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Dear Friends, This year the Highlands Center for Natural History is celebrating 25 years as a nonprofit offering engaging and inspiring nature-focused educational experiences for all ages. School field trips, seasonal nature camps, family nature festivals, adult natural history classes, and schoolyard habitats have encouraged hundreds of thousands of children and adults to explore, to discover the wonder of nature, and to become wise caretakers of this land. For the last two years, we’ve asked for your support of our summer Annual Appeal for operations. The success of this campaign has enabled the HCNH to double capacity for summer nature camps, add seasonal interns, modestly increase staff salaries, and maintain our awe-inspiring facilities and trails. Thoughtful and creative adaptations by our staff enabled the number of program participants and visitors to continue to expand! A major need this year is to significantly increase the salaries of our full-time educators and staff to stay competitive with other employers. We must attract and retain talented staff who are the roots of our programmatic success. Thankfully, our generous anonymous donor has ONCE AGAIN offered to match Annual Appeal contributions given by August 20, 2022, to respond to this need and to sustain our growth. Donations will be matched dollar for dollar up to a total of $25,000 in matching funds! Another anonymous donor has stepped up in recognition of our service to the community for the past 25 years! This donor has offered $25,000 in matching funds to match donations made directly to our Endowment Fund housed at the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF). The interest accrued from this fund currently contributes $40,000 annually to our operating budget to help support youth scholarships and additional operating expenses. These contributions would be made directly to the ACF to increase the principal of the fund for the future benefit of the HCNH. Our passionate donors have offered two wonderful opportunities to sustain our current programmatic growth now and to invest in a vibrant future. Please consider donating today to the Annual Appeal to help now and, if you can, make another, one time, 25th anniversary contribution to our ACF endowment to ensure another successful 25 years for the HCNH. Contributions to both funds will be matched up to a total of $25,000 each! Thank you so much for support of our mission and this wonder-filled place! Sharing the Wonder, Dave Irvine, Executive Director
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(928) 776-9550
