Search and Rescue Mutual Aid
We bring together leaders from SAR teams across the country to discuss creative solutions to universal problems. From member retention to fundraising to team training - we’re all about bringing the community together and crossing county lines to elevate the SAR profession. Presented by Base Medical.
Search and Rescue Mutual Aid
104: Fundraising and Outreach with Kelley McIntosh
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What does it take to build a fundraising program that's effective and dynamic?
Kelley McIntosh from Mason County SAR in Washington have reinvented their fundraising program in the last few years. Between events like comedy night, turnkey programs like spare change round up, grants, and public outreach, they've diversified and increased their revenue streams.
We discuss how teams can kick up their fundraising efforts and build community relationships.
Today's Guest
Kelley McIntosh: Mason County Search and Rescue
Welcome and Intro
SPEAKER_03Incident command to field team, sending in mutual aid.
SPEAKER_05Welcome to SAR Mutual Aid, the podcast where search and rescue teams share lessons, tackle challenges, and find real solutions.
SPEAKER_02We bring together leaders from SAR teams across the country to discuss solutions to universal problems.
SPEAKER_05I'm Till Harbitt, Base Medical CEO, a wilderness paramedic nurse, and a SAR volunteer in New Mexico.
SPEAKER_02And I'm Lauren Skineshny, a wilderness EMT and SAR volunteer based in Portland, Oregon. Join us as we cross county lines to find new ways that you can empower and strengthen your team.
SPEAKER_03Presented by Base Medical.
SPEAKER_02Hey Lauren, how are you? Hey, I'm doing great.
SPEAKER_05Wonderful. So I have a question for you.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_05What do you think happens to a Roomba when it has an accident in the backcountry?
SPEAKER_02A Roomba? I don't know.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Well, SAR teams have to evacuate the Roomba.
SPEAKER_02Oh no. Great joke. Um, but why are you telling me a joke?
SPEAKER_05I mean, you can be honest, it's a terrible joke. I think SAR jokes are worse than dad jokes. But um, but yeah, so I was onboarding Mason County search and rescue team a while back, and something something interesting was mentioned. The individual I was speaking to on Mason County said, Oh, I may not be as responsive next week because we will be busy with our comedy night. And that just set me into a spiral. Like comedy night? What what do you mean? What is this SAR team doing as far as comedy night? And he mentioned that it was part of a fundraiser. So I had to know more, especially since fundraising is one of the toughest and most essential parts of running a SAR team.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Pete, I don't know that everybody realizes how much it costs to run a SAR team. There's fuel for vehicles, there's all the gear, which is very expensive. There's training, technology, subscriptions, transportation to get folks to call outs. Yeah, so so it's a lot. And it's certainly been a challenge for our team to find those consistent fundraising initiatives and programs.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, exactly. And all of those initiatives help, but it's, I think, rarely enough to sustain a modern operation or the training needs of a team. And so fundraising isn't just about keeping the team afloat, in my opinion. It's about elevating the professionalism of the team, ensuring readiness and building community trust. And we also have to remember that we're often working alongside other agencies who have way more funding than most XR teams. And so, in some sense, we do have to keep up with the Joneses to, so to speak, to remain relevant with the other agencies and not be left behind.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. And technology is changing so fast. You know, teams now want to incorporate drones, uh, which are certainly a hefty investment. Things like Cal Topo and D4H. Um, we have a lot of teams that subscribe to SAR programs like Base Medicals. Um, so there's definitely a lot that teams can do to keep up that professionalism, but it certainly costs money.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, exactly. My thoughts too. And something I've been looking into lately as I'm trying to draft a sustainable fund for outdoor safety and search and rescue in New Mexico, I'm and I'm happy to share what I've found. Um, as you can imagine, each state is different in regards to access to funding for SAR teams. Um, however, it does seem by and large that most teams do not have access to sustainable funding. Surprise, surprise. I think we all knew that pretty much. Um, and they rely on donations and fundraising to keep their team going. So I want to explore what other teams are doing to provide some inspiration, which leads me back to this whole idea of comedy night with Mason County Search and Rescue. I interviewed Kelly from their team, and I will allow her to introduce herself, her team, and please forgive me because this was my very first podcast interview. So all right, let's listen.
SPEAKER_00In search and rescue, you're not just a volunteer, you're a professional. Your team and your community expect you to deliver. That means being ready for more than patient care. You need skills in navigation, communication, helicopter safety, and incident command. With Base Medical, you can train like a pro. Our individual subscription gives you unlimited access to over 25 search and rescue courses for just$12.50 a month. Or choose our team subscription to standardize training across your entire team. Stay sharp, stay ready, learn more at base-medical.com.
SPEAKER_05Kelly, thank you so much for being here. Tell us more about Mason County Search and Rescue for our listeners who are not familiar with Mason County Search and Rescue. So, where you are and um the specialty you provide to the community, team size, just some of those demographics to get us started.
SPEAKER_01My name is Kelly McIntosh, and I am a volunteer with uh Mason County Search and Rescue. I've uh been with our team only about two years. Um my husband and I are both, we went into this together. Um, he has an entire career in law enforcement, mines and criminal justice. So we felt we had some skill sets and relationships we could bring to the table. Um, so Mason County Search and Rescue is located in Shelton, Washington. Uh, we are the gateway to the Olympics. We are a primarily recreational uh county. We have the Olympics on the west side, we have Hood Canal, and then we have the whole Tehuya Peninsula, which is primarily um a lot of vacation area homes here uh along Hood Canal. Our population triples in the summertime, and even more so now uh post-COVID, because a lot of people had summer homes here. And after COVID, um they're like, hey, we can work remotely and we're gonna stay in this beautiful county. So we ended up really with a growing population, and um, we have a lot of people who come in. And we're pretty unique. So Washington has the Explorer Search and Rescue where we star certified. Um, a lot of them are just like simple, you know, one discipline team. We actually have four disciplines. We have your uh basic ground response, and everybody has to be ground certified. That's your starting point. Then we do have a four by four off-road, you know, mobile unit. Uh, we have a canine unit. We have some really great canine handlers. Uh, we are starting with a drone program uh very early on. We have our policies and looking at doing some fundraising for a drone. And um, so yeah, so we've got ground, yeah, ground canine, um, ORV, and then our four by four. And so we deploy under the umbrella and the authority of the sheriff's office, but our training and our emergency cards and a lot of our others are under our Department of Emergency Management Services here. So it's both Mason County VEM and the Sheriff's Office. Um, with all of those relationships, we were able to really connect a lot of the people in the sheriff's office, those coordinators with this team as we were rebuilding. Um, I'm also a fire commissioner, so I have relationships with the fire districts. And so we were able to kind of really help bolster and support those efforts for recruitment and retention. I ended up being on fundraising because I do have these relationships. I knew all these connections of the community. I missed one meeting and I became the chair. That's how that's how it works. You know, it's what happens when you miss the meeting as you become the chair.
Expanding Fundraising Approaches
SPEAKER_02Wow. So it sounds like they really have grown a lot in the last few years. Um, so I can see between the growing population and all of the different disciplines that they work in, uh, a real need for advanced funding. Um, I think it's great that they mentioned some of the relationships that they have with other agencies. Uh, but yeah, I'm wondering how they can afford such a huge increase in needs.
SPEAKER_05Right. My question too, which I discovered, Mason County does a lot more than Comedy Night. It seems like they have a very robust fundraising program, which we can all learn from. But they started out like most teams, maybe doing one fundraiser a year and donations, and that's about it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I think that's probably similar to how a lot of teams operate. Maybe they have one big fundraiser and some minor ongoing fundraising throughout the year, but I can really see how that can be dangerous. Because if you lose one source of revenue, you know, that's really going to impact uh how much money you're bringing in overall through the year. So I think having different revenue streams, different fundraising initiatives can probably be really helpful, uh, and maybe also an opportunity to just get visibility in the community too.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, exactly. I completely agree. And in fact, Kelly speaks about this aspect of raising public awareness and marketing your team directly when it comes to fundraising. But their team had to completely re-evaluate their approach to fundraising, which I thought was fairly innovative, to be honest. And I will let her explain exactly how they went about doing that. So again, here's Kelly.
SPEAKER_01Most folks don't think of these nonprofits or government entities of having to market what they do. Most people think, oh, you're search and rescue, I see that sheriff's office emblem. You must be getting tax dollars, you must be getting money from the county or the sheriff's office. And most folks don't recognize nationwide that search and rescue is an all-volunteer donation, grant funding, you know, they just don't have tax dollars coming. We were not an entity of the of uh Mason County. So knowing that, you know, when I started joining the fundraising committee, um, we talked about we really need to market who we are and let people know that. So part of that is getting out there in the community. And when I joined, we were just doing that initial where the rope ends. That's what it was. So here's this woman who was doing canyoneering, she fell. And it was this really amazing uh story of resiliency and survival, and being, you know, rescued uh from this canyoneering. And so she took her story, turned it into a YouTube uh movie, and then she was going around all these search and rescue organizations donating um her story, and then we turned it into not only selling the tickets at our high school, um, but then also doing a raffle and a silent auction. And a lot of our community members, you know, pretty much donated all of this stuff that we could raffle off. And we were looking for kind of once a year large fundraisers that we could really reach out to the community, bring them in, showcase what we do. Um, and so one of our volunteers, he and his wife had done something similar with other organizations. And so they contacted three local um comedians who gave us like a discount deal on their price, uh, put together a, we just kind of fronted the cost of doing a spaghetti dinner and with alcohol. And then that makes everything funnier, right? Went around to the community and asked, you know, people to really donate all kinds of stuff for this auction and this comedy night, and then sold tickets to you know to the event. Then we took up all of our volunteers and they worked that evening. And we had, you know, we have one volunteer, he has his bartending license, so he was our bartender, and everybody just kind of worked together to go out there and and sell these tickets and and work with the community and hold this event. And we had a goal of about five or six thousand dollars that we thought that we hoped we could raise, and we ended up raising twelve thousand dollars.
SPEAKER_05Wow, that's amazing!
SPEAKER_01It was really amazing.
SPEAKER_05It was also the first time I've heard that a bartending license is useful in search and rescue.
SPEAKER_01So a bartender license can't come in handy. We're hoping to do the same thing again next year, maybe you know, down in the city of Shelton or you know, other areas so that you know, people we we kind of work the whole area and really get to know so the people know who we are and what we're doing.
SPEAKER_02Wow,$12,000. I would have never thought that a local comedy night could bring in so much funding. So that's amazing. Uh and it sounds like they really engaged the community to reach that goal. Um, yeah, I'm wondering, are they gonna keep doing that event? Are they gonna diversify other locations? What else are they doing for fundraising?
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah, no, it definitely sounds like they're going to continue with that event since it was so successful, but they do so much more than Comedy Night. They do parades twice a year. They also attend an oyster eating contest once a year as well. And that's all planned and coordinated through their committee. And so I'll again let Kelly speak to that a little bit more.
SPEAKER_01We do have a committee. Um, and we do usually meet every other month, depending on you know whether we actually have something that we're planning. Um so we have Oysterfest coming up in October. Oysterfest, if anybody's in in Washington state, it's a huge deal. I people come from all over the place. Um, it's a very large event that's put on, and it's oyster shucking, it's food and and drinks and wine and camping, and it's a three-day event. And so, um, anyhow, we actually have a booth and we're bringing our trailer. And even though we're more of an exhibitor, uh, we're not selling anything, it's an opportunity to kind of just be a display booth right next toward to the sheriff's office as well. And which we're just saying here's we are. We have a big old poster that has our QR code. You can donate or volunteer. Um what uh I'll kind of uh tell you a little bit about another project that I brought to the table, but also is that we can just kind of showcase, bring a big, you know, all of our gear there so people can see it, kids can see it, and it's just an opportunity to again showcase who we are and have an opportunity to just take donations because we're there and we're visible.
SPEAKER_05So I think we need to check out this oysterfest next year. I know you don't like oysters, but there's wine. I like wine.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And it sounds like it's just, I don't know, just being out there in the community at an event that's celebratory and fun. Uh, I think that can just really be important for a SAR team to just be seen and introduce themselves.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I I completely agree with that. And so this comedy night, the oyster eating contest, I mean, these are once-a-year events um that they rely on for significant fundraising. And many teams do take this approach. My team partners with a local brewery, for instance, and every year we have an annual brewfest, which I think is a lot of fun. And we designed custom pint glasses. So every year we have a new pint glass, and so to the point where we have vintage pint glasses, which is pretty cool from like over a decade ago. I know Fresno County SAR, they do a I believe it's a half marathon that involves a Yeti chasing people. That's a that's a good example. Right, exactly. Uh, and then of course, this year we learned at the MRA conference that Idaho Mountain Rescue sells corn on the cob at their county fair each year. Uh but but there's more to this when it comes to fundraising. And Kelly explains the other things that they are doing to raise money that are not just event-based fundraising opportunities.
SPEAKER_01We have also just recently reached out and we're working with um it's through Walmart where you can do that roundup. So your extra change goes to, and some stores will do it and some won't. And uh one of my other uh colleagues, he is really great. Uh he goes out there and and he reaches out to community and does a does a lot of boots on the ground of you know, reaching out to these uh different uh, you know, stores and and businesses to get that support. And now we're just at the beginning of working on that, you know, with your change rounduped, will you support search and rescue?
SPEAKER_05Oh wow, that's that's incredible, actually. And that could be, I'm wondering how much that will add up to. Um is it for a certain period of time? Is it all year? How they've got they've got a webinar that I'm gonna listen to.
SPEAKER_01And again, we have you know your standard donations on our website. We do have some pretty, you know, uh regular donors who give each year. Um we also uh have um we've been able, we've been very successful with grant writing. We have a couple people who are excellent grant writers, and we've been able to obtain grants.
SPEAKER_05That's that's um that's huge, actually. You know, there's a lot of teams out there that could apply for grants, but they just don't have the capability and the know-how. Um, if you don't mind me asking, so you're in the state of Washington. Do you have grants within the state of Washington that you can apply for? Are you applying for national grants?
SPEAKER_01No, we apply for local grants. There's a lot of different local agencies. Um, and so we have been successful in getting those. Also, we have two different tribes here in Mason County. We have the Squawkson Island tribe as well as the Skakomish, and they have been very supportive in awarding certain grants and monies to us as well. Uh, we have a very good relationship with our tribes.
SPEAKER_05I think I don't know.
SPEAKER_01And so we've done outreach with them. The other thing that we uh that I am working on, and and it's very in the early stages, is trying to look at that um that sustainable membership. If you want to be a sustainable member, like if you're you know with NPR, PBS or anything else, like those those sustainable uh members of hey, even if it's only$10 a month, we could really use your support. Um, we have a really long donor list because we did a countywide um basically it was just a fundraising drive. It was, hey, will you donate to help us build a uh communication trailer? Here's how much money. And so, you know, the different banks and the credit unions and businesses and private members actually helped us raise money for that.
SPEAKER_02I love that. There's so many opportunities for that, um, like microfunding style of fundraising, um like rounding up or community giving through through stores. Um, my team does. Bottle drop. So here in Oregon, bottles and cans are 10 cents. And you can actually drop them off at a bottle drop center and get that bottle drop deposit sent to your favorite nonprofit. So my team gets a few thousand dollars a year from that. And it doesn't seem like much, but I feel like these little things that community members can do that feel a little more accessible can really go a long way. And I'm so glad she also mentioned grants and partnerships. There's so much to do. I'm just curious how they can pull all that off.
Public Outreach is Key
SPEAKER_05Yeah, well, I and I I was wondering that as well. But before I get to how are they pulling this off, um, you know, I did want to mention that I love Kelly's attitude of just open-mindedness and willing to learn, right? Asking her about, wow, how does this particular program work? And she's like, I'm not too sure. I'm gonna learn. I'm gonna watch this webinar. And I think you do need to have that attitude when it comes to fundraising and opening your team up to the possibilities. Money is out there. You just need to access it. And it just may not be the traditional way or the way that you're familiar with. And so we do have to adapt and learn. Um, I think it's also important to mention that you know each SAR team in each state is different in what they have access to for funding. Colorado has their SAR card, for instance. We're looking at starting something similar here in New Mexico, which would provide statewide funding for SAR. And even then, with statewide funding, I'm sure the individual SAR teams still need to fundraise to some extent. Um, but but yeah, there are just so many creative ideas out there. And so, what does it take to pull this off for a SAR team? Kelly said that they have a committee, but she is not the only one putting together and doing all of this amazing work, which thankfully she's not the only one, because I think that would be a lot for a single person. So their committee usually meets once every other month unless they need to meet more often for an upcoming event. And the other leg of their fundraising initiatives, of course, as we've mentioned earlier, is public outreach. And I do think this is something that we need to discuss more and explore more because it's so critical for search and rescue teams. And so again, I'm going to let Kelly explain uh how they go about doing public outreach and why they think it's so important.
SPEAKER_01So part of our fundraising is also doing what we call community outreach. Um, what we do in Mason County, uh, and we've been doing it now for years, is a couple of the fire districts. We have what's called safety days, in which the fire district will go to several of the different elementary schools with all these other first responders and social services and have booths set up to educate for the kids. So part of it is educational outreach that we do like hug a tree program and tell kids what do you do, how do you not get lost, what happens if you do get lost? And I have found word searches and little origami fortune tellers and just uh crosswords, everything that you can hand out to kids of what do you do, how do you not get lost, you know, give them a piece of candy and something. And we hand this all out and we do this for several of the schools so that we have this public education piece. And again, working with DEM to make copies of all this, create the material to hand out through D, you know, and on on behalf of both the sheriff's office. And we do that in conjunction. So again, it's you're being visual, you're marketing what you're doing. Uh, we've been able to actually recruit some volunteers because you have other first responders there going, hey, that's really cool what you do, or people who say, I was lost, or I remember that happening. And so we take all of that material as well and go to a couple of these local events again to be very, very visual and to be out there. And then again, at the same time, not only doing recruitment, but also doing fundraising, even if it's nothing but donation and letting people know. Because again, most folks don't know that these are, you know, a nonprofit organization.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's that's exactly what I've discovered here in New Mexico as well. Uh, I gave a presentation to our state, and half of them did not know, more than half of them did not know that search and rescue is volunteer in the state of New Mexico and also the law in New Mexico under state, New Mexico State Police. But uh, we do an uh annual spring runoff, which is it's in partnership with Santa Fe Brewing Company, and that's how we raised money to provide standardized medical equipment statewide for our search and rescue responders. Um, but the big hit there is doing a search for the kids. The kids have to find our lost brand new puppy on the team, and they hunt for clues throughout the entire event.
SPEAKER_04And of course, they have to go and visit other booths and get the stamp off that they found the clue. That is a cool idea. That is a way cool idea. They love it. The kids absolutely love it. And then, of course, when they find the dog, which we try to have a real dog, but sometimes it's just a stuffed animal. But it's it comes with candy and all kinds of prizes that they can pick.
SPEAKER_05Uh, but it really that's that's what makes the families want to come and participate. And every year we just have a lot of success. Also, they we were requested to do litter rides, which we decided not to do because we were a little worried that might get a little out of hand with the kids.
SPEAKER_04So we decided instead just to do one litter ride of uh the one of the executive directors of our outdoor recreation division, which people found very hilarious. So we're like, that was our.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that is a really cool idea. I love it.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh. I love the find a puppy. That is adorable. And yeah, the kids get so into it. I love that. And I love how Kelly also mentioned, you know, doing things that are going to get kids excited. I think it just all points to this um just really holistic approach to being a search and rescue team. And it reminds me a lot about our preventative search and rescue conversations too, that there's an education component, there's a you know, community outreach component. It's not just kind of hanging around waiting for a call out. There's so much more that a SAR team can do. And ultimately, I think that pays off when it comes to fundraising. So I just really love this kind of um, I don't know, more, yeah, more holistic way of thinking about your team and its role in the community and community safety.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I also just love involving the youth, right? And bringing up that next generation to have more awareness about search and rescue. Since Halloween is coming up, one other idea I've had but have not executed is uh I would love to do a Halloween candy search for kids where there it's a pretty easy trail. They find clues which happen to be candy and eventually end on, you know, Mr. Skeleton or whoever it is. And and so but they're you know little little sorry sponders for for the evening. I think that would be a lot of fun to do. I love that. But we'll see.
SPEAKER_02Let's teach them a grid search and your uh your reward for you know doing a good solid grid search is you get some Snickers bars. I love it. Exactly.
SPEAKER_05And they can show up in costume. So great. You know, I I I also want to mention it's uh interesting too, because Kelly, we did have a discussion about when it comes to raising funds, if it's good for a team to focus on a single objective or to just leave it more general where you're just raising funds in general for your team. And I really think it depends on the team and what they're trying to achieve. So I know uh Seattle Mountain Rescue, of course, I think is pretty well known when they they had to raise funds to purchase their now building and then renovate it, which it's absolutely beautiful. They've done an amazing job with renovating and building out their warehouse. It has a complete kitchen with amazing snacks and a classroom and you know lots of other stuff. But I I did I think the snacks are pretty awesome. Um, but I think it that's fine to focus on a single objective in that case of like, hey, we are fundraising for this big ticket item, like a building or a new vehicle. But other times it can back you into a corner. And Kelly um did mention that. And so sometimes you do want to leave things a bit more general, so you do have a bit more flexibility.
Creative Relationships
SPEAKER_02That makes total sense. And I can see how different uh streams of fundraising, you know, you may want to take different approaches. So potentially fundraising for a specific goal might be really interesting to a member of the public and maybe more compelling, whereas, you know, someone like a uh a grantor might might be looking for something slightly different. And I'm really uh glad to hear that Kelly's focusing on grants too, because I know that that's a big challenge for a lot of teams. And yeah, I'm wondering if she has any any advice just generally about how teams can can build that resilient program with lots of different revenue streams.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, she actually does have some advice. And so she has advice specifically when it comes to grants and the importance of building relationships from other agencies. And so here she is.
SPEAKER_01I think the one thing that a couple of things that I would would really recommend is first of all, there is a lot of untapped grants out there that most people don't know about. It's kind of like scholarships. Most people don't know that they're out there. Um go to, you know, go to talk to your neighboring SAR units if you don't. Um and, you know, there's there's usually a lot of talent in your community that you don't know about. Uh, but the one thing is as I think it's like, you know, grants.org where there's different grant funding that is out there. Um, my executive assistant at our fire department used to work for the Boys and Girls Club of Washington State. And she uh she actually has come in and given our fire commissioners uh talks as well about grant writing and grant funding. And if you go out there and just you know Google, you know, grants um or available grants in your community, you'd be surprised at how much is out there. Um and even just trying to say, I know we're not search and rescue, but what do you do? Is there just generic funding or something specific that you're looking for, whether it's technology or not? Um, go look for those. And oftentimes they're not that hard, um, but you do need some information about your own organization. So in terms of the grant funding, I'm like, just go look. Don't, you know, don't take it for granted that you don't think you're going to qualify. Look for it. Um, the other thing that I do really think is important is, you know, making yourself visual and visible to the community, um, that outreach. Um, like we said with our safety days, um we have different events that come out through the community into the summertime. Build those relationships with your law enforcement, build them with your fire departments and any of your first responder agencies. Um, let them know what you do. We have a countywide fire commissioner association, and I've had our search and rescue volunteers and our canine handlers come in and just do a talk for our fire commissioners and say, this is what we do. Um, this is who we are. Um, especially if you're in a more rural community where it's much more of a, you know, you already know their combination departments, you already know they're small, they can recognize and relate to what you're doing. But a lot of times it's always who you know. Um, you cannot um you cannot miss the opportunity to build those relationships. And even going to, you know, your other organizations, I've gone and talked to the rotary clubs. I've gone and talked to the different, you know, service agencies in our area, just again, who we are. This is what we do. Yeah, I think it's, you know, um the appreciation. I mean, we have two major um, we have a force festival parade and a Christmas parade. And some people are like, oh, you know, parade. I don't want to be in a parade. And and, you know, but we do have a group of people that do. We've got a great big banner, and you know, this just keeps getting better and better.
SPEAKER_04Comedy nights, parades, oysters.
SPEAKER_01We're in parades, yeah. We're we we we join parades, and you know, we have a great big banner, and you know, um, and people are grateful.
Final Thoughts
SPEAKER_05This, at least for me, was a very insightful interview. Um, to speak to Kelly and to learn more about what Mason County search and rescue does in regards to fundraising. And in general, there's just so many good ideas out there and so many teens that are just so creative in in how they're going about raising money. Um, but I I would like to know from you, Lauren, what what were what are some of your key takeaways from from what we've, you know, what we went through today?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think the biggest thing is that it's the culmination of a bunch of small efforts can make a really big difference. It sounds like, you know, Mason County is doing so many things that that are accessible, that are potentially low-hanging fruit. Um, and I think it can be intimidating for a lot of teams that they feel like they have to take like this this huge bite of the apple all at once or figure out the answer all at once. And it seems like there are all these little incremental things that teams can do, you know, having a booth at a community event, throwing up a donation link on your website, um, you know, doing that little bit of community outreach, being present, having a fundraiser, putting together something fun for your community, all of these things when it comes together can can really add up. And so I think that's my biggest takeaway is it doesn't need to be, it doesn't need to feel so intimidating. You know, you can start with something small and and go from there.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I I completely agree with that. Um, you know, I I also think that it's important that the there is a committee when it comes to fundraising. I I don't know how many teams have a whole committee dedicated to fundraising. As far as I know, I don't think my team does. Mine does. Oh, yours does. Okay, great. I think ours might be. Poor Steve. Um, but yeah, so I do think that you it is important to have a committee, a group of people that are behind at least uh putting together these initiatives. And then of course the rest of the team should be there to support, um, especially when it comes to the bigger events. And it's a team building opportunity as well. But I do think that that committee having a solid objective is is what really will help drive it forward. And it sounds like Mason County Search and Rescue has a very solid objective of they want to raise funds to not only be able to expand their team and meet the needs of the community, but to also bring about awareness for their team. I thought that was just beautiful to have that objective. And the other thing, too, that I I have taken away from this interview with Kelly is to it's okay to do something different. I think a lot of teams get into the rut of, well, we've always done this, and oh yeah, that outdated donation link on our website. Well, you know, it's just always been there. Someone has to take the initiative to be like, you know what, we can do things differently. We can update our website, we can update that link or possibly host a new event or go and do these new initiatives. And that's what I love that Kelly and Mason County SAR have done if they they completely reinvented themselves when it comes to fundraising and their outlook on it. And I think more teams could probably use that refresh.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. Like you have an idea, try it. Um, and I love that, like you mentioned before, her approach to that, you know, let's let's do a little research, let's figure it out, and let's learn as we go. I think that, yeah, that the thought of having to to to be perfect at it on the first try or to be an expert on fundraising might scare people off a little bit. But yeah, you can always learn. And there's little things you can do to get started. So just give it a try.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. And, you know, last one thing I do want to mention that was an idea brought up a few years ago by a community member for New Mexico Search and Rescue. Um, she brought up this idea as a community member. She's not on New Mexico search and rescue, but I did think it was a it's a good idea and something to possibly explore. But she came up with the idea of basically creating a philanthropy board that would be sustainable, reliable donors for the team and could possibly help with other, whether it's interagency relation issues or um land access issues, basically just a board of a community board of highly influential, very wealthy individuals that are there to support the search and rescue team. And I I think that is definitely an idea, something to to explore.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like Kelly said, those people are out there, that money's out there. You know, people are interested and they want to support, they just don't always have the tools to know how.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, exactly. Um but Lauren, I must admit, uh, we haven't truly answered my question that I had for Mason County Star and the whole reason for my interview. And so here it is. And then of course, I I do have a burning question about the comedy night. So these I was wondering who's doing the comedy. That was my first thought. And so it sounds like you're you're hiring professionals, of course. Yes. We're not funny.
SPEAKER_04No.
SPEAKER_01I mean, you can't do that.
SPEAKER_04We're not that funny. That's my next question. Any SAR jokes? Are they are they talking about search and rescue or are they just doing their own their own?
SPEAKER_01They do their own. I think somebody tried to do something, but it didn't go over well.
SPEAKER_04So now I'm determined to come up with some search and rescue jokes. I'm I'm going to make it happen.
SPEAKER_02Yep. One thing we know from search and rescue is uh leave it to the professionals. Um if you got a rope rescue to do, get your rope team on it. So I appreciate that. You got some comedy to do, let's call in the pros. Um, certainly some funny people on my team, but I yeah, I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_05Well, you know, we've learned that a bartending license is useful now for search and rescue. And so I maybe just recruit a comedian the next time you have your team recruitment.
SPEAKER_02I don't know how uh yeah, the folks uh in that pack out in the litter. I don't know that that's uh the time that they want to be hearing some stand-up.
SPEAKER_05Maybe maybe it's entertainment for the subject. So yeah, anyway, um, this was this was, you know, I hope you enjoyed this interview, Lauren, as much as I did. And um thank you so much for for listening and learning with me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. So many great things that I know I want to take back to my team, and I hope that uh folks listening have learned a lot too and and are gonna go back and and and take a lot out of it and potentially be able to really benefit from it.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely. Well, Lauren, thank you for being here with me today. And again, thank you so much to Kelly McIntosh and Mason County Search and Rescue for sharing something that they seem to do very well. And if you and your team do something very well that you would like to share with the community and be on the podcast for, if you have any other ideas for a podcast episode, a topic that you want to hear covered, please. Feel free to email us at hello at base-medical.com.
SPEAKER_03SAR Mutual Aid is produced by Lauren Skinechny and Teal Hartman and presented by Base Medical. To learn more, go to Base-Medical.com.