Help for fire loss beekeepers

[tlynn]

Hello All,

My wife Ruth came to me yesterday with an idea to help beekeepers who have been affected by the wildfires in Australia, which there must be many considering the scope.  We are going to make a motion at our local association to make a donation to support beekeepers who lost their hives.  I PM'ed Mick from Melbourne who is going to get contact information for the Victorian Beekeepers Association.  We're thinking they can receive funds directly from our group and can buy hive bodies and frames from a local supplier and then give them to the affected folks.  That way we don't have to ship anything.

Since this forum reaches so many people, I can only imagine how big this could get if we all made similar proposals.  What do you guys think?  Would you be willing to make requests of your associations to help them?   Hopefully this won't be asking too much of their association, especially if they get a HUGE order!  Any other suggestions on how to put this together?


Thanks!

Tracy

[contactme_11]

This is a really nice idea, however I must say that I feel that you may be treading in dangerous waters. From a legal standpoint if you start to gain much in the way of contribution, I would consider forming a nonprofit organization. Something like this could be really beneficial not just for the beekeepers in Australia, but anywhere in the world there is a natural or man-made disaster. But someone must be legally responcible for the handling of funds so that the efforts of your labors don't fall into the wrong hands.

[tlynn]

I figured since each association has officers to provide accountability, there wouldn't be a concern about people handling the money if funds moved strictly from association to association, or from individual to the Australian association, if one chooses to give directly.  Does that seem reasonable for protecting the donations?

I think forming a non-profit is a good idea for big visions and right now it's a lot more than we want to bite into.  We'd rather leave things on that scale to Heifer and the other big guys.

[Brian D. Bray]

Most beekeeper associations are already on the books as non-profit organizations.  So the collecting of donations to be sent to other  Australian beekeeping organizations would most likely be legal as it is in essence a charitable act.  If done through the officals of the clubs or even a collection of clubs it should still pass the smell test. 
An attorney could add more insight....Konasdad, what do you say?

[mudlake]

I think it is a great idea. Once it gets going it will be easy to use the same idea here at home. Just a few bucks will go a long way. Get your post office box listed. Best of Luck  Tony

[tlynn]

I think it is a great idea. Once it gets going it will be easy to use the same idea here at home. Just a few bucks will go a long way. Get your post office box listed. Best of Luck  Tony

Thanks.  Just to be clear I don't want to handle any money if that's what you meant by listing my PO box, Tony.  In fact I have yet to make contact with the Australian Beekeepers Association so don't even know what their reaction would be.  I hope to have more info soon.  Sorry if it's a bit premature.  I wanted to get the creative thoughts flowing...  :-D

[indypartridge]

Any update on this?
Perhaps you could PM mick or Geoff or one of our other down-under beeks for some contact info?
We have our State beekeeping meeting coming up on March 14th - that would be a good time for me to bring up the idea of making a donation to help our mates in Australia.

[beemaster]

I fully agree that (even the greatest causes) are something that we need to stay away from, money handling is just one of many nightmare situations that have torn down groups with the best of good intentions.

We here at Beemaster Forum have a small donation fund capable of handling any of our own needs as they arrive, but surely no real money to make a difference in anyone's lives effected by natural or manmade tragedy. I hate to say it, but prayers and keeping their plight in our thoughts is honestly the best we can do - if non-profit relief funds don't want to spend their billions on causes, our collective contributions wouldn't cover the cost of paper clips to hold the endless paperwork together.

I fully agree that when members get burnt out, hives destroyed, medical dosasters, etc., it is a horrible and sad thing. But organizing fundraising is something that leads to trouble, I for one would never want to handle cntributions for other causes. We get about 10 donations to the forum a year on average, leaving us with enough cash to pay for hosting if/when we go over limits, reregistering and protecting domain names, and all the minimal stuff needed to run a forum which has grow emmencely in a few years.

We now push 50 gigs of bandwidth a month TRIPLE that of 2 years ago, and at this rate of growth, I see surcharges for hosting going ape down the road. I'm hoping we can keep up with those, I'll never as specifically for help, I'm doing okay in the grand scheme of things and can handle the costs to always keep us a float - beemaster forums will be around a long time, always growing, adding new technology and being a fun place to come - all those things are priceless to me, so cutting a check to cover costs is NEVER an issue, the forum will move on LONG after I am gone from this Earth - yes, I think of this as my legacy, my contribution to the survival of the honeybee and friend to the beekeeper. May your childred and theirs have this place to come as you do today, that would be a legacy anyone would be proud of :)

[tlynn]

Any update on this?
Perhaps you could PM mick or Geoff or one of our other down-under beeks for some contact info?
We have our State beekeeping meeting coming up on March 14th - that would be a good time for me to bring up the idea of making a donation to help our mates in Australia.

I got word from Mick recently, and he asked for our patience as they are still sorting out a very bad situation.  Then we can look toward some sort of aid for their beekeepers.   Even if we don't have anything worked out before our meeting in March, which is probable, I am going to make the motion, with the request that donations would be strictly association to association, so whatever funds individuals might wish to contribute would be made payable to their association.

[tlynn]

At our monthly association meeting tonight my wife and I made a motion for assistance for the Australian beekeepers.  It was agreed that we will donate one barrel of honey from the association yard.  There was a good bit of discussion about how to sell it off to raise the money.  Some wanted to sell the barrel to get it over with.  We decided we would sell it by the pound to get the most revenue, and a number of people volunteered to help bottle and to sell it at upcoming seminars and events we will be having.  We figure with telling people all proceeds go to the fire victims when we sell it, it should go quickly and for 5-6$ a pound. So it could be upwards of $2500 after jar expense.  Our association will receive and handle all the money. We'll be in touch with the Australian beekeeper group soon so hopefully they will be willing to handle the proceeds and purchase the equipment and distribute to the neediest.  As soon as I get that worked out I'll post here.  So if you all want to propose similar ideas to your groups we could create something that will make an even greater difference.

Tracy

[SlickMick]

That is an incredibly generous offer Tlynn and I have no doubt that our colleagues in Victoria will appreciate your organisation's generosity. I have no idea as to how our beek friends in the south of Aussie got on but I would imagine that many would have been devestated.

The obvious difficulty now for them is the process of restocking, not only their colonies but also their equipment and for those people who beek commercially this can be an incredibly expensive and time consuming process. Getting ready for the pollination season in a couple of months is going to present some considerable difficulty for them I would expect

As a beek who operates in isolation I have no communication with the industry organisations but I am sure the
Victorian Apiarists Association Inc.
PO Box 40,
California Gully, VIC. 3556
will handle your donation appropriately for you.

Mick

[tlynn]

Thanks for the contact info SlickMick.  We'll be getting in touch with them.

Tracy