205 Church Hill Road, Augusta ME 04330

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Dues, Donations and Corporate Partners

Fundraising is a constant chore, but the generous support of SAM’s members, sportsmen’s clubs around the state, and our corporate partners, makes this job relatively painless. In this column, I want to tell you about our fundraising philosophy, and let you know where SAM’s money comes from.

Much of SAM’s revenue comes from our members, raised from dues, raffles, and the annual appeal. In the mid-1990s, we embarked on a mission to broaden SAM’s fundraising sources, to build more financial stability and to keep dues as low as possible. SAM’s dues have not been increased in the last decade and now are at a level significantly below the dues of most other state and national sportsmen’s organizations. And we have no plans – or need – to increase dues for the foreseeable future.

We also set a goal to make dues a less significant portion of our annual revenue. At one time, I believe dues represented 75 percent or more of SAM’s total revenue. Today, dues bring in less than 25 percent of the annual income for SAM and SAM CEF

We also decided – I think about 1995 – to limit direct mail fundraising appeals to SAM’s members to one per year. We are all tired of the constant frantic appeals for money that we receive from other groups to which we belong. SAM wants to be different. And we are.

Your strong support for the annual fall fundraising appeal from SAM’s President has been an important element in allowing us to limit those appeals to one per year. The fall appeal now raises over $30,000. Last year, because SAM’s income was significantly below projections during the 9/11 national disaster period, the Board decided to mail a second appeal to the members. We built that SAM appeal into our SAM PAC fundraising request that is mailed each election year.

The response to that special spring fundraising appeal was very gratifying. Our goals for the mailing were exceeded, allowing SAM and SAM CEF to end the year on June 30 in good shape financially (see financial report in this issue of SAM News). Members contributed $20,343 to SAM and $5,344 to SAM PAC in response to Edye’s request for funds. We do not expect to have to repeat that appeal this year.

One new source of funding that has been a pleasant surprise is raffles. We discovered a few years ago that SAM’s members enjoy buying raffle tickets. We are constantly seeking to offer more exciting prizes, from trips to Alaska to top-of-the-line ATVs. The spring ATV raffle sold nearly $35,000 in tickets! That was our best yet. SAM now raises almost as much from raffles as it does from membership dues. This year we expanded our raffles by offering one ATV raffle to fish and game clubs in a special partnership. They sell tickets and keep half the revenue. We provide the tickets and the prize, and get the other half of the money they raise from ticket sales. It worked very well, and we plan to do more joint fundraising with clubs in the future.

In recent years, we have also made a concerted effort to raise more money from corporations and other sportsmen’s organizations. This too has been very successful.

About a dozen fish and game clubs have strongly supported SAM over the years. We send an annual request to each club in the state – but frankly, the results have been disappointing. Most clubs do not contribute to SAM. But those that do are really appreciated. And as you might imagine, the clubs that contribute to SAM are the most active in the state.

When we need funding partners for a special project, we often turn to these clubs and are rarely disappointed by their response. For example, when we needed to raise $10,000 to match an Outdoor Heritage Fund grant for DIF&W’s fisheries assessment project, six clubs and associations came through with contributions: The Rangeley Guides and Sportsmen’s Association ($1000), Phippsburg Sportsmen’s Association ($250), York County Fish and Game Club ($500), Norway Paris Fish and Game Club ($500), Mt. Desert Fish and Game Club ($1000), and Moosehead Lakes Fisheries Coalition ($500).

Other clubs that have contributed in the past couple of years include the Durham Rod and Gun Club, Grand Lake Stream Guides Association, North Berwick Rod & Gun Club, Lincoln County Rifle Club, and Presque Isle Fish and Game Club. We even got a donation from the West Barnstable Deer Club in Massachusetts! I’m sure I’m leaving out some clubs and I apologize for that. A larger list of clubs provides funding for TRACKS conservation magazine that SAM provides to elementary school students throughout the state. The clubs pay for TRACKs subscriptions for the students at their local elementary school.

Other statewide sportsmen’s groups have also strongly supported SAM. The Maine Professional Guides Association donated $5000 several years ago to get our Rapid Response Team up and running. Safari Club International’s Maine Chapter has been generous to SAM over the years, including a $5000 grant many years ago to upgrade the boardroom at our Augusta Headquarters. Most recently SCI’s Maine Chapter donated $3000 to President Edye Cronk’s special spring appeal. Dave Sowerby, SCI Maine chapter president, has also pledged to lead the club section of SAM’s capital fundraising campaign for our proposed headquarters expansion project.

The NRA has always been a strong ally too. When SAM fell on hard times in the early 1990s, it was the NRA that provided a key grant to keep the organization afloat. The Maine Bowhunters Association also stands out for its steadfast support.

Corporate donations have always been important, but they’ve really increased over the past eight years as the SAM Board placed more emphasis on building a corporate partner program that can be counted on year-in and year-out for substantial funding. Virtually all of our corporate donations go to SAM’s Conservation Education Fund.

SAM CEF is a non-profit charitable-educational organization that funds youth education, wildlife conservation, and public information and education projects. CEF projects include TRACKS, the TV Show Wildfire – Maine’s only talk show focused on sportsmen’s issues, the annual Sportsman’s Congress, the Pickering Commission that reviews hunting and fishing laws and rules each year, and the work of SAM’s Fishing Initiative Committee. SAM CEF also supports many conservation projects, such DIF&W’s fisheries assessment, the firearms safety poster produced jointly by SAM and the Maine Chiefs of Police Association, landowner relations projects, and much more.

SAM CEF’s annual budget now exceeds $100,000. Much of that money comes from our corporate partners. We have also been successful in recent years in winning grants for some of these projects, particularly from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund.

LL Bean is SAM’s largest corporate partner, donating $20,000 per year. Last year, we accepted a check for $7000 along with $13,000 in merchandise for our CEF auctions. The merchandise is donated at wholesale prices, so we really get almost $20,000 in outdoor gear. The $7000 LL Bean gift has paid for SAM’s sponsorship of Wildfire in recent years.

Kittery Trading Post is also a very generous corporate partner, donating two $2000 gift certificates for guns and gear each year for the last three years. We offer those two certificates in raffles and raise over $15,000 from those raffles, making KTP our second most important corporate partner.

Bushmaster Firearms in Windham, and its owner Dick Dyke, is also a very important corporate partner. Bushmaster donates $5000 per year along with a firearm that we raffle. That gun raffle generally raises about $7,000, making Bushmaster’s annual gift worth about $12,000. Bushmaster is also a sponsor for SAM’s annual banquet this year, at the $2500 level. Dick Dyke has also been assisting us in expanding our corporate partner program to others in the Maine business community. And he has pledged to take a lead role in the capital fundraising campaign for SAM’s proposed headquarters expansion project.

Large landowners and paper companies have also been generous corporate supporters. This has actually brought a few letters of complaint from SAM members or others who wonder if SAM’s positions on the issues are influenced by these corporate contributions from the forest products industry. The simple answer is no.

SAM’s Board determines the organization’s position on all major issues. I cannot recall a single instance in which a Board member inquired about corporate donations when we were discussing an issue. This is absolutely not a factor in determining our positions and projects.

The access that Maine sportsmen enjoy on private lands is unique in the country, so of course we work to maintain a good relationship with landowners large and small. I try to work positively with all landowner organizations including the Maine Farm Bureau, Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine, Maine Pulp and Paper Association, and Maine Forest Products Council. And we are pleased to accept donations from any landowner or landowner organization.

Last year, we received the following donations from large landowners and paper companies: Wagner Forest Management $5000, Plum Creek Timber Company $5000, Robbins Lumber Company $2000, International Paper $7,500 (this combined the previous annual gifts of IP and Champion, after Champion was purchased by IP), Mead $5000, and Irving $7,500. Irving was a new corporate donor last year.

The $32,000 received by SAM CEF from large landowners and paper companies represented 7 percent of the organization’s total revenue, about the same percentage as was received from the gifts of LL Bean and Kittery Trading Post. I hope this helps you put these corporate contributions into perspective.

Of course, none of these corporate donations funded SAM’s political or lobbying efforts. All the corporate money goes to SAM CEF.

Two years ago the Board established new “fundraising principles” that now guide our revenue raising efforts. Two of the most important principles are the following: 1) continue to diversify our revenue base, by implementing programs such as grants and an annual dinner; and 2) keep membership dues to 25 percent or less of our total revenue.

In helping us achieve these and other important goals, your support continues to be appreciated.