Hey guys,

I would like to share with you my new organization I've started to support trail organizations. It is called Outdoor Enthusiasts. I really think this is going to be a new revolutionary way to raise money for trail organizations (like Rubicon Trail Foundation, Friends of Rubicon, Friends of Johnson Valley, Friends of Panamint Valley, Blue Ribbon, CAL4WD, United 4WD, etc etc).

Please visit http://www.outdoorenthusiasts.org/intro

The Rubicon Trail Foundation and Marlin Crawler, Inc. have already partnered with Outdoor Enthusiasts and more organizations will be partnering very soon!

The cool thing is that organizations who have partnered with Outdoor Enthusiasts will receive an on-going monthly contribution from people within O.E. -- and no one changes their spending habits or alters their budget! The money is automatically generated every single month by the system without anyone spending any additional money! You've got to check out the videos to see how it works!

I think it's pretty awesome! Free money for the organizations we love and support! What do you think?

Mike

I really think this is going to be a new revolutionary way to raise money for trail organizations (

I was checking out the site and I can't find the page where this revolution is taking place. can you send me the link please.

Hey Camo,

Thanks for checking it out and for the email. If you follow the link in my opening post above I explain how it works in the intro video. You don't have to listen to the video if you don't wish, so you can read what this is about through the "Click here to view the full script" link.

The new concept is for people to start shopping at a different store for their consumable home and camping products, such as shampoo, tooth paste, sun block, camp soap, crackers, energy bars, sports drink, etcetera, and every time a purchase is made, part of that money is donated to partners of Outdoor Enthusiasts.

As far as I could see this has not been done with our trail organizations before so I consider it to be new and exciting. What if, for example, Savemart started advertising that a portion of every purchase I made on consumable products would be donated to Rubicon? I would shop there every month!!

And the coolest part of this for the trail organizations is that every month we need shampoo, we need deoderant, we eat cereal, we use laundry detergent, so that means that every month Rubicon and Johnson Valley and Panamint Valley and Blue Ribbon and anyone else who wants to be part of this free money would be receiving a check month after month after month. I wanna see this grow so big that every month The Rubicon Trail Foundation receives a $1,000 check! How cool would that be!!

Not to mention that these products are all safe for the environment: they have no chlorine bleach, no ammonia, no aerosol propellants, no formaldehyde, no fillers, no phosphates, no abrasives, are php balanced and are concentrated to save on shipping weight, bottles, and water.

It all fits in so well with preserving and supporting trails! Don't you agree? :)

I would love to have a list of companies to shop with that I knew supported our cause so that I could more easily boycott the companies that donate to groups that oppose us! (REI and others supporting the Sierra Club, for example)


BUT, why is Marlin Crawler (a profitable business) a benefactor of this program? Seems to me they should be one of the DONORS that I decide to do business with because of their support, and the non-profit org's fighting to keep our trails open should be the benefactors.

From what I could tell, there is only one company you buy from - Melaleuca.

Melaleuca is a Multi Level Marketing (MLM) setup (think Amway). Representatives for MLM organizations generally make more money by signing up "downstream" representatives than by signing up customers.

The Outdoor Enthusiasts site claims that Melaleuca donates "up to" 25% of the money you spend to our trail-supporting organizations. If that is true, it would have to be under very limited circumstances or very crappy products for the company and its representatives to make any money.

And you don't just shop at a different store. You buy the store band products from a limited selection of mostly houshold cleaners and health and beauty products.

I'm not saying it is necessarily a bad idea, but (as with everything) be sure to read the fine print and know exactly what you are signing up for.

I would love to have a list of companies to shop with that I knew supported our cause so that I could more easily boycott the companies that donate to groups that oppose us! (REI and others supporting the Sierra Club, for example)


BUT, why is Marlin Crawler (a profitable business) a benefactor of this program? Seems to me they should be one of the DONORS that I decide to do business with because of their support, and the non-profit org's fighting to keep our trails open should be the benefactors.Thanks for your feedback everyone!

ErikB, we totally agree with you . . . We would much rather shop with a company that will donate back to organizations that support our trails. That’s much better than shopping at Wal-Mart or any other store that just pockets all the money. . . . . That’s why we are really excited about the system that Melaleuca offers. . . .

You have a great question about Marlin Crawler being a benefactor versus a donor. . . . I think this will make more sense if we explain how this arrangement is different from the usual donation set up. . . . .

Typically, the donation arrangements we see involve a profitable business (like Marlin Crawler) simply donating money to a non-profit organization (like Rubicon Foundation). But this system works a little different. . . . . Basically, what Melaleuca offers is a system where we can enroll BOTH non-profits as well as businesses so that they can BOTH benefit from the program. Then as we add customers to the organization, all the non-profits as well as businesses that we have enrolled will all see profits.

So the money going to MC does NOT in any way reduce the money going to non-profits like Rubicon Foundation. It is EXTRA money in addition to the money that goes to the non-profits. If this extra money is not given to MC, it would just be forfeited.

Our reason for getting Marlin Crawler involved was very simple: We needed a way to make this new program known to as many people as possible. Marlin Crawler is obviously well known in the 4wheeling industry and has a great reputation for supporting our trails, especially Rubicon. We want people to know that OE has the same commitment to our trails. So we asked MC if we could promote OE with a banner on the MC forum. In return, we made MC the first business we have enrolled with OE so that they could see a benefit from this program as well. . . . So the bottom line: MC helps to promote OE, and OE helps to generate funds for MC.

By the way, MC has given us their commitment to use the funds in a way that will most benefit the off-road community – whether that means spending the money on R&D to make better parts for our trucks, sponsoring trail events, or possibly even donating to non-profits in the traditional sense . . . We know that MC is a company that we can trust and they will listen to the voice of OE members who are supporting this program. . . .

In fact, that is a major part of our vision . . . Our vision and commitment is to make sure that all the money generated for any organization enrolled with OE (such as MC, Rubicon Foundation, etc.) is used in the way that OE members think is best. (After all, if the money is not used in the way that OE members would like, we can always remove the particular business or organization from OE.) We are going to be very active in monitoring how all funds are used and reporting back to the community what is being done with it. . . . . We would like to have a very active homepage on the OE website that reports how much money each organization has received so far and what has been done with it. Members of OE can visit the website and see photos, videos, and reports that described how their money is being used for the off-road community. For example, whenever there is a trip to open trails, construct bathrooms, do a clean up, etc. . . . we would like to go out and document all that is being done so we all can see the benefits that is being brought to the trails. We’re also hoping to eventually have an OE forum so members of OE can share what they think should be the next project to be accomplished with OE generated funds.

Of course, all of this starts small. At this point we only have MC as a business and Rubicon Foundation as a non-profit. We hope to add many more soon such as Friends of Johnson Valley, Friends of Panamint Valley, and eventually even large organizations like Blue Ribbon, Tread Lightly, etc. . . . .

So I hope this helps everyone whose is considering joining OE to see the “big picture” that we are aiming for and to get involved. Every person counts!

[COLOR="Lime"]Thanks for your feedback everyone!




a few questions.

1. who are you ?


2. who exactly is we ? as in Outdoor Enthusiast ?

3. can I get a copy of Out Door Enthusiast 501c status

4. who is monitoring how the money is spent.

5. what are the requirements that have to be complied with in terms of reporting how they spend the "extra" money.


Sorry but anythime somebody starts trowing around terms like you use in your pitch my spiddy senses smell scam.

Camo, this is a for profit venture. Melalueca product sales. Not a 501c3

Part of the multi level allows representatives to funnel part of "their" profits to non-profit entities.

Just like if you made a post saying click our links, buy from them and they give back a percentage because PBB referred the customer.

Hi Camo,

I’m happy to answer your questions . . .

1. My name is Nathan Inan. I’m a friend of Big Mike. I live close by the Marlin Crawler shop so I received their help with building my truck over the last few years. (You can see my build thread in my sig.) During that time I’ve had the opportunity to get to know the guys at the shop including Big Mike. Recently Mike approached me with the idea of starting something like Outdoor Enthusiasts that would benefit non-profit organizations that support the trails. I thought it was a great idea so we’ve been working hard on this project together. That’s the reason I know the things described above about how OE will function.

2. By “we” I am referring to Mike, myself, and anyone else that would like to be a member of Outdoor Enthusiasts.

3. Outdoor Enthusiasts is not an official non-profit organization. It is more like an association of people who want to raise funds for the non-profit organizations that already exist and support our trails (like Rubicon Foundation). Outdoor Enthusiasts does not receive any money directly or spend any money. All we do is generate revenue for other organizations with the purpose of seeing that money used for the trails.

4. All the members of Outdoor Enthusiasts will be able to monitor how the money is spent. The reason is because we will have full knowledge of the value of every check received by the organizations enrolled by Outdoor Enthusiasts (like Rubicon Foundation). So we will always know how much money was generated for them by Outdoor Enthusiasts. Then we will ask them to give us a clear report of how the money was spent. In that sense, it’s exactly like any other donation they receive. . . . For example, just like if you decide to donate $100 to Rubicon Foundation today, you can contact them ask them exactly how that money is spent. It’s the same thing with Outdoor Enthusiasts. So the accountability lies basically with the non-profit organizations reporting how they spend all the donations they receive.

In addition, many non-profit organizations will let donors decide what exactly they would like accomplished with the money that is donated. In that case, we would like the members of Outdoor Enthusiasts to discuss what they would like to see done with the money that Outdoor Enthusiasts is generating for the non-profits we support. Since Outdoor Enthusiasts will be acting almost like a donor, then we can bring our requests to the non-profits and even work with them to accomplish our goals.

5. There are no official requirements about how non-profits are to report the money generated by Outdoor Enthusiasts. That’s again something that members of Outdoor Enthusiasts can discuss together if it looks like there needs to be closer monitoring of how the money is being spent. However, for the most part this will probably not be necessary because the non-profits we enroll are accountable to all their donors already.

I hope that helps to further clear things up. Thanks for taking the time to inquire about what Outdoor Enthusiasts is doing. :)

Thanks for your excellent replies Nathan, you have brought a lot of clarity to this thread. In light of the questions asked, last night I created a forum on OE's website that can be found through the following link: http://www.outdoorenthusiasts.org/forum. There is not much content at this time, but I have encouraged those who have registered through the Intro video linked in my thread above to post any questions or comments they may have. This will enable all of our site visitors to appreciate and understand why Nathan and I truely believe this is an amazing new way of supporting our trails, especially for those of use who have not been able to support trails in the past.

Nathan and I have been working really hard on this project and I am extremely pleased to see the dream come to reality. If you have been wondering how you can support trails without having to alter your budget or spend any new money, this is the opportunity you've been looking for! Please take a moment to review the information presented on our site as well as watch our two informational videos that fully draw out the entire ins-and-outs of this system. It is a remarkable idea! Being part something so large that can change the world for our trails is something I've always dreamed of doing, and the opportunity is finally here for anyone who cares about trails!

It is so easy to join and there is absolutely NO RISK involved. All purchases are 100% satisfaction guaranteed through Melaleuca, the home goods store who supports our trails for free!

Join OE today and start making a difference in the 4wheeling world in a way you never could have imagined.

Making a difference,
BigMike