ATA Members Should Consider Joining “2% for Conservation”

The 2% Certification and Commitment

The organization doesn’t collect donated time and dollars from members; it certifies that individuals and businesses donate 1% of their time and 1% of their income annually to conservation in one of four categories including on-the-ground work, education, advocacy and access. Individual participants must earn a membership. Businesses must earn certification the same way, plus pay yearly membership dues that correlate to the size of their business, starting at $300, unless the business is in its first year of existence, in which case the first year is free. The business member dues structure can be found on its website. The funds are used to promote member businesses and support conservation efforts.

Here’s how the 1% time and 1% money donation works, and some examples of each way to contribute. 

• 1% Time
  A business must commit 21 man-hours to conservation through the course of a year. It doesn’t matter how the company breaks up the man-hours. For example, one person can commit three seven-hour days, six people can do three and a half hours each, or a company with 21 people can have each employee work for an hour. Additionally, the hours can all go toward one project or multiple projects. Either way, the organization must volunteer at least 21 hours doing something that impacts conservation, like picking up trash, fixing or creating trails in public parks, teaching archery education, removing fence posts out West so migration animals can move more freely, etc.
• 1% Money
  A business must give 1% of its annual gross income to a conservation effort. Companies can make the financial commitment in many ways. For example, it can write a check, donate products to groups or conservation banquets, buy conservation organization memberships for its employees, waive presentation fees or other fees for conservation organizations, etc. The financial donations are sent directly to the conservation organizations, not to 2% for Conservation.

Many members like the organization because of the freedom it allows them to choose how to donate their time and money. They can select efforts that matter most to them. Businesses must simply obtain written proof of their donations from the conservation effort project leader (game warden, park coordinator, conservation organization representative, etc.) as verification for 2% for Conservation. Frasier is happy to work with businesses to ensure the conservation donations are acceptable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQYLnKNDaoI

Why Become Certified?

Dan Johnson, owner of Sportsmen’s Nation and 2% for Conservation board member, built the 2% for Conservation commitment into his business plan when he started SN in 2017 because it’s a way to give back to the resource his business is made on. He encourages all ATA members and outdoor recreation businesses to do the same.

“I walk through the ATA Show floor and I see all these companies profiting off of a natural resource, but I don’t feel like enough companies are giving back to the thing that is making them money,” he said. “I look at it like, ‘I’m taking away from the landscape every time I hunt, but what am I doing to give back to that landscape or ecosystem?’ It’s common sense. It’s your duty to give back to ducks, turkeys, deer, elk, land or whatever natural resources you promote (your customers to pursue).”

Joining 2% for Conservation also does more collectively for wildlife, wild places and our natural environment by encouraging and motivating individuals and businesses to take a proactive approach to giving back.

“You’re in this community of like-minded individuals who actually care,” Johnson said. “The bigger that community gets, the more people that come together under the umbrella of conservation, the more things we can do and the bigger the projects we can undertake. Together, we’ll accomplish so much more than the things people can do by themselves.”

Frasier said the commitment and certification are validating, too.

“When businesses show up and volunteer, it adds validity not only to the necessity of the project being accomplished but also the overall community engaged in it,” he said. “It shows validity that we come and take care of it. We don’t just make money on this resource, but we’re here as stewards of it, too. We’re doing work beyond ourselves, and that kind of brand authenticity can only be earned. It can’t be bought.”