Would You Donate More If You Got To Choose Where It Went?

[Spazzums08]

Would you guys donate more to the DNR if they had categories, and you could choose where your money went? For example, you could choose if your money went to hiring/maintaining a law enforcement presence, or if it went to stocking metro lakes with more walleye. I think it'd be a good idea if the DNR put that kind of policy to use.

[BigWadeS]

I wouldn't, my donations are from what they get out of my taxes, license fees, ect...I don't see any need to personally donate more, even if they say there are categories, just like now, how do you exactly know where that is going....

[Matt C]

I don't think I would donate more, but I would like that bill that has the arts and outdoors all in one separated.

Don't all the MN Lotto proceeds go to the DNR?

[mnhunter 3815]

the dnr gets enough money from us.so why give them more??

[IFallsRon]

I don't like to see my donations eaten up by "administrative costs."

[Sandmannd]

I do some donations throughout the year. I don't usually give to the DNR as through our taxes and licensing they should get enough if it was used properly and they learned how to budget. I would rather give my money to children's causes and to abandoned pets.

[BoxMN]

I would say yes for me.

I always buy trout stamp, but don't trout fish ($$ go to stream habitat). I buy pheasant stamp haven't actively pheasant hunted or shoot a pheasant in over 10 years ($$ got to habitat). I duck hunt and buy duck stamp, again going to purchase wetlands. So I do think it is easier if you know where $$ goes and it is something you find important. I also do donate (not much, about $30) each year to the non game wildlife fund on tax return.

Same way I donate $$ to our lake assoc. fish fund (non government) to stock walleyes in our tiny lake. I think it does make a difference, and I think its worth it. Some don't and that is fine, public or private. I would give more if I could designate where it went.

[BobT]

One of the problems I see with the recent talk of dedicated funding and donating if I could decide where it went is the micro-managing. It has been proven over and over that micro-managing is very inefficient and stifles productivity.

Everyone has ideas and opinions about whether a particular agency is managing our resources or our tax money properly and it doesn't really matter who is in charge, he/she will not satisfy us but I highly doubt we are capable of doing it much better especially if we are going to micro-manage it through referendums and law. We will tie things up worse than it already is.

Bob

[Black_Bay]

If a person or group is serious about donating to the DNR they should talk with their nearest office, fisheries, wildlife etc, and see what they need.

[Wanderer]

 Originally Posted By: bunt2k

Don't all the MN Lotto proceeds go to the DNR?

Nope. Not all. Only a small percentage like 10% or less.

They used that mantra for marketing the lottery to the public so it was more acceptable. The majority of lottery proceeds go to the General Fund.

Could you imagine how nice our natural resources would be if all those millions actually were going there???!!!!

[BobT]

I posted the MN State Lottery distribution records in another thread but here it is again. I posted this in regard to my opposition to a dedicated funding bill because it illustrates how such a bill is a pipe dream. I also believe these records are dated at the end of 2005.

 Quote:

Below is history strictly pertaining to the Minnesota State Lottery, and as a result does not include any history on specific games.

November 1988: Fifty-seven percent of Minnesota voters approve a constitutional amendment to authorize a state lottery.

May 1989: The Minnesota Legislature passes legislation to start a lottery and splits the proceeds evenly between the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund and the Greater Minnesota Corporation (GMC).

April 17, 1990: Minnesota State Lottery starts selling instant tickets.

May 1990: The Legislature changes the way Lottery proceeds are distributed: 40 % for the trust fund, 35 % for the Infrastructure Development Fund and 25 % for the GMC.

Aug. 13, 1990: The Lottery reaches $100 million in sales, distributing about half in prizes.

November 1990: With 75 % of the vote, Minnesotans dedicate 40 % of Lottery proceeds to the trust fund until 2001.

June 1991: The Legislature changes how Lottery proceeds are divided up: 40 % for the trust fund and 60 % for the state General Fund.

June 18, 1993: The Lottery reaches $1 billion in total sales.

July 1, 1995: The Lottery board is abolished by the state Legislature.

May 6, 1996: The Lottery surpasses $2 billion in total sales.

June 30, 1996: The Lottery celebrates the end of its sixth fiscal year with record sales of $375.6 million.

June 30, 1998: The state Legislature increases the retailer commission from 5 % to 5.5 % and adds a 1 % bonus for cashing tickets.

March 11, 2002: Over $1 billion for the state of Minnesota has been generated by the Minnesota State Lottery.

July 17, 2004: The Lottery announces a record contribution of $100 million to the State of Minnesota during fiscal year 2004.

As you can see, the distributions changed a couple times and currently 40% goes to the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. The rest goes to the general fund. I don't know how much of the 40% actually gets into the DNR control because I don't know what the trust fund really is.

Here's the distribution for 2005.

 Quote:

Destination Percentage Amount

Natural Resources 2.35% $9,600,000

Game & Fish Fund 2.35% $9,600,000

Ticket & Online Vendor Expense 3.40% $13,740,000

Administration 5.50% $22,570,000

Retailers 6.10% $25,070,000

Environment & Natural Resources Trust Fund 6.80% $27,990,000

General Fund* 14.40% $58,970,000

Prizes Paid to Players 59.00% $241,290,000

Bob

[eyepatrol]

I donate additional monies when purchasing my license(s) and with my habitat license plates. I have no problem whatsoever paying the extra fees or making the donations to the DNR. Where the money goes within the DNR, I don't care. That rests with the DNR and they can use it as they see fit.

[BoxMN]

 Originally Posted By: BobT

I don't know how much of the 40% actually gets into the DNR control because I don't know what the trust fund really is.

FYI - _ looked this up, for reference. Here is a link telling what the Trust Fund is, and what projects it funds.

Official Trust Fund info.

It is interesting to note that a good chunk of the in-lieu-of-sales-tax $$ were actually aimed away from the General fund about 2001, and at the Game and Fish fund (among others). Possibly a compromise of some sort for the changing of the other $$ to the General Fund... I am totally not sure though.

If all of the projects listed there are just "pipe dreams" then I guess I am a fan of pipe dreams

I am not sure if the Lottery proceeds were ever called or meant to be a "dedicated" funding source. Maybe someone else knows... I am sure many can guess

[Wanderer]

I can't link to the trust fund info, but wanted to say thanks for putting up some stats.

But I'm still coming up .10% short on the 2005 disbursements. Did you get that Bob?

[BobT]

Could be in the rounding off of the numbers.

What I meant by the pipe dream is that what starts out as a fund for a particular purpose rarely stays that way in our system so to think anything else will now, is a pipe dream. The original bill that started the lottery set 50% of the proceeds for the trust fund. It didn't take long (less than one month from the first ticket sale) for it to be reduced to 40%.

It is surprising that it had remained at 40% now for so long. As I noted, these records end at 2005 so I don't know what it is at today.

Bob

[Tom7227]

Interesting information in this thread.

I have just read a couple of articles in recent ODNs and what continued to hit me was how impossible it is for the DNR to satisfy folks. How would your business function if every year a totally outside group set your budget, and then fairly routinely told you what to do with certain programs. Examples - One guy is trying to force continued stocking of Leech Lake despite the planned 3 year effort of the DNR, another wants to change the opener for fishing despite some pretty strong opinions by the professionals at the DNR that it could create some real problems. No business could survive with that sort of annual tinkering, mostly by folks who don't know beans about the wisdom of what they want to do.

I have bought one of every stamp the DNR sells for at least the past 15 years and don't 'use' most of them. That money is dedicated to that species. I give to Pheasants Forever because they put the vast majority of their money into the ground.

For those who think things suck here go to some of the other states and see what passes for hunting and fishing opportunities, roads, schools etc. In my opinion we have it pretty good here.

[Chode2235]

I try to give a good portion of my state refund to the 'non-game' fund. There is a lot of beautiful animals and plants in the state that also need attention and active management. The funding structures of the DNR favor the tasty animals.

[tisosy11]

donating is all fine and good, but be careful when you donate over the phone with those telemarketers...make sure to check how much actually goes to the charity.

In some cases its 10 percent or less that actually goes to the charity!

[tacklejunkie]

 Originally Posted By: tisosy11

donating is all fine and good, but be careful when you donate over the phone with those telemarketers...make sure to check how much actually goes to the charity.

In some cases its 10 percent or less that actually goes to the charity!

yep

[fishguyd]

I think so, but i'd be afraid the money would still get wasted by the groups that has it. Be interesting to do a credit check on everyone in charge of spending the tax dollars? I wonder what it would say about their finance skills?