Thanks Dawn,
My question was out of surprise since the previous incarnation of this
Fund (at the time that I was on the board of directors of Oregon Field
Ornithologists, which later became OBA, and helped to draw up criteria
and procedures for distributing grants from this fund) had a very
different set of criteria.
As I've mentioned to a couple of OBA folks who responded off-line, the
OBA website is missing a substantial piece of the history of this fund.
The original fund (based on donations) was fairly modest, and sat around
unused for many years. In the early 2000s we expanded the fund by
folding in the earnings from sales of the Oregon Breeding Bird Atlas CD.
The idea at that time -- since most of the revenue had come from OFO's
most successful participatory project -- was to use the Fund to support
other projects that would engage Oregon birders at large as
participants, to improve the understanding of Oregon birds.
The best example of this was the Black Swift nesting site survey
project, which is mentioned on the OBA website, with a link to the
project report.
If memory serves correctly, we also gave some funds to East Cascades
Bird Conservancy (now ECAS) to help defray gas expenses for the winter
raptor surveys that Jeff Fleischer initiated. We also funded one other
project that didn't work out so well in terms of engaging birders as
volunteers.
Apparently by 2010 or thereabouts, the funds from the OBBA CD sales were
drained down, leaving this fund empty. I was not aware of that, so
that's why I was surprised that the focus for grants from this fund seem
to have changed appreciably.
At this point I think it makes sense to regard this as an entirely new
"reincarnation" of the fund, based entirely on donations. So it makes
sense to have new criteria, in line with whatever current donors want to
support.
Good birding,
Joel
On Sat, 2016-03-19 at 17:46 +0100, dawn v wrote:
The grants are not earmarked for young birders. Anyone with a project
that meets the criteria given on the application may apply:
CRITERIA:
"The Oregon Fund for Ornithology is a source of funds to help further
the mission* of the
Oregon Birding Association across Oregon. The funds can be used for
education,
research, habitat restoration, and other projects. However, the funds
cannot be used to
purchase land or be used for closing costs associated with a land
purchase. OBA is willing
to provide funds in conjunction with other donors."
*The mission of the Oregon Birding Association is to further the
knowledge,
education, enjoyment, conservation, and science of birds and birding
in Oregon.
dawn v
Lincoln City/Nelscott
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 at 10:45 PM
From: "Joel Geier" <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>
To: obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [obol] Re: obol Digest V5 #87
Are the grants just earmarked for helping young birders, or can people
apply for more general purposes (e.g.bird conservation projects)?
Joel
