Page 13 - TPA Journal May June 2021

Many people don't know this, and I was surprised to learn as I was researching that about 71% of fire
departments in the United States are 100% volunteer. That is an amazing statistic.

I was quickly faced with a secondary problem, namely: how best to approach and resolve this issue of
cost vs budget? What could we do as a company to help get these lifesaving tools into the hands of
those who need them most? As a vendor of UAV and imaging solutions, I first reached out to some
manufacturers but quickly learned they are all about the bottom line. Profit, Profit, Profit. They would not
budge on their price or allow me to lower my price to help those departments in need. Welcome to the
reality train … there has to be another way to address this problem!

It was then that I conceived the idea of the National Public Safety Drone
Donation Program / NPS-DDP.org. I had heard of nonprofits, but I had no
clue how they functioned or how they raised money and other types of
support. I had my work cut out for me. After doing some homework, I
quickly discovered yet another problem: the only possible way I could
receive the needed support was to go through the long and arduous
process of applying to the IRS for 501(c)(3) status. This is required to be
registered as a nonprofit and have any chance of getting the needed
support. For anyone familiar with this process, you know what it takes. I
hired a company to help us successfully navigate the waters. What’s more, we would need a website,
business cards, promotional materials, social media, and a business model. I would also need to recruit
others to join our board of directors. So yeah, I had my work cut out for me.

Before attempting to navigate the IRS requirements, I
needed to test the waters for the acceptance of such a
foundation within the UAV community. I attended the 2018
InterDrone conference in Las Vegas Nevada. I made business
cards and just started talking to people, anyone I could find.
As I was sitting on a bench on the opening day of the
conference, a woman came over and sat next to me. We got
chatting and she inquired what line of work I was in and what
brought me to the convention. I told her I wanted to set up a
nonprofit to donate drones and other technology to
departments in need across the country. She immediately
smiled and said, “what a great idea!”

I did not meet a single person that did not like the concept.
As we continued our conversation, she told me who she was,
to my surprise, she was Mariam McNabb, editor-in-Chief of
Drone Life magazine. “Really?” I replied, grinning from ear to
ear, “Yes, my husband and I run the publication, “I asked her if she would consider doing a piece on our
foundation, and that's exactly what she did: you can read that post here. Our very first media post was
as a result of
that chance meeting and her interest in our program. Thank you, Mariam! I was now thoroughly
convinced I was on the right track.

I may not be able to join a fire department, become an
EMT or a police officer but I can certainly leverage
Airborne Works to help support these amazing people.
Airborne Works aims to become the national dealer for
brands of both hardware and software that benefit
public safety. Therefore, as a company, we will always