Local pilot club changes name, not focus
There is new nonprofit organization ready to serve the community on Fort Myers Beach. In actuality, the organization’s name may be different but you may still recognize the same faces … as former members of the Pilot International Club.
The ladies who have always been instrumental in the club’s work turned their local charter into Pilot International and will officially begin operations as the Fort Myers Beach Community Foundation beginning July 1.
“We have changed our articles of the corporation with the state,” said Nancy Mulholland, the current treasurer who has served as president of the Pilot Club a number of times in the past. “The only thing we are waiting for is a confirmation letter from the IRS that we can retain the same EIN (Employee Identification Number) that we had as the Pilot Foundation. Then all of our bank accounts will change over, and we will be in business as the new foundation.”
The reason for the transitional move centers on restrictions from the Pilot International requirements. The existing members found difficulty in getting officers to serve year round and to conduct the obligatory 12 monthly meetings when many members ventured north to their summer homes in the northern part of the country after May.
“We are more of a seasonal type of club,” explained Past President Donna Raymond, who has served as fundraising director and president-elect before she was president in 2008-09. “We do most of our work including our activities and functions from October through May. Most of our members are not on Fort Myers Beach in the summer. Pilot International requires you to have meetings during those summer months.”
Raymond also said potential new members were hard to draw into the club due to the year-round commitment. A change was discussed.
“Our Board of Directors began talking about what can we do differently and how can we still serve in a capacity that would be beneficial to all without all these extra restrictions,” said Raymond. “We want to be more identifiable to the Beach and the surrounding community. A lot of people didn’t know what the term “Pilot” stood for. We would have to explain that it didn’t have to do with airplanes. You wondered if they thought of us as 50 woman pilots.”
A needed course of action.
“In my opinion, we didn’t have a choice,” Mulholland said. “We did not have officers for the upcoming year. That was the impetus to this. We did not have a president-elect going into the upcoming year. The person who was president-elect before had said she would become president if there was a full slate of officers. We just couldn’t do it.”
Mulholland said being a member of the Pilot International required several years of participation.
“You’d have to serve a year on the board, then a year as president-elect, then a year as president, then a year as past president still on the board, then two more years on the nominating committee,” she said. “People were unwilling to make that commitment. So, the alternative was to become a local organization with the same kind of focus. Now, we think we can direct more money to the Beach community.”
In October, the club would have celebrated its 25th year of being a part of Pilot International. The foundation’s ladies are still expected to celebrate its work as a community organization when they are formally installed and their new club resumes monthly dinner meetings.
The local pilots have contributed to many charities over the years including charities such as the Gresham-Kite Scholarship House at Florida Gulf State University, Keep Lee County Beautiful, Beach Elementary School, Bay Oaks Recreational Campus, Ruth Cooper Center, Alvin Dubin Alzheimer’s Center, Estero Bay Buddies, Hope Hospice, FMB Art Association, Friends of the Mound House, Habitat for Humanity, Lee County Special Olympics, St. Vincent de Paul, FMB Library, Estero Island Historical Society, Lions Camp for the Handicap, LARC of Lee County, Fourth of July Fireworks Fund and Ostego Bay Foundation.
Raymond cited the Pilot International’s scholarship program that people could apply for locally, but said the money was distributed everywhere within the international organization.
“The bottom line is it had to do with a lot of finances and keeping the money in the community,” she said. “With the monies that we raised, we used to have to pay dues at the state and international level as well as our own local dues. Sometimes we would raise money from our local fashion show, then have to give it to the state level and it would be distributed from there.”
The major fund-raisers will remain the same. Besides keeping some operational funds, the Pilots cleaned out their bank accounts with charitable donations.
“The Pilot Club is donating to the new foundation,” said Mulholland about the use of operational funds. “We plan on continuing with most of the projects we had with the Pilot Club and to continue with our famous fund-raisers like our casino night (which is expected to move from January to March), our fashion show and yard sale.”
Change yields optimism, sadness
“I think the transition will energize new members for a few reasons,” said new FMBCF President Kate Duffy. “The length of commitment (multiple years) for women who stepped up to serve as officers was too daunting under Pilot International rules. Our transition will make it easier to serve for a single year, season, or by the project in which a member desires to serve.”
The old annual membership dues of $125 will now be a more comfortable $50.
“The membership fee, although still being considered for change in the future when all ongoing expenses (insurances, meeting venue costs, etc.), is much less, so that will be easier on members,” said Duffy. “Under Pilot International, thousands of dollars a year we raised locally went to support Pilot through Pilot state and international fees, funds which will now be spent on local projects and charities. This is a big win for our community.
“The next few years will be extremely challenging for us all, as we carry our Pilot spirit and traditions into the shaping of a strong local charitable foundation. We hope the island community will help us identify local needs, and the Fort Myers Beach Community Foundation will strive to be creative to help serve those needs.”
Alice Plaatje, a long-time club member who has been the club’s president as well as district officer at the Pilot International state level, expressed mixed emotions toward the transition. The foundation will have to drop BrainMinders, a safety program for children, due to its Pilot International trademark.
“There is a tremendous amount of sadness in me because I have given my time, money and heart to the Pilot Club for 15 years,” said Plaatje. “But, I am excited about the new foundation, and I hope it works. I’m wondering if we will lose a momentum by not having our summer meetings where we did a tremendous amount of planning. I worry about that. BrainMinders is a signature program of Pilot International, so that term won’t be used.”
While there is worry about the future, the same ladies who have contributed to the Beach’s needs since 1985 will move forward.
“I think it’s a good move for us, but I really think it’s a good move for the community,” said Raymond. “I think people will still call us the pilots because that’s what people are used to calling us. I think it’s important that people realize the pilots didn’t go away. We are the same group of dedicated women who have changed our name. We just want to be more community focused.”