How NFC Spends Your Money: Grant Fulfillment - Maine State Heritage Fish Signs...

Six or so years ago, Maine NFC applied for a grant from Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund to help with the cost of informational signs for the state’s 585 or so legally designated State Heritage Fish waters. Thanks to then Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Chandler Woodcock, NFC was award $6,000, our first notable grant.

In the six or so years since ME NFC obtained its Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund grant, NFCers and our volunteers have been able to post 520 signs on 374 waters. At a cost of roughly $15 per, that is $7,875 worth of signs, and we still have 30 or so left to post more waters, another $500 worth of signs.

The rest of the money to purchase signs, roughly $2,375 to date, was raised through donations from The Nature Conservancy, Libby Camps, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, and individuals, as well as general membership, donation, and schwg sale revenue.

Most impressively, NFCers and our volunteers have logged approximately 1,285 hours and 30,077 miles to post signs. At IRS non-profit volunteer rates, this represents an in-kind contribution of roughly $32,000 and $3,000 respectively. NFC and our partners also built and painted wooden sign backboards for use on state-owned land.

In total, and not including ongoing promotion, reporting, project tracking, and administrative support, NFC and our volunteers have provided nearly $37,500 worth of matching funds for a net gain of $31,500 above the initial grant. We’d say this is a solid return on investment…