View From HQ - 2010/08

172 MODEL AVIATION
as a recognized educational sport and
recreation activity.
The AMA is governed by its Executive
Council. The council is a volunteer board that
is elected by the AMA membership and
consists of 15 members—a president,
executive vice president, and one vice
president representing each of the AMA’s 11
districts—across the nation. Additional
members of the board include an appointed
chief financial officer and the president of the
National Aeronautic Association.
AMA is the official national body for
model aviation in the United States and
sanctions more than 2,000 aviation events
throughout the country each year. The
organization certifies official model flying
records on a national and international level
through the National Aeronautic
Association and Fédération Aéronautique
Internationale (FAI).
AMA is the chartering organization for
more than 2,500 model airplane clubs across
the country and offers its chartered clubs
official event sanctioning, insurance, and
assistance in getting and keeping flying sites.
AMA is the voice of its membership,
providing liaison with the Federal Aviation
Administration, the Federal Communications
Commission, and other government agencies.
AMA also works with local governments,
zoning boards, and parks departments to
promote the interests of local chartered clubs.
The Academy is headquartered on its
1,100-acre International Aeromodeling Center
in Muncie, Indiana, that also houses the
world’s largest model aviation museum.
Executive Summary
Model aviation is constantly evolving. To
stay relevant and vital, it is important that
AMA always be aware of, and keep pace with,
this evolution. This Strategic Long Range Plan
(SLRP) was built as a combined effort of the
AMA staff and the AMA Executive Council.
Working together, we identified current
trends and projected where these trends would
lead aeromodeling. Based on these projections,
we built an SLRP that would guide AMA over
the next several years.
Our members have consistently told us that
their primary concerns rest in flying site
acquisition and retention and government
intervention that may impact what we do as
model aviation enthusiasts. Additionally,
education outreach has been an important part
of AMA’s history. AMA’s membership
contains several aviation and aerospace
notables who have cited model aviation as
being the springboard to their careers.
Finally, we wanted to address the concern
over AMA’s declining membership base. In
the final analysis it was felt that in addition to
establishing goals and objectives in each of
these specific areas, developing a strong
marketing program would also provide a
Executive Director Jim Cherry
“No one plans to fail,
but many fail to plan”
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collateral benefit in each of the other areas of
importance.
Promoting model aviation as a
worthwhile, recreational, and educational
family activity is the foundation for building a
successful approach to meeting all of the
goals and objectives established in this SLRP.
This SLRP addresses the primary
concerns of our members, works toward
maintaining our history of education
outreach, and looks to the future by creating a
strong marketing effort that will build the
credibility of what we do as model aviation
enthusiasts. This credibility can only help
improve the perception of model aviation in
the eyes of everyone from our friends and
neighbors in our local communities to elected
officials from the local to the federal level.
The result will be a stronger organization,
enhancing our ability to protect and preserve
model aviation going forward, providing a
greater value proposition to our members,
while securing AMA’s future as the world’s
leading model aviation organization.
—Dave Mathewson, AMA President
With the development of the AMA SLRP, a
change in the allocation of resources was
needed to follow the course set by the plan. In
the past, the Academy had two separate
departments: a Marketing Department and a
Programs Department. The two were
combined in a cost-saving effort a few years
back. The Marketing Department took on the
programs and was staffed to support the
efforts of both under one department head.
In building the Marketing Department, we
were fortunate to hire Chris Brooks, whose
experience includes not only public-relations
expertise, but also development skills. One
section of the SLRP is devoted to AMA’s
development efforts, that have previously
been passive.
To truly make a meaningful impact in this
area and with the expertise in-house, we have
established a new Public Relations and
Development Department. It will work with
Marketing to promote the Academy, while
each department will work in other areas
specific to its goals.
Please welcome our new Public Relations
and Development director, Chris Brooks. MA
In the spirit of flight.
fter many hours of work by the
Executive Council, staff, and
other volunteers, the Academy
now has its first five-year strategic
long-range plan (SLRP). This is a road map
of where the Executive Council, with input
from the membership, wants to direct the
organization.
The old saying “No one plans to fail, but
many fail to plan” was the starting point for
developing direction and long-range
objectives and goals for the Academy. The
SLRP gives the Academy a much-needed
tool in its development efforts. From the
SLRP we develop AMA’s Annual Program
of Work (POW) and supporting budget.
The complete SLRP is available on the
AMA Web site at www.modelaircraft.org/
news/2010SLRP.aspx.
Along with its importance to the
membership, the SLRP will help the general
public to better understand that the AMA is
more than people flying airplanes. I plan to
cover the SLRP and its various parts in my
next few MA columns. Following are
excerpts from the plan.
In most SLRPs, the first part of the
document is dedicated to setting the stage
for the reader. It is
written as though
the reader has no
prior knowledge of
the organization.
The next section
is the Executive
Summary. If you
don’t have the time
to read the entire
document, the
Executive Summary
will give you a brief
overview of the
SLRP.
Academy of Model Aeronautics
Established in 1936, the Academy of
Model Aeronautics (AMA) is the world’s
largest model aviation association,
representing a membership of more than
142,000. The Academy is a self-supporting,
non-profit organization whose purpose is to
promote the development of model aviation
A
Jim Cherry
Executive Director
[email protected]
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