R oute C ompleted
map CheCk: the Route to FinanCial Stability
The successful completion of Campaign
NOLS: Endowing Our Core Values is a landmark accomplishment. Your investment in the world’s next leaders guarantees a strong return. Through your support we strengthen our programs and continue to produce the competent, ethical leaders the world’s communities need. By tapping the tremendous commitment, vision, and creativity of you, our supporters, we have ensured that we will remain an organization dedicated to our core values of leadership, community, safety, excellence, wilderness, and education. Thank you!
letteR FRom John GanS
NOLS teaches students how to learn, that learning can be fun, and how they can take charge of their own education. So often when I hear from our alumni—whether it’s a month or 20 years after their course—I hear about the leadership skills and expedition behavior they use in their everyday lives. In the boardroom, wilderness, office, or home, NOLS graduates have the skills to be engaged, competent leaders.
The stories I hear of our graduates are inspirational; it’s clear that we are helping develop positive ethical leaders who are changing the world. My own NOLS story has been no different. Since I took my first course in 1979, I have had a passionate connection to the mission and purpose of NOLS. When I give to this organization, whether time or money, I know it matters and I know it counts. I can think of no other organization where my contributions would be so strongly leveraged for good.
This is a sentiment that our entire community shares. The NOLS family rallied together in support of Campaign NOLS: Endowing Our Core Values, demonstrating our shared belief in our mission to be the leading source and teacher of wilderness skills and leadership that serve the people and the environment. Thanks to you, our donors and our volunteers, we know how far we’ve come as an organization in creating a culture of giving back.
Your support has been critical. As we saw with the market crash in 2008, NOLS needs a strong foundation to ensure its mission will last. As the school gets bigger, it remains susceptible to swings in anything from the economy to our wilderness classrooms. Your gifts to Campaign NOLS have allowed us to grow our endowment, which has a stabilizing effect on our budget overall. You’ve helped us minimize those long-term risks that could affect the school. I extend my deepest gratitude to you, and everyone that made Campaign NOLS a success, for your steadfast support of our mission.
“I am extremely pleased to have been a part of the team effort that helped NOLS meet its endowment campaign goals. Campaign NOLS will allow the school to educate many students who otherwise couldn’t afford the valuable NOLS experiences. Long-term, a strong endowment will provide NOLS with the financial stability to extend its mission, values, and reach.”
– Fox Benton, Campaign Leadership Donor
John Gans, NOLS Executive Director
IgnacIo grez
letteR FRom GReG aviS
In an increasingly connected world, the skills NOLS teaches and the experiences we foster in our students are more important than ever. Leadership capabilities and the ability to deal with change, work with diverse groups of people, and parallel process are all the more valuable as our society continues to surface and confront complex problems.
The skills that NOLS teaches are unique and irreplaceable. The work we’ve done in Campaign NOLS: Endowing Our Core Values is critical toward insuring the long-term success of the school, allowing us to continue to provide the best leadership education possible. I am exceptionally grateful to our donors who have allowed us to reach our $20 million goal. Thank you!
By helping us to reach this goal early, you’ve demonstrated the incredible support NOLS has in our donor, alumni, and parent base. We are thankful for each and every person who has supported this important initiative. This campaign has been a labor of love, and like anything that people at NOLS put their minds to—whether it’s climbing a peak or navigating across a stream—the route has been completed. Those same skills and capabilities used on an expedition permeate the organization. I tip my hat to NOLS’ staff, as well as the donors, for this huge accomplishment.
The endowment dollars raised during Campaign NOLS will provide a long-term, stable source of funding, which will enable NOLS to absorb any dips in the economy. This stability helps buffer other income flows and gives us strategic capital for future initiatives.
NOLS is only as good as its people, staff, students, and alumni alike. It’s absolutely imperative that we have a strong financial base to back our strong human capital base. In order to attract and retain the best people, in order to provide the highest level of experience and education, we need to have a stable financial base. In this, your support of Campaign NOLS has been especially important.
Completing Campaign NOLS is more than hitting a goal. It’s creating a financial situation that allows NOLS to continue fulfilling its very important mission. Thank you for your support.
Greg Avis, National Steering Committee Chair
“Philanthropic support is essential to the fulfillment of the NOLS mission as the preeminent, sustainable, inclusive outdoor educator. As a part of Expedition 2013, the most recent strategic plan, NOLS demonstrated that it could manage philanthropic support at a new scale. Our family would like to thank all of the donors and NOLS staff that contributed to the success of this endowment campaign.”
– Michael Schmertzler, Campaign Leadership Donor
“NOLS provides a learning environment that you can take anywhere in the world to any experience you may have. By supporting Campaign NOLS, I am helping to ensure that the school can continue to provide these critical lessons for generations to come.”
– Amy Wyss, Campaign Leadership Donor
ouR plaCe on the map
Storms on an expedition are inevitable and so, clearly, are the fiscal ebbs and flows that affect endowments. But we believe in what we teach in the field—the necessity of taking the long view, of looking at the big picture.
We recognize that financial stability happens over time, not overnight. We also recognize that what we have done to put the right pieces into place today will foster such stability down the road.
Brad chrIstensen
tracy Baynes
tracy Baynes
tracy Baynes
alexIs alloway
cass colman
wmI staff
Brad chrIstensen
Brad chr stensen
“As a scholarship recipient, I have benefited from others’ generosity. I have gone on to become an instructor and work in-town for NOLS, but did not give back monetarily until recently. Through my position at NOLS India, I have a well-rounded idea of how the school works, and I trust that donations are put to good use. Campaign NOLS has helped me realize that every contribution is important, including regular, smaller ones from myself.”
– Manohar D’Silva, Staff Steering Committee
ouR plaCe on the map:
aCCompliShmentS
Since the fall of 2009, the NOLS community has striven to raise a record number of philanthropic dollars. Here’s what we were able to accomplish during that time:
• We didn’t just meet, we exceeded three out of the four fiscal years’ annual fund goals.
• Philanthropic dollars allow us to educate a record number of scholarship students. Since the beginning of the campaign, we have been able to provide full or partial tuition scholarships to over 2,300 students on NOLS expedition and WMI courses.
• With the generous support of Mr. Hansjörg Wyss, we also fully funded and completed construction of the Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus, exceeding our $4.5 million fundraising goal by over $36,000. In keeping with our school values of sustainability and environmental stewardship, this new campus received a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum certification, the highest rating from the Green Building Council. Completed in the fall of 2012, the Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus provides classrooms, practice fields, residences, and dining facilities for WMI students and instructors.
• An internal Staff Steering Committee, committed to creating a culture of giving within NOLS, increased staff participation in philanthropy from 18 percent to just under 40 percent.
adam swIsher matt Burke
cass colmanBradly J. Boner
BenJam n lester
“Supporting Campaign NOLS in a meaningful way was very important to me. It’s a rare day that I don’t put NOLS training to work, either as an entrepreneur, wife, parent, or community member. Whether assessing risk, forming shared vision, or tolerating adversity, the skills learned in the field are essential and transferable to life in the front-country. I believe strongly in supporting the NOLS mission.”
– Danielle Dignan, Bay Area Steering Committee
ouR plaCe on the map:
FinanCial hiGhliGhtS
In just over four years, NOLS has successfully raised over $25 million toward the endowment, annual fund, and Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus.
Place on The Map:
total for campaign nols: $21,187,500 To Tal fundraised: $25,723,500 total for wyss campus: $4,536,000
endowinG ouR CoRe valueS:
ouR volunteeR leadeRShip
Over the course of the campaign, a special group of NOLS volunteers have worked hard to ensure the success of our campaign. Our gratitude goes out to all of them for their ongoing support of, and belief in, the NOLS mission: to be the leading source and teacher of wilderness skills and leadership that serve people and the environment.
CampaiGn nolS national SteeRinG Committee
Gregory M. Avis, Chair
F. Fox Benton
Fred J. Kleisner
Douglas S. Luke
the nolS boaRd oF tRuSteeS
Joseph P. Allen
James B. Barnes
F. Fox Benton
Caroline B. Burnett
Susan E. Chamberlin
David W. Cohen
Isobel C. Coleman
Douglas E. Dalquist
Duncan N. Dayton
Jane F. Fried
Daniel E. Garvey
Andrea J. Grant
Katherine S. Gunness Williams
Ethan O. Meers
Kurt M. Petersen
Reginald Hagood
Carl B. Jacobs
Donald M. Kendall
Jonathan R. Kleisner
Carlene C. Laughlin
Peter J. Levine
Douglas S. Luke
Michael Schmertzler
Antonhy K. Stevens
Diana L. McCargo Swift
Victoria E. Murden McClure
William C. Murdock
Robert W. Nimmo
Herbert G. Ogden
Kurt M. Petersen
Cynthia A. Pierce
Marc B. Randolph
Monica Rimai
Michelle S. Sarti
Michael Schmertzler
Edward M. Schmults
Amy E. Wyss
Kei Yamamoto
aparna raJagopal-durBIn
davId anderson BenJamIn lester
cass colman
IgnacIo grez
fredrIk norrsell
BenJamIn lester
kyle duBa
alex chang
Brad chr stensen
cass colman
andrew rIley
fredrIk norrsell
endowinG ouR CoRe valueS:
a Commitment to the FutuRe
With over 80 percent of America’s youth living in or near urban centers, it is more important than ever to get them out into nature. At NOLS, what our students learn about their own abilities and group dynamics will spill over into all their pursuits, because they understand the importance of the NOLS values:
Leadership and Community: At NOLS, we believe that leadership can be learned. Students return from courses empowered and equipped to face an uncertain future with grace. Graduates take their new skills back home, where they will teach others the lessons they’ve learned about leadership. While their time with NOLS may be brief, their potential to impact their own communities and beyond is infinite.
Safety and Excellence: At NOLS, we believe that people thrive when challenged. Central to the wilderness experience is the uncertainty that comes from interacting with nature—NOLS’ risk management program is the best in the industry and allows students to push themselves beyond their perceived limits. Graduates go on a unique intellectual and physical adventure, leaving the school at the end of their courses with the ability to lead and deal with real challenges.
Wilderness and Education: At NOLS, we believe that learning should be fun and that living in nature teaches responsibility. On our expeditions, people gain a greater understanding of, and connection to, the natural world by living and traveling in some of the world’s most spectacular wilderness classrooms.
To create a stronger global community and a healthy planet, we need leaders who know how to listen to and communicate with people from every background. We need leaders who can adapt to challenges presented by a turbulent market or a changing climate.
At NOLS, we believe that positive ethical leaders change the world. Thank you for helping us develop these leaders.
“Thank you so much for providing me the opportunity to complete a NOLS course. The day my team climbed Wind River peak was one of the most difficult and yet the most awesome days of my life. To keep myself going, I repeated the mantra “left, right” as we ascended the 2,000-foot climb. Suddenly, a team member ahead whooped with joy. We had made it to the top! That day, I found a strength inside me that I had not known before.”
– Naomi Greene, Wind River Wilderness 2013
naom greene