Kulindahr, I can see where part of the problem lies. Did you really just put "budget: as it comes in" as your answer on the form? I can tell you that they are looking for specific details! This is a governmental agency so you're going to have to fill in the blanks. I know it's annoying and seems unec but if you want the $ you'll have to play by their rules. For budget I believe they are looking for the total amount it costs you to operate (money for transportation, fliers, to produce public info, for trees, for phone calls, etc.) minus the amount you bring in from donations. You'll have to itemize both of these and may even be required to list what you intend to do w/ the items. As far as the board goes, I really hope you didn't just put, "need volunteers" b/c that implies that your project is failing and that no one is interested. That raises flags! You have volunteers that help out correct? If so, ask about 3 or 4 of them to agree to be on the board and then list them. Being on a board for a volunteer group doesn't require a degree or financial backing or really anything else for that matter. For the plans portion you'll need to be specific again. Elaborate on your intended projects and be detailed. List the exact thing at the exact location that you plan to start w/. For example, We are planning to beautify our park by planting 10 pine trees and 3 oak trees. We will also plant various flowers and install 6 water fountains along the walking trail. We plan to undertake this project so that our community can benefit from having a beautiful park. We also plan to stop the erosion of soil on the... and then list how you'll do it and why it will help society...then add and "our organization will continue to build beach access and do reclamation/conservation work as funds are available"
What if you created consent forms that all of the volunteers signed excusing the group from any type of liability? This is very typical of volunteer organizations and it could possibly help you get out of the insurance situation.
It's really refreshing to see someone who is enthusiastic about volunteering! Don't give up!
The only way to have had a plan like that would have been to survey, take soundings for soil density, and more. This has been a "make it up as you go along" project. No one, even me, had a clue how to tackle such a slope, and neither did the nearby state parks people -- who later said if they'd done this path, it would have run upwards of $25,000 just to get enough information to be able to make a plan! I was dealing with unpredictable and shifting drainage, unstable surfaces, varying soil types with random pockets of rock, roots, old garbage and rotten logs, slopes that changed after storms and weekends with heavy traffic. The best I could have done for a plan -- and this is with hindsight! -- would have been to say, "We'll begin at the top and put in steps on as long a section as will be stable, and repeat that process until safe access for tools and supplies has been achieved to the bottom, then reverse and fill in any gaps from the bottom up"... and that would just have covered the trail aspect, leaving the drainage, erosion, fill, and revegetation parts untouched.
How to know what places will need shaping and contouring? No way, till we got there. How to know how to deal with runoff? None, because with every step built or bit of contouring or even plant put in, it all changed. It changed when gravel got delivered at the top! and when the county dumped twelve yards of wood chips by the rail!
And how we operate, in terms of costs, depended totally on all of the above -- one step could cost $25 to get in, and the next require $150 -- and more. Making up a monthly amount would have been just that -- making it up.
Um, putting "need volunteers" would have merely said, "This project doesn't have official standing, so no one will volunteer... officially".
Speaking of those volunteers... I'm the only one who's stuck with it. Everyone else so far finds out this is
work, and disappears after a day or so. I've done over 90% of the labor myself, easily over 2500 hours, probably 3000; second place goes to a developmentally disabled guy who just wants someone to hang out with, and half the time actually slows me down because he requires so much supervision; third is a Boy Scout troop which saved my butt on a section where I'd had to build steps out from the hill, supported on the down-slope side by a retaining wall... and in need of roughly twelve yards of fill (it would have taken me all summer to move that much, manually, from the county ditch up and across the road; they did it in an afternoon).
Goals, I could have listed -- establish a safe route to the beach (so ambulance visits drop by at least 90%); minimize erosion by controlling and dispersing runoff, confining human traffic to a single sturdy, surfaced route, emplacing plants for ground cover and windbreaks, and establish wildlife routes along firm and sheltered zones of the slope.
Anyway...
I got a letter appealing for funds in memory of my dad (who wanted to see it finished) to the head honcho of the Elks lodge today. He's a friend, and said he'll do his best. If the Elks will get the project out of the hole, I'll be thrilled.
