SSAA NSW

Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Inc. 4 From Diana's Desk We asked members what they want… We asked members what they want... SSAA NSW's biggest challenge in planning for the future is getting a true picture of what our members want, what our sport needs and what's essential for our Association to continue to thrive and grow. So, we went straight to the source. Over the past 18 months we set about gathering significant feedback from members through a number of different surveys, focus groups and other more informal methods which has now provided a great basis to work from. SSAA NSW is recognised as the largest and most diverse shooting body in the State because of: • our membership of 52,000 which represents a large and diverse cross section of our community; • our unique position as the only shooting body offering its members opportunities to participate in almost all of the many and varied activities encompassed within the shooting sports; and • our reputation as the peak shooting body in the State. Our members identified the most popular benefits of membership as having access to ranges, being a source of information, providing a political voice and enabling access to hunting opportunities. Interestingly SSAA insurance, training and education as well as friendships and social interaction were also identified by more than a third of respondents as important benefits. Taking everything into consideration, we identified five core areas that need our focus over the next few years: membership, ranges, hunting, representation and communication. Membership is the key… As a membership based organisation the provision of viable and affordable shooting opportunities for our members now and into the future is by far our most important role. In order to achieve the aims outlined in the specific areas below, we need to continue to build our membership base, both in number and diversity. The results of the membership survey were interesting; only 3% of respondents were women; around 4% were under 25 years of age; and 56% have members of their family involved in shooting, with 60% being their son or daughter. These are areas we are making a concerted effort to target, as well as continuously working to increase our membership generally. Juniors are the future of our sport and over the years SSAA NSW has built up a variety of programs and financial support opportunities to encourage juniors to participate in our sport. Most recently, SSAA NSW is implementing a Junior Discipline within our NSW discipline structure which will be coordinated by a Discipline Chairman and provided with support and resources through the SSAA NSW Office. This will enable specific focus to be placed on the delivery of state-wide programs and activities that provide a variety of opportunities for young shooters to try different disciplines, attend training camps and participate in various range based and postal competitions. SSAA NSW is also exploring the establishment of a 'Women in Shooting' group in line with the one operated by our counterparts in Victoria, with the aim being to foster more female involvement in the sport. SSAA NSW plays an important support role to our Branches who are vital in delivering many of the tangible benefits to our members on the ground. We do this through financial and administrative support and we're constantly improving the ways we do this. However, it takes quite a lot of hard work and commitment just to run a Branch and add to that the effort that goes into running a range, offering training courses and development programs and the workload more than doubles. It was interesting to see from the results of the membership survey that only 18% of respondents have any involvement with their Branch, however over 90% attend ranges. It's recognised that more focus is needed on attracting and retaining volunteers to share the workload. SSAA NSW is built on volunteers and without the amazing dedication, hard work and effort of these members, it would not be the thriving, successful organisation it is today. Members want access to ranges… Access to ranges was the second highest ranking benefit with 78% of responding members identifying this as a membership benefit. Just under 50% participate in target shooting competitions but almost double that, 90%, indicated that they attend a shooting range. Recognising the importance of ranges in facilitating our sport, SSAA NSW has been extremely pro-active in this area. In 2009, SSAA NSW established its Range Development Fund (RDF), to enable the purchase and development of range facilities that are fully self-contained and thus not dependent on any external parties for their longevity. Each year SSAA NSW contributes a percentage of its surplus funds to the RDF to enable the purchase of suitable land to develop range complexes and also provide funding for the development of existing ranges to ensure their future viability. During 2014 SSAA NSW purchased a 1,610 acre property near Dubbo and is in the process of building a regional

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