PADILLA BAY FOUNDATION HAS AMAZING FUND RAISING OPPORTUNITY RIGHT NOW!!! HELP US HELP OUR RESERVE!!! A local community foundation has set up a new endowment fund with money we purposely raised to establish. In turn they were given an 'angel' investment of $100,000 dollars in order to hold both a live event festival for 7 non-profits (ours is one) as well as an online donation portal. The online portal is currently live. This event is called SKAGIT DAY OF GIVING. The event is held locally tomorrow afternoon/evening. We wanted our friends at Reserves to have an opportunity to help us raise funds if they so choose. Skagit Community Foundation is handling the event and the money. Please go to skagitcf.org and pull down the tab for EVENTS on their home page. That will show you a colorful rainbow logo with all 7 non-profits and a text block explaining the goals. Scroll over the logo circle and that activates the donation page. Just follow directions from there and you're done. The cyber donation window will close at midnight May 9th. If you happen to be traveling our way and find yourself near us, go to the party as well ... it's FREE! We miss our dear foundation and volunteer friends spread across the nation and wish all of you well. Warm regards, Kay Reinhardt - Administrator - Padilla Bay Foundation

Twitter and the I ♥ Estuaries campaign

Use Twitter to help spread the message of the I ♥ Estuaries campaign.

When:  Tuesday, February 12 - Thursday, February 14th
Who:  Find Twitter targets  in this document Twitter Valentines Day of Action
Hashtag:  #iheartestuaries. (This allows us to track tweets and participation.)
Sample tweets:  Find sample tweets in this document  Twitter Valentines Day of Action

Local Boots on the Ground - A note from Laudholm President Nik Charov

Nik writes:

Nothing is a replacement for local boots on the ground, though.  Fortunately, it's relatively painless to get a group of people together, wine 'em, dine 'em, and have them sign a letter or some postcards to send to their local electeds.  Case in point -- find  local restaurant and get a small portion of the night's proceeds to go to the cause, if you can pack the house:

Laudholm Trust Night at One Dock

Good luck, everyone!

n

I ♥ Estuaries campaign - resources and logos available

This Valentine’s Day, we want show Congress and the Administration that there is lots of love for estuaries and that cuts break our heart. In order to demonstrate support for your reserve, NERRA is joining forces to celebrate Valentine’s Day through a joint, 3-day “I heart estuaries” campaign February 12-14.  For more information on the program and details on how you can help - please check out Resources and Documents Page.  You will also find links to the campaign logo.  

Colleague Nik Charov - President of Laudholm Trust created a logo of his own (see above) and is offering it to all.  The photo can be used as shown above or customized for your reserve by changing the estuary image in the background. This image and a photo shop version (for manipulation) can be found below and on the Resources and Documents Page.  No photo credit needed!

Niks kiss my estuary photo

Niks kiss my estuary photo - photo shop 

And check out Nik's post about the campaign on The Wrack: blog of the wells reserve & laudholm trust.  

Opportunities for Grant Funding

Find funding opportunities from government agencies and partner organizations on the National Environmental Education Foundation's Public Lands Every Day Program website.  The site lists grant opportunities throughout the year for capacity building, event planning and professional development.  

The application process for the Every Day Event Grants just opened with a deadline to submit by March 8,2013.  These grants provide Friends Groups with grant funds of up to $2,000 each to help Friends Groups engage their community on a public land site.  

Check out the Public Lands Every Day Program website for more opportunities!  

Letter to President Obama and Congressional Leadership

The National Estuarine Research Reserve Association and 17 regional friends groups around the country – representing more than 9,600 members and volunteers - sent a letter addressed to President Obama and Congressional Leadership.  The letter can be found on our resources and documents page on this blog.   We asked that oceans and coasts be a priority by continuing the federal support for the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) provided by the NOAA.

Also, there is an Emergency Supplemental Spending Bill related to Hurricane Sandy that will be heard on the floor of the Senate next Monday.  NERRA is supporting this bill even though we understand the amount of funding going to NOS will be less than the Administration suggested.  In addition NERRA will continue to talk to members of Congress about the immediate and long-term funding needs of the NERRS.  

Please email Rebecca Roth if you have questions. 

Resources from Annual Meeting Now Available

We created a special page on this blog to share some of the great information and resources that we discussed during our time together at the Annual Meeting.  On the Annual Meeting page you will find copies of presentations and materials used during our sector time together.  If you would like more information or would like to see additional resources on this site - please send us an email and let us know.  

It was great to see representatives from Friends groups from around the country - from Maine to Washington State!  We missed those of you who were unable to join us but hope that some of resources posted here will provide you with a little more information on the topics we discussed.