The Digest | New Jersey Magazine
Issue link: https://magazines.vuenj.com/i/897892
Whether large or small in scale, environmental organizations are typically non-profit businesses that depend solely on donations in order to fund their work. Unfortunately this means that organizations spend an inordinate amount of time and energy fundraising rather than pursuing their chosen cause. Each year non-profit groups must prepare an absurd number of grant proposals to foundations, government agencies and corporations in an effort to ascertain financial backing for specific programs. Numerous special events must be planned and executed throughout the year to raise money through ticket sales, raffles and on-site donations. Volunteers pound the pavement in downtown areas with clipboards and the thankless job of asking strangers to become donors. Unlike a for-profit business, wherein an investor can reasonably expect to see a return on their investment, the livelihood of a non-profit depends on the hope that individuals will be inspired to part from their money permanently and without reward. Even on the scale of non-profit organizations, environmental groups struggle to find adequate funding. This is because issues of conservation and environmentalism don't inspire donations out of people the way major diseases and disaster relief can. What often goes overlooked is the fact that environmental issues can pose just as imminent a danger as a deadly disease or a devastating hurricane. Take the Flint, Michigan water crisis for example. The people of Flint have not had access to clean drinking water in over three years. Since 2014, the water has been contaminated with lead, causing elevated blood-lead levels in children and an outbreak of Legionnaires disease, killing 10 people and infecting dozens more. In this country, change is made through public opinion and crisp dollar bills. If the conservation of the environment is indeed a priority—if we want things like untouched coastlines, clean drinking water and environmentally conscious leadership—the most important kind of activism we can engage in is providing financial support to the organizations working to make those things happen. *An additional provision added to a bill or measure, having little or nothing to do with the subject matter of the bill itself. VUE ON GIVING