If Michigan United Conservation Clubs doesn’t raise $100,000 by May 1, “we will be forced to close our doors,” President Stephen Dey said in an email sent to members and supporters Monday.
According to Dey, it’s been a long time coming.
“Over the last 20-plus years, we’ve been selling all of our major assets to operate on,” he told Bridge Michigan on Tuesday.
MUCC had been producing two magazines and running a youth camp, but it announced in March it would be pausing those operations amid financial woes.
The nonprofit, which claims to be the largest statewide conservation organization in the nation, was established in 1937 to protect hunting, fishing and trapping rights. It’s made up of individual members and affiliate clubs who pay dues to support its efforts.
MUCC lobbies, produces a podcast, and holds nature cleanups. It spearheaded the petition drive that led to Michigan’s “bottle bill” passing in 1976, lobbied for the measure that led to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund in 1984, and, in 2024, it unsuccessfully sued state wildlife regulators for a coyote hunting decision that it said wasn’t based on science.
The executive board is actively fundraising in hopes of buying time to come up with a new funding model. Dey said that, as of Tuesday, they had raised almost $24,000 toward the $100,000 goal.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said, “but then when I see the financial numbers, I can get dragged down a little bit.”
He said he didn’t know how much money the MUCC had left to run on “but it only takes us into May.”
Tax forms from 2024, the most recent listed online, say MUCC had about $1 million in net assets. It brought in $1.7 million in 2024 and spent $1.75 million that year, a net loss of about $50,000. In 2023, the organization suffered a net loss of around $390,492, but that was coming off of a net gain of $860,377 in 2022.
Dennis Eade — the executive director of the Michigan Steelhead and Salmon Fishermen’s Association, an affiliate club of MUCC since the 1970s — said he was “saddened” by the statewide organization’s financial news.
“I really feel that MUCC has played a major role in preserving our environment as well as our hunting and fishing heritage,” he said.
While his own group is continuing to meet its financial obligations, Eade said he could empathize with MUCC because recruiting new members can be a challenge these days.
“It’s sad because our heritage could be threatened if we don’t get people outdoors and enjoying our hunting and fishing,” he said.
If MUCC doesn’t reach its goal by May 1, Dey said it will be up to the board to decide if it should begin the process of dissolution. If it comes to that, MUCC would begin paying off any outstanding debts and distributing any remaining assets.
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This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.