Impact Stories

Impact Stories

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Impact Giving | $150K Awarded to Mountain Workshops to Get More Youth Outside

Thanks to the advocacy and engagement of our outdoor community, conservation and outdoor recreation received strong support from our State Legislature this budget cycle. Earlier this year we shared the great news that outdoor programs in Washington State received record levels of funding, including $4.5 million dedicated to the No Child Left Inside (NCLI) grant program. Read more…

Impact Giving | Lifelong Engagement through Leadership

Over my last four years working for The Mountaineers, it has been a great honor to observe and learn from three amazing Board Presidents, each with their own unique abilities and unwavering commitment to the health of our organization. I may be biased in my admiration of strong women in leadership, but one president stands out as particularly inspiring to me. This spring we honored retiring Board President Lorna Corrigan, an accomplished attorney and 30-year member of the Everett Branch who recently completed her third and final year of presidential leadership. Read more…

It all adds up! $45,000 raised for our programs and publishing

The many ways our community works together to accomplish big goals never ceases to amaze me. On the heels of our Virtual Gala last month, we launched our annual spring fundraising drive with a goal of reaching 300 donors and raising $30,000 in unrestricted donations to support our outdoor education and conservation mission. This grassroots-style fundraising campaign asked members and donors to consider making a gift of any size - it all adds up to big change! Read more…

Impact Giving | Announcing New Estate Planning Resources

It's estimated that 50-60% of Americans do not have a will in place. While not often a topic of public conversation, we have heard from many members that they are interested in setting up their first will but aren’t quite sure where to start. For this reason The Mountaineers has invested in a new resource for members, providing the latest information about estate planning and tax-smart ways to plan for your future. This online support will be available at any time of day, so that you can find the educational resources you need at a time that makes the most sense for you. Read more…

Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home Lauches June 1

Braided River author Lynda V. Mapes has traveled across the West Coast to give voice to the region’s orca whales, iconic to the Pacific Northwest’s beautiful—but ecologically imperiled—marine ecosystem. In this excerpt, she travels to OrcaLab in British Columbia, where passionate and determined volunteers are led by founder Paul Spong. Located on Cracroft Point, above Johnstone Strait in British Columbia, they have been documenting the daily lives of the more robust northern resident orca pods since 1970. Read more…

Thank You! Your Support Adds up to BIG change

Today we extend big thanks to the 101 donors who contributed over $11,600 to help us reach our first matching challenge during this week’s #GiveBIG celebration. With your help we unlocked the $10,000 match, raising $21,600 toward our $30,000 spring fundraising goal. Thank you to the 28 new donors who answered the call to triple their donation and gave $2,250 towards our surprise matching challenge. It's not too late to help us reach our full match potential. We only need 10 more first time donors with a gift of $25 or more to release the full $2,500 opportunity!  Read more…

Adventure With Purpose: A Recap of Our 2021 Virtual Gala

Each spring we gather our community to celebrate our collective achievements and support future efforts to transform lives and protect wild places. With the pandemic preventing us from gathering in person, we hosted our second (and hopefully final) virtual Gala. Read more…

We Are Puget Sound Photo Exhibit Launches at The Seattle Aquarium

Just in time for Earth Day, a new photo exhibit from Braided River is launching in celebration of the stunning Salish Sea. Read more…

Youth Outside | On the Road: How our youth van helped us navigate COVID-19

A little over a year ago, a colleague and I ventured about an hour north of Seattle to the little seaside town of Anacortes. Although tempted by views of nearby Mount Erie State Park, we were on our way to pick up the newest addition to The Mountaineers: a 15-passenger van. The vehicle was fated to take Mountaineers youth to the lakes, trails, and mountains surrounding Puget Sound. Read more…

Impact Giving | Investing in the Future: A Conversation with Lily and Amber Walker

Sometimes a story asks to be told. As part of my role as Assistant Director of Development, I have the privilege of connecting with members to learn how Mountaineers philanthropy has positively impacted their lives. In last fall’s #GivingTuesday scholarship fundraising effort we introduced 18 year-old scholarship recipient Lily Walker, a five-year member of our year-round teen program, the Tacoma Mountaineers Adventure Club (MAC). Read more…

Lowell Skoog Shares Alpine Ski History in New Mountaineers Books Title

Friluftsliv” is the Scandinavian word for the joys of open-air living, and few capture the heart of this spirit better than longtime Mountaineer and local alpine ski historian Lowell Skoog.  Read more…

CEO Update: State of the Organization Recap

Reflecting back on the last year, it’s fair to say that it’s been one of the most challenging years in Mountaineers history. In March 2020, COVID-19 related shutdowns caused nearly every aspect of Mountaineers operations to grind to a halt. Our program centers and lodges had to close their doors, we were unable to ship books to retailers and parks, volunteers had to postpone or cancel courses, trips, and events, and youth programs were put on pause. In addition to severely impacting our mission delivery, these program closures created a financial crisis that threatened our very existence. Without taking immediate and aggressive actions, we ran the risk of running out of operational cash reserves by the end of May.  Read more…

Impact Giving | Small Gifts Add Up to Big Change

A decade ago, The Mountaineers undertook a radical endeavor: to become a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. This year, we’re celebrating the 10-year anniversary of this important accomplishment and giving thanks to the thousands of donors from all over the world who demonstrate to us every day how small gifts can add up to big change.   Read more…

$135K and counting!

As we begin 2021, I am humbled by the continued generosity of our Mountaineers community. So many of you choose to donate your time, talents, and treasure in honor of our shared outdoor experience. It’s because of you that we’re ringing in the new year with so much to celebrate! Read more…

2020 Recap: A Year in Review

The Mountaineers is an incredible community of adventurers, students, instructors, advocates, and leaders. As we close the door on 2020 and look ahead to 2021, we reflect on our core values and how they’ve guided us through the past nine months of this pandemic.  Read more…

Impact Giving | Philanthropy's Year In Review

As we look back at January 2020, The Mountaineers and Mountaineers Books teams were celebrating the new calendar year, a successful first quarter, and building momentum to deliver on the $9.28M approved operating budget for fiscal year 2020. A year ago today, we celebrated our most successful year-end appeal campaign and were getting ready to  open ticket sales for our 6th annual Gala, where we planned to welcome Sir Chris Bonington and 500 Mountaineers guests to Fremont Studios. The Mountaineers fundraising team was excited to see how the organization’s culture of philanthropy would continue to grow. Little did we know, a storm was blowing in. Read more…

A Letter from Peter & Nancy: An Act of Love Towards All Our Children

As the year comes to a close, we’ve been reflecting on how grateful we are for the support we receive through The Mountaineers, and as volunteer leaders, we’re committed to the health, safety, and strength of the organization. Though both of us discovered The Mountaineers in different ways, it is a place where we found each other and a community to share our lives with. Here’s a glimpse into the paths that led us to The Mountaineers: Read more…

Let's Match: With a Corporate Matching Gift

As the foremost outdoor recreation organization of the Pacific Northwest, The Mountaineers is dedicated to educating and inspiring people of all ages to explore the outdoors and conserve and steward our public lands and waters. When you take advantage of your employer’s Workplace Giving Program, you maximize the impact of your volunteer hours, membership dues and charitable donations, and can double, sometimes triple your impact! Read more…

This Unicorn Didn’t Come Along By Accident

This year, something incredible happened. Amidst the immense challenges facing our country, a polarized Congress came together to pass a bill called the Great American Outdoors Act. Some called this once-in-a-generation conservation funding bill a “unicorn” - a rare moment of bipartisan cooperation.  Read more…

Three Ways to Keep Independent Publishing Local

Taking on the responsibility of Publisher at the start of a global pandemic has been unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. But if our readers have taught me one thing this year, it’s that our independence and our nonprofit mission truly matters.  Read more…

What 2020 Tells Us About 2021

Even though the days are shorter, I hope you are still finding ways to spend time outside and connect with nature. My kids and I have been spending time together on family adventures and enjoying the season's change. I also hope that you and your loved ones are staying healthy and doing as well as possible as we prepare for a long winter ahead. Read more…

Thank You! 22K Raised to Support Access to the Outdoors

This #GivingTuesday has blown us away. We’re incredibly grateful for the kindness, support, and generosity of our Mountaineers community. We set our goal for $15,000 and you helped us fly past it, reaching $22,000 by the end of last night. You not only helped us raise over twice as much as we did last year, you added 35 scholarships to the 75 we were hoping  to offer. We set our sights high, and you have once again outdone yourselves. Thank you.  Read more…

Donate this #GivingTuesday To Support Mountaineers Scholarships

Scholarships do so much more than offer someone a single course. These outdoor experiences foster community, create future volunteers, and serve as an important bridge between recreation and conservation. Inspiring new conservationists to become advocates - especially those who may not have built those connections otherwise - is immeasurably valuable for our public lands. Read more…

Impact Giving | Mountaineers Conservation and Advocacy Made Possible by Donors Like You

As Mountaineers, we’re intimately connected with wild places. Some of us were introduced to the outdoors through The Mountaineers: a scrambling trip sparked a lifelong love for the North Cascades or a guidebook from Mountaineers Books introduced us to our first hike. Some of us join to deepen our love for the outdoors through new friendships and adventures. Regardless of what brought us here, we're united by our fierce love for the places we explore and our strong desire to protect them. Read more…

Climbers of Color: A Partnership to Support More Leaders of Color

We're excited to be partnering with Climbers of Color in support of their mission to create more leaders of color in mountaineering. Established in 2017, Climbers of Color is a Washington State nonprofit that aims to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the climbing and mountaineering community by developing leaders of color. To accomplish its mission, Climbers of Color provides supportive mentorship, technical training from BIPOC professional guides, and access to key resources including gear and scholarships. Read more…

Why the Arctic? Braided River’s Legacy of Alaskan Arctic Impact Publishing

For nearly 20 years, our conservation imprint Braided River has published stunning multimedia books about the wildest places in North America. In particular, the western Arctic and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have been a special focus. Award-winning books like We Are the Arctic and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land have been used by senators, grassroots groups, and Indigenous tribes to help people experience this remote corner of the world through images and stories, and be inspired to protect it. Read more…

Impact Giving | When Passion and Purpose Align

It’s always a joy to visit with someone who speaks passionately about the things they love. For Helen Cherullo, her passion is books. Helen’s love is about more than a simple bound text; it’s about imagery and place-based storytelling, and how their subsequent ripple effects move communities to act. Read more…

Impact Giving | How Fundraising Improves Outdoor Access Through Mountain Workshops

At The Mountaineers, we believe a diverse and inclusive outdoors inspires unity, respect, and passion for the places we love. We also believe that the outdoors is for everyone. As part of our recurring Impact Giving blog series, this month we’re talking about one of our favorite donor-funded outreach efforts: Mountain Workshops. This program increases outdoor access for youth who may not easily have opportunities to enjoy positive experiences in our wild places.  Read more…

Adventure With Purpose: A Recap of Our 2020 Virtual Gala

In previous years, it has been our tradition to gather our community each spring to celebrate our achievements and support future efforts to transform lives and protect wild places at our annual fundraising gala. This year, however, was a little different.  Read more…

Impact Giving | How Philanthropy Supports Mountaineers Books

Six months ago we began this Impact Giving series as a way to feature the many ways philanthropy makes a difference for The Mountaineers. This month, we’re celebrating the 60th anniversary of Mountaineers Books and how philanthropy expands the impact one book can have on an individual, a classroom, a community, and the world.  Read more…