worst outdoor karma ever, but we have to go this route
because of legal technicalities. That said, we do check in
on each and every applicant as best we can on social media
and through our nonprofit network. While the dollars
and donations from businesses really help conservation
efforts, the real legwork is done by volunteers, and that is
the power in our individual certifications. So far, in 2018,
our individual members have donated >10,000 hours of
their time. Those hours cover hundreds of thousands, if
not millions, of dollars of work that conservation groups
and game agencies don’t have to pay for. We are also very
global. We have individual members donating their time
and money on every continent - save Asia…yet. We are
growing quickly, which bodes well for the future of fish
and wildlife.
How does 2% help conservation groups and
conservation projects?
We help groups and projects in a few ways:
1) We encourage membership and volunteer
retention. To keep your certification, if your in-come
grows, so must the value of your donation. You also
must continue to give at least 21hrs every year. This is
invaluable to conservation groups.
2) We connect needs to funds/hours. We often
receive calls looking for help with expenses that were not
budgeted for. If a conservation group needs a helicopter
or boat for a day to go inspect a suspected disease
outbreak, we can call up business members in their area
and across the world to connect them quickly for those
funds. If they need volunteers for a stream cleanup or a
wildlife survey, we can wrangle together a couple dozen
volunteers from our database of members. Connecting
the groups with the certified is not part of our primary
mission, but it is having an impact.
3) We raise awareness for local causes. Many
people have no idea of the work being done on behalf of
fish and wildlife in their area. The certification and use of
it’s logo on products, ve-hicles, trade shows and business
windows helps bring conservation needs into the light.
How can people get involved?
The easiest way is to go to fishandwildlife.org. Yeah, we
got lucky with that URL, but every-thing you need to
know as a business owner or individual that wants to get
certified is in there. If you request info for your business,
we typically respond within 12hrs. We are a movement,
and we want you to join us!
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