Who Gets The Money and How

Who gets the money? Two different players handle two different things: The Ohio BMV just makes the plates. They keep a $10 fee to cover printing costs — that's it. They don't manage or spend the cause money. The fund named in the actual law gets the rest. For fundraising plates, extra money (up to $15 on a $25 surcharge) goes straight to whatever cause the plate is created for. For wildlife-themed plates, that's typically the Wildlife Diversity Fund, run by ODNR — money that pays for things like habitat land purchases, fish hatcheries, and conservation programs. What this means for the elk plate: The money only goes where the bill says it goes. There's no automatic "conservation plate = ODNR gets the cash" rule — Ohio law has to spell out exactly which fund receives the proceeds when the plate is created. Bottom line for our advocacy: when you talk to Rep. Pizzulli's or Rep. LaRe's office, make sure the bill text explicitly names the ODNR fund the elk plate money will go into. If that language is vague or missing, the financial benefit to elk reintroduction won't happen automatically — it has to be written into the law itself.