In this Issue: *Reno Earth Day 501(c)3 *Edible Art Contest Winners *Volunteer Appreciation Party! *Tahoe Expo 2014 *Non-Profit Partner *Pumpkin Palooza *NV’s U.S. Green Building Council *Sponsorships
Reno Earth Day is official! We are proud to announce that we have received official notification of our taxexempt status, retroactive for both the 2013 and 2014 events! This opens up so many more opportunities to apply for grants and sponsorships, which is greatly needed due to the amazing (and unforeseen) growth of the event these last 3 years. As you may know, the organization itself is called Mercury Momentum. This is the organization we created to put on the Earth Day event, and to leave us open to assist with or create other community events.
The words hold the meanings of “taking individual action” to make a difference, and imagery of “giving yourself wings.” (see back cover)
If any 2013 and 2014 sponsors would like a copy of our new 501(c)3 letter for your records, please let us know. And Thank You for being a part of keeping this event alive in our community!
Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the VIP Appreciation Party in July. We were so pleased with the layout and service set up for us at Rail City’s Ale House Restaurant and Brewery. We hope everyone had a wonderful time, good conversation and delicious eats. Thank you VERY much for giving us your feedback too! Your unique perspectives as volunteers are extremely helpful. (Feedback results to appear in a Special Edition, coming soon!) As a note to that, in 2014, there were almost 200 volunteers who showed up to help for the event. As many of you noticed, we have some wrinkles to iron out to organize so many people, but the volunteer participation was a strong testament to how motivated the community is to engaging in this event and what it is becoming. Thank you again!
Photo by Bryce Chisholm
Mercury Momentum (aka Reno Earth Day) was a key volunteer with the Tahoe Geotourism Expo this year. The Tahoe Expo has been put on for the last 4 years by Sustainable Tahoe, located in Incline Village. The concept of “Geotourism� describes encouraging tourism that focuses on the unique characteristics of an area while ensuring the sustainability of those features. This requires collaboration not only with visitors, but also with local businesses and organizations to design recreational activities that preserve the integrity of the attractions and environment. It even requires cooperation from policy makers and voters to plan infrastructure that supports sustainability, such as greener transportation options, waste programs and resources. Mercury truly felt that this event matched many of the goals within our mission, from the collaborative nature, regional focus and grass roots activity, to the technology/nature/culture components of the event and Sustainable Tahoe as an organization. Mercury was able to do some excellent and heavily needed fundraising for Reno Earth Day through our work with this event, including assistance with website development, graphics, press contacts, logistics for various activities and data collection for grants. This may be an event that Mercury volunteers supports every year, so stay tuned if you are interested in helping out next year.
Tahoe Flume Trail, Scott Markewitz, Aurora Photos
Lake Tahoe SUP Yoga, Jenay Aiksnoras
Every year, Reno Earth Day collaborates with a different non-profit organization as the official Non-Profit Partner for the year. The Non-Profit Partner program is an opportunity for a non-profit organization to take advantage of the substantial promotion of the event on multiple media fronts to promote their organization, a special program of theirs, a specific activity or message, etc. The Non-Profit Partner is promoted for the year right alongside the Earth Day organization and all major sponsors as a true partner helping to put on the event. The event benefits from any input or resources the Non-Profit Partner wants to bring to the table, whether that is special activities, volunteers, networking relationships in a specific interest, or even simply ideas and intelligence on how to utilize the event to help their organization and outreach. The relationship between the Non-Profit partner and the event is mutually beneficial, yet the Non-Profit Partner is welcomed to participate as deeply or as lightly as they desire, so the partnership is never a burden. We see this program as one way of engaging in the community and having an impact beyond the event itself, and Non-Profit Partners remain strong stakeholders in the event every year, continuing to help shape it. Non-Profit Partners are selected based on their connection with one or more of the Reno Earth Day philosophies of Clean and Green Tech, Natural World or Many Cultures, community impact and how they would like to utilize the partnership for the year. Every year, our partners have provided invaluable resources and ideas for helping the event to succeed and grow. We are pleased to show a history of diverse interests in our Non-Profit Partners to date: 2012 = Reno Sparks Buy Local Business Co-Op – coalition of local businesses and economic development focus. www.buynevadafirst.com 2013 = Future Kind – organization dedicated to empowering youth and communities, both locally and internationally. www.futurekind.org 2014 = ComputerCorps – recycles e-waste materials and provides access to technology to underprivileged groups. www.computercorps.org Please learn more about these outstanding organizations by visiting their websites.
Get info on the photo contest at: www.tmparksfoundation.org
Reno Earth Day is now seeking interest for the 2015 Non-Profit Partner! If you feel this would be a good match for your organization, or know of an organization that would be interested in partner for this year’s event in this way, please have them contact us.
www.renoearthday.com * (775) 762 -0651 * renoearthday@gmail.com
City of Sparks Event Producers Workshop; Volunteerism & Sponsorships
Pumpkin Palooza took place on Sunday, October 26th in Victorian Square from 11am to 5pm. This third year of the event hosted over 7,000 attendees with kids activities, live music and an all-around good time. The event is put on by The Northern Nevada Center for Independent Living; a non-profit organization that provides support, training and information for people with disabilities in the community. Reno Earth Day had a free booth this year with milk jugs donated by the Starbucks in the Summit Mall for kids to make recycled/reused Jug-o-Lanterns. The activity was much more popular than expected and we ran out of jugs to decorate within the first few hours of the event. We still encouraged kids to make them at home since everyone loved the idea and it was so simple to do. We had t shirts from previous years available for free with any donation as well as other giveaways, wristbands, stickers, etc. and a mailing list sign up for anyone interested. The event was fun, educational and we hope to have gotten people excited about reusing materials and recycling for the holiday. -excerpt from: http:// makingpeaceloveandhappiness.wordpress.com
On Wednesday, November 5th three of the Mercury Momentum/Reno Earth Day board members attended the Calfest and RSCVA Event Producers Workshop hosted by the City of Sparks at the Sparks Heritage Museum. The workshops ran most of the day with a presentation by Alexis Hill, the Special Events Program Manager for the City of Reno, on Volunteers, a session dedicated to the basics of Sponsorships by Toni Bodenhamer of Toni B & Events followed by a networking lunch. After lunch we heard from Dennis Bash, the Division Marketing & Sponsorship Manager for U.S. Bank, on the Sponsor’s Perspective on Sponsoring an event and ended the day with a Sponsorship Panel. Overall, it was an informative day and we hope it will add to the Reno Earth Day celebration as well as all of Mercury Momentum’s events.
Featuring: The Nevada Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council! The USGBC is the worldwide non-profit organization that developed the famous LEED green building rating system. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and the USGBC has been instrumental in educating builders, engineers and policy makers to design cleaner and more efficient architecture and operating systems for the last 21 years. Our own Nevada Chapter of the USGBC has been busy promoting sustainable buildings and community development in this area. With committees focused on Government Affairs, Sustainable Communities, Public Policy and Education, the Nevada GBC is approaching the issues from all angles. The organization serves as both a networking platform to draw attention to those companies and organizations implementing LEED initiatives, as well as an information resource for planning and construction centered on sustainability. We would like to extend a special Thank-you Carol Gadda of NV GBC, from the Education Committee and the Policy and Advocacy Committee. Carol recruited volunteers and was an amazing voice herself in the planning process of the 2014 Reno Earth Day event. The USGBC booth was located in the Great Outdoors area this year, showing educational videos about LEED initiatives and projects in the area. We hope you had a chance to visit, but just in case not – please check out their activities at www.usgbcnv.org. Intelligent planning for a stronger future!
Photo by Bryce Chisholm
Interested in being a Sponsor for 2015? We have revised out sponsorship levels just a bit to take into account feedback from previous years on what sponsors would like to see, so if you would like to sponsor the event feel free to check out the website at www.renoearthday.com. The Sponsors page has information on all the different ways you can sponsor the event, what you get with each sponsorship level and we even have our sponsorship presentation up on youtube for you to view and check out all of the benefits! Our Guardian Level sponsors for this year included: