Success is rooted in relationships, not money.

I have chosen to be involved at various levels with our Friends of the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center (F-CNFAIC) since its birth in 2003. This timeline of commitment has nothing to do with my level of avalanche education/awareness (basic), my ability to talk snow science (or lack there of) or my love of skiing (lots o' love). 

I got involved with F-CNFAIC when it was a vision and passion of my husband, Skip Repetto in 2003. This led me to find a personal interest in this community work and I began to see incredible benefits to the cause. 

Identity (Sticker) crisis - decisions, decisions.

Disclaimer: I was once the F-CNFAIC’s president’s wife. I am now the ex-presidents wife.  Do not confuse that with Ex-wife. I am currently a board member of F-CNFAIC. The opinions in this blog are solely mine and are to be taken as Aunt Fizzes opinion only .

(President Skip Repetto at Oxygen and Octane 2008)

As mentioned before, this work for me is not about the snow science, the skiing or the swag. It is about the relationships. The following non scientific formula can help explain why F-CNFAIC has been so successful:
1. Apply a lot of time and effort towards relationship building locally and statewide.
2. Add in patience.
3. Surround this with a really good and reliable product (s), and success will be the result.

F-CNFAIC 101

The Friends of The Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center

 (F-CNFAIC or “The Friends”) was founded in 2003.  Its mission was to be the non-profit, fundraising arm of the US Forest Service Avalanche Center out of Girdwood. It has been a journey of developing relationships locally, statewide and nationally involving many committed volunteers, community supporters and Forest Service employees. Early on, simple observations were provided to the public several times a week via phone and the web. US Senator Ted Stevens played a crucial role in putting the Center on the map with an earmark that helped get essential resources established at the center (I.E.  Snow machines, Weather stations, Trailer, Rescue cache and other safety related gear.)

(Crane Johnson - weather station wellness check)

In 2007, The Friends developed a larger board of directors as two of the three Founders left the group (Joe Giefer and Karl Volz).  Up to this point the Friends had not tried to engage the public for financial support.  2007 also marked the end of the earmark funds that helped establish the Center. 

 Aprox 2009 (Intern John Gellings, Founding Forecaster Carl Skustad, Skip Repetto, Crane Johnson, Sarah Heck, Gretchen Roffler)

The new Board realized that future success of the Center would rely on support from the public.  The model of nonprofit Friends groups working in tandem with the USFS Centers was already successfully deployed in the Lower 48.  In 2008 the idea of memberships was started but the Friends only were able to get about 100 members. Five dollars made you a member.

It was in 2009 The Friends decided to have fundraisers, specifically at The Beartooth Theatrepub (BT) as the owners being skiers, were sympathetic to our goals. The idea was…by bringing the backcountry community together in a large venue, it would help The Friends to advance their mission.

Telepalooza at Alyeska (Brooke Edwards- Board Member)

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I had an experience last week at our annual fundraiser that was pivotal. It connected the founding years with the present moment.

As we set up our SWAG table in the entryway of The Beartooth for our 9^th annual fundraiser last week, people began to line up in the usual way for BT event. One person gets in line, another orders dinner and claims the orange cone. Folks visit with their peeps passing by and lining up in front and behind them. Bundled in their puffy coats and wool caps outside in the 13-degree temps, attendees hope they get let into the theatre quickly.

The Ah-Ha moments that occurred were subtle but encouraging for our F-CNFAIC volunteers, especially those that have been volunteering since the start of our events at BT back in 2007.

All of the sudden, as we were still unpacking price sheets and t-shirts to display on the table, a local skier approaches and states:

“Can I see this years t-shirt. I bought a men’s large last year in red, what do you have this year?”

The next person was heard stating to her date “here you go, (handing off the orange dinner cone) get in line, I need to go renew my Friends membership” She proceeded to grab the form and renew at the Stauch Wall level $150.

Let me remind you that it was only a handful of years ago that we stood at that table in the entryway of BT, asking folks if they knew about us (The Friends of CNFAIC?). They often delivered a curious look and hesitated to answer honestly.

“No, but maybe?”

We would proceed to give the common description of “we are the non-profit arm supporting your local Avy forecasters out of Girdwood. Do you check the webpage before heading the Turnagain?”

In contrast,  just last week a member who actually won a pair of skis from our raffle last season, approached  us with his enthusiasm to buy more tickets. He spoke such appreciation for what the forecasters do. He proceeded to not only buy more raffle tickets, but he also renewed his membership at a generous level without being prompted.

It seemed like just yesterday that we were requesting folks to become members for just $10 and their response was, “what do we get for it?”  Back in 2007 we literally had to go to folks in the line at BT to ask them for donations. They were just learning the connection between who we were and what The Center did.

 As a volunteer, I learned to embrace the question “what do we get out of it?” It was a marketing opportunity.  “Well, you get Forecasts, weather updates, weather stations, accessible expertise and much more, right out of the Girdwood Center. “

  It was a workout getting some of these folks to understand the relationship between their monetary support to F-CNFAIC and the incredible resources out of Girdwood they were investing in. Our job was to inform the public.

Fast forward to last week…

We never got the question “ What do you do?” Instead we heard things like, “So glad to hear Wendy is the Director of the Center” from a local skier and avalanche school instructor. He knew his membership renewal was directly funding the CNFAIC forecaster salaries, which in turn directly supports his recreational and  professional habits in the backcountry.

Then there was the local skier who bought a F-CNFAIC membership for his fiancé last year and was renewing for her this year. They both wanted t-shirts.

There was an awareness of support that was evident at this annual fundraiser last week. This extensive support is clearly a result of hard work over time from all stakeholders. These stakeholders include but are not limited to, the community of members/sponsors that has shown its support over the past 9+ years; the forecasters that extend beyond their day jobs to fulfill the mission of avalanche safety and education to backcountry users, and the board members and volunteers that offer energies and efforts through out the calendar year. 

The final Ah-Ha last week was when our treasurer was packing up to take things home for the evening. In her organized fashion, she had separate bins for the raffle tickets sold; renewal forms collected, new membership forms, and the cash box  from t-shirt and hat sales. I glanced at the numerous piles of membership forms and raffle ticket stubs.  I had a flash back to when we used to grab, with one hand, the forms and cash at the end of the night. We would spend the following morning with a calculator adding up the new members donations and t-shirt sales.  It maybe took 30 mins. and  half a cup of coffee to do the math.

                                     

But thanks again to all the local support, F-CNFAIC is requiring a whole morning of coffee, eggs, and bacon to do the math and add up the funds from our BT event. We are required to have more board members trained in our database, more volunteers able to deposit funds, and many volunteers to write thank you notes.

So if there is one point that I wanted to make, it is the celebration of not having to explain at The BT what “F-CNFAIC” because  The Center is known, the forecasters are loved and their work is being funded by those that use it!

Oh, and I really liked not having to convince dirt bag skiers to give their beer money to fund the forecasters. Instead, they are willing to ask their friend to buy the beer, so they can renew their membership!