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NFC: NFC ....any help out there ?RR's rant

 I find your longears and orangthroat darters two of my favorite
fishes,,,...:) What we need to develop is a network of collectors who's
only NFC Job is to supply auctions with natives and exotics. We at the
NFC have gotten a bit off track membership is way down and volunteerism
is at an all time low. I suspect it is folks taking on too many jobs. If
people would take a simple job they know they can do and stick to it we
would really be in good shape. Instead people dabble.

Part of that is surely my leadership style of letting people do things as
they see fit. I have seen my share of infighting in organizations and 
honestly I have had my fill . Thats why I prefer to drive the proverbial
moving vehicle instead of arguing constantly about the parked car.
Perhaps people see that as a lack of vision. I hope not , but they may
well feel overwhelmed as they try to apply their own vision. 

We once had 20 plus active volunteers we are now down to 6 or so. People
seem to get excited for a week a month or a season but do not have the
vision, time, passion, fill in the blanks to see what a decade or a
lifetime of conservation efforts can do. Let me tell you it takes TIME to
make a difference, not weeks ,not months but years of consistent efforts.
You do not have to be a hero or Hercules you just need to stay the
course.

My goal simply is to plant seeds and to nurture a group of local leaders
to grow and develop and ultimately impact local conservation. I  and the
NFC will support as much as we can when we can but we won't do it for you
. We can't even if we wanted to . Our piddly annual income of $8,000 more
or less (minus the flier costs , web site etc) a year won't make a dent
in the prob. We certainly can't keep members by giving them cool
magazines t shirts etc. Why , because we cant afford it ! So if you
joined the NFC to get stuff your gonna have a bad time here!  Instead we
must focus on leadership development and local networks and activities.
Alot of you young guys have grown up with the NFC . Alot of you older
folks already have been around the block once or twice. I ask you, no I
implore you to think, imagine what can you do to make conservation work
locally ! Is an adopt a tank in your realm ? How about a fishing club
that supports stream clean up ? Or a species maintance program ? How
about a regular NFC fund raiser of say your aquarium bred fishes or pond
plants or a sale of your fly fishing flys you make ! Or become a public
speaker about natives, schools , Bass clubs, Aquarium Societies need
speakers to the nth degree. This organization is all about you and your
conservation beliefs.

The NFC is not about what kind of eco junk can we give folks for their
membership. When you cough up your membership dues you do not get an
umbrella, a slick magazine, a t shirt, a calculator .Instead all you get
is our cheap lil flier newsletter. We try desperately to balance
membership benefits and having the resources to educate and mentor. The
NFC invests in people not prizes.We as an organization do  many
grassroots activities of the tiny kind. We do it with the pooled
resources of our members. Not every project or person we invest in is a
success but we continue to plug away. All the while our NFC leaders work
for free because they believe we can make a difference. 

With your membership dues you are investing. You are investing in the
future of the NFC. You are investing in the many local leaders we work
with. You are not investing in magazines ,t shirts, sunglasses, or
umbrellas you are investing in local leaders just like you ! It is all
about mentoring you to becoming a local leader to help our fishes. Its
not about what the NFC gives you, its about What you leave as a
conservation legacy. I appreciate every thing our members do.  I am not
trying to beleaguer our members. You make the NFC. I just ask you to take
the risk and get involved locally as only you can. Believe me without our
passionate charitable core of members we would not exists. Most people do
not know that 5% of our members give 95% of the time effort and $$ to
make the NFC work. 


As a final note only a two hundred dollars has been donated to the
conasaga river matching funds project, our first partnership, our first
foray , our first "bigger " conservation project. It is a legitimate
project in need of support. So far we have let it down. Do we want our
legacy to be that we could not even match the $1500 in matching funds on
an NFC grant ? I hope not, but that is where we stand 3 months into the
fundraising efforts.

So the choice is yours are you a legacy builder. Or an eco tourist ? Do
you invest in people and grassroots projects or in t shirts and magazines
? You decide will the NFC and conservation in general grow or shall we
become a generation of political correct sacrifice nothing junkies.
Carping constantly about this thing or that all the while doing nothing
in our towns in our states and in our lives to make lasting difference.


RR


.
On Tue, 1 May 2001 16:51:13 -0500 (CDT) mcclurg luke e
<mcclurgl at washburn_edu> writes:
> 
> I would be happy to help as I can...but most people find most of the 
> fish
> in my area too "boring".
> 
> Luke
> 
> 
> On Tue, 1 May 2001, robert a rice wrote:
> 
> > one of our better fundraisers that seems to have gone to the 
> wayside
> > sending of fish to aquarium clubs for auctions!Lets get it 
> restarted !
> >
> >
> > Robert Rice
> > NFC President  www.nativefish.org
> > check out our email list at nfc-owner at actwin_com
> > Visit out Adopt A Tank , Exotics Removal, and Breeders Club 
> Programs at
> > the website
> >
> >
> > ----- Forwarded Message -----
> > From: "Paul Wingert (EUS)" <EUSPLWT at am1_ericsson.se>
> > To: "'president at nativefish_org'" <president at nativefish_org>
> > Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 14:42:21 -0500
> > Subject: hi Robert
> > Message-ID:
> > 
> <1942FF65C2BFD411A15D00508B605F0C13EE28 at eamrtnt703_rtp.ericsson.se>
> >
> > Hi Robert,
> > I am president of the Raleigh Aquarium Society in Raleigh, NC.
> > We would be very interested in obtaining some fish from you guys. 
> We have
> > an auction every February, but if that is inconvienent, we could 
> simply
> > raffle some at a monthly meeting. We would be more than willing to 
> make a
> > donation to your organization of a portion of the money we raised 
> to help
> > you guys out. Anyway, if you are interested in working with us, 
> let me
> > know and we can set something up.
> > Thanks,
> > Paul Wingert.
> 
> 


Robert Rice 
NFC President  www.nativefish.org 
check out our email list at nfc-owner at actwin_com
Visit out Adopt A Tank , Exotics Removal, and Breeders Club Programs at
the website
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