Edmonton Outdoor Club - How You Can Help

The EOC does not ask that members pay any dues to join our organization, but that doesn’t mean that we don't still have needs to fulfill in order to function. Therefore, we ask that you help us out from time to time.

Volunteer

Club Volunteers: The Edmonton Outdoor Club team consists of the following positions. Some of these positions are currently occupied, and others are open. If you are interested in an open position, please contact the EOC Executives at executives@edmontonoutdoorclub.com to apply.
- President (Position currently filled by Mark G):
  - Spearhead the planning and decision making activities for the club
  - Deal with member issues (ie. inappropriate behavior, conflicts)
  - Answer e-mail inquiries sent to executives@edmontonoutdoorclub.com
  - Coach/train volunteers to perform their duties
  - Perform duties of open administrative positions as required
  Skills required: Experience as an EOC event coordinator. Excellent leadership skills. Excellent communication skills. Professional yet friendly and approachable manner. Knowledge of EOC web site and administrative positions.
  Time commitment: About 2 hours/month plus time to perform duties of open positions
- Vice-President (Position currently filled by Mark (acting)):
  - Assist with planning and decision making activities for the club
  - Deal with member issues (ie. inappropriate behavior, conflicts)
  - Answer e-mail inquiries sent to executives@edmontonoutdoorclub.com
  - Coach/train volunteers to perform their duties
  - Perform duties of open administrative positions as required
  Skills required: Experience as an EOC event coordinator. Excellent leadership skills. Excellent communication skills. Professional yet friendly and approachable manner. Knowledge of EOC web site and administrative positions.
  Time commitment: About 2 hours/month plus time to perform duties of open positions
- Communications Manager (Position currently filled by Mark (acting)):
  - Answer questions posed to info@edmontonoutdoorclub.com, answering e-mails in a timely, friendly, and professional manner
  - Develop rapport and foster a friendly, comfortable atmosphere with people inquiring about the club
  Skills required: Experience as an EOC event coordinator. Excellent communication skills. Professional yet friendly and approachable manner.
  Time commitment: About 10 hours/month.
- Webmaster (Position currently filled by Rhonda):
  - Update content on static informational pages on web site
  - Update web site options for site formatting and functioning
  - Update announcements on club home page
  - Create and update club e-mail addresses/forwarders
  - Answer e-mail inquiries sent to webmaster@edmontonoutdoorclub.com
  Skills required: Technical aptitude and HTML experience.
  Time commitment: About 3 hours/month.
- Volunteer Coordinator (Position currently filled by Mark):
  - Recruit event coordinators from experienced and knowledgeable membership base
  - Train and coach event coordinators on club procedures for coordinating events
  - Assist new event coordinators with their first events as needed
  - Answer event coordinators' questions and/or put them in touch with the appropriate volunteer
  - Monitor events to ensure procedure is being followed properly by all coordinators
  - Follow-up periodically with inactive coordinators to ensure that the volunteer page stays current and up-to-date
  Skills required: Excellent leadership, coordination and communication skills. Professional yet friendly and approachable manner.
  Time commitment: About 15 hours/month.
- Safety and Equipment Officer (Position currently filled by Mark (acting)):
  - Evalute events and assess associated risks
  - Ensure member safety is considered appropriately in all club events
  - Consult with club volunteers to ensure that safety concerns and issues are considered and addressed as required
  - Be aware and informed of current/seasonal safety concerns and send advisories to volunteer team
  - Identify appropriate safety-related training opportunities for volunteers
  - Provide club members with information needed to acquire required equipment and answer member inquiries regarding rental equipment
  - Answer e-mail inquiries sent to safety@edmontonoutdoorclub.com
  Skills required: Experience as an EOC event coordinator. Knowledge of outdoor safety and equipment. Good organizational and communication skills.
  Time commitment: About 5 hours/month.
- Sponsorship Officer (Position currently filled by Rhonda):
  - Use the EOC Back Office web pages to enter and maintain data pertaining to EOC Partner organizations (ie. media partners, sponsors). For example:
    - Sponsor information records
    - Banner Ad schedules
    - Sponsored Events
    - Event data feeds to media partners
  Skills Required: Computer, internet and data entry experience. Communication and decision-making abilities.
  Time Commitment: About 10 hours/month
- Treasurer (Position currently filled by Donna M):
  - Manage club finances
  - Receive member payments for events
  - Make event payments to service providers
  - Manage club PayPal account
  - Manage club donations
  - Manage club expense payments, such as web hosting, etc.
  - Manage club budget
  - Answer e-mail inquiries sent to treasurer@edmontonoutdoorclub.com
  Skills required: Some bookkeeping experience. Must be bondable.
  Time commitment: About 1-2 hours/month.
- Photo Historian (Position currently filled by Mark G):
  - Photo Album Management
    - Receive photos from event attendees
    - Review all event photos, selecting which ones to post in the photo album
    - Crop and enhance photos
    - Upload photos to Fotki service
    - Manage photo albums in Fotki, for example, rearranging photos to be in logical order as required.
  - Slide Show Management
    - Select photos to include on the slide show (on the EOC Home Page)
    - Crop photos and add date
    - Upload photos to the web site via FTP (they will automatically show up in the slide show)
    - Remove old photos over time/as required
  - Manage Photo Contests
  Skills required: Good organizational skills and computer/internet skills. Experience with photo manipulation software.
  Time commitment: About 10 hours/month.
- Event Coordinator
  Coordinate events for the EOC, sharing with others the activities that you like the most or special skills you have. For many activities, you need not be an expert to organize something. (We think almost anyone could coordinate an urban hike, for instance.) Let us know the level of experience you have organizing such an event and we'll pitch in as much help as you need...and don't worry, an experienced volunteer will likely be along on your event to help out on the day of your first event.
  
  To get started, please review and follow the coordinator checklist to ensure an event is pulled off smoothly and consistently across the board. You must follow these simple steps to be allowed to carry through with your club event.
Sponsor

Is your company or organization interested in being a sponsor of the Edmonton Outdoor Club?

The EOC is actively seeking sponsors to donate on a yearly (or monthly) basis.

Sponsors get:
- A banner ad at the top right of EOC web pages. There are a total of 24 banner spots in our banner rotation, which cost $100/year each. A sponsor may purchase one spot (for $100/year), or as many spots as they want (out of the remaining available spots). If you purchase one spot, your banner will appear on at least 1/24 EOC pages (until we have full sponsorship, your banner will appear more frequently). Purchasing more spots will increase your coverage appropriately (two spots will make your banner appear at least 1/12 times, and so on).
- Your banner ad, link, and company description on our "Sponsors" page.
- Mention in our e-mail newsletters which are sent out approximately four times per year.
To become a sponsor of the EOC, or for more information about becoming an EOC sponsor, please contact our Sponsorship Officer, Rhonda, at partners@edmontonoutdoorclub.com. See our current Partners and Sponsors.

Donate

The Edmonton Outdoor Club is free to join and most of our events are free to attend.

The EOC volunteers are determined to keep it that way, but also must find ways to recoup some of the expenses incurred by the club. For example:
- Internet Costs (ie. web hosting, domain registration)
- First Aid Kits and Materials for Event Coordinators
- Research Materials (ie. maps, books, etc)
- Advertising and Promotion (ie. printing costs)
To keep it as fair as possible, we're asking for voluntary donations on a "pay as you go" basis. If you can make a donation when you attend our free events, simply give your donation to the event coordinator when you show up.

There will be a "suggested amount" posted for each event on the web site, but, of course, you are welcome to donate more or less than the suggested amount.

Voluntary Donation FAQ

Q: What is the voluntary donation money used for?
A: The EOC has a few unavoidable expenses, such as web domain registration, web hosting, internet photo album service, first aid supplies, and printing (i.e.business cards and waivers). At times that we have extra money in the bucket, we hope to use that money to do fun things like partially covering the cost of food/beverages at our anniversary party.

Q: Why voluntary donations, and why on a by-event basis?
A: The club must have a way to cover its expenses. The club volunteers feel that charging a set yearly membership fee would discourage people from joining the club. Also, charging a yearly membership fee would require incorporation of the club and bring with it a lot more red tape and expenses. So far, the fairest way we've come up with to finance the club is to ask people for donations on a 'pay as you go' basis.

Q: Do I have to pay the voluntary donation for every event I attend?
A: There is no obligation to pay every time. In fact, some people pay every second or third time that they attend club events. Some people prefer to give us a once/year donation (their choice of amount), which is also fine. Pay what you can, in keeping with the value you feel you receive from the club. The voluntary donations are what keep the club going at this point. Note that to ensure that regular participants do not end up paying more than they would if we simply had a yearly membership fee, the club volunteers have decided to cap voluntary donations at $20/year for members. Donations are, naturally, completely voluntary, but once a member feels that they've paid their maximum ($20, or an amount of their choice), the club no longer expects them to donate for that calendar year.

Q: What about other ways to make money?
A: The club volunteers would love to find a way to keep events as affordable as possible for everyone, while still being able to cover the costs of running the club. Unfortunately, none of our other ideas have provided us with a sufficient or regular stream of income. Another solution that we're very interested in pursuing is finding a corporate sponsor (see above). We haven't yet found such a sponsor, but if/when we do (or if/when we come up with another sufficient income stream), we would be able to do away with the voluntary donations. If you would be able to help us find such a corporate sponsor, or have ideas about how else to finance the club, please forward your ideas to the EOC Executives at executives@edmontonoutdoorclub.com.

Q: Can I do something else to help the club besides making voluntary donations?
A: Absolutely! Volunteer some of your time to the club. There are many ways you can help out:
- Become a volunteer (see our open positions above)
- Coordinate events for the club. Do you have any favourite activities that you can coordinate for the club? Organize and coordinate the events yourself, or co-coordinate with a club volunteer who can do a lot of the admin tasks, while you take care of just doing the event on the day of (and doing the post-event follow-ups). See the Coordinator Checklist for more information about what it takes to coordinate an event for the EOC.