What's New in the Grasslands

Administration is not a dirty word!

2010-08-12T16:24:00.001-07:00

This will be my last post as a GCC employee, as I’ve accepted an incredible opportunity with Environment Canada, so I’ll try to make it interesting.

I want to tell you – I love non-profit organizations (aka charities, aka non-government organizations). I’ve loved working for them, I love seeing them succeed, and I love supporting them. Leaving a nonprofit environment to go to government will be very different, but I am very excited about what awaits me, and I still intend on volunteering and supporting the GCC with monthly donations.

Which leads me to this post – donations.

I saw a brochure today about what to ask when you’re donating to a nonprofit. Many of the questions were great, and completely fair. Ask about a tax receipt. Ask about the board of directors. Ask what they do, their successes and the plans for the future.

What got me was the question: Ask how much of what you give goes directly to helping the cause, and how much goes to administration.

A few years ago, there was a real push in media for people to ask what organizations spend on administration, how much of your money goes to administration, and how much goes to the cause. The underlying message was clear: spending donation money on administration is bad.

While organizations must be vigilant to ensure they don’t spend a disproportionate amount on administration, administration is the cost of doing business. Administration fees cover things like a roof over our heads, the phone we talk on, the internet we communicate with you by, not to mention the staff that take care of our contracts, make sure we get paid and ensure that the work we promise to do is getting done. Imagine if that was stripped away?

One of the most important positions in any non profit organization is the executive director. Did you know that many funders will not fund this position? What about the person who makes sure this busy ED—who is running the ship, ensuring funding, building partnerships—has his or her travel arrangements, or books those important meetings with politicians that will make a difference to their cause? Difficult to fund. And virtually no one funds a Fundraiser.

Most funders are happy to fund program staff, and the costs associated for completing a project. But administration, which is applied to all funding proposals in a small amount, covers all the things that help those program staff succeed. Sometimes your donations are needed to fill those gaps to ensure we can continue doing the good work we do.

While it’s always wise to look through annual reports and see that administration money is spent wisely, don’t discount an organization just because your donation may go in part or in whole to its administration. After all, how can we make a difference without a roof over our heads and the internet to spread this message?

I look forward to adding to this blog as a GCC Volunteer soon, and helping the GCC spread the word about the great work they do, and why it is so important.

Viva la grasslands!

Tasha

The Sound of Silence

2010-07-27T16:06:00.001-07:00

You may have noticed things have been a little quiet here on our new GCC blog. If you haven’t heard already, then allow me to break the news to you: we have hit some funding snags and we’ve had to cut our education/outreach program, and the remaining staff has been cut to 4 days a week. I know. It’s been tough around here.

It’s always hard to lose a staff member. As most people who do education and outreach know, it’s a difficult program to fund. In the past we’ve been lucky enough to receive quite a bit of “loose” funding from various government sources, but with the drying up of government coffers and the market downturn causing foundations to reduce or sometimes cancel grant cycles, the tides have changed. It’s a shame because a recent push in outreach and communications has brought the public’s awareness of us, what we do and grasslands in general to an all-time high. Our recent 10 year celebration event brought in dozens of new members – but unfortunately, tough choices had to be made and that program had to go. Our Executive Director has had to make a few tough choices in the last few months, and we all support him, because these tough choices have given us more time to put our heads together and come up with solutions.

And really, that’s what this is all about. We are all working hard, taking stock of what we have done well and what we could have done better, and looked hard at the way we do things around here. Ultimately, this downturn is giving the GCC a chance to reflect on its successes and not-so-successes and focus on necessary changes and high priorities for the next little while. We are looking at some exciting things, like carbon offsets for grasslands, certification for sustainable grass-fed beef and education for kids (and the public!) about how important ecologically sustainable ranching is to both our economy and our environment. (How, you wonder? Well, that’s another blog post…stay tuned.) We will not go to funders with our hands out asking for a reprieve – we will go in with well thought out projects that will really have an impact on grasslands conservation in BC.

This doesn’t mean we don’t need all the support we can get. If you aren’t already a member, why not become one? Sure, your membership fee won’t fill our funding holes, but it will add your voice to the growing list of people who are saying hey, Grasslands are important. Whatever your reason is – maybe you’re a rancher, maybe you’re a naturalist, maybe you just enjoy the way a meadowlark sounds when it’s singing from a sage brush, you care.

Please visit www.bcgrasslands.org and become a member today.

Tasha.

2010-05-25T09:20:00.001-07:00

I saw my first wood duck at Tranquille Marsh. Yippee!

- Ian

Thar's snakes in them thar grasslands!

2010-05-21T14:54:00.001-07:00

I saw my very first rattlesnake last week. I’ve lived in Kamloops for nearly 5 years and explored many grassland areas, but I had yet to see a rattlesnake, gopher snake or rubber boa in the wild.

Now, some people hate snakes, and I suppose I understand why. They seem really scary, and often people have irrational fears that we’re going to get bitten. I actually love snakes; as a kid I would trap garter snakes while camping and make them my friends, much to my mother’s chagrin. But rattlesnakes have eluded me in my grassland visits, which I was both disappointed and NOT disappointed with. It’s certainly better to be actually looking for a rattlesnake versus unexpectedly getting too close to one, though I always take care to be aware and listen and look for signs.

I went out with a local wildlife biologist, John, to check out a den site. I was both nervous and excited – I love seeing something new, especially something as elusive as a rattler, but I didn’t know what to expect. We made our way to ****censored top secret information, if I tell you, I will have to….well, I will have to get in big trouble from the Ministry of Environment J ****, walking slowly, listening for any rattling, watching for any snakes. We looked and looked, and thought maybe we had been skunked, until…

John put out his hand and whispered “OK – come slowly, there’s one over here.” I crept around a rock outcropping, keeping a good distance, and then I saw it. He (could have been a she, but I wasn’t about to figure it out, so let’s go with “he”) was all coiled up under a rocky outcropping, watching us warily. Clearly, we had disrupted his basking time – and soon he started shaking his rattle and flicking his tongue. It was incredible – the sound from his rattle was exactly what you hear in the movies as he shook it beside his head. I wish I’d have had my camera, but instead I just had to take a mental picture to share with this story. He was beautiful – strong and big, tucked in behind a large clump of bunchgrass, in a perfect coil.

It saddens me to know these beautiful animals are now blue listed in our province, but I’m not surprised. A large highway ran close by, both fragmenting its habitat and increasing its chances of dying on the asphalt (which snakes love, because it’s so hot). Houses filled the spaces beyond the highway; because people are fearful, snakes are often needlessly killed rather than just left alone. Trust me – a rattlesnake will try to avoid humans, and warnings are always given when you get too close.

I feel really lucky to have had this experience – not everyone will see rattlesnakes in our grasslands, and so perfectly placed to give us a great, safe look. I hope those people that do come across rattlesnakes treat them with the respect and admiration they deserve.

Learn more about the Western Rattlesnake: their behaviour, risks to their survival and why they are so important for ecological health. Go here for more information.

Tasha.

A better investment than that grande triple shot skinny vanilla latte no foam...

2010-05-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I volunteered on an organizing committee for a fundraising dinner. I remember when I was told we were expected to pay for our tickets, just like the attendees – I was miffed. “Are you kidding?” I asked, “I gave up hours of my time and I don’t even get a free dinner?”

I couldn’t believe it. Surely my time counted for something, right? But I paid my dues and went to the dinner. Once the people were seated, the presentations started and the wine was flowing. I looked around at this beautiful dinner with the amazing auction items we had gathered and I felt so proud. We had done this – and I had helped. While I watched people listen intently to the speaker, explaining the importance of why they were there and where the money was going to, I got it. My time did not equal money: rather, my time and money were an investment that brought 150 people to a dinner to raise even more money and awareness for this cause I so passionately believed in.

Thus my love for non-profits was born.

Flash forward a few years and here I sit, nearly entering my fifth year working for the GCC, and I am proud to tell you that I am a member. Every month, like clockwork, $5 comes out of my bank account to support the organization that paid me the five bucks in the first place. I wish I could to tell you that I’ve been a member since the beginning of my employment here, but that would be untrue. I always thought of excuses, something I could use the $30 per year for instead of my membership. I broke my sunglasses! Well, there goes my $30 membership to new ones. (Yes. I wear cheap sunglasses.) I went out for dinner 2 nights in a row! Well, there goes my $30 membership dues. Whoops.

But then we started talking about monthly giving at a staff meeting. Really, what was $5 a month? A fancy coffee at Starbucks? A small bag of popcorn at the movies? We started talking about what a great thing this would be for our organization. An automatic withdrawal from your bank account every month, and a tax receipt at the end of the year? No renewals? No lump sum? Sign me up!

The thing is, it COSTS money to set up a system like this.

I know I prefer monthly giving. Something automatic, something I don’t have to think about. And with a small amount, I never miss it! I do this for other charities I donate to, and would like to do it for mine. So, we decided that we would invest in our own organization, and we would, between staff, give enough in monthly donations to pay for the automatic system so that our members could also have this handy option.

Why?

Because we believe in the organization, we believe in ourselves, and we believe in our membership.

If you want to become a monthly donor (for as little as $5 a month, but by all means, give more if you want to!), please go to http://www.bcgrasslands.org/fundraising.htm. Download our membership form, fill it out and fax, email or snail mail it back to us.

The grasslands will thank you (and so will I.)

Tasha.