Is Community Swim 365 using a professional strategist?

l3wis

12 years ago

I find it interesting that the group has propped up Margaret Sumption as one of their citizen spokes people. Who is Margaret? She is the partner in Sumption & Wyland, a strategic planning firm;

Margaret J. Sumption, MSED, LPC, SPHR, has over thirty years of experience as a teacher and counselor, nonprofit administrator, development officer, and volunteer board member serving a wide variety of organizations. She is a popular, dynamic, and effective speaker and trainer for nonprofit professionals, customers, and policy makers.

Not sure if Sumption is volunteering her time to the organization or being paid for her advocacy? But the group has a spiffy little website that was hardly thrown together by some swim team teenagers. They also are using a PO Box instead of a physical address for the organization which tells me this isn’t some Mom & Pop social club.

No surprise, the Events Center advocates put together the organization Build it Now to promote their cause, so it only makes sense that Community Swim would do the same. But the real issue here is posing as a ‘grass roots’ operation, when you are clearly using professional assistance to get your message out there;

Members of Community Swim 365 say Spellerberg Park is the perfect place for an indoor swimming pool. Margaret Sumption, a longtime central Sioux Falls resident, says a year-round aquatic center would help draw more families into the area.

“I want very much for my neighborhood to remain vibrant. It is a beautiful community area. It is in the center of Sioux Falls and that center of Sioux Falls is changing,” Sumption said.

Small business owner Susie Patrick believes an indoor facility would preserve park green space and enhance access to the nearby sledding hill with more parking.

“We just like to swim. Taught our kids to swim at a really young age and think it’s really important for the community to have access to the same swimming lessons and have a pool for everyone to use,” Patrick said.

The stark irony of the group when compared to the Hockey or Indoor tennis folks is that CS365 doesn’t have any skin in the game (private/public partnership) but seemingly have found a way to raise money for professional marketing assistance, oh, and some t-shirts.

So let’s be honest here, are we dealing with a ‘grassroots’ organization, or a ‘professional special interests’ organization? Not sure. I would also like to point out the name of the organization is kind of odd. I doubt the pool will be open 365 days a year, but you never know? I can’t wait to get in my Christmas day swim.