There were 10 people in attendance at the meeting held March 15, 2015.
Association Expenses
Treasurer Mike Lentz reported that we currently have 46 members. Mike reported that our expenses for the year total approximately $1200. These expenses are mainly for membership to the International Gay Rodeo Association, Insurance, Post Office Box and various mailings.
Association Goals for 2015
President, Patrick Hunter reported that our goal for 2015 is to increase membership by 30%. In 2014 we had 55 members. 30% of 55 would be 17; meaning for the year 2015 we want to eventually have 72 members total.
Patrick Hunter also reported that our goals for 2015 are to raise $500 for our charity partner, Brother Help Thyself, and $1500 for ASGRA. As of the start of February we were 18% of the way toward our charity partner fundraising goal and 11% of the way toward our fundraising goal for ASGRA.
Patrick Hunter informed the group that the Board decided in its February meeting to have $5 of every new or renewal membership go toward our charity partner. The above figures reflected only membership that were new or renewed up to the start of February.
Mike Lentz noted that a $200 dollar donation came in as a donation to the Association that is not included in the above 11% figure.
Should ASGRA Continue as an Organization?
Discussion was held on if ASGRA should continue as an Association or if groups like ours were no longer needed due to the growing acceptance of LGBT persons. The general consensus of the group was to continue because of our specific niche in country-western and rodeo. Another reason given to continue was while acceptance of LGBT is growing, there are still places, especially more "country" places where LGBT folks are not accepted and need a group to feel welcome.
Should ASGRA Change our Name?
Discussion was held on removing the word "gay" from our name. The reason given for this was it was questioned whether having the word "gay" made it seem like we were an organization specifically and only for gay country-western/rodeo folks. The decision was to keep "gay" in our name, but think of ways in which we could communicate that we are straight-welcoming and that being gay isn't a requirement to join our association.
Attracting More Members and Interest ASGRA?
The question was asked of how can we attract more women to the association. Of the 10 attendees of our meeting all were men, and it was noted that our membership was heavily men. Patrick Hunter stated that he didn't think that we sent out the perception that the group was more of a male only club, but perhaps there's something that we are all not seeing which communicates that message. The item was to be given further thought.
A more general discussion was held about getting more members and more folks participating in the events. Patrick noted that we have a far less physical presence in the community. Our communication is mainly through email. We don't know if folks are getting it and if they are, if they are reading it. Patrick noted that if ASGRA wants to be successful in gaining new members and getting folks involved, we need to make an effort to have more personal connection which we can supplement with electronic follow up.
ASGRA Events
Discussion was held about our events. The general feeling of the group was they would like to have more social gatherings. Specific items talked about were:
Play Day
Changing the name to make it more in-line with what horse folks are familiar with. Potential ways to grow the event based on other horse competition events in the area; i.e., Horse Opens. These events, typically, have five events for competition. We also want to keep some of the rodeo aspects to it as well, and not make it just about horses; i.e., calf roping and goat dressing.
Camp Out
A member would like to do another horse riding camp out weekend earlier in the summer in addition to our scheduled September camp out.
Prides
It was suggested to have a contingent of horseback riders in Pride parade. Members will be looking into the logistics of how to make this happen.
It was asked if we wanted to do a Pride booth. Patrick stated that he felt that Washington, DC's Pride festival had become more of a place where people came for tchotchkes and entertainment vs. coming for information and to celebrate and commiserate as a community. That our better place to gain attention was at the parade.
Other events
Members were interested in having a longer horseback ride. One suggestion was Marriott Ranch in Virginia. They do a ride that is a few hours long and includes a BBQ in a western town facade.
Country western outings to concerts or county fairs or rodeos were also suggestions for doing group social events.
Members indicated that they would like more frequent member meetings.
Patrick Hunter
President