NWTF question

[Chris at Owens Custom Calls]

how can i ask this and have it come out the right way?  for the guys that regularly donate to their local NWTF banquets, do they usually give you a ticket to their event as a sign of appreciation?  i've donated calls to all sorts of banquets including DU, but NWTF chapters never give tickets out to their event.  before answering, let me make it clear that I am not a free loader and have no problem paying to get in.  I will continue to donate and never expect any type of compensation.  i'm just simply asking if their rules are different compared to organizations such as DU, Delta, FF, and others.  I know that if you enter 2 or more calls in the Grand Nationals with 100% of the proceeds going to them, they will renew your membership.  Does this also apply to the local level? 

[Crawdad]

I have been a charter member of our local chapter & have worked banquets for 13 years now, I have seen a big change in the organization in the last few years. It seems to me that the only thing the N.W.T.F is interested in now is money & how many places the big shots get to hunt for nothing, This year will be my last. I donate call's every year & help put on the banquets, & I still have to buy a ticket. Go figure.

[Chris at Owens Custom Calls]

Thanks Crawdad.  I think that helped answer my question. I thought it might be just a local thing, but now I think I understand a little better.

[KFB Game Calls]

Here in central Illinois they give a donation slip for the reg. price of the call so that would be tax deductable.  I do believe if they  (NWTF ) would give you a membership for the donation it would be a win for them. A banquet with more to give away to raise money for a good cause. To them it's only the cost of the meal and a few magazines a year.

Yep I'm still a supporter ( sponsor and banquet volunteer for 17 yrs ) but they have pushed my buttons lately on wanting to get every last dime that comes into the door.

Tony

[dogcatcher]

I used to donate calls to all of them, NWTF, DU and Delta.  For a few years I would receive a nice thank you note.  Slowly the thank you notes stopped, and I kept donating.  Then I found out some of the donations were not being given as prizes, but being donated to visitors.  I complained to deaf ears.  So I quit making donations, if I had wanted to donate to someone in a national headquarters I would have sent them one. 

As to the donations, for a few years I would get the receipt saying I donated X amount in calls for prizes.  All well and good, but when you donate items you make you get the lessor or, the value or your cost in the call donated.  A call that costs you $10 to make and sells for $100 is only a $10 deduction.  With them giving my calls to visitors, I received more benefit by joining the organization than I received from donating to them. 

Now, I am no longer a member or donate anything.  Instead I donate to various local charity auctions and other local functions, at least this way I know they are staying local.

 Marvin

[Dave @ Hagermans Custom Calls]

I am a chapter member of delta waterfowl ( http://www.mnrdw.com/ ) , we have only been doing this for 2 yrs now and our first banquet we were 20th in the amount of money raised in the USA.  This year we might be in the top 10. We believe if you are going to donate to our banquet then the least we could do is give you a you a meal ticket, but most of are donations are over $250 dollars and for those we give them a sponser ticket and raffle tickets.  We have doubled to tripled the amount of donations to our banquet by doing this. 60-70% of what we auction or give away is donated, that is one way we can make such a big profit,also the quality of items we get give away is top notch, and I think it's because we are giving something back for the donation so people are giving more. The other thing is almost every person that donates something and comes to the banquet, spends a alot of money in games and auctions.  Several guys said they almost stopped or have stoped donating items to  other chapters because they seemed like they did not appreciate the donation and just expected it.  We feel It just paper we are giving away in the form of raffle tickets and if it was not for the donations we would raise very little money for a good cause. It is sad to see what most of these banquets have become.  Like the saying goes the nicer you are the more you get.

Dave

[birddog1]

I'm a committe member for the DU  Alantic Frontier Chapter
I think we are in the top 10 for raiseing money and the our chapter takes care ofthe people that donate, NOT DU, to the people that donate we give them a meal ticket and raffle or a DU member ship ? and then a couple months down the road we have a committe member that owns a restaurant and He will put on a game dinner to all that have donated along with the people that bought sponsor ship to DU  ,so it is up to the chapter to take care of there people, our Banquet is comming up March 31 ,2012 if any one is intrested in comeing or any one that wants to  donate .
Dennis