By Bruce Ross, Executive Director
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s July, 2020 Newsletter edition.
I’ve got some “cats and dogs” updates scattered throughout this July e-news, but there’s no mid-summer let down in sight; there’s a lot going on at your WWA, and under some very challenging conditions. I’m the sort of guy who wants the bad news first (because it makes any subsequent good news all the sweeter), so that’s where I’ll start.
Organizational Issues: Some recent news caught my attention: A west coast friend forwarded a California Waterfowl Association (CWA) email announcing the layoff of 20% of its work force. If you are at all familiar with the CWA, you know that it’s the gold standard for state-based waterfowl organizations, with an enviably large staff, well-developed and -funded programs, deep organizational pockets and significant individual donors and corporate relationships. When the CWA says they are taking such extraordinary measures, it tells me that all other state-based waterfowl associations must be in significantly worse shape.
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And, to be sure, your WWA is indeed in a stressed financial position. I was reminded by CWA’s announcement of my obligation to share such WWA news with you. WWA is a hand-to-mouth organization – the funds raised at events are turned into WWA program effort very quickly. So, when our two biggest fundraising events of the year are postponed several months (at best), while others are outright cancelled, there is an impact. Unfortunately, while we started initiatives to grow our endowment fund and our sustaining membership effort even before COVID hit, it’s a story of too little, too late for this current crisis. We are now relying on chapter-driven class A raffles (thank you chapters), virtual events (thank you sponsors and patrons), and membership drives (thank you all!) to keep the lights on. I worry about “market saturation” for such things, so please accept my personal THANK YOU FOR YOUR REMARKABLE SUPPORT OF THESE EFFORTS.
Even with these successful stop-gap initiatives, your WWA has been forced to take more severe budget balancing measures than even our California colleagues had to take. The WWA staff payroll is 35% less than only a few months ago. If we would have to actually release staff, we will be faced with cutting program impact; but we’ve been able to avoid that so far because of our staff’s flexibility. Despite these compensation cuts, your staff is working harder than pre-COVID (and my observation is that we were pretty busy then, too). I am really tickled with how our very small staff has stepped up to the plate. Not a surprise however – for you who know them, you know they are not in it for the money. Even so, it’s simply not sustainable in the long term.
So, is there light at the end of this tunnel? With breaking news about the resurgence of infections around the country, none of us can know. But at least, for now, we are just a few weeks out from our first events: The Ozaukee County Shoot, the Fox Valley Golf Outing, and the Abrams shoot – all taking place during the third and fourth weeks in July. These outdoor events will implement our recently published WWA COVID Safety Policy to keep our patrons and volunteers safe, while allowing some funds to begin flowing (fingers crossed).
We very much hope that you will be able to join us for one or more of these events, or the steady stream of others in the two months that follow. WWA’s shortened and tightly-packed event calendar will challenge the entire staff (but particularly Rob and Tom) to keep up with the impressive energy of our chapter volunteers: preparing for, executing, and closing up one event, only to quickly move on to the next one a few days later. But it should also be a lot of fun!
It would seem I’m transitioning to the good news. So, wait for it….
Every. Single. Mission. Is. Getting. Stronger.
Find that hard to believe in today’s climate? Take a gander at the highlights in each mission area:
Also in this edition, ever been curious about how wardens (who may not have waterfowled) learn to enforce waterfowl regs afield? Check out the “Words From the Wardens” piece on waterfowl school. Last year, Director Dennis Nelson and I were some bad hombres on which the new wardens practiced such skills – kinda fun and enlightening! And don’t forget to check out former WWA ED Jeff Nania’s new book Spider Lake and read the review by former WWA Director and President, Dale Arenz!
Have a happy and safe Fourth.