Impact Stories

Impact Stories

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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…

Your Support Will Help The Mountaineers Weather The Storm

In a normal year, The Mountaineers would facilitate a month-long giving campaign in May to foster donations that leverage our mission and boost our programming. In light of COVID-19 and April’s organization-wide virtual Gala campaign, we are adjusting our traditional fundraising efforts and reducing regularly-planned electronic communications. The following is an excerpt of a letter from Tom Vogl mailed to longtime members and donors to provide an update on our organization and demonstrate a need for support. Read more…

Not Your Typical GiveBIG

We get it. Today your inbox will be flooded with messages from many of Washington’s nonprofits and beyond. Today is an important day because the need for philanthropy in the time of a global pandemic is more epic than ever before.  Read more…

Impact Giving | Peak Society Takes us to New Heights

We are halfway through The Mountaineers fiscal year and what a journey these last six months have been. When our Board of Directors approved an operating budget of $9.28M in October to support outdoor programs, places, and books, they never would have guessed that our plans would be disrupted by the catastrophic impacts of a global pandemic. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that relies on a combination of earned revenue and philanthropic support to sustain operations, we’ve been challenged to pivot and re-imagine how The Mountaineers can best serve our community as incoming revenue slows to a trickle. Unrestricted charitable support from individual donors is paramount to our ability to sustain core operations. In this May edition of our monthly Impact Giving blog series, we are shining light on the Peak Society and how these leadership-level donors support our organization in good times and in bad. Read more…

Impact Giving | How Fundraising Events Support The Mountaineers

Welcome back to our monthly Impact Giving blog series where we shed light on how charitable donations support mission-enhancing programs of The Mountaineers, such as scholarships and conservation efforts,and the strategies we use to in our fundraising program. We’ve already previewed a few ways donors choose to elevate The Mountaineers with philanthropic support, and this month we’re excited to pull back the curtain on one of the most popular ways that donors and sponsors make a difference in our community: fundraising events! Read more…

Impact Giving | Planning your Legacy with The Mountaineers Summit Society

Welcome to our fourth installment of our Impact Giving Series where we shed light on how charitable donations support The Mountaineers. This month we’re talking about the importance of estate planning and how members can plan gifts to support The Mountaineers in their will and become members of our Summit SocietyRead more…

$100K Raised for Our People and Our Places

As we begin 2020, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to be part of The Mountaineers community. We’re ringing in the new decade with celebration and it’s all because of you! Read more…

There is still time to make a difference in 2019

Together, we are a powerful voice for the outdoors because we are anchored by our shared values of adventure, education, volunteerism, community, and advocacy. We know that meaningful change does not happen without a strong community, and engaging our community to connect with and protect the outdoor experience is something we can’t do alone.  Read more…

2019 Recap: A Year In Review

Volunteerism is at the core of The Mountaineers mission. Everything we accomplish is the result of volunteer initiative, and our "flavor" here in the PNW is that of a vibrant volunteer-driven community. We often say that volunteers are our "secret sauce", and that's more true than ever as we enter a new decade of adventure. Read more…

Our Strength Lies in Our Community

In July 1984, my dad climbed Mount Rainier and dedicated the climb “to his unborn daughter” in the summit log. His love of the mountains would soon be infused into my life forever. Read more…

Impact Giving | How Year-End Appeals Support The Mountaineers

It may come as no surprise that the high-holiday season is one of the largest fundraising opportunities of the entire year. Through generosity, goodwill, and a strategic reduction in taxes, many people are thinking about their personal philanthropy during this time. In fact, more than 26% of Mountaineers donors choose to make a gift during the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. Read more…

We Drank Straight From the Lake!

Do you remember when you first fell in love with the outdoors? As the middle of five children growing up on Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire in the 70s, I was encouraged to play outside all day. The water was so clean that we drank straight from the lake. I realized from a young age the importance of having close access to the outdoors for body and mind. Read more…

Which volunteer has made an impact in your life?

Whether you hike, ski, climb, or paddle, we’d be willing to bet your life has been positively impacted by a Mountaineers volunteer. Volunteers are the heart of our organization - they lead our trips, teach our courses, run our branches and committees, and build our Program and Outdoor Centers. This giving season, consider making a gift in honor of the volunteer who has made a difference in your life. Read more…

Don’t let #GivingTuesday pass without giving back

One of the key ways we provide equitable access to the outdoors is through donor-funded scholarships. This #GivingTuesday, we are asking for your support to raise $25,000 to provide scholarships to 75 students and ensure that life-changing Mountaineers opportunities are available to all.  Read more…

Your Gift this #GivingTuesday Supports Scholarships at The Mountaineers

As someone who’s volunteered with The Mountaineers more than 100 times over the last three years, perhaps it’s most appropriate to think of Krishna Dase (KD) as a Super-Duper Volunteer.  Since joining in 2016, KD has supported backpacking, climbing, scrambling,  snowshoeing, navigation, and hiking courses across nearly all branches. He’s a snowshoe and scrambling trip leader, intermediate climbing student, Everett climbing committee member, Kitsap scrambling committee member, and Seattle hiking committee member. He’s also a Mountaineers scholarship recipient.  Read more…

Impact Giving | An Insider’s Look At Scholarships

Last month we kicked off an Impact Giving series to talk about the many ways charitable donations expand our mission. We will publish a new story each month to share how philanthropy expands Mountaineers programs and empowers us to keep doing what we do best: get more people outside, expand the tradition of volunteer-led outdoor education, cultivate stewards of our public lands, and publish books to inspire adventure, exploration, and conservation. Read more…

Your gift has the power to create community

A gift in support of Mountaineers scholarships on #GivingTuesday has the power to create strong outdoor communities, and on December 3, all donations received on this global day of giving will directly support scholarships at The Mountaineers.  Read more…

Thank you for Supporting Future Mountaineers this #GivingTuesday

This #GivingTuesday, The Mountaineers community stepped up once again to support scholarships for our growing outdoor community. Read more…

Your #GivingTuesday Gift Can Help Save a Life

At The Mountaineers, we believe an inclusive outdoor community inspires unity, respect, and passion for the places we love. We empower others to safely and responsibly pursue outdoor activities by connecting people to place, leveraging that connection to inspire advocacy and stewardship efforts. Read more…

This #GivingTuesday, Give Back by Increasing Access to the Outdoors

After you #OptOutside this Black Friday, consider giving in support of outdoor access. On Tuesday, December 3, The Mountaineers will participate in #GivingTuesday and once again all donations received on this day will directly support Mountaineers scholarships Read more…

Thank You Veterans!

At The Mountaineers, we know the power of nature to restore our souls and inspire our spirits. We're proud of the service of our active-duty and veteran members and their efforts to preserve our own Freedom of the Hills for future generations. To celebrate Veterans Day, we highlight a Mountaineer whose dedication helps our club and our country. Read more…