The theory behind our membership classes for the club.
Several years ago, the NZAC debated at its AGM, and several articles were written about the “Death of NZ Alpinism” In effect during the 1990’s and into the 2000’s there was a slow decline in the general standard and participation in higher level alpine climbing by Kiwi climbers. Everything we have set up to date stems from this initial debate and the idea that Kiwi alpine climbing could never be what it once was.
The founders of our club simply did not agree with the “Death of NZ Alpinism” or where the status quo was taking us.
In order to effect change we could not continue with the status quo. We had to look at everything from funding of expeditions, the way climbers were interacting with each other, the structure of the established groups and the culture that promoted down to far wider ranging things like the lack of for example media coverage of climbing and how that impacted on sponsorship, funding for expeditions and new people coming into the sport.
Most of what we have done as a group i.e setting up the Expedition Capital Fund, Encouraging climbers to meet in a structured way i.e at an event, having competitions, setting up mentoring programmes etc have all been outside of what was the “norm” when we established them. We have proved however over the last few years that some of these ideas that initially people thought we were crazy to do really work for the community at large. No one believed we could get people together to freeze on the side of a mountain in winter. It was highly unlikely a winter meet would involve many people. From the first year the event was the largest gathering of climbers in the country and it continued to hold that position ever since. When the Ice and Mixed Festival was established many told us you wont get people volunteering any more those days are gone, they also told us when we established the Alpine Team no sponsors are interested in NZ climbing anymore etc
This different approach to the problem solving is where we are coming from with our membership classes. It is our belief and theory that in order for us to break the more or less apathy in the climbing community (with regards to active participation and helping others, not just climbing for themselves) we had to change the way people thought about their participation in things like climbing clubs.
Over the past few years by convincing the best in the country to come of their own free will, pay their own way, give up their time etc to teach we are starting to see a shift in what a top level climber sees as their place in the community i.e We believe their place is to share, inspire and interact not only with the other top climbers but the beginners. It is their job to ensure the person who comes up after them is stronger, more motivated and is prepared to give more volunteer effort than they did. This is the idea behind the Ordinary member of our club. What this leads to is new less experienced climbers also starting to feel that someone gave up their time and energy to help them. This feeling goes on in the future to have that new climber wanting to also give something back to repay the favor. It also builds the respect and trust that is the basis of a solid mountaineering partnership. We hope that one day when we are too old to get the rope up where we want to go, a young climber will give up a day and lead the climb for us. This cycle was being lost and it has taken a few years to help get it re started.
We wanted our ordinary members, the ones who give the most in terms of time and energy to have some status attached. One day we hope people will think of being in that class of membership with some degree of pride. In return we expect them to contribute a big degree of human capital to the club. We set their membership fees lower to reflect that they give more human capital to the group than other members.
Associates Members while similar in nature to Ordinary Members may not feel they can give as much or perhaps are not prepared to make a defined commitment to the club / community about what they will volunteer. We have many associates who still interact with the young members or less experienced. They share skills, participate in the ideas, come on the trips etc. But they don’t contribute as much human capital to the success of the group and as such we think they should show their commitment to the concept and club by paying a bit more. By separating them out it was our way of saying fine, you want to be in the group, but don’t want to be as active then you can help our finances by paying a bit more.
Training members follow the same line as associates. In sort when they join they have the least human capital to contribute to the club i.e. most of them don’t have the skills necessary to teach others, plan their own trips etc. They also have the most to gain by being able to connect with other members, be it for an evenings cragging, a weekend climb or to come to an organised event. However to get them to buy into the concept we feel that you have to have a cost. If that cost if not time and energy then it comes in the form of paying a bit more. By asking the trainee members to pay more they will hopefully work a bit harder to gain the skills required that they can move into the associate or ordinary member catagories.
As with all we have done this goes against the traditional thinking of many clubs in our field. i.e NZAC, CMC etc where you receive discounted membership for age i.e being young or old. For me this approach misses a key element in that we are not linking membership to the group with the idea of how you as a member are contributing to the success of the group. Being invested in a club is more than just paying membership. We want people to think about that pathway i.e Trainee , Associate, Ordinary member and think about how they can move along it. The more people who move along this path, the more skilled climbers we have, the more people likely to go on regular expeditions, the more expeditions that are likely to end in success and raise the standard of NZ climbing.
To achieve our goal of successful NZ expeditions once again being a regular feature on the world climbing scene, we have to try a different approach to what is currently not working. Success will come from an organisation strong in both the human resource ie the volunteering, the giving and the committed motivated members along with a strong balance sheet. Our various levels of membership be it in giving more time / energy or paying more money contribute to that goal.
The initial proof of this is the strong interest shown in the Peru expedition, the success of those taught through the NZ Alpine Team, the number of climbers who have meet new partners and consolidated climbing partnerships with their friends through coming each year to the Ice and Mixed Festival.
The thought that one day by working together, we can build a truly connected alpine climbing community, and in addition grow a capital fund that could completely fund a major annual NZ expedition is exciting. Having people invested in the idea either with their time or their money is the key to seeing this happen. By being part of this club you are part of that building process. You have contributed either your time or your cash and due to our long term focus your contribution will go on working for the group many years into the future.