by Amy Kasdorf Gonzalez
Many of you all have already heard from me in the special solicitation for the Building on Tradition Capital Campaign. The letter went out in the US Mail in late February and the email went out on March 12th. The contributions are coming in. The NCF remains limitlessly grateful to you all for the gifts you give. As of April 7th, we are 54% of the way to our $300,000 goal. And the gifts to our Scholarship Funds and to our Annual Operating Fund are continuing to come in. Such wonderful news! I will direct your attention to the article from NCI President Katie E. Hoffman and to our “Follow the Gleam” feature for the updates on the Education Building itself.
I have more exciting news to share with you! Well, it is exciting to us on the Development side. By the end of April, we will have transitioned from PayPal to Blackbaud Merchant Services as our payment processor for your on-line gifts to the Nature Camp Foundation. In addition, we will have an on-line Event Registration capability we can use to sign up for events like Reunion or Fall Hike Day.
Please Note: When you donate to the Nature Camp Foundation through our website or by check, it is so important that you notify us if you want the funds directed to a specific purpose, such as the Education Building renovation or one of our scholarship funds.
I wanted to take this opportunity to talk with you about 3rd party fundraising for the Nature Camp Foundation. Several people in our community have initiated fundraisers as birthday gifts, or to commemorate a lost loved one. The Nature Camp Foundation has been the grateful recipient of the funds generated. I am going to speak about what we see most often: the Facebook model. The checks that come to us are from Network for Good, as a lump sum, with no indication of which fundraiser generated the funds. It is our understanding that each donor to the Facebook fundraiser has received their tax receipt from Network for Good. We also understand that the originator of the fundraiser does get notified of who makes individual donations. The Nature Camp Foundation wants to express gratitude to those who have given to us, but we want to be clear that our appreciation will be very general, given the general nature of the way the funds come to us. So don’t stop creating these fundraisers – just know that we aren’t able to acknowledge the individual who originated the fundraiser unless you notify us, nor can we acknowledge the individuals who make donations via this route.
Life is uncertain at this point in time, but I am certain about my commitment to Nature Camp. It is a place that means hope to me. How we teach the next generation about caring for our natural environment will make such a difference, and I am honored that you all are still choosing to support the future of Nature Camp through your donations to the Nature Camp Founation. Thank you.