Funding a Bear Smart Community Initiative
Community bear conflict prevention efforts can be expensive, and most working groups will need to fundraise to begin and sustain their initiatives. Below we share an introductory guide to this necessary activity for Bear Smart Communities (BSCs).
Being Ready to Receive Funds
Starting to Fundraise
When you start your BSC efforts, you may collect contributions from people or businesses that don’t warrant having a fiscal structure of some kind (like nonprofit status or a fiscal sponsor) to receive the funds. Perhaps the donations are small enough or the donors don’t require any tax benefits to support the project. However, you will need a separate account in which to put the funds.
In most cases, and typically early on in the project—especially if you seek more significant funding, or your donors require a fiscal structure in order to contribute—you will need to begin thinking about how to receive funding in a way that allows all donors—big and small, institutions or community members—to support the project. Many grantors and donors can only donate to projects or organizations that have some sort of fiscal structure. Read on to learn about two main options.
Nonprofit Status or Fiscal Sponsorship
In most cases, to receive funds from most sources (e.g., individual donations or business/foundation grants), a registered, tax-exempt charity or nonprofit is necessary. Most donors or granting organizations require this for tax purposes. Occasionally, there may be donors or funders who are not concerned with these issues or don’t need the tax advantage and may be able to give money to the project. But most of the time, registered nonprofit status will be needed. This can happen one of two ways: (1) form a nonprofit through the applicable governmental agencies, or (2) run your funding through an existing nonprofit who will serve as your fiscal sponsor. Forming a nonprofit can take time and effort, whereas finding a fiscal sponsor allows funding to be received and applied as soon as a fiscal sponsor agreement is made.
Fiscal sponsorship makes fundraising possible in a timely way, and it reduces the workload for the BSC because the fiscal sponsor is responsible for the paperwork and administration of any funding. Essentially, the fiscal sponsor acts as the official fundraiser, but disburses the funds to your activities. A community group would make an agreement for sponsorship that specifies both group’s duties. Typically, the sponsor takes a percentage fee of revenue in order to take on the administration of the grant or donation, disbursements, documentation, and reporting. Finding a local nonprofit to sponsor your fundraising is often the easiest and fastest solution, such as a community foundation or other local charity. If there are no local charities available, broaden your search to state/provincial-wide nonprofits, or contact a nonprofit whose business is serving as a fiscal sponsor. Here are some ways to find fiscal sponsors:
Do a web search for “fiscal sponsors” or “fiscal sponsorship”
If forming a nonprofit seems like the right fit, as opposed to using a fiscal sponsor, find information on incorporating and applying for charitable status in Canada here, and information for the United States here.
Receiving Grants or Donations
In the US, the Internal Revenue Service governs charitable status and what is needed to fundraise. In Canada, the applicable agency is the Canadian Revenue Agency. Typically, some form of documentation is required as a “receipt” when a donation is made to a tax-exempt organization. Check the applicable country’s laws for specific requirements. If you use a fiscal sponsor, the sponsor is responsible for receipts and acknowledgements, as well as reporting. You may have to supply them with information, but the fiscal sponsor is the official nonprofit.
Funding Sources
Fundraising can seem overwhelming to those who have little experience with it. Fundraising can also be time consuming at first, but once you get the hang of it, you will be able to identify the most promising opportunities and become efficient with your proposals or pitches. The single most important thing in fundraising is having a compelling product or service for donors or foundations to support. A project typically needs to align with a funder’s mission or their own purposes, even if that just means being a member of that community.
Individual Donations: If you have a way to identify potential donors, create a mailing list, or have an event, fundraising from individuals is a possibility. If your community is located in an ecologically-important area, people from outside the community may also be interested.
Governmental Funding: Federal, state/provincial, and local agencies may be good funding prospects for BSC initiatives, particularly wildlife-related agencies.
Nonprofit Funding: Many nonprofits have grant programs for conservation activities. Even if there is no specific grant program, a nonprofit may be able to support an effort through cost-sharing or other financial means.
Foundation Grants: Foundations are in the business of granting funds to organizations that are doing work the foundations are interested in. There are many foundations with wildlife priorities, though it may take some research to find the ones interested in a local initiative.
Business Funding: Private businesses can be interested in supporting BSC, especially if they are community members. Sometimes businesses will make grants or donations, and sometimes they will sponsor certain activities like events (payment in exchange for advertising them).
Here are examples of organizations, agencies, and businesses that have supported BSCs in the past or that may have funding references or resources. Of course, with political and economic factors always changing, potential funding opportunities change as well.
Canadian Wildlife Service
Provincial programs, such as the British Columbia Bear Smart Community Program
US Fish & Wildlife Service grant programs, USFWS Partners Program, and USFWS Grizzly Bear Recovery Office
National Fish & Wildlife Foundation
Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee
USDA Forest Service and associated Resource Advisory Committees
Canadian Biosphere Regions Association
Bear-related professional associations
State or provincial wildlife/park agencies
Businesses with environmental/wildlife grant programs, zoos, local businesses invested in the community
Economic development granting programs
Nonprofits with wildlife or bear conservation missions
Private grant-making foundations with wildlife missions and priorities
Fundraising Strategies
There are many different approaches to fundraising. The most common methods are seeking grants from foundations, nonprofits, and sometimes agencies. But fundraising is a space in which you can be creative by holding special events, doing mailings, raffles and auctions, cost-sharing, and more. Certain fundraising strategies are more difficult and time consuming than others, so it’s important to evaluate which methods are right for your group. Here is a list of fundraising ideas:
Create a website and social media pages to accept donations and to present your project to potential funders who want to learn more.
Approach your town or city officials about starting a fund or a budget item for BSC efforts.
Request or require community members to create a fund, or to pay for solutions that are private, such as bear-resistant trash cans. Pass fees on to those who receive the benefit, if possible. This may require also setting up a program to help economically-disadvantaged community members, like a sliding scale or application for funding assistance.
Talk with government officials about considering a local tax strategy that would support the project by collecting mandatory (usually small amounts of) funds from citizens.
Cost-sharing or matching funds are ways to leverage a certain amount of funding into more funding or as an incentive to engage in conflict prevention solutions. For example, you may be able to engage a nonprofit willing to match an amount of funding from town officials or from a business. Cost-sharing can also be used to reduce the cost of expensive conflict prevention equipment like trash cans or fencing. In other words, a nonprofit or other organization may be willing to subsidize (share the cost of) a certain solution. In another example, some agencies will split costs of needed equipment or provide one aspect of the cost.
Place donation boxes in local businesses or other locations.
Hold local fundraising events, like raffles or auctions. Partner with local business to give your group a percentage of sales. There are many resources online and in book form to help with different kinds of event planning.
Find business sponsorships where businesses donate items you can raffle or auction, or where businesses will make payments to sponsor a publication or even in exchange for some advertising.
Use crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and IndieGoGo. Make sure there is a separate account (not a personal account) set up to receive funds.
Put together a mailing list and send a direct mail appeal to individuals.
People love swag. Make t-shirts or other products to sell.
If your community is rural and made up of agricultural lands, there are many government programs that may supply equipment and tools to operators/landowners, or compensation programs for livestock/crop losses that could contribute to prevention solutions.
Have fundraising techniques that have worked in your community? Consider sharing them with the Bear Smart Communities Network.
Waste Management: A Special Consideration
Waste management—garbage, recycling, composting, and food business waste—is often the most expensive and complex bear attractant to address. Waste is often the leading source of human-bear conflicts but it can be daunting to take on as a community. It requires bear-resistant equipment and infrastructure, from distributing residential trash cans to securing garbage dumps, business-related dumpsters, and municipal waste containers. On the other hand, because waste solutions are concrete and successful, many BSCs begin their initiative by addressing waste. Sometimes it can be easier to raise funds for waste management, yet the costs are high which can be a challenge at community scales.
Both nonprofit organizations and government agencies may help fund waste management through grants. Local governments may consider a small tax or fee for canisters or other equipment as needed. Economic development programs often fund community-level initiatives. It can be helpful to form a special subcommittee or local coalition to address waste that includes different stakeholders, starting with the local trash hauler(s).
To combat the high product and shipping costs of some bear-resistant waste infrastructure, some communities have worked to develop their own solutions. For example, some neighborhoods in Western Montana have built electrified cages around grouped residential trash cans and dumpsters, rather than getting each individual house a bear-resistant can; doing so worked for each individual in the neighborhood, as well as for the trash hauler, and was a much cheaper solution. In nearby neighborhoods, the more traditional individual bear-resistant cans worked better. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee’s bear-resistant product list features several garbage containers and other bear-resistant infrastructure produced by small groups or individuals for their local communities. Because of the scale at which these products are made, they are often not for sale across the country or outside of a single town, but can also be made for a lower cost. For example, the Grizzly Guard by Gardner Garbage Service in Montana is a metal garbage container made by a local welder who was able to make the container for half the cost of similar containers traditionally available. Whatever the solution—IGBC certified product or not, made by a local business or a larger specialized company—make sure it works for each individual within the community, and most importantly, keeps bears from accessing waste.
Research and Resources
Fundraising for BSC initiatives takes patience and persistence. These projects are multi-year in nature, and it’s inevitable that raising funds will be easier in some phases of the project than in others.
Persistent research is key, especially when looking for grants. There are many funding sources available and many resources and tools to help; it’s just a matter of finding them. Here are some ideas:
Look for online fundraising tools that provide databases of foundations and funders, such as Foundation Directory Online, Instrumentl, or Grant Station. Government grant opportunities can be found at grants.gov (US) and canada.ca (Canada). Grant databases are especially helpful because you can learn who gives grants, but also who received them, which will give you information about nonprofits or grant recipients who may also be potential funders of your project.
The old-fashioned method of talking to people and asking around works well in this case because the initiative is local.
Your local library (or better, a university or college library) will have resources, and a librarian or clerk may help you start a productive search. Sometimes libraries have search tools and databases of funders at no cost that are otherwise inaccessible.