Contact: John Culclasure, Southeastern States Assistant Director, and Nick Buggia, Upper Midwestern States Manager
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to limit the ability of people to gather in large group settings, conservation organizations are exploring new ways to raise revenue as traditional in-person fundraising events, like banquets, have been canceled this year.
Online raffles are one such alternative. In some states, however, laws or regulations prevent organizations from conducting online raffles. Accordingly, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) has been playing a leading role with conservation partners by coordinating state-specific coalitions to find legislative or regulatory solutions to overcome these hurdles.
States where CSF is currently working on this issue in concert with partners include Indiana, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
CSF is helping to establish coalitions of supporters and is speaking with legislators in many of these states to promote an online fundraising model that will allow conservation organizations to raise funds during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these organizations rely on in-person banquets and events to raise money for conservation projects, which unfortunately have been canceled due to the health risk that COVID-19 presents.
Sportsmen’s organizations provide important conservation services to the states in which they operate, and CSF is pleased to assist in the efforts to legalize online raffles.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
