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An important message below regarding CoCoRaHS funding and expenses.
It has been suggested that we reiterate our original email which went out the first week of our fundraising campaign. Perhaps you may not have had a chance to look it over yet. Some have mentioned that receiving this information about our funding needs and what expenses CoCoRaHS has in 2017 was instrumental in increasing their annual donation.
Here is the initial letter sent out on November 29, 2016:
Dear fellow observers, friends, family -- and users of CoCoRaHS precipitation observations,
Thanks to the efforts of thousands of volunteers like you -- equipped with a simple rain gauge and a good attitude -- we've been able to map and track nearly every storm. I'm amazed each morning when I look at the CoCoRaHS precipitation maps (www.cocorahs.org). The color dots depicting rainfall amounts come streaming in, painting each day's unique but important picture. It's a beautiful thing.
Today we launch “Five for CoCoRaHS” – our 9th annual year-end CoCoRaHS fundraiser, which runs thru January 7, 2017. Since we started fundraising back in December of 2007, donations have helped raise approximately $50,000 each year to sustain and expand CoCoRaHS’s backyard rain gauge effort.
Last year about this time I asked for help from you all. Our financial support from NOAA and the National Science Foundation was coming to an end. The future of CoCoRaHS was very much in doubt. The result was a generous outpouring of over 3,000 donations totaling over $100,000. That was incredible! These donations, along with support from several organizations that count on our accurate data each day, propelled us through another successful year. We continue to be grateful and thank you for your financial support over these years. In addition, we especially thank you for your most helpful donation of all -- your time and effort measuring and reporting the precipitation from your community.
Can we do it again this year? Let's try! Our "Five for CoCoRaHS" campaigns have proven that many small donations can really add up. This year, let's shoot for 5,000 individual donations totaling $150,000. Wow! With over 21,000 active volunteers in CoCoRaHS it should be achievable. We'll keep running totals and post them periodically on our “Message of the Day” so you can watch them add up and see if we can reach these goals. With that said, please help us get our 2016 fundraiser off to a great start on this “National Giving Tuesday”. If you love participating in CoCoRaHS or rely on all the fantastic precipitation data we generate, please consider making a financial contribution today no matter the size. Here is the link to donate and find out more about the fundraiser:
http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=2016yearend
As a way of saying thanks for donations of $50 or greater, we are offering our new CoCoRaHS “Tropical Storm” t-shirt (long sleeve for $100 or greater) as part of our precipitation series this year. It’s got to be our coolest shirt so far!
As observers you already give of your time and talents to measure and report precipitation (now or in the past). That alone is a magnificent contribution, so please don't feel obligated to give. Likewise there are local causes in your own community that may be more important to you. We understand. But if you can, a financial contribution to CoCoRaHS, no matter how small would help keep us going in 2017.
In addition to our tropical storm shirt gifts, this year we're going to try something brand new. Each year we've received a few larger donations that have given us a huge boost and helped spawn the following idea (as crazy as it might sound). For most of us this would simply be impossible, but for a few of you who are able it might be fun. Here’s the proposition . . . for a donation of $10,000 or more, I will fly to your town and take you and a guest to dinner at your favorite local restaurant where we can share weather and farm stories for as long as you like. While I'm in town that day, I would also be delighted to speak at your local school, civic organization or whatever makes sense. We could even try to recruit a few more volunteers.
Please know, this was not my idea and I'm a bit embarrassed by the thought. Will anyone actually donate to have dinner with a life-long weather enthusiast? You never know, but for the good of CoCoRaHS, I'm willing to give it a try and we'll find out.
How much do we need in 2017 and how is that spent? This is an important question to ask.
We operate on an annual budget of about $425,000 per year, which is pretty amazing for a national program like this. This supports a small team of full time and part-time staff helping with data management, web development, volunteer leadership, training and outreach, teacher/student support, customer service, volunteer registration, maintaining participant databases, internal and external communications, data quality and much more. Our staff supports close to 260 volunteer leaders across the country who help recruit, train, engage, assist and retain our corps of over 21,000 volunteers. Like in so many important causes today, volunteers make CoCoRaHS tick, but it’s the project’s staff and their everyday behind-the-scenes efforts that keep the network running so seamlessly. They set the direction and the example -- and hold CoCoRaHS together.
In addition to staff, we have considerable infrastructure expenditures for keeping our computer systems, databases, security, APIs etc. all running. Add to that webinar communication costs, preparation of educational materials, producing animated training materials, maintaining a large web library of resources, staffing our CoCoRaHS help desk, maintaining an extensive and secure metadata system, making all of our precipitation data resources immediately available for use and export and the list goes on. Support for CoCoRaHS keeps our data as accurate as possible and keeps our Website, smart phone apps, databases, etc. all up and running 24/7. There are many additional improvements and enhancements we would like to make when we have the resources.
Thanks for reading through this long message and considering our request. Once more, here is the link to find out more about these opportunities: http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=2016yearend .
All donations to CoCoRaHS are tax deductible (we are also able to receive stock donations if you are so inclined). Some employers offer matching gifts as well. If you have any questions, please let me know.
In closing I want to say we so much appreciate you for joining CoCoRaHS and sticking with us. We now have hundreds of volunteers who have been faithfully reporting for 5-10 years or longer. Who would have thought we could accomplish so much and have fun, too! You've made that possible.
Wishing you and your family a happy holiday season ahead. Thanks to each and every one of you,
Nolan Doesken and the CoCoRaHS Staff
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