ENDOWMENT & EMERGENCY RESERVE
UPDATE January 25, 2023: The $800K endowment and $400K emergency reserve fundraising goals (aka the $1.2M Preserve & Protect Campaign launched in 2014) were achieved! Thank you for your incredible generosity. This achievement provides SCLA reliable funds to support its mission long term AND readily available funds in case of emergency needs. We are grateful for all who supported SCLA financially, including by adding annual gifts in the form of fish member gifts that are allocated to current expenses. We simply could not have done it without you. Your ongoing spirit of philanthropy to support our mission is a wonderful legacy that is critical to our ongoing ability to protect these lakes. The endowment was sized and designed to fund the cost of mission activities and programs in 2014. Any additional programs or initiatives will require additional funds.
In 2014, SCLA's Board of Directors worked to create a sustainable revenue stream to support the mission of the association. We believed, and still believe the best way to do this is to raise and manage an endowment fund that will generate sufficient annual returns to provide consistent revenues to fund our efforts. We also decided that it is essential to have emergency funds available in the likely event of an environmental emergency such as invasive species that will require immediate and expensive mitigation. The resulting "Preserve and Protect Fundraising Campaign" was designed with a $1.2 million goal to meet both long term and emergency needs of Spider Lake, allocating 2/3 of donations to the endowment and 1/3 to the emergency reserve fund.
In 2016 The Board of Directors converted the "Preserve and Protect Fundraising Campaign" to the Preserve & Protect Annual Giving Program, with the same objective: to allocate 2/3 of P&P Gifts to the SCLA endowment and 1/3/ of P&P Gifts to the emergency reserve. All members and those who love Spider Lake are encouraged to contribute annually to preserve and protect this irreplaceable resource for future generations.
Two Ways to Donate to SCLA:
There are two ways to donate to SCLA:
(1) Preserve & Protect Fund (allocated 2/3 to endowment and 1/3 to emergency reserve)
(2) Gifts to Operations via "Fish Member Gifts" (details below)
FISH MEMBER GIFTS GO DIRECTLY TO ANNUAL BUDGET - PLEASE BE A BIG FISH!
"Fish Member Gifts" (at $3,000, $2,000, $1500, $600, $350 and $125 fish tiers) are annual gifts directed to fund operating expenses. Fish Member Gifts are allocated directly to the SCLA Budget to fund expenses. In FY 2023, Fish Tier Membership gifts funded 39% of the budget. This heavy reliance on "Fish Member Gifts" depends on all members' continued support each year. Just over 50% of 2023 members renewed or joined at a "Fish Tier" level. Given that the cost of operating SCLA programs is roughly $400 per family, we hope that ALL members will join at a BIG FISH tier AND we hope that you will "become a bigger fish" by renewing at a larger fish level than last year (World Record Musky: $3,000; Keeper Musky: $2,000; Musky: $1,500; Walleye: $600; Bass: $350, Bluegill = $125). All new programs require new funding so our goal of 100% participation in Fish Gift Memberships will be necessary to increase our work to protect the lakes.
