Wild Earth Wilderness School Annual Report

Fiscal Year: September 1, 2013 – August 31, 2014

Wild Earth celebrated its 10^th anniversary with a year of outstanding growth.

The program as a whole grew 42%, nearly double our budgeted expectation.

We achieved this figure with a multifaceted approach. We reached into new markets including programs for schools, business groups and adults, elicited an unprecedentedly strong enrollment in core youth programming and expanded our extremely popular summer camps.

Our regular, year-round programs for youth enrolled strongly.

Dawn Song Village Homeschool Program, Mystwood, Atlatl Boys, and the Ropes Teen Program all filled or came close to capacity.

We added several new programs to our school year youth line-up.

New programs included: Artemis Moon Girls for pre-teens, Little Sprouts for young children, and Winter and Spring Break Camps for elementary school youth.

Our adult and family programming continued to grow.

Wild Earth offered a new and well-attended basket-making series, and our second annual Sloop Clearwater sailing trip on the Hudson.

In 2013-14 Wild Earth began implementing a strategic approach to training existing and potential instructors, beginning with the kickoff of our first full-year apprenticeship program.

The development of this training program will enrich our staffing resources, making it possible to sustainably continue expanding our program offerings.

This past year, Wild Earth nearly tripled its programs for school groups.

We led Sacajawea Explorers, an after-school program for High Meadow School, held our third annual True North Rite of Passage Program for middle school students, and hosted the Voyagers School from New Jersey for a day in the woods with Wild Earth. We began strategic outreach and program development in anticipation of future growth focused in this area.

In 2014, Wild Earth began providing team building and nature connection programs for business groups on retreat at the Edith Macy Conference Center in Briarcliff Manor, NY.

This collaboration has promising prospects, with the potential to contribute to Wild Earth’s financial security and to provide increased pay for our instructors. We expect substantial growth in programs for businesses for the foreseeable future.

Wild Earth’s 2014 Summer Camp was our largest ever.

We offered six weeks of camp at four locations, staffed by over seventy adults and teens, and attended by 320 children.

Our new Wild Earth Art Camp commenced at Sky Lake Lodge this year with twenty-five participating children. With thanks to a project grant from the Dyson Foundation, Wild Earth offered 10 under served youth from Kingston the opportunity to explore the woods at our popular summer camps free of any cost to them.

Wild Earth raised over $118,000 from donations, grants and fundraising events throughout the year, representing growth of over 81% from the prior year.

Individual donors contributed over $50,000, with more than one hundred families making a contribution.

In our grant writing activities, Wild Earth was awarded $53,000 this fiscal year, representing 152% growth over last year.

We received our first multi-year grant from the Local Economies Project of the New World Foundation, a project grant from the Dyson Foundation to support our “Kingston Kids at Wild Earth Summer Camp” initiative, and our first grant from The Quilt Fund to support instructor training and continuing education.

Also new this year, Wild Earth created a business sponsorship program that invited local businesses to support nature connection in our extended community.

We have twenty-six businesses already contributing and sponsoring Wild Earth.

Wild Earth is working harder than ever to offer accessible nature immersion programming to the Hudson Valley’s diverse communities, including economically disadvantaged and under served families and individuals.

This year, Wild Earth’s financial aid awards almost doubled.

We offered almost $63,000, equivalent to 12% of our overall budget, as compared with $37,000 in the prior year.

In 10 years, no one seeking a Wild Earth experience has ever been turned away for lack of funds. With our new financial and staff resources, we are now ready to proactively reach out to under served communities.

Last May, Wild Earth held its first “Light on Lyme” event in Rosendale.

With top doctors and other educators from the Northeast as well as U.S. Congressman Chris Gibson at the podium, we were able to educate the Mid-Hudson Valley on health issues of considerable concern within our community.

Wild Earth collaborated with many community organizations this year.

We took a lead role in helping conduct the second annual Rondout Valley Common Ground Celebration, we participated in Brook Farm Project’s fall festival, and we were honored to participate in the Farm Hub’s visioning weekend this past spring. We’ve continued developing an important relationship with the Center for Creative Education (CCE) in Kingston. CCE helped connect us to financially disadvantaged families with children ready for a Wild Earth experience.

Wild Earth’s operating efficiency continued to improve this year with the help of our strong, collaborative team of administrative staff.

We implemented a new online registration system to make it easier than ever for participants to sign up with Wild Earth and installed a new phone system to help streamline our customer service. Wild Earth hired an independent auditor to provide a full review of our financial results and operating procedures and to assist us in converting our fiscal year to align with our program year. We also created a lending library for instructors, helping them engage in research relevant to their work at Wild Earth, and bring field guides to programs for our participants’ use and enjoyment. Our first full year in our New Paltz office brought many positive changes to our organization.

Wild Earth’s total income from all sources grew 48% year over year, to $519,470.

This is the strongest growth Wild Earth has experienced since our founding. At the same time, our total expenses grew only 41% to $477,822 from the prior year.

This resulted in a meaningful addition of $41,648 to our reserves. We expect this divergence to continue, allowing Wild Earth to begin building an endowment to secure the future of our work for years to come. As our financial security improves, our reputation in our extended community grows equally strong. We remain dedicated to our mission and more ready than ever to strengthen connections through experiences in nature.

Donate Now and enable Wild Earth to say yes to families who otherwise may not be able to afford a Wild Earth experience.