How To Start Your Own Chapter
If there is no OPRC Chapter in
your area, you might decide to form a new chapter. The following
information will assist you.
1) Before the first meeting:
a. Plan the first meeting.
It can be held in your home, a library, a school, a tack shop,
or even at a barn, if you prefer. Provide refreshments if
possible.
b. Draft an activity calendar
that will include at least five activities for both
English and Western riders. Don't worry about dates and other
member's schedules, just put activities on the calendar and
remember events can be rescheduled. Make sure you have plenty
of copies of the Membership Form and the OPRC Activity
Release Form . Every new member must fill out and return
each of these forms to you. A copy of the Release Form must
be kept by all members and worn somewhere on their person
when they ride in an OPRC sponsored activity.
c. Advertise by posting
flyers at local barns, tack shops, feed stores, etc. Run ads
in local equine publications (if they aren't too costly).
d. Mounted activities cannot
be hosted until your riders have signed the OPRC Release Form
and are rated (see below). The OPRC Release Form must be signed
annually by all members and kept on file by the chapter. All
riders must wear a medical armband.
(Armbands can be purchased from various sources, such as the Dover
saddlery catalog and also from OPRC.)
***Chapter insurance
is encouraged but not mandatory, particularly for new and
small chapters. The policy must also cover National OPRC. For information
on chapter insurance please contact Susan Fox, Sfox@insurance-inc.com
e. Establish
a chapter bank account. To protect yourself, require two signatures (President
and Treasurer are recommended) on the checks. The OPRC is
tax exempt. To utilize the tax exempt status, each chapter
should have an Employer Identification
Number (EIN). For information,
look at http://www.irs.gov/charities/nonprofits/article/0,,id=96189,00.html
Apply online http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html
Click Begin Application
Choose the radial button - View Additional Types, Including Tax-Exempt
and Governmental Organizations
Click Continue
Choose the radial button – Social or Savings Club
Click Continue
Read notice
Click continue
From here I can’t go any further, so you will need to follow
the instructions.
You can also call
APPLY BY EIN Toll-Free Telephone Service
Taxpayers can obtain an EIN immediately by calling the Business & Specialty
Tax Line at (800) 829-4933. The hours of operation are 7:00 a.m.
- 10:00 p.m. local time, Monday through Friday. An assistor takes
the information, assigns the EIN, and provides the number to an
authorized individual over the telephone.
Here
we offer you an informal peek at how to incorporate your
chapter. Note: this document is to be used as a guideline,
since every state has their own regulations and laws on this
subject, but it should give you a rough over view of what
is needed and why.
f. Find a local USPC Examiner
to do rating rides for your club. Explain OPRC to the Examiner.
Make sure he/she thoroughly understands the OPRC jumping
and non-jumping Standards.
Include a rating ride in your proposed activity calendar.
Determine the fee for the rating ride - we suggest $15.00
per rider; $10.00 goes to the examiner, $5.00 goes to the
club's treasury. Rating is very important. Safety is of
primary concern and it is the number one issue addressed
during a D1 rating. Everyone must get rated at the
D1 level, at the bare minimum. From that point on, they
can choose whether they wish to advance. Even if you've
been rated all the way to A in USPC, you must climb the
ranks all over again in the OPRC. It's really quite fun,
and allows everyone to begin on the same playing field.
2) First Meeting:
a. Introduce yourself.
b. Introduce the OPRC.
c. Ask everyone around
the room to introduce themselves, what type of riding they
do, and what they want to get out of OPRC.
d.Hand out copies of the
OPRC FAQ's, Membership
Form and the OPRC Activity
Release Form. Walk through the forms as members fill
them out.
e. Explain the OPRC membership
period and chapter dues. Membership is January to December
of each Calendar Year. Chapter dues include $10 for the
National OPRC DF. You are encouraged to keep the dues low
to promote membership. Typical chapter dues are $35 per
year - $25 for the chapter and $10 for the DF.
f. Collect the forms and
chapter dues.
g. Hand out the proposed
activity calendar. Ask for input on each proposed activity.
Get suggestions for where to hold them, if needed. Get suggestions
for additional activities, good clinicians, etc.
h. Plan a consistent time
and location for monthly meetings; for example, the second
Tuesday of every month at 7:00 PM at your barn.
i. Encourage members to
have and use email. This is the best way to keep members
updated on events and changes.
j. Solicit volunteers for
chapter officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary,
Treasurer, and Membership Coordinator). If necessary hold
an election.
k. Come up with a name
for your chapter. Please include OPRC as part of your name,
such as Bubble Creek OPRC or Alamade Country OPRC.
3) After the meeting, deposit the dues checks in the
chapter bank account. Mail a copy of each National OPRC
Membership Form and a check covering $10 for each member
(for example, if you have 20 members, the check should be
$200), made out to OPRC, to the National OPRC Membership
Coordinator, mailing address: available here.
The National Membership Coordinator will enter the member
data into the National OPRC Database, forward the check
to the National OPRC Treasurer, and mail you an OPRC Membership
Card for each member. You can distribute the cards at the
next meeting.
4) You are encouraged to charge nominal fees for chapter
activities. For example, the Founding Chapter in Southern
Maryland has never charged more than $35.00 per rider for
a clinic. You can make money for your club with fundraisers
such as silent auctions, open horse shows, tacking on a
little extra for clinics, used tack sales, etc.
5) Hold your first rating ride (see Ratings).
After you have rated members, you can hold mounted activities
such as trail rides, clinics, events, horse shows, fun shows,
horse swims, etc. Only rated members may ride in the chapter
activities. If you want to include nonmembers in a mounted
event, you must coordinate insurance coverage with the insurer.
This will usually incur an additional fee. Before each mounted
event begins, collect an OPRC Competitor Activity
Release Form from each participant. We have prepared
a document that the new President may draw from.
6) As your chapter grows, you'll find many members
interested in different things. Welcome everyone and look
for the talent that each individual has to offer.
7) You will eventually need to elect a clinic coordinator,
rating ride coordinator, show coordinators, etc.
8) You may also want to develop your own club logo.
Please incorporate OPRC into your logo. Encourage everyone
to get club logo polo shirts, hats and saddle pads for team
spirit. Keep it fun!
9) Contact the OPRC National
Office with any questions or suggestions to make your life
easier. Remember, this is
a constantly growing and improving organization in which
we are learning together! We welcome your suggestions to
make the OPRC more fun.
