At Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, helping salmon is a hands-on challenge grounded in local property owners agreeing to changes on their land and local volunteers pitching in to provide fish-friendly habitat in the Nooksack River system.
Grants and public funds support much of NSEA's $1.3 million annual budget, but with governments tightening their budgets, it's a risky proposition long-term to rely solely on taxpayers' money, said Phelps McIlvaine, a board member working to bolster NSEA's endowment fund.
To do that, NSEA has made the digital plunge to publicize its work, with the hope that benefactors far and wide will open their wallets.
"I'm trying to get NSEA's funding to move beyond Whatcom County," McIlvaine said. "Because our draw is Mother Nature, we have access to a bigger audience."
It's a big change for McIlvaine and other members who are well beyond Generation Y in age and sometimes just have to force themselves to sit down and tweet.
Earnings from the endowment won't be spent until it's large enough to generate income sufficient to ensure the survival of NSEA during a major funding drought, McIlvaine said. The endowment currently totals about $1.4 million.
The original goal was $2 million, with the idea that 5 percent earnings would provide $100,000 a year for crucial staffing. But with interest rates low and donors feeling pinched, the new goal should be to top $2 million, McIlvaine said.
To get started, NSEA hired Hand Crank Films, a Bellingham firm, to produce "Our Promise," a four-minute video showcasing NSEA's work. Hand Crank was founded by Max Kaiser, the son of Nick Kaiser, who founded Saturna Capital, where McIlvaine is a director, vice president and bond portfolio manager.
The high-quality video, which is now online, was carefully crafted to show why NSEA's work is important, that other donors already support the group, and that NSEA has a history of accomplishments and community support. Those factors, among others, are what potential donors consider when deciding where to send their money, McIlvaine said.
"NSEA gets an 'A' on every one of those metrics," he said.
Once the video was finished, NSEA sent an email to 2,400 members, subscribers and other supporters. The email included a link to the video, an easy-to-use mechanism to forward the email to friends, and a link to donate directly to NSEA. A computerized tracking system shows nearly 3,500 people have opened the email, nearly 850 have watched the video and 77 have shared it.
Among other efforts, NSEA now has its own Nooksack Fish Channel at YouTube, and hopes to win approval to accept donations through Google without donors being charged a fee.
The hope is that, in time, more major donors will support NSEA.
"This is like putting a line in the water," McIlvaine said. "You never know what's going to happen."
His fishing analogy is apt in more ways than one. McIlvaine joined NSEA many years ago after meeting founder Mike McRory. Their business discussion soon turned to the topic of fish, because while McIlvaine didn't grow up around salmon, his grandfather did take him fishing in the mountains of Pennsylvania.
McIlvaine never forgot those trips.
"The one place that I've found I'm most at peace is sitting next to moving water," he said.
MORE INFORMATION
For more about the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, go to n-sea.org or call 360-715-0283.
"OUR PROMISE" VIDEO FOR NSEA
