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This note is being sent to the 27,308 Members of the NHL Fans' Association.
Over the last six months, almost 6000 new Members have joined our ranks.
Many of you have only a sketchy idea of the NHLFA's history, so we thought
the time was right to bring our entire community up to speed.
Jim Boone and Jim Spendlove co-founded the NHLFA in 1998, while working
together at Stentor Communications (the former alliance of Canada's
provincial telephone companies). The idea actually came about in late 1997,
but it took us a couple of months to organize ourselves properly. In April
1998 we launched the Association and its Web site. We'll be celebrating our
seventh anniversary on April 20th.
There have been numerous hurdles along the way. The major challenges
include negotiating and signing a royalty-free license agreement with the
NHL to use the "NHLFA" mark and domain name; coordinating our non-profit
status as the "Pro Sports Fans' Association"; seeking corporate sponsors
(which continues to be a significant challenge); and, keeping this labour of
love floating financially through some pretty tough times.
In early 2002, we challenged our Members to help out financially, and a good
number did. We told Members that we needed to raise $10,000 (internally) to
keep the NHLFA's doors open. Faced with monthly ISP fees, wire charges to
distribute news releases and administrative costs, we were being hit hard
with keeping the NHLFA afloat out of our own pockets. On the eve of our
self-imposed deadline, sitting at about 80% of our target amount, Ottawa
NHLFA'er Mati Sauks called and said he would top up any shortfall to ensure
we remained in operation. His generosity did not stop there. A few months
later, Mati plopped down another $8000 (CDN) for a combined personal
contribution of $10,000. Mati was flooded with personal e-mails of thanks
from our Members.
Since the NHLFA is a part-time, voluntary endeavour for both Jims, it has
been very taxing over the last 12 months keeping the NHLFA alive. We
struggled for so many years trying to gain credibility and respect from the
hockey industry and media, that when we started receiving recognition, the
amount of work grew enormously. This past year has been unprecedented. We
have conducted so many media interviews advocating our Members concerns that
we've lost count. Media now seek out our opinions and we are slowly but
surely becoming a key stakeholder group in NHL circles.
We've come up short in a few areas, most notably establishing local
chapters. We have hundreds of people eager to help create and support local
chapters, but we want to be very careful not to move too quickly when
branching out. We hope to make some progress on the chapter front soon.
Also in the last few months, we have announced new corporate sponsors.
Decima Research is on board as the sponsor of our annual Fan Report poll and
RIVI Online (www.rivionline.ca/popup/index.html) has come forward to support our Toronto Chapter efforts. Another local outfit, iCBM, has agreed to
restructure the technical infrastructure of our Web site. Soon, we'll have
a more manageable site that includes a better bulletin board. We're very
proud to announce yet another sponsorship. Basic Black Financial has agreed
to provide much needed bookkeeping services for the NHLFA. Please read the
description of their business at the end of this note and try your best to
throw them some business or make a referral.
We're very keen to land more corporate sponsors (see www.nhlfa.com/cor/) and
you're also welcome to personally help the NHLFA financially. That old
saviour, Mati Sauks, is up to his old tricks again. This past week Mati
contributed $1000 to the NHLFA. Thanks, Mati !! (mati.sauks@rogers.com) If
you are interested in reviewing the names of the people who have made a
contribution, visit this link www.nhlfa.com/mvp.asp or if you would like to
contribute visit this link www.nhlfa.com/2don8.asp.
There's another way you can help the NHLFA. We have agreed to sell "Season
Misconduct" merchandise to our Members. In return, the NHLFA receives 20
per cent of product sales and a further 10 per cent of the sales go to a
charity of our choice. Please take a look at the "Season Misconduct"
products available at www.nhlfa.com/season_misconduct. We feel these items are reasonably priced and you can order the items either by phone, fax or e-mail.
The 2004-05 season may be dead, but we would still like to know what you are
thinking about the non-season. Please take a moment to complete a minipoll
located at www.nhlfa.com/minipollMar_05
Finally, please continue to spread the word about the NHLFA to your friends
and colleagues (www.nhlfa.com/send.asp). We receive the most new Members
from our word-of-mouth efforts.
Jim Boone
&
Jim Spendlove
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BASIC BLACK FINANCIAL
The folks at Basic Black Financial are eager to help keep our financial
records up to date. In addition to their basic bookkeeping services, Basic
Black Financial also provides clients with payroll, accounts
payable/receivable and GST & payroll remittance for clients in the greater
Ottawa area. The other arm of their business is MORTGAGES. They provide
residential & commercial mortgages, debt management/refinancing, and all
types of new and renewal mortgages, including lines of credit for clients
across Canada. If you are in the market for any of these types of services,
we strongly encourage you to contact Basic Black Financial at (613) 866-4180
or via their web site at www.basicblackfinancial.ca. We hope you help
support the companies that support the NHLFA.
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