[pct-l] PCTA rating by CharityNavigator

[Timothy Nye]

The PCTA is transitioning from a volunteer to a professional organization.
This isn't a white or black situation, but one that has pluses and
minuses.  How you view the respective alternatives and whether or not to
support the change depends on how you view the trail and the expenditure of
it's resources, the bang for the buck as it were.  If you're interested,
this a brief summation of what I found based on my own curiosity.  As noted
then, before I retired to hike, I represented employers, including
nonprofits.

I posted on this a year ago after thinking about the changes that were
occurring.  This was prompted after the cancellation of Trail Fest which I
had attended in March of 2009.  The explanation in the Communicator
was that the PCTA was undergoing a re-evaluation of financial resources.
Trail Fest is the opportunity for the membership to have access to their
PCTA staff and interact with them. At the same time, however, the PCTA
signed a lease for a lavish, and I mean lavish, office on the Sacramento
River here in Sacramento.  I'm still somewhat connected here and ran my own
law practice and knew what office space leased for and, more importantly,
was unexpectedly informed by a party to the transaction as to the financial
particulars of the PCTA lease.  It seemed excessive to allocate that
amount, especially for what I thought was in essence a volunteer
organization dependent on donations while at the same time isolating
yourself from your membership.  At the same time it seemed more and more
paid staff was being added.

One of the reasons that I was interested is a lesson I learned from my
father that the amount a consumer is charged for legal services is usually
related to the type of office occupied by the lawyer in question; the more
lavish the office the more expensive the bill for essentially the same
service.  After all, the lawyer has to be good since he appears successful
in this very nice office, right?  And that costs more, right?  If you ever
have to hire a lawyer don't be overawed by an office.  Look around and ask
yourself whose paying for the nice surroundings in which you find yourself.
More staff, flashy office, all provide the justification for a high salary.

With this said, $100,000.00 is not out of line for this position.

I checked out the board of directors and they are all exceptionally well
qualified, embarrassingly so.  How did we get so lucky?  In fact, it would
be hard to find a better qualified board, in my opinion.  If the full board
membership is actively engaged in overseeing the activities of the PCTA
then it seems to me there is adequate oversight over executive
compensation. The board of directors is elected by the membership; as long
as we can nominate and elect members of the board, the board adheres to the
charter and they are accessible everything should be fine. Last year I
couldn't find any contact information for the board although this may have
changed, but I haven't checked.  I did get a call from Scout, who's on the
board, after my posting and he tracked me down. I also spoke with Donna
when I hit Hiker Haven last spring. She had already left the board after
her brief tenure.

I also went down to the PCTA office last spring to get my daughter a hiking
permit so she could join me for part of this year's hike and met Liz.  You
have to go through security to get in so if you aren't okayed by the by
Association by phone you aren't getting past the guard at the entry which I
thought was kind of strange. I attended last year's PCTA meeting.  A lot of
the hiring over the last couple of years transitioning volunteer positions
to professional positions was funded by TARP, so it'll be interesting to
see if these are in fact permanent or temporary positions and if permanent
where the new funding will come from.

Part of the answer, I think, became apparent ahead of the meeting as people
mingled.  I think that the new building is really about impressing donors
and it no doubt is very effective for that purpose.  There was full court
press whose undercurrent was donor solicitation.  Liz' background is in
fund raising, sales if you will.  I thought she was very personable for
whatever my opinion is worth.

What this all comes down to in my mind is whether to support a stronger and
necessarily more impersonal organization, but one that can protect the
trail. The improvements on the trail may detract from what wilderness feel
it retains, but that characteristic has and will continue to recede,
anyway. Ultimately, I think there will be a political push to legalize
bikes on the trail and I believe that there is a growing lobby among the
mountain bike clubs. To that end, I think the professionalization is worth
supporting.

Just a few thoughts.

Gourmet