NRPA is somewhat of a unique association of combining citizens with professionals in one organization.

 

Findings and Recommendations That Merit Attention:

 

I. Board of Trustees

CMG Findings:

 

A. The Board of Trustees does not truly serve as a governing body. Rather, it "rubber stamps" the work of committees, which are largely composed of board members. The tight time frame allowed for this governing body precludes opportunity for deliberation, discussion or the airing of differing perspectives.

 

B. A 69 person body, meeting for two to three hours three times a year, cannot effectively govern an entity as complex as NRPA.

 

CMG Recommendations:

 

CMG recommends eliminating the Board of Trustees as NRPA knows it today, replacing it with a smaller, active governing body focused on strategic policy issues.

 

II. Executive Committee

CMG Findings:

 

A. There is too much redundancy between the work of the Executive Committee and the Board. Reports are first heard by the Executive Committee, and then repeated for the full Board. This is not a good use of time, fiscal, or human resources, and is a poor governance model.

 

B. The Executive Committee in effect serves as a filter for issues that are coming to the Board.

 

CMG Recommendations:

 

A. This committee should also be disbanded. Both it and the Board of Trustees should be replaced by an NRPA Executive Board. It could be composed of as few as 17 members, 7 of them slated by a Nominating Committee that works year round as a search committee selecting candidates based on carefully designed criteria, e.g. length of previous service; evidence of accomplishments; representative of the ethnic, gender, geographic and special interest of the member, etc. Opportunity for candidates to be proposed through petition as well as through slating should be provided, but again, with careful proscribed criteria.

 

Two of the 17 seats should be reserved for the presidents of both the professional and citizen branches (see Addendum B for details).

 

Two of the 17 seats should be reserved for at-large appointments, to be made by the Chairman in discussion with the President, and with the approval of the Board, to assure a balanced Executive Board. This provides an opportunity to bring in top civic and business leaders or a major supplier to assure diversity or to fill another need.

 

All officers should be part of the Executive Board: Chairman and Chairman-elect; President, President-elect and Immediate Past President; and Treasurer.

 

Of the 7 slated by the Nominating Committee, 4 should be citizens and 3 professionals.

 

B. Term limits should be in place for every position. This should include the number of times any term could be issues that are coming to the Board renewed. CMG suggests that the Chairman and Chairman- elect each have a three year, non-renewable term. The President, President-elect and Immediate Past President should continue to each have a one year, non-renewable term.

 

Elected Board members could have a three year, non-renewable term. Appointed, at-large Board members could have a one year term, renewable three times, to enable concurrency with the term of the Chairman.

 

C. In addition to the roles described above, the Executive Board should be charged with hiring and annually evaluating the performance of the Executive Director, basing that performance evaluation on the achievement of the goals identified in the NRPA Strategic Plan.

 

III. The National Forum

CMG Findings:

 

A. This body serves an important function within NRPA. It was created to facilitate getting member input into the deliberative processes of the Board of Trustees. However, since almost nothing is fully reviewed by the Forum, this is of questionable value today.

 

CMG Recommendations:

 

A. CMG believes that the National Forum, with some shifts in composition, practice and leadership, can offer much to the future of the NRPA. The Forum can be the special body that reflects regional, branch, section and state interests.

 

B. The National Forum, meeting twice each year, would really be the "voice of the grassroots." This group is where the strategic planning should begin, so that the ultimate organizational plan reflects the needs, wants and expectations of those who have paid their dues and committed time, talent, resources and interest to NRPA.

 

IV. NPRA Committees

CMG Findings

 

A. Committees are probably the most universally effective entity within NRPA today. They basically suggest and often participate in implementation of NRPA's programs and services.

 

B. There is no evidence that the NRPA Board makes clear assignments to its Committees, or indeed, if either the Board or the Committees understand their relationship. In fact, Committees almost universally believe that they are really responsible to the Executive Committee, rather than to the Board.

 

CMG Recommendations:

 

A. NRPA needs only two standing committees: Finance (to oversee the prudent use of member dues moneys, and to carry out the fiduciary responsibilility of volunteer leaders); and Nominating (to assure the continued development and placement of the most able leaders.)

 

B. The Executive Board should create additional ad hoc commit- tees or task forces as needed to carry out current goals and objectives, as outlined in the Strategic Plan, and then give them spe- cific assignments based on those goals.

 

C. Committees should receive training in how best to accomplish their tasks; how to manage effectively; how and when and to whom to report; and how to work with staff. The Committee should then have full authority and responsibility for establishing its action strategies.

 

D. Term limits for committee service should be instituted, much as is recommended for the Executive Board. Term limits are another way to assure "new blood" on committees, and enabling the "80/20" rule to be actualized.

 

E. The Nominating Commit- tee should be a year round committee, charged not only with identifying members for slating, but also for identification and development of future leaders. In fact, they should operate more as a Search Committee.

 

F. All committees, other than the Finance and Nominating Committees, should have a one year, renewable life. Most

importantly, committees and task forces should be identified and developed after the Strategic Plan is approved and funded by the Executive Board. This assures that work stays on target for the overall benefit of the organization.

 

G. Should a "Think Tank" be needed to study or research a particularly hot or emerging issue, it is best done on an ad hoc basis. In fact, such think tanks can be organized within each region, for even greater input and more opportunity for member involve- ment and ownership.

 

V. Branches and Sections

 

CMG Findings:

 

A. There are no discernable, defensible criteria for the establishment or maintenance of branches, despite NPRA documents. In fact, the number of branches exceed the five pro vided for in bylaws.

 

CMG Recommendations:

 

A. CMG believes that NRPA should have only two branches, citizen and professional. Within each of these branches, sections relating to place of employment or service, or function or interest should be established.

 

Each branch could have a board and officers. Every member of NRPA would automatically belong to one of the two branches.

 

Each branch should have a full- time, professional staff person whose sole responsibility should be working with the branch, its leaders and members across the country.

 

VI. Regions

 

CMG Findings:

 

A. After reading 2 years of regional council minutes, it appears as if some of the regional meetings unfortunately parallel the inertia of the national board meetings. Some of the regions show considerably more spirit and at least two show high levels of activity.

 

B. In recent years, responsibility for running schools has con- sumed a large portion of some regional staff time.

 

CMG Recommendations:

 

A. Regions should assume responsibility for implementa tion of action plans that advance organizational goals.

 

B. A vigorous training and leadership development program should be nationally organized for regional delivery, geared not only to professional competencies as are the current schools, but for performance as board and committee members and as advocates for parks and recreation.

 

VII. States

CMG Findings:

 

A. States vary greatly in their relationships with NRPA, Inc.

 

B. Many states are competitive with NRPA for members and money.

 

C. There are no criteria for status as an affiliate, other than being the state park and recreation association.

 

D. States take no deliberate responsibility for achievement of NRPA goals.

 

E. Too many of the states fail to seriously recruit and serve the citizen member, grievously missing the enormous value of active citizens.

 

CMG Recommendations:

 

A. The principle recommendation is that every effort be made to correct and initial structural error, i.e. the lack of unity between states and national NRPA. Although the task at this point is admittedly daunting, every effort should be made to try and negotiate the establishment of formal chapter status for state organizations.

 

B. Until that is accomplished, affiliate status should only be available to states that maintain a minimum of 50% of its members as national members.

 

C. States that meet minimum standards should receive additional benefits and rewards. With only five states now participating in a shared membership experiment, but with with three more possible additions in the near future, there is some hope for the continued growth of a co-extensive membership system.

 

D. All states would be expected to have or develop a strong citizen arm.

 

E. For states that do not have executive staff, NRPA, Inc. should develop a subsidiary corporation equipped to provide multi-management services.

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Transition of the Board of Directors in the event the annual meeting is cancelled.

Article III, Section 3: Membership

I look forward to seeing you in Nashville.

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Mary Ellen Butler, the author of "Prophet of the Parks" is an accomplished journalist and author. In her school days, she enjoyed the city parks created by Bill Mott and later also the Regional Parks. As a journalist she covered the East Bay Regional Park Meetings and events. Later as Chief of the Editorial Department at the Oakland Tribune she wrote about his accomplishments at the National Park Service.

When asked by the Chairman of the Mott Fund if she would be interested in writing a book on Bill Mott's principles, creative ideas and his career she answered "yes." With the financial assistance of Laurance Rockefeller, her research expenses and travel were funded. Thanks to Dean Tice, Executive Director of the National Recreation and Park Association, this superb book will be printed and published by the NRPA.

Critics in the publishing field who have reviewed "Prophet of the Parks" have said, "On my first reading, it was so interesting I couldn't put it down." Another said, "This is an outstanding story of Bill Mott's career from his childhood through his local, regional, state, and national park leadership experiences climaxing in his work of transferring the Presidio of San Francisco from a military base into a national park." As a result by Congressional action the Visitor Center at the Presidio is officially named for him. Exhibits and educational materials for school children will show Mott's forward thinking and genius for the education of those visiting the Presidio and the Mott Visitor Center. When published in the Spring of 1999, "Prophet of the Parks" is a book park and environmental afficianodoes will want to own.

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The late Bill Mott who died in 1992 and the legendary John Muir will share a library holding their writings and accomplishments, it was announced recently. The library, open to the public and researchers, will be located in Martinez, California at the John Muir National Historic Site.

Environmentalists have called John Muir and Mott two of the most outstanding park and environmental leaders of the past two centuries. During his lifetime Mott frequently said he was inspired by the work of John Muir, who is credited to being the founder of the National Park System in the United States.

Additionally, a book "Prophet of the Parks" showing Bill Mott's life and accomplishments has been published by the National Recreation and Park Association and will be available from the NRPA beginning in August.

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The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) has a unique position in representing both professionals and citizens. While chartered as a 501 C(3) organization for educational purposes, NRPA's mission is clearly citizen driven: to advance park, recreation, and environmental conservation efforts that enhance the quality of life for all people.

The growth of NPRA members has been in the form of professional members and citizen-board members, that is, those that are elected or appointed to a position that oversees the direction of a park entity. While all of us are "citizens", the growth of individual citizen members who just want to join as citizen members has been limited.

A three-year program to recruit citizens into Friends membership using a quarterly publication called Friends of Parks & Recreation did succeed on a limited basis by recruiting more than 1,500 members, however, larger scale growth did not materialize. This was NOT from lack of effort. Several action steps were utilized to recruit members including: aggessive campaigns to have our agency's sign up citizen volunteers, exchange programs with several citizen based organizations, extensive print advertising campaigns and exhibit booth membership drives were all undertaken.

In a similar vein, it is common knowledge that more than 75% of all restaurants fail in their first year. Is this because of bad food and poor efforts by the staff? Most often, the answer is no. There are so many variables that lead to the success or failure of an initiative, and it can be often difficult to pinpoint exactly what had gone wrong. However, one clearly learns soon that the cost of a successful large-scale campaign is very large. Much like a political candidate entering an election, it is costly to even get your message "heard" in the public eye and it requires a serious investment to succeed.

There is a lot we have learned since the beginning of the Friends recruitment initiative and we are better prepared to meet those challenges today. However, probably the most significant change has occurred outside of our environment. The Internet, which was practically non-existent, five years ago, is now becoming a dominant presence in the consumer marketplace. This will greatly reduce the cost of reaching and assimilating new citizen members and enable NRPA to gain extensive visibility in the public eye. NRPA feels strongly that the Internet will be the key resource to ultimately drive citizens to membership in NRPA.

We also believe that the terminology of "friend" is still an excellent term to use as a category of membership for citizens that we recruit. As such, reference to the word "friends" in this document will refer to the category that new citizen members we will be recruiting. Ted Flickinger, our current serving President, is providing assistance and is the driving force to ensure success of our citizen recruitment strategy.

Our goal is to make the citizen side of NRPA's Web site (www.nrpa.org) so impressive and valuable for visitors of all age groups, that we will be a natural "magnet" for citizen recruitment. We want this Web site to serve four key areas:

A. Informational-to provide citizens with information about who NRPA is and what the park and recreation movement is all about. This will include statistics that are "eye-opening" and will really get visitors to think about what value and benefits parks and recreation offer.

The ideas and examples used in each of the aformentioned areas require a tremendous amount of "human capital" to drive them. We need dedicated individuals to research the areas and write the articles, stories, and self-assessment quizzes and the like as well as individuals to design the pages in a fast yet vibrant way.

By July 1, 1999 we will start to develop the format and content areas for our Web site. By September 1, 1999 we will have all segments for the content and design prepared so that we are ready to launch the site at the 1999 NRPA Congress & Exposition in Nashville on October 20, 1999.

NRPA's current Web site (www.nrpa.org) will be redesigned so that a viewer will see a graphically pleasing welcoming page that will have a number of icons to click. One of these will be for citizens.

2. NRPA will create a six-month repository of content for each section of the Web with the assistance of newly hired part-time staff.

There will be ample opportunities to donate and become a Friend of Parks & Recreation throughout the NRPA Web site. As mentioned in the forward of this document, the capabilities of the Internet allow us to interact with thousands upon thousands of members and to handle much of the administration with new technology. For example, if someone was to join as a Friend of Parks & Recreation and give a $20 donation all they have to do is provide their credit card number on our secure site. We can then immediately e-mail, or fax back a thank-you letter complete with the amount donated so that they can use this with their IRS tax forms.

The growth of the Internet is allowing organizations across the world to interact with the public at a substantially lower cost than reaching the public via mail or phone. It is not uncommon today to see traditional catalogue companies completely scrap a catalogue and go exclusively to displaying their products on a Web site.

We look forward to preparing for and launching this most important endeavor.

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