November 26, 2002

President and Board of Directors

Road Runners Club of America

Dear RRCA Officers and Board Members:

In light of the recent Invoice, that The Rock River Striders received, for our 2003 RRCA dues we began to do research in and effort to determine why our little club (emphasis on little) would be facing a 66.1% increase in our RRCA dues. We found it quite perplexing and disturbing that this increase was apparently initiated in an arbitrary, and self serving manner, with no official vote and in violation of the bylaws of the RRCA.

The Rock River Striders, as most likely all RRCA member clubs, operate on a rather Strict annual budget. The Officers, Board of Directors, and membership of our club formulate this budget. It is formulated based on pervious expenses and projected expenses incurred in the day to day operation of the club. We certainly did not anticipate such a large increase in our RRCA dues. Couple this with your failure to follow the bylaws and allow the member clubs to be heard, and a your failure to issue a more timely notification, places a large burden on us to fulfill this financial obligation.

Our club was formed five years ago and only recently affiliated with the RRCA. Our mission, as a community based running/walking club, is to not only serve runners/walkers but also in serving the community. We have attempted to do so in many ways. Not only the obvious running events, but by participating in community events, and monetary contribution to services in need of such financial assistance.

The Rock River Striders have over the past five years donated over $3500.00 to programs of Domestic violence advocacy and assistance for the homeless. Our budget over those past five years has averaged approximately $1800.00. As you can see we have donated a large amount of our funds. Each event we hosts donate up to 50% of the profits to our designated charities. These donations indicate the impact a small club, working on a limited budget, will have on a community, when it is managed in a thoughtful, ethical manner.

In further review of your invoice, and increase, we find it very disturbing that we, as a small club, may have to increase our dues due to mismanagement of an organization that fails to protect the body that it is to serve. We, found through our research, that if we collect $15.00 from a family of 4 and pay you at the invoice rate of $3.83 per member we would lose $0.32 before we even issued them a membership and provided a newsletter. Most clubs attempt to hold the dues at a level, which encourages families of all ages to join a running organization. To increase this to a level, which would allow us to continue our services, in a financially responsible manner would most certainly discourage the growth of almost any club.

To continue the practices adopted in obvious violation of the RRCA bylaws, which govern you as President, and Board of Directors may very well have an effect on the stability of the RRCA. It may very well be the impetus for many clubs to seek an alternative organization, which truly allows the input of its members.

We also find rather disturbing that an organization as large as the RRCA would downplay the importance of gathering the member clubs to participate in major policy making and seeking the input of the many talented and knowledge members to strengthen the RRCA's ability to serve the member clubs. Discontinuing the holding of the annual convention cannot do this. It may be necessary to reduce some of the frills and getting down to a more basic annual meeting. I am sure many clubs would prefer to save money to all the amenities of previous conventions.

I truly believe if you were in the position of many of the clubs, that may be faced with a budget crunch, that you would see that questionable, legal, and, perhaps, unethical decisions made in the recent months will provide a very profound impact on the way member clubs respond.

Each of you was selected to serve on the board based on your strength and ability to serve the members of the RRCA in an honest, ethical and productive manner. If you fail to live up to those expectations you not only fail those who elected you; you fail yourselves. Think very hard about your decisions and the effect it may have on the RRCA. Running will continue with or without the RRCA. However running would be much better off if the RRCA were to perform as it did previous to the current Executive Director. You as the President and Board of Directors must make those decisions that will effect the future of the RRCA, just as the member clubs will make the decisions for the future of their clubs.

Sincerely,

George E Atkinson

Chairman, Rock River Striders