Fundraising Campaign Launch

It is with great enthusiasm that I write this post! After half a year of very tedious work and immeasurable support from many different individuals, I am delighted to announce that we have begun our fundraising campaign. There are many moving parts here, but what I’d like to address is why and how we need your support at this time.

First and foremost, I want to talk about how money raised will be used. We plan to use the first $15,000 raised to acquire all the equipment we need to run our Great Lakes Course. The next $15,000 will be used to purchase a 15-passenger van. We received the quote for renting transportation to over $1,000 per trip, making it worth the investment to acquire a vehicle. Without these resources, we will be unable to execute courses, so they are our highest priority.

There are also expenses for hosting this website, tax applications, and online filings requiring reimbursement. We also intend to use donations to finance insurance costs and our National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass for the first year.

If we surpass our donation goal, we will use additional funds to finance scholarships. Though it will cost roughly $2000 [$280 for our North Manitou Island Course featured this August] per individual to do this, we believe that this goal is more than obtainable. It is excellent to provide the wilderness experience to those for whom these trips are not usually viable. It also helps precipitate a global cultural shift by reaching people of all demographics.

We will use any excess funds to finance the education of our guides who aspire to become better outdoor professionals. This could mean financing medical training, professional courses, and anything else that might help our employees further their development so they might better share the wilderness experience with others. This is another core strategy for succeeding in our mission, along with exposing our region’s youth to the wilderness.

Beyond that, there are even more ways we can apply financial resources. We have already established the framework for courses in the future in a variety of destinations. Each landscape provides its own experience and unique lessons along with it. We seek to expose individuals to the wonders of their immediate surroundings and foster an appreciation for all parts of our planet.

In any case, we want to be completely transparent about our budget. Each year we will post a report on our blog to share how money raised was spent.

There is much to say about raising money and other ways you can support us - some of which require minimal effort! If you are passionate about the wilderness experience and want to support our mission and share it with others, head on over to our donation page to learn how!

Whatever it may look like, we hope you find some way to engage in this opportunity to support our great cause!

Thanks for reading,

Joe Napolitan