We hope that all of you are finding a way to enjoy the wet Spring that has taken hold over us here in the midwest. The mud and muck are a part of the changes that we experience every year in our region, and we know that on the other side of these changes, good things are coming. As the seasons change, UMTR is also moving into a new season in its life.

Our new home on the web

UMTR is a non-profit, and as such, it's important that we reflect that. Starting this weekend, we will be rebranding ourselves under UMTR.org. The .org domain is the traditional domain for a non-profit, and we feel that this better speaks to our mission as a community that gives back. Don't worry about the old umtr.net domain; it'll still be there, redirecting to the new umtr.org domain. Going forward though, all references to UMTR will change to umtr.org.
 

Membership is getting even easier

One of the biggest issues that UMTR has faced is finding a good way to retain members year-over-year. Oftentimes, folks forget to renew their membership, and so we lose them as members for years at a time. Thankfully, there is an easy way to solve this with technology. Launching on Sunday March 17th, UMTR is getting a brand new website, along with a full CRM (customer relationship manager) tool. What this means is that when you sign up for your yearly membership, you can opt to auto-renew, and never have to worry about it again. You'll have a user account which you can use to log in to your profile and keep your contact information up to date. You'll also get access to special areas of our new website, created for members only. 

This also means that we are now switching to a 12 month membership, instead of a calendar year. (Finally!) If you sign up in March of 2019, you're good to go until March 2020. If you wish to participate in the race series, you need to maintain your membership throughout the year, including the banquet, to be eligible for prizes. With more and more trail running taking place in the winter months, we felt that it was important to acknowledge that we are not just a three-season sport - or community, for that matter. 

Important: If you're currently a member - which you should be, if you're getting this email! - you'll be receiving another email in the coming days. This email will prompt you to set up your account on this new website. Please take some time to poke around in our new internet playground and share your feedback with us. 

Parting words

Finally, we want to say thank you for all of your support as this organization has learned and grown. We want to continue to build upon the organization we've all loved for many years, and we can't want to bring all of you along on an exciting journey. With a wonderful community such as this, we can't wait to see what amazing things happen. 

 - UMTR Board of Directors