Wildlife Research Institute SAMPLE ONLY - NOT CLICKABLETomorrow is GiveMN’s ‘Give to the Max Day’. Last year, more than 42,000 donors logged on to GiveMN.org on Give to the Max Day and donated more than $10 million for 3,663 participating nonprofit organizations. This year, non-profits across Minnesota—including the North American Bear Center and the Wildlife Research Institute—are working hard to get the word out to their supporters.
We feel the excitement as we get calls and emails from you about the ‘Give to the Max Day’. The main question is “Which organization should we give to?”
Hard question. Both are working toward expanded education.
The North American Bear Center’s goal is solely education. For the Bear Center, we want to pay off the remaining $9,767, sponsor the Den Cams ($10-15,000), and save for the Education Building. We are planning 2 Den Cams this year—Lily and Juliet (assuming permission is granted for Juliet). The Education Building is needed for office space to expand the Education Outreach Program, to store the Black Bear Boxes, for classrooms, and for expanded exhibits.
North American Bear Center SAMPLE ONLY - NOT CLICKABLEThe Wildlife Research Institute’s goals are research and education. For education, we create the exhibits for the Bear Center (videos, pictures, and text), write daily updates, and work with the media, museums, and anyone we can, to disseminate information to millions each year. We need funds to continue field research as long as possible and continue data analysis and publication as long as Lynn, Sue, and/or graduate students are able. The amount of data is huge and is getting better each year as new technology and longer histories on the research bears make the data more valuable. We are building a fund for current and future research and publication.
Which organization should get preference? One is just as important as the other. However, to maximize chances of winning one of the prizes (1st $15,000, 2nd $10,000, 3rd $7,500, and 4th through 10th $5,000) that Give MN is offering to the 10 small (operating budgets less than $750,000) non-profits with the most dollars donated tomorrow, we might want to concentrate on the NABC which is better known.
Changes will be made to both websites tonight—NABC (bear.org) and WRI (bearstudy.org)—to make it easy for those wishing to participate in ‘Give to the Max Day.’ Clickable widgets will take you directly to the appropriate GiveMN page.
NABC— http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Bears
WRI— http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Wri
Remember, ‘Give to the Max Day’ begins at midnight tonight Central Time!
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center