Hello, Scooterists!

As many of you know, the Los Angeles Scooter Group has grown immensely over the past couple years. Not only has our total membership topped 700, but our RSVPs have also shot up. LASG is now the largest US scooter group on Meetup and the most active in terms of attendance. I'm particularly proud that we're also one of the most diverse groups of scooterists anywhere with a wide range of scooters and riders of all ages and backgrounds. LASG truly reflects just how varied the scooter community is these days. 

Our needs have grown along with membership and participation. For the first time ever, we're asking members for donations to help us build and improve the group. I gave this a lot of consideration before deciding to make this appeal. 

LASG will never charge dues. We will never pressure members into donating and we're not going to pass the hat (or helmet) before every ride. We're well aware that not all have the means to contribute. (Though no donation is too small and every dollar helps!) 100% of the donations will go towards supporting and improving the group. All donations are anonymous.

Here are the items we hope to fund:

• Two or more communications systems for ride leaders. This has become a necessity for our large rides and will help even the smaller ones such as the two we ran this weekend.

• Production costs for LASG decals (many members have asked for these) and cards for members to handout

• Our annual Meetp.com fees.

In order to keep all transactions transparent, all income and expenses will be tracked via the Money page on our Meetup site:

http://www.meetup.com/LAScooterGroup/money/

We don't have much to offer donors other than heaps of gratitude and the knowledge they're helping the group, but anyone who donates $10 or more will receive a decal once they're printed. We hope to have other rewards and member benefits (discounts at local dealers, etc.) available in coming months. Unlike other Meetup groups, we will not spam members with various third-party and unrelated offers and solicitations. 

Donations will be securely processed via Paypal. You do not need a Paypal account to donate! If you prefer to use other means, please contact me. 

You can donate here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=CHQ2PF2JM9V5Y

Members who own businesses and are interested in becoming sponsors, please email me. You get a logo and link on our site and a warm, fuzzy feeling.

All of our members deserve thanks and praise for helping to make this group successful, even if just through coming out and riding. Many of you have yet to join us; we hope you can make it out because we have a lot in store for this year and beyond. 

And to those who do choose to donate, a hearty and sincere thanks for supporting the group and investing in our continued success. 

As always, if you have questions, thoughts or concerns, feel free to email me.

Thanks, 

Eric