"It can be leveraged into something bigger over time and expanded to cover more aspects of the dynamics of safety and how it relates to those connected to the industry through family members."
I think it is going to be harder to change directions once it is established, but you still seem to understand that simply trying to accomplish the stated goal is noble but ultimately not a solution.
I'm not much of a businessman, but I understand that it probably will be a 501 (c)(3) non-profit. I also understand that that doesn't mean that nobody gets paid. If they really do accept all administrative expenses associated with the fund, then there will be a really sizeable cost to sherrilltreestuff to make this happen and keep it going.
It could be made less expensive by an accompanying program that really helps teach safe practices, just because of how much money comes from quality arborists. They are more gear-oriented, they buy fancy PPE, they make more money than the jack-legs, and would continue to even in the absence of jack-legs.
I've been clean for two years. I will not be back on facebook. It's terrible for the soul.
I would like to do some of those things, but I am not an organizer by trade. I am the sort of person that can run one crew, and gets done what we are there to get done. I am willing to spend some of my time and energy and a small portion of my money to make my industry better, but I have little interest in devoting my life to build an ant pile of progress in a world of rolling hills. We are talking about a large company spending the kind of money and manpower that hills are made of.
If I won a big lottery, my state would be a shining bastion of top quality tree work because I could afford the manpower to actually figure out how we can make a positive change, to enact it, and have the resources to follow through until every new hire is taught the proper way to do things and why right from the beginning.
That is if I had hundreds of millions of dollars. That's a lot of cash, and a relatively small area.
I'm trying to be reasonable about my expectations here. And I feel that you should be reasonable about how much you expect me to do in the face of the same insurmountable obstacle that everyone who would like to see a change faces.
That's kind of my central premise... I can't just make it better by myself, but I can jump in and help something larger than myself that is actually trying to make it better to an extent that is well beyond the point of some personal sacrifice, but nowhere near the point of absolute personal sacrifice. If we just had that thing that was actually doing it, and it needed just a little from each of us, I think just about everyone would throw in what time, energy, and money that they could spare. I want a cause. Give me one that I can take seriously for more than a moment. This isn't a cause, it is just a charity.
