By Bruce Ross, Executive Director bross@wisducks.org
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s March, 2022 Newsletter edition.
WWA benefited from some phenomenal chapter fundraising results last year. Every single chapter exceeded their fundraising goals, making them “super goal” overachievers, and entitling chapter committee members to the associated recognition clothing. As a result, WWA is in the best financial shape we’ve seen for the last several years. Chapters not only put on very successful (and fun!) events, they arranged more “class A” raffles that ever before! Special thanks to those chapter members and to the participants in the various fundraisers who made it possible. WWA has greater organizational stability and can make greater mission investments to help the state waterfowlers.
Two chapters earned special recognition for two historic results: Waukesha Chapter as WWA’s “Top Gun”, and the Green Bay Chapter for it’s “Big Net”.
“Top Gun”: Waukesha Chapter
Playing “small ball” to account for the impact of COVID restrictions on his event, Waukesha Chapter chair Mike Alaimo coordinated three different banquet/bashes, and eight separate “class A” raffles to rise to the top of the leader board in 2022, netting over $60K for WWA – the most raised as far as I can remember.
That’s a “Big Net”: Green Bay Chapter
Early in 2021’s new year, the Green Bay chapter set an exceptionally high fundraising bar in their March banquet – nearly doubling their goal by raising just short of $50,000 in a single evening. I was there – it was a great time. While sustaining that level of achievement will be difficult, I suspect the nearly 350 attendees will be anxious to come back given the fun they had and the prizes that were awarded.
Doug Steiner, chair of the Green Bay Chapter, left, accepting his Big Net award from Bruce Ross
These two chapters were the exemplars, but every chapter fundraising event helped put “money in the bank” to sustain WWA into the future, and allow us to invest in bringing greater value to the state’s waterfowlers. Thank You for making this such a great financial year for WWA.