What Can the USDF Do for Your GMO?

Probably more than you realized! Here’s a rundown of all the benefits GMOs are entitled to.

By Penny Hawes

Reprinted from the January/February 2024 issue of USDF Connection magazine

The USDF’s affiliated clubs, known as group-member organizations (GMOs), put the grass in US dressage’s grass roots. Most new USDF members join through their local GMOs, and the GMOs in turn provide a link to their local equestrian communities. Whether it’s hosting USDF L Education Programs, clinics with USDF-certified instructor/trainers, or the Great American/USDF Regional Championships, none of it would happen without the tireless work of the GMOs and their members.

This benefits train isn’t a one-way ticket. The USDF offers a host of benefits to GMOs, as well. But when we queried a number of current GMO presidents, we discovered that many weren’t aware of these benefits.

This article seeks to rectify that situation.

Yearning to Learn

Dressage is arguably one of the most cerebrally challenging equine sports. Whether you’re wanting to learn about biomechanics or bitting, conformation or canter half-pass, chances are there’s a GMO hosting an educational event on the topic. But putting on clinics, forums, workshops, and demonstrations require manpower and money, both of which tend to be in short supply, especially for smaller clubs.

The good news is that you don’t have to go it alone. The USDF provides a huge menu of ready-made educational experiences for GMOs to offer, including a lecture series on topics ranging from “Volunteer and Scribe Training” and “Making Success Simple” to “Finding and Creating Opportunities.” The USDF website (usdf.org) describes this series as “prepackaged lectures for GMO use for short unmounted events of one to two hours. These educational lectures are structured in a way that anyone can lead the lecture and discussion. Each lecture is self- contained and provides all of the materials you will need to host a lecture, including a lesson plan, handouts, and media.”

Through the USDF University program, GMOs can offer members the opportunity to receive education credits by attending University- accredited GMO-hosted events. Members who earn sufficient credits receive certificates or diplomas recognizing their achievement and commitment to dressage education. USDF provides detailed information about program requirements, the application process, and what’s needed to host a successful program.

The USDF GMO Education Initiative was developed to “create and support new and affordable programs to engage members.” Clinics, symposia, ride-a-test clinics, camps, and unmounted events are all eligible activities. A GMO hosting an Education Initiative event may apply to USDF for a grant of up to $1,000 to help offset the cost of presenting the program.

(Another funding source: The Dressage Foundation’s Violet M. Hopkins Fund also offers grants of up to $2,000 that GMOs may use to help offset the direct costs of hosting an educational activity.)

The USDF maintains specific requirements regarding the selection of instructors and judges for GMO Education Initiative events. All approved events are automatically USDF University-accredited. USDF staff is ready and willing to help GMOs complete the application and to answer any questions during the process.

USDF also helps GMOs to market their events on social media and in the educational calendar on the USDF website. GMOs are also entitled to twice-yearly display-advertising space in USDF Connection.

Getting the Word Out

The USDF offers numerous marketing benefits to GMOs, including the GMO Marketing Guide; logos, ads, and web banners to use in your club’s newsletters and on GMO websites, and links to your GMO on the USDF website.

The GMO Marketing Guide, a six-page PDF available on the USDF website, covers everything from member motivation (illustrated by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs), to the mechanics of marketing, to using social media to “listen better,” and to ideas for creating more engagement in your dressage community. With specific tips on how to “Avoid Bad Elements in Websites,” create content for print communication, and more, a host of marketing questions are answered in this one useful source. This handy document goes far beyond the nuts and bolts of how to create a good Facebook post.

The USDF Press Page is a complete toolbox for the committee (or person) responsible for marketing your GMO. It includes downloadable web banners, logos, print ads, and more. The Press Page also offers full-color, full-page ads reminding members to renew, highlighting the three aspects of USDF’s mission (education, competition, and achievement), and promoting the USDF Adult Amateur Equitation Program, the Adequan®/USDF Annual Convention, and other major programs.

Fancy having your GMO featured on YourDressage.org, USDF’s human-interest-based website? Your Dressage features a different GMO each month, and clubs are encouraged to submit articles and stories. You can also have GMO’s USDF-affiliated events listed in the USDF National Education Calendar and Map.

The GMO Handbook (more on this in a minute) covers everything that a new or established GMO needs to function. Section 8, Marketing and Publicity, builds on the GMO Marketing Guide. This section is a very detailed document explaining how to create a marketing plan, design ads, do media planning, create regular sections for a GMO newsletter, and more.

Taking Care of Business: The GMO Guide and Handbook

The USDF GMO Guide is a one-stop shop. It contains everything you need to set up and run a GMO, including all required forms and documents. It’s also where you’ll find the mother-of-all-manuals, the GMO Handbook.

Broken into 12 sections, the Handbook should be studied by every board member of every GMO. Nearly every eventuality is covered within its pages:

Section 1, USDF Affiliation: A brief description of the USDF and its GMOs.

Section 2, Setting up Your GMO: All of the “technical” aspects of getting your GMO off on the right foot: articles of incorporation, bylaws, policies, board members’ responsibilities, organizational tax structure, and code of conduct, including e-mail etiquette. This section covers the less-than-fun elements that are pivotal to starting and running a legally and IRS-compliant, well-organized club.

Section 3, Finances: This section includes more than two dozen fundraising ideas, but it also covers how to create a fundraising plan and outlines key benefits to promote to attract sponsors.

Section 4, Insurance: USDF’s basic insurance requirements for a GMO are straightforward: a commercial general-liability insurance policy with a minimum liability limit of $1,000,000 per occurrence. In reality, there’s a lot more to it. The insurance section delves into the various types of insurance GMOs may wish to consider purchasing, such as directors and operators, auto, and GMO personal property. It also covers the topics of exclusions, limitations, and other sometimes-confusing insurance jargon.

Section 5, Membership: Neither your GMO nor USDF would exist if it weren’t for the members. In this section you’ll get a detailed look at the three key aspects of growing (and keeping) an engaged and active membership: promotion, service, and retention.

Section 6, Coordinating Volunteers: This section will help your GMO master the three Rs of volunteer management: recruitment, recognition, and retention.

(As an additional carrot to help attract volunteers, USDF now offers VIP [Volunteer Incentive Program] awards to members who reach the volunteering milestones of 25, 50, 75, or 100 hours. Hours are cumulative and don’t need to all be earned in the same year.)

Section 7, Activities: How to set up and run GMO board meetings, including pointers that are likely to be useful even if your GMO has been in existence for years. There’s also a list of activities that your club may consider offering (camps, lectures, clinics, and so on) to encourage member involvement.

Section 8, Marketing Publicity: Covered in the previous section.

Section 9, Awards: Suggestions on how to adapt the USDF’s awards structure for your own GMO.

Section 10, Deadlines: A rundown of deadlines for most programs and activities requiring nomination or registration.

Section 11, Forms and Documents: A list of pertinent documents available on usdf.org.

Section 12, Reference: Contact information for the USDF and related organizations.

The online GMO Guide also contains three downloadable flyers that were developed by the USDF Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force: “New Faces in Dressage” (soliciting photos and video for outreach purposes), “Best Practices for Hosting Para-Dressage Classes,” and “Competitors’ Closet,” with ideas on starting a “closet” so that members can donate and borrow items of riding attire, to help offset some of the costs of showing or of getting into the sport of dressage.

GMO Recognition

Through the annual GMO Awards program, GMOs can apply to have their best volunteers and their best newsletter content and websites recognized. Each year at the USDF convention, Regional GMO Volunteers of the Year are honored, as are the winning GMO websites and newsletter articles and photographs. A special award recognizes the year’s top creative GMO-sponsored program.

Did you know? Every GMO that wins a first-place award in the First-Person Experience and the General Interest newsletter-award categories is entitled to a one-sixth page display advertisement in USDF Connection.

The Ruth Arvanette Memorial Grant provides funding for one deserving GMO member to attend the annual convention.

It’s Who You Know

Getting the most out of your GMO’s relationship with the USDF isn’t just about the forms and documents; it’s also about the people of the USDF, their willingness to assist, and their desire to see dressage introduced to and embraced by new people every day.

Whether it’s a USDF Executive Board member (such as your regional director), a USDF committee chair, or a member of USDF’s dedicated staff, any question that’s not answered online or in the resources mentioned in this article usually can be easily sorted out by an e-mail or phone call. These folks are definitely the best part of what the USDF can do for your GMO.

Penny Hawes is a writer, rider, and coach from Virginia. When she’s not working, you can find her hiking with her daughter, scouting around for antiques with her husband, or hanging out with her assortment of horses and cats.