The Name of the Game is Save the Caves

By John E. Pearson NSS 25731 RL

NSS Conservation Grants Administrator

So you are the conservation chair of the local grotto and there are projects in your area that need to get done. Where do you turn for funding? Have a bake sale at the local mall? Run a car wash down on the corner of Lee and Glebe? Go door-to-door shoveling snow or raking leaves? All excellent ideas, but labor intensive. Plus you need the volunteers. Those are the same people that you are counting on to help you pull off your endeavors.

The NSS Board of Governors established the Save the Caves Fund in 1979 to assist you in your projects. Its primary purpose is to promote the conservation policies of our Society. The program has metamorphosed over the years though various Board actions to allow the Conservation Committee to award up to $5,000 annually. The fund is entitled the Save-the-Caves Fund and grants of up to $1,000 are considered for all Internal Organizations, NSS Conservation Task Forces, Cave & Karst Conservancies or to individual NSS members for specific projects that involve cave or karst conservation, cave restoration or cleanups.

So exactly what is involved? The first thing is to identify your project and make an application. You can contact me at jpearson@rcc.com and lay out your proposal in an email. I will discuss the merits of the proposal with the NSS Conservation Co-Chairs, Jim C. Werker and Val Hildredth-Werker and I may come back and request additional information. If your project is selected, then the grant recipient must submit a written report of accomplishments that may be included in a future Conservation issue of the NSS News.

What your grant application needs to include is the following:

Applicant Identification
Provide the name, address, email address, telephone number and other pertinent contact information of the person preparing the grant application.

Official Recipient
Identify the official recipient for purposes of financial accountability. Provide the organization or recipient's name, title, address, phone number, etc. Essentially, this identifies the organization or person who will formally receive the grant, if awarded.

Project Description
Identify what, specifically, the project will entail; i.e., what is to be done and for what purpose.

Benefits Expected
Identify what the expected objective results will be.

Participants

Identify who will be involved in the project and their qualifications to perform the work.

Costs
Identify how much the overall project will cost, the amount being requested from the NSS, what the NSS money will be used for, and who is providing the remaining money, if known.

Additionally, the application (usually in the email or cover letter), must include a statement assuring the NSS that it will receive a formal report on the project for which NSS support is being sought. This formal feedback may take the form of an article for publication, video, slide show, thesis, dissertation, publication, exhibit, or other comparable account of the completed project or research and its outcome in a form accessible to the membership.

See? It isn’t that difficult. Any money that isn’t granted in any given year doesn’t get to roll over to the next year. The fund is $5,000 per year and if no one applies for a grant, then the fund receives no additional money the next year. I apologize for my teething issues of the past year, but I promise you that I will act upon every request, whether positive or negative within thirty (30) days of receipt of the final request for further information.

John E. Pearson, Administrator

NSS Conservation Grants

329 Brownstown Road

Renick, WV 24966-9649

304-497-3939

jpearson@rcc.com