Fundraising, logos and other updates
The presentation to the 100 Men of Kawartha Lakes was well received; however, we weren’t selected. We had interesting questions, learned a lot and will use that feedback to hone our message. Even though we were selected, we did receive a $100 donation from the night – yeah! Our plan is to put in a nomination to 100 Men of Scugog for their July meeting.
Since our last update, we learned that the federal government has funded the 50 million tree program. Although it is not really related to our initiative, when we raise money, we’ll see if there’s a program that will supercharge the donations. What we don’t want is to be dependent upon government programs. But if matching money is available, we won’t say no!
We started the process of creating a logo. We wanted something that could work in the various mediums including websites, clothing, print etc. We looked at various iterations starting in black-and-white. It’s important to create a logo that is simple enough for embroidery machines. Something too intricate is more difficult to execute. Plus, since this is a simple concept, the logo also needs to be simple. It needs to speak to adults as well as youth. We’ll update you once it’s complete.
For the last 25 years, I’ve been interested in climate change. I was recently asked to appear on an Internet radio show and podcast called Down The Garden Path Podcast. Near the end, I had an opportunity to talk about the Plant a Forest initiative and was invited back to speak about it once it’s evolved a bit more.
I also had lunch with the same friend that encouraged us to plant trees instead of buying carbon credits. The friend, who has experience working with larger corporations to plant trees, shared many of his insights. He said if we solicited larger corporate sponsors, we would need someone to be able to write tax receipts. He encouraged investigating the possibility of working with other conservation areas and charitable organizations. At least we know we’re on the right track!
In this phase we would like to develop the grass roots, individual donors/small business segment. But in the future you never know where this will lead!