Laying Roots, A Capital Initiative
A nonprofit fundraiser supporting
Olympic Nature ExperienceHelp us lay roots and acquire a permanent location for our school.
$4,972
raised by 22 people
$50,000 goal
Update #1
We are excited to share an update regarding our campaign! We received word yesterday that the land may be available at a reduced price. Now we are able to reduce our goal to a manageable $25,000!
Thank you to our early givers, you are an inspiration to anyone who crosses our site. Please help us find 250 folks to give $100 or more by sharing our site or encouraging friends to give by text, just send "Roots" to 844-844-6844.
Just as a plant outgrows its pot, so have the roots of Olympic Nature Experience. Investing in our own land will allow us to nurture the spirit of adventure in citizens of all ages and to grow and adapt with more flexibility to fit the needs of our community now and into the future on the North Olympic Peninsula. A home for Olympic Nature Experience is a home for hundreds of children; a place where community can gather, knowledge and skills can be shared, stories told and the land cared for.
While we deeply value our existing partnerships with public and private landholders and intend to continue to nurture them, there are challenges to operating in a borrowed space: limitations on daily site use, fire building, off-site administrative support and supplies, and co-existing with public traffic are a few examples. By investing in land of our own, we will be more responsive to the needs of our community and we will be able to offer deeper opportunities for stewardship and connection to a place over time.
We plan to purchase at least 10 acres of land (hopefully, this 11.6 acre plot next to our current classrooms) to build new programs and an office. While still offering programs at our existing beloved sites, land ownership will allow us to design and schedule classes with specific needs that aren’t possible at our current locations. Having an office and indoor classroom space onsite allows for flexibility that could mean longer class days to accommodate full-time working families or expanding the age groups we serve – whatever the community wants, because the space would be ours to fill.
This year marks Olympic Nature Experience’s 10th anniversary and our organization is maturing financially as well as programmatically. We have solidified a gleaming reputation in the community, accumulated a meaningful fiscal reserve, and the real estate market in the area is calming. Our partnerships with homeschool families and local school districts have opened our eyes to the potential collaborations and limitless possibilities of what land ownership could do for connecting families with nature on the Olympic Peninsula.
We invite you to help make this vision a reality for the children of our community. You can make cash gifts or pledge your gift over the course of a year. Thank you for investing in Olympic Nature Experience!