By Sven K. Lindquist, SCI President
Right now, we are in the middle of what often is called the SCI Chapter Fundraising Season when many Chapters hold their major annual fundraising events.
I cannot overstate the importance of these Chapter fundraisers, both to the local Chapters and to the international organization. To put it bluntly, SCI sinks or swims as a result of the funds raised by our Chapters around the world. Certainly, SCI has other revenue sources, including the annual Hunters’ Convention, but the combined funds from all Chapters represent a major part of our budget each year.
With this in mind, I encourage all members to support your local Chapter. Go to the fundraiser, bid high and often on the hunts and other items sold at auction. Participate in the raffles. This is one quick and easy way to help save hunting.
But there is so much more to Chapter fundraisers than the bottom line. These are events where fellow hunters gather to talk about hunting, mix with their hunting buddies and have a really good time.
It is exciting when we can have a lot of fun while we are taking care of serious business. For any SCI members who have not yet attended a Chapter banquet, all I can say is that you are missing some of the greatest times you will ever have. But don’t just take my word for it. Go to a local Chapter banquet and see for yourself. You’ll wonder why you haven’t been going to these fundraisers all along.
Money raised at these Chapter events helps fund local Chapter projects and it helps fund the advocacy and conservation missions of SCI and SCI Foundation.
By being involved in this way, you are helping to save hunting while assuring a bright future for wildlife in wild places. This is important now and will become increasingly important for future generations as we battle those anti-hunters who would have us and our way of life made extinct.
SCI is unlike any other organization of hunters in that our chapters keep most of the money they raise for local projects. Only 30 percent of the proceeds from the Chapter’s biggest event each year go to help fund the efforts of the international organization.
What this means is that SCI’s structure enhances the efforts of its members and chapters at every level. We can walk and chew gum at the same time, so to speak, by making positive impacts that range from local conservation or education efforts to national and international advocacy initiatives that save hunting.
Like all of those in the SCI volunteer leadership, I came up through the Chapter ranks and continue to make it a point to attend as many Chapter events each year as my schedule will permit.
I look forward to meeting members at upcoming Chapter fundraisers. And for members who can’t make it to a Chapter event this year, by all means, plan to attend the 2023 SCI Convention in Nashville next February 22-25.
