Random thoughts:

I think the national club could happen if it were seeded with money from MINI USA. How that would happen I have no idea. MINI would need to be convinced it's a valuable pursuit and would need to support it with publicity, dollars and word of mouth. Right now, the company benefits from NAM and from Gabe's site, without the existince of a national club.

There are challenges to push something like that so fast in the life of a car, as well. The new MINI does not have the extensive heritage of some of these other cars that have large national followings. In its current guise, it's really only been on these shores for 5 years. Whereas, the Porsche has been continuously built for decades, has multiple models and at no time was the car company discontinued, the rights sold and then warped into a new concept by a totally different car company years later. Ditto the BMW.

On the other hand, the MINI has a real following for such a small life span. In Portland for example, there are 700+ members in the PCA. A benchmark for sure. Acheived with local sweat and tears, and national Porsche support.

Yet, here in puddletown, the local (regional) PDX MINI Club, after roughly 3-4 short years of existence (it's seeds are traced right here to NAM) is very active and already has 165 members, and continues to grow. We do all of that without a national club and its support. NAM does assist for sure in exposure, but not all the members read NAM, as evidenced by the traffic on our club forum here. It's light. Our club was built by a number of folks who had extensive car club experience with other makes (Porsche, Hot Rods and BMW's for example), and without that would likely not be anything like it is. However, it was still done locally.

I think a need for a national club will develop naturally, be pretty obvious, and with initial monetary help from MINI, be sustainable as an organization at that time. I don't know if the time is right. Yet.

 

Magoo votes for NAM also.

 

I want to add one thing:

NAM really is the defacto social "club" for MINI's. It serves the enthusiast culture of the car that is internet literate (which is most folks) and yet requires no input other than participation, from members. It does serve as a wonderful hub to promote national events like AMVIV, MITM, and the Dragon run. And it's a fabuolous resource for knowledge, excitement and MINI related entertainment. Also, Gabe's commerical site has filled a great niche as well.

It is by no means the same thing as a face to face flesh and blood club however. What it does not do, is insure and/ or sponsor track days, HPDE's, and driving events. It does not nationally insure regional and local car clubs, and it does not sanction events. The PCA and BMWCCA and BMWACA do, in various guises.

If the internet were not in existence, as was the case when basically all other enthusiast clubs were formed (Scion excluded) MINI USA may have approached it differently, and we might have a national club already.

Now, with the emergence of podcasting (essentially "on-demand" radio programming) as a viable means of communications, White Roof Radio is taking off. It's filling the passive entertainment niche that the internet forums cannot. Brilliant stuff.

If there was ever a way to officially link all this you'd have a powerful start to a national organization. But why would you want to do that? It works beautifully as it is, and these three resources should be allowed to bear fruit to those who took the risk to initiate them in the first place.

 

This place does make for wonderfully intertaining Clubhouse...


Art

 

Something that BMW CCA can offer
1) membership fees collected in one central place then distributed to each club or chapter
2) insurance, Directors & Officers Liability insurance
3) Chapter Conferences where volunteers are given tools to make their jobs easier
4) Access to service officers
5) Join forces under one umbrella and pitch BMW and others, like the BMW Membership Rewards program
6) Centralized governance

There is already a vast network of grassroots clubs.
Having a National office help could be a big plus.

Right now a BMW CCA membership is $40 with $15 going to the local chapter. There is nothing that says a MINI CCA needs to be the same. Everything would be up for discussion.

 

There is however one HUGE obstacle to a MINICCA or similar organization becoming a national "club of clubs" for the MINI community, and that's the local MINI clubs themselves...

Now before anybody gets upset, I don't mean that as a dig at any MINI club...

But a national MINI club will need to define, just what a club is and has to do in order to be recognized by them...

Right now there are clubs with bylaws, Presidents, Treasuries, and elected boards. They carry insurance and have worked to get tax ID's etc... They may even be recognized as non-profit organizations...

Other clubs may have some bylaws and an organizing comittee...

Still other clubs have no leadership commitee but bylaws and a treasury...

And other clubs exist only in the form of a Yahoo! e-mail list...

Heck some clubs are open to all comers whether they own a MINI, Mini, or none of the above... Other clubs are a bit more exclusive...

Many of these organizations have been established for several years now, and are established in a manner that suits their membership... But is it practical for a national organization to recognize all of these groups? How does a national organization disburse funds to a group that only exists as a Yahoo! list? Does a national club want to endorse a local club that isn't open to whomever wants to join?

Many of these clubs would probably resent being forced to re-organize in order to fall under a national organization's umbrella, even more so when they really don't need what the national organization has to offer. Then again, I suspect many clubs would also be proud of earning an outsider status!

And why would an already organized full structure club want to fall into an organization that functions like BMWCCA?

Again not to knock BMWCCA, it works well for the BMW community based on how it has organized itself over the years, however the MINI community formed and organized differently. Many clubs have purchased their own insurance policies already and don't need to work with a national organization for coverage. They've also established membership fee structures if needed and also a means to collect those fees. Those fee structures are set by the clubs and allow them to ensure that the fees collect meet the needs of the club and allow the club to be financially solvent. Why would they want to instead allow their membership monies to go to a national organization and then wait for the national organization to disburse funds to them? Especially when that disbursement might not be enough for them to meet their expenses?

Then there's the question of the classic Minis... Many local clubs welcome them with open arms, but classics aren't MINI's, do you allow Classic Mini owners to join a national MINI club?

I think the window was open for a MINICAA organization about three years ago... I think the only way for such an organization to be established now would be to throw a rock through the window of the MINI Community...

 

That is pretty much the way BMW CCA chapters are. Some chapters have one person assuming multiple roles while others have a large volunteer base. People just need to think outside the box. What works (or sometimes doesn't) work for BMW CCA will not work for a MINI CCA. Then again, what works for one MINI club may not work for another. Discussion is good.

 

I can kind of see some club trying to host a National Convention, and eventually a national club morphing from that, even if it's only to organize a national event.

I can see a national event every year: rotating from east, midwest, west. Concourse judging, autocross, T&D Rallye, touring, funkhana, etc.