Acronyms: Summer Youth Corps (SYC), Faces of Tomorrow (FOT)

Development & Communications Team changes

Following the departure of Cindy Dorn, Elise Peterson has been promoted to Director of Development, Marketing and Communications. Elise recently joined the Corps in June as Development and Communications Manager and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in fundraising and strategic communications.

Bailey Erickson has been promoted to Development and Communications Specialist. In her new role, she will be managing our online communications strategy as well as planning and implementing strategies to increase our engagement with donors, alumni, volunteers, and the community. Bailey’s former position, Outreach Coordinator, will remain vacant as we reevaluate the best structure for our team moving forward.

The Development and Communications Team’s immediate priorites are to create a new strategic communications plan, support our legislative efforts with increasing our state funding, provide support to our recruitment efforts, and increase our charitable giving capacity.

Grants Award Update

Date Award Name & Description Brief: career & job Income Award Awarded Granting Agency skills; environmental project; Timeframe location Sept 2016 Betty A. Lewis Support for field crews to make $5,952 October Environmental improvements to public parks 2016 Charitable Trust and protecting natural resources in south central MN. July 2016 Lloyd K. Johnson Supports the participation of $10,000 July – August Foundation eight youth in 2016 Summer 2016 Youth Corps

Grant proposals submitted since last report:  Enterprise Foundation - FOT  Bernick Family Foundation – SYC

Grants proposals coming up:  Carl and Verna Schmidt Foundation – Burn management equipment  Fred C. & Katherine B. Andersen Foundation – SYC  Andersen Corporate Foundation – SYC

Elise Peterson 651.209.9900 x26 | Bailey Erickson x29 Chartiable Giving

As of Sept 16, 2016, we have received $12,213 in charitable donations from 62 individuals/organizations. This does not include funds received from charitable grants.

By comparision, through Sept 16, 2015 we received $3,119 in charitable donations from 29 individuals/organizations.

Marketing & Communications

We are working with Pat Barton, a crisis communications consultant, to create a 90 day strategic response plan in addition to a long-term organizational communications plan. More information will be shared with the board as these plans are developed and implemented.

Media Coverage - July-September 2016

Northland News Center (9-22-2016): St. Louis River sees wild rice restoration MPR News (9-21-16): Once nearly wiped out by pollution, wild rice is coming back to northern MN RSDP Newsletter (9-19-16): RSDP Happenings-Spotlight: Rose Clark International Falls Journal (8-9-16): Bolstering the Rat Root KCRG-TV9 (7-28-16): Conservation crew hacking new trail to scenic Clayton County bluff Fillmore County Journal (7-25-16): Conservation Corps apprentice working at SWCD Superior Telegram (7-12-16): Team cuts into invasive species spread Steele County Times (7-6-16): Conservation Corps Work on Mantorville Dam

Ongoing Communications Metrics

E-newsletter  July: 2,517 subscribers, 22.8% open rate, 2.1% clicks  Aug: 2,520 subscribers, 23.3& open rate, 1.2% clicks  Sept: September not sent, waiting to develop Strategic Response Plan

Social media  Twitter: 35 new followers, 30k tweet impressions, 951 profile visits  Facebook: 34 new likes, 7,622 people reached, 92 page views  Instagram: 18 new followers, 101 likes

Recent events o Wednesday, June 29 – United Way volunteer event at Lauderdale Nature Area o Saturday, Jule 9 – St. Croix Volunteer Event o Tuesday, July 12 – Andersen Corporation St. Croix River Clean-up o Wednesday, July 20 – Seed bombs with Jackson Street Village o Friday, July 29 – Seed bombs at Roseville REI o Saturday, August 13 – Fair State Brewing volunteer event and happy hour o Wednesday, August 24 – MN Wild and Excel Energy volunteer event o Thursday, August 25 – Monday, September 5 – Minnesota State Fair

Elise Peterson 651.209.9900 x26 | Bailey Erickson x29 Upcoming Events

Board members are encouraged to attend events in bold, but are welcome at all. For corporate events, please inform Bailey that you will be attending as security badges may be required with prior notification. To sign up for volunteer events, please go to: conservationcorps.org/volunteer.

 Friday, October 7, 2:30-4 - Seed Bombs at REI in Des Moines  Friday, October 21 – Saturday, October 22, Board/Leadership retreat  October 24-28, United Way Internal Campaign  Thursday, November 10, South Thank You event in Rochester  Thursday, November 17, Give to the Max Day – one-day statewide online fundraising event – this year we have a $10k matching gift from Bremer Bank to support YO, more information to follow

Other News

We are completeing our Accountability Review in order to meet the standards for the Charities Review Council. This is a valuable accredidation to be able to share with donors and prospects. The review should be completed by early November.

We have successfully taken over the Adopt-a-River program from Minnesota DNR. Through this program, community members volunteer to clean-up parks and waterways throughout Minnesota. We’ve already had over 20 corporate groups, community groups and individuals register for cleanups throughout the state. This program has the potential to expand our donor prospect database by thousands of individuals each year and greatly increases our reach throughout the region.

Rose Lundy, an individual placement Corps member, has been blogging for us all summer. She recently wrote her last post and has some great things to share about the importance of Conservation Corps:

Conservation Corps is an honorable organization on a very surface level with tangible environmental efforts such as invasive species removal and trail clearing. But it also goes so much deeper than that. The young people who are hired to spend their time protecting the environment are impacted in ways we can never know.

Our environment is beautiful and important, and we need young people to care about it. My generation will soon lead the charge on conservation, and organizations like Conservation Corps are crucial to reinforcing the value of a healthy environment.

You can read more from Rose’s final post, as well as posts for our other bloggers at www.conservationcorps.org/crewblog/

Elise Peterson 651.209.9900 x26 | Bailey Erickson x29