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Wednesday Win: Throwback Photo Caption
For this week’s Wednesday Win, we’re using a throwback photo from Joel Webster, TRCP’s Center for Western Lands Director. Leave a comment and we’ll pick a winner on Friday, Dec. 14. The victor will receive a TRCP camo hat.
Tackling Fiscal Responsibility for the TRCP
It’s the end of the year, and a dozen holiday emails are likely waiting in your inbox.
This note is different.
I’m not going to try and pull your heartstrings or appeal to the policy experts out there. You’ve seen other posts like that already.
I’m the director of finance at the TRCP and I’ve got a different perspective on how we fulfill our mission. It’s my job to develop the annual budget, keep the organization fiscally responsible and run each year’s audit. As you have probably guessed, I’m a numbers guy.
My work here at the TRCP is vitally important. I want to share two of the TRCP’s accomplishments from the past year: The TRCP earned a spot in the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance and the GuideStar Seal of Accountability.
These two accolades show that the TRCP maintains the highest level of transparency and accountability among other businesses and non-profits. We know that in order to gain trust and remain effective, the TRCP must focus on providing relevant and reliable information to our stakeholders in a way that is free from bias, comparable, understandable and focused on stakeholders’ legitimate needs.
All of us here at the TRCP work together to cut down costs and establish our credibility as a transparent and accountable organization. By displaying the Better Business Bureau and GuideStar seals on our website, we hope to show the public that we are proactive in ensuring the highest levels of fiscal responsibility.
Overhead costs such as rent, computer network, admin salaries and benefits comprise 17.8 percent of the budget. That means that 82.2 percent of revenue goes to conservation programs directly related to our mission.
If you choose to donate to the TRCP, you can do so with the knowledge that your money will make a difference in helping us fulfill our mission of guaranteeing you a place to hunt and fish. I’ll make sure of it.
Wednesday Win: T.R.ivia
Theodore Roosevelt is the only person to have won the Medal of Honor AND which other prestigious award?
Send your answer to info@trcp.org or submit it on the TRCP Facebook page by Friday morning for your chance to win a TRCP hat.
Sportsmen: Too Early to Tell With Oil Shale
Oil shale is getting so much attention lately that it’s starting to feel like a cure-all pill for whatever ails us.
Need more energy? Have some oil shale.
Fiscal cliff got you down? How about a little oil shale?
The problem with this assessment is, fundamentally, we’re just not there yet. We have been hearing this same promise for decades. A viable commercial oil shale industry has yet to exist. And as we move forward, oil shale development needs to be done with considerable thought and caution.
Or so say the leaders from some of the nation’s most influential sportsmen’s groups, conservation organizations and scientific societies in a letter sent to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last week.
“Research must precede any commercial leasing,” the letter states, “and that research must demonstrate that extraction technologies and mitigation options exist that will protect clean air and water, conserve fish and wildlife, and sustain the economies that depend on those resources.”
To be clear, we are not saying oil shale is bad – the problem is it’s too early to tell. There are significant concerns still associated with oil shale development – concerns like water supply, water quality and impacts to wildlife populations. They should not be taken lightly.
This is classic, “cart before the horse” type behavior – but it seems the BLM is working to right that situation. Its plan, released in early November, balances acres dedicated to oil shale research with protecting fish and wildlife habitat.
You can make a difference. Speak out on oil shale development today.
Here’s what sportsmen are saying: Go slow. Let’s do this right. Think clearly. Evaluate what we stand to gain against what we could lose. And if we get to a point where oil shale technology is viable and impacts are acceptable, then we can make decisions about when and where. But we’re not there just yet.
This post was written by Shauna Sherard, communications director at Trout Unlimited and was originally posted on the Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development blog.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
CHEERS TO CONSERVATION
Theodore Roosevelt’s experiences hunting and fishing certainly fueled his passion for conservation, but it seems that a passion for coffee may have powered his mornings. In fact, Roosevelt’s son once said that his father’s coffee cup was “more in the nature of a bathtub.” TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to bring together his two loves: a strong morning brew and a dedication to conservation. With your purchase, you’ll not only enjoy waking up to the rich aroma of this bolder roast—you’ll be supporting the important work of preserving hunting and fishing opportunities for all.
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