Dear Friend,
We hope you’ve noticed how visible the Ojai Valley Green Coalition has been this fall:
- Hosting educational events (including films)
- Giving testimony at Ojai City Council
- Sponsoring a mixer for the Ojai Chamber of Commerce
- Acting as bike valet on Ojai Day
- Partnering on a creek restoration project
- Putting on another Green Living Tour & Home Show
The Green Coalition is the public face of environmental advocacy, service and education in the Ojai Valley.
If you’ve already recently joined or made your extra year-end contribution, we thank you for your vote of confidence and participation in our mission. You’ve helped make seven years of service and effort possible, and we want to continue our commitment to the flora, fauna and the good people of the Ojai Valley for years to come. And every dollar you gave to the Green Coalition as of November 1st will be doubled!
There is a challenge, though. We know that many people recognize and appreciate our work – ranging from transportation and energy efficiency to food and watershed literacy. Yet it seems too many assume the Green Coalition must be a large scale, well-financed organization to be doing so much! This “perception gap” can be misleading. The fact is, our actual capacity is nowhere near commensurate with the profile we have in the community.
In truth, we do all this work with less than one full-time equivalent staff person, a small board, a faithful core of volunteers, and an annual budget of less than $75,000! This income barely keeps the Green Coalition afloat at a time when there is so much more to do. Our staff and board work countless extra hours, but in the long run, operating on a shoestring is as unsustainable as gas-guzzling cars or water-hungry lawns! Indeed, it is time to move to the next level of organizational evolution by doubling our capacity in order to broaden and deepen our efforts to realize a sustainable and resilient Ojai Valley and Ventura River watershed.
How might the Green Coalition have touched your life in the past year or two?
- Have we helped you recycle your old electronics?
- Transformed your perceptions of an issue at a film or lecture?
- Taught you practical skills for a greener lifestyle at a hands-on workshop?
- Improved your quality of life by restoring the health of the local ecosystem and assisting in important policy victories?
The list could go on. For what we have been doing and what we so sincerely want to do, you can reciprocate by making a generous membership contribution or a year-end extra gift.
And we are thrilled and grateful that once again we have been offered a year-end $10,000 matching donation—which means that every dollar you give to the Green Coalition will be doubled, through January 31, 2015!!
We are pleased to add that, the Ojai City Council recently recognized the unique value of our grassroots approach by contracting with the Green Coalition on a Dark Skies Initiative and supporting our community Resource Center. We now invite all of you who are committed to our common goals to step up your partnership with us.
We think it’s fair to say that the Green Coalition is essential to this Valley for engaging personal and political environmental advocacy, education and service. In turn, however, the Green Coalition requires your support to continue doing this work. Starting, or renewing, your Coalition membership is the best way you can show that as a community, we do not take the work of the Coalition for granted!
In regenerative hope and gratitude,
Deborah Pendrey, Executive Director
Ched Myers, Board Vice President
P.S. Remember, your tax deductible donation will be doubled by another dedicated Ojai family up to $10,000! Thank you.