The Mt. Ashland Association was my first client. It was 2014. I was requested to join the organization during a period of significant turmoil at the nonprofit ski area serving Southern Oregon. The ski area had not opened the previous winter due to a lack of snow. The organization had to restructure nearly $1 million in debt in order to survive. AND its most loyal constituents were angry with the management team for not issuing refunds for products purchased (namely season passes). The frustrations had been mounting for years, and this was the breaking point.
It was time for a re-brand.
I joined a team that included Mt. Ashland Association board member Chris Cook, Jamie Schectman of the Mountain Rider’s Alliance, the marketing team at Lithia Motors (providing in-kind support as a corporate supporter of the organization), and the new ski area General Manager, Hiram Towle.
We engaged a large group of stakeholders to gauge the brand’s strengths and opportunities for restoring a brand promise. Working with the Board of Directors and small ad hoc group, we re-wrote the mission statement, the brand promise, created a new logo with associated palette colors and brand book.
We wrote a new marketing plan which focused on restoring the organization’s commitment to the Southern Oregon community and forged powerful new partnerships with the local business community. We restructured the marketing department to focus on daily on-the-snow updates to help shore up a renewed commitment to open, honest, and transparent communications.
We adopted the phrase “Local Mountain Fun since 1964” to ensure constituents understood the new priorities.
The new website we built was focused on highlighting current conditions and lowering the threshold for purchasing products like lift tickets, passes, and gift certificates.
We also focused on developing a culture of philanthropy within the organization. I met with countless current and past board members, supporters, and interested stakeholders. This “listening tour” helped me identify further opportunities to help the organization shore up its finances and make infrastructure updates. I designed a direct mail campaign to build a base of support and helped the organization understand the importance of unrestricted gift fundraising so that all support given to the “Local Mountain Fund” could be used in ways deemed most important to the senior team and board of directors. We also deeply invested in building a major donor program.
This coordinated effort resulted in larger and larger donations, culminating with the largest donation in the organization’s 30+ year history of $2.5 million by the Sid and Karen DeBoer Foundation in 2023.
Our hard work paid off. The Mt. Ashland Association is a much more resilient organization today, built to withstand future bouts with bad weather and positioned to make significant improvements across the ski area—all without taking on any new debt and maintaining a healthy reserve fund.
