MINIsOnTop June 16th, 2007

[NHRef]

Quote: Originally Posted by Theo (original)

8>< snip

And, if I were a charity, I'm not sure I'd refuse $1,500 as a gift. The raffles have raised more than double this amount, if memory serves (Ian?).

Let's hear your suggestions for raising an additional $1,500 for MINIs On Top. The dice game may not be the way to go, but I'd be interested in someone stepping-up with an alternate plan and, at the same time, expressing the willingness to take-on the commitment to work over the next 5 months to make it happen.

8>< snip

MOT is Morphing

All of us have charities of our own choosing. Many of us generously and spontaneously contribute to other charities.

Is MOT a gathering of enthusiasts? Is MOT a gathering of enthusiasts who recognize our collective good fortune and want take time out of our gathering to support a charity? Or is MOT a charity fund-raising event? Will we strive every year to supercede the previous year's fundraising? What will we do the year after a "down" year?

Don't get me wrong. Kudos to anyone who puts in as much time and effort to raise money as is being done in this instance, or for any other charity in any other place. And I'm in a position to contribute, thank goodness.

Nevertheless, my sense is that MOT is Morphing. What is MOT?

[Theo]

Quote: Originally Posted by NHRef (original)

{snip}...Nevertheless, my sense is that MOT is Morphing. What is MOT?

A very good point, Pete!

Certainly, MOT has morphed, and will continue to morph as new people enter the ranks and new ideas percolate during each year the event is held. So, IMHO, the issue is not that MOT is morphing, it is the issue of whether the direction in which MOT is morphing is supported by the majority of the MINI community.

That is a more fundamental question which may need to be examined in closer detail.

Theo

[rfinprc]

Okay, I'll tackle this...

MOT is a gathering of enthusiasts, primarily motivated by wanting to get together and have a good time. It's also a gathering of people who like the idea of leveraging something good out of their participation. A good time is made better by giving something back. I like that part.

I don't know that we need to e too concerned about "are we a charity event or a gathering of enthusiasts." To be perfectly blunt, the charity aspect makes it possible for us to maybe win some cool prizes. It also helps us get stuff for free, like the gieaways and the Loon lot.

As for adding in yet another major fundraising piece, I agree with Pete that as long as we have a sucke... I mean volunteer, to take on the work, it's fine with me.

p.s. - truth is, the addition of another chance to win a MINI (and other stuff) is worth something because we like to win stuff. Making it part of the fundraiser is a bonus. After all, we never complain about all the free giveaway stuff.

[GadgetGav]

Is the dice roll in place of, or as well as the raffle for the lease?
I'm all for more dealers getting involved, but are they just trying to out-do each other..? The thing that turns me off from the dice roll idea is that the insurance company are putting an even more stringent limit on a game that's already stacked in their favor. That and the fact that the $20,000 prize is only costing the dealer a few hundred and yet they get the publicity as if it were really costing $20K
There are certainly a lot more winners with the raffle approach and any dealer who donates a prize for that that's worth several hundred dollars will surely get some name recognition...

[snek]

Quote: Originally Posted by GadgetGav (original)

The 1 in 46,000 chance that someone actually wins. That way New Country don't actually have to pay for the car, they just pay the insurance premium.

Then the insurance company - not the dealership - should get the credit for buying a car for someone who happens to win. And if nobody wins, there is no need to advertise New Country as the dealership which did not provide a car...

[JR9907]

Well Theo, I think it's a great idea.

[GBMINI]

I'd love Steve to comment on this "what is MOT" theme, since he created the first three years.

My take is much like Richard.
MINIsOnTop is a gathering of MINI enthusiasts and MINI friends. We meet, chat, have fun, drive, chat, eat, have fun, drive to the top of somewhere very high and scary, maybe see a view ... all that stuff.

The charity is accidental.
In 2003 there was no charity. We had a few giveaways, provided I think by individuals such as Mr Secco.

In 2004 I picked up a nice signed poster from Mark Cooper at JCW; it seemed too valuable to just give away as a "door prize" so we auctioned it and raised some money. Steve also had a custom Whalen shift knob made and raffled it, raising a bit more money.
Since the auction was on MINI2 we asked Paul Mulletts permission; we also decided to send the proceeeds 50:50 to USA and UK and asked Paul where - he said Whizzkids so in a similar vein we chose Make-A-Wish for USA

In 2005 the amazing prize of a two year MINI lease was offered by Herb Chambers MINI thanks to lots of slog by Steve. Again too valuable to just give away so we raffled it. Steve also chose to send the proceeds to a favourite charity of his, the Kennedy Donovan Center

In 2006 Herb Chambers again gave a two year lease; MINI of Peabody also gave a big prize (the JCW kit) - we raffled both.

In 2007 who knows.
My personal opinion is that we should not make "raising money" the theme of MOT; I doubt we can beat last years amazing total and frankly it doesn't matter. We'll have just as much fun if we raise no money at all.
On the other hand, assuming we again get donations, large and small, it's a nice thing to do to turn some of that donation into supporting a charity (for 2007, Rosie's Place).

I'd hate to put people off MOT because it's too charity focused, too "commercial" or whatever. but I'd hate to get an amazing donation (like the MINI lease worth $5K+) and simply give it away to someone based on if they pick the lucky number from a hat. I hope that what was done in 2005 and 2006 walked the fine line and pleased most people.

[yellowmininy]

I think the people make MOT what it is, but I think the idea of making an effort to do things for others is really one of the things that makes MOT special, and makes it a little different from many other Mini events, to make sharing what we have, even if we don't have a lot, part of the fun. And in some ways, I think the 'charity' has developed as a demonstration of the kinds of people who come to MOT, and that's why I've really enjoyed attending all these years.

[MGB Boy]

Quote: Originally Posted by snek (original)

Then the insurance company - not the dealership - should get the credit for buying a car for someone who happens to win. And if nobody wins, there is no need to advertise New Country as the dealership which did not provide a car...

Hmmm, not sure I understand what your beef is here, this is standard procedure, there's nothing exceptional about this. Every time you see some guy try a basketball shot from mid-court to win some big check, every time you see a "kick a fieldgoal to win $xxxxx", every time you see a "hole in one wins a new car" promo, every time McDonalds does their Monopoly game piece sweepstakes, every time you see a radio station doing a car/boat/house/whatever give-away contest, it isn't the store or the dealership or the radio station or the sports league or McDonalds or whomever else footing the payout, they just pay premiums based on the prize value and odds of payout, there are insurance companies like this and this behind the scenes. The radio station/car dealer/whatever do it for PR, not because they want to give things away.

You seem particularly concerned about the issues of who gets credit and whether or not New Country gets any PR out of this. If there were no advertising potential here, do you really think New Country would be bothering? Of course they want PR. And if there were no opportunity for New Country to get PR, then this wouldn't be happening at all and $1500 wouldn't go to charity and no one would have a shot at winning a car. The specialty contest / promotion insurance companies neither want nor need PR with the general public, they have nothing to sell us and want nothing from us, they don't go out and seek opportunities to give stuff away and gain PR, they provide a service for others who do. If it weren't for New Country, no one would have a chance to win a car, they are making this possible, even if their financial stake in it isn't as deep as you'd like (if they really were willing to give away something worth $20000 out of their own pocket, why would they give away the $20000 in order to raise just $1500 for charity, wouldn't it make way more sense for them to just give the $20000 directly to charity?). Hey, someone might win a car, and even if they don't , it's going to raise money for a good cause. So I don't really see any reason to badmouth them here. All of this (including my own post) is "mountain out of a molehill" stuff, I think...

-Ricardo

[snek]

Well, I'm such a babe in the woods I didn't know you can buy insurance for that -

It just seem particularly deceptive. It seems to me the system is set up to use us and our charity to buy publicity for themselves. Why not gain publicity by donating to the charity directly? Why not gain publicity by donating a car to one lucky winner?

Hey, can I personally buy insurance for a couple of hundred bucks and then walk around collecting admiration and publicity and free advertising as the generous guy who gave you poor schnuks a chance to win "my" $20,000?

[Sheenabea]

I am just a noob, but I have been reading over all the different takes on this fund raising proposition and this is what I have gotten the gist of:

MOT is not a "fund raising event" and does not want to become such. MOT takes the money collected to go to charity (and rightfully so) because MOT gets the money from MINI owners wanting to be apart of a chance to win something (out of the fun of a raffle) and at the same time want the money they do put in to go to a good cause.

As a newbie, I would hate the MOT event to become a "sponsor" event where all big companies/dealerships "donate" things to win and get huge publicity. I can understand if they are supporting good causes and such, but keeping the raffle is probably the best way to go about the possiblity of "winning" MINI swag without it turning into who can one-up the other. Even though I didn't attend last year, I liked the idea of HC MINI and MoP offering up the lease and JCW upgrade (respectively). It didn't seem like they were competing so much as just offering up different things that were similar in value and encouraging people to enter to win and at the same time helping a good cause.

Basically, what I mean to say is, it would be disappointing to see the focus be taken away so much from MINIs and their owners and turned into a publicity stunt and fund raising spree only.

[MaxaMiniBro]

I'm sorry, but this is all starting to sound a little crazy! I am just a one-time attendee, and a non-MINI owner to boot, but I can't understand why people are getting upset that dealerships might want to get involved in some way with MOT!! I can remember comments being made in the past that "Gee, it would be nice if other dealers BESIDES Herb Chambers would step up to the plate...".. Now they want to, and we're questioning their motives - "AHA! They just want to sell us cars!! Those barstands!".
Being acquainted with a MINI owner, I know that one of the really cool things about a lot of MINI activities was that he got to meet an incredible group of people, and that in some of the events these people could accomplish great things for others. I believe the Make-A-Wish Toy Run would be an example of what he aspired to. MOT started off as just a cool run, but as it has grown, some people realized there was an opportunity for charity work as well - work that didn't even require effort on most people's part - but that raised a nice chunk of change for a very deserving charity. (Rosie's Place certainly looks like it fits that description as well!)
In my work, I often go to forums and meetings where they have vendor exhibit halls. In most cases those vendors are not expecting to make back their expenses at that event. They are there as partners of the sponsoring organization - and they primarily hope to gain GOODWILL for their gesture. The sponsoring orgs will often "ask" the bigger ones to sponsor an opening cocktail party/reception, or a golf outing - where all of my expenses are covered, and all I have to do is show up and notice the signage that they have posted, and use the golf balls with their logo that they have supplied (along with the beer!) Sounds like a pretty nice trade-off!

If New Country wants to provide a way for someone to actually WIN a MINI, and the proceeds will go to the charity (and NC will pay for the insurance to cover the possible win) - why are people slamming them?? If I worked there and read some of these comments - I might begin to wonder if my donation is really appreciated. If the $5 per roll donation is unappealing - you don't have to play! Others have already indicated that they're in for at least $20.

In my mind, if dealers or other MINI orgainizations wish to participate in some way (maybe having a display of some sort) and are willing to contribute to our charity while giving away stuff to you - why are we looking at these gift MINI's in the exhaust pipe??

[jwardell]

Folks, I think we are losing touch. The big prizes/donations/resulting charities really should be a function of the businesses who chose to do whatever they want. The businesses should be brainstorming this and choosing their own form of publicity.

We are the enthusiasts, we should be brainstorming the activities for the enthusiasts. If one such activity has a way of profiting and donating than so be it, but we should be concentrating on the event not working backwards.

Many of us are attending for the umpteenth time and as such alternative activities and routes are highly needed. Another scavenger hunt, some routes in new directions, perhaps some non-driving activities for those non-enthusiasts who don't want to spend so much time behind the wheel.

I would like to see a little more meet-and-greet at the loon lot. Encourage people to arrive a little earlier. That was one of the best parts of the first few, just walking around and meeting people and their cars. But recently I've noticed the majority of people arrive as late as they can and have no time to do so. The boot sale was a great idea and a way to draw people out and about, I would love to see that expanded and perhaps some business allowed to set up small displays. A big opportunity missed by many of the area businesses. It would be nice to see 3-4 dealers with presence, as well are the aftermarkets like Turner, BavAuto, etc.

Perhaps a bit of a car show as well--participants must arrive early, judging by 10am?

These are all ways of getting people there early and meeting all the great people in the mini community-which is really the other great half of the mini experience.

[Sheenabea]

Josh- you are right about needing to think of activities focused on the attendees that doesn't have to be driving related.

I have thought of a few ideas that might work, but I suppose I need to figure out who to go to first before I start just randomly shouting out thoughts on activities.

My intent was not say that dealerships contributing is bad, I just wanted to give a "newbie" take on what we might see/feel we are seeing.

[GBMINI]

Everyone except Ivan - great words Ricardo especially; shame it still didn't get understood.

Josh, the purpose of this being put up on MINI2 was the MOT organizers puzzlement about how best to use the offer from New Country MINI; it wasn't an intent to bash dealerships or anything else ...

Josh, I agree we need to focus on MOT fun as I said in my previous post. We have a new recruit (Angus) coming into MOT organization this year with some excellent enthusiasm and ideas - I hope it'll please you.
Unfortunately it seems nothing will please Ivan, although Michaels found a possibility: Convincer/Seatbelt Education