ANCA creates spaces for nature center professionals to share resources, foster relationships, and learn about best practices. Your donation ensures that ANCA can provide the support that these professionals need to thrive in their mission-driven work. If you need help donating in any way, please call us at 435-787-8209.
Sustaining Leadership Program
A monthly donation is the most effective way to help ANCA deliver programs and services. Join the ANCA Sustaining Leadership Program by giving monthly!
Sustaining Leadership Program
The ANCA Sustaining Leadership Program is a community of monthly donors who support ANCA's mission and core values.These recurring contributions are beneficial for several reasons:
- Convenience: Recurring donations are scheduled as automatic payments from a credit/debit card or an ACH bank transfer, and you don't have to deal with one larger gift all at once.
- Impact: As a monthly donor, you can see the effects of your support over time — for as little as $10/month, you can make a significant difference in supporting ANCA’s mission.
- Efficiency: Regular contributions allow us to budget more effectively and focus on our mission, goals, and programs, including the ANCA Mentor Program, CONNECTS, Discussion Forums, Directions journal, Summits, Peer Consults, and the ANCA Job Board.
As part of the Sustaining Leadership Program, monthly donors receive unique communications throughout the year. In January, we send monthly donors a summary of their contributions for the previous year.
Other ways to give
In addition to the options above, we offer other ways to give:
Planned Giving Legacy Society
You can leave a long-lasting legacy by remembering ANCA with a gift from your estate. The ANCA Legacy Society is a program established by the ANCA Board of Directors to encourage members to leave planned (future) gifts to the organization. A planned gift is any major donation, made in lifetime or at death, as part of your overall financial and/or estate planning.
When a donor informs ANCA of a planned gift, or a gift is received, ANCA will honor the donor with membership in our legacy group, the ANCA Legacy Society. Unless otherwise designated by the donor, ANCA Legacy Society gifts will be used to secure ANCA’s financial future and be invested to build and maintain the ANCA Operational Reserve and the ANCA Endowment.
For further information, contact:
Jen Levy, Executive Director
Association of Nature Center Administrators
PO Box 464
Logan, Utah 84321
435-787-8209
Thank you to the members of the ANCA Legacy Society:
- Larry Richardson, Founding Member
- Charity Krueger, Founding Member
- Bob Mercer, Founding Member
- Tim Sandsmark, Founding Member
- Patty Weisse & George Thomas, Founding Members
- Jason & Kate Meyer and Family, Founding Members
- Ann Rilling, Founding Member
- Jen Levy, Founding Member
- Brooks Paternotte
- Karla VanderZanden
Nature Nerd Campaign
Embrace your inner Nature Nerd and support ANCA!
Since 2015, ANCA Donors have supported the Richard Haley Memorial Fund and the ANCA Operational Reserve through the ANCA Nature Nerd Campaign. With a contribution, donors may choose to receive a Nature Nerd pin to proudly display their support and their nature nerdiness. Each year’s pin is unique and a celebration of the ANCA Community.
Your $30 donation, along with all other Nature Nerddonations,will be invested in the ANCA Operational Reserve. This fund was established to provide ANCA with the financial resources necessary to operate during difficult financial times ensuring that we can continue to provide our members the support and resources they need.
And if you want to be extra nerdy and extra awesome, please consider increasing your donation. You will have the option of choosing Nature Nerd pins from previous years – they make fabulously nerdy gifts!
Past Years' Pins
Vehicle Donations
Donate your car, truck, motorcycle, RV, or boat, and we'll turn your vehicle into cash to support our mission. To do this we partner with CARS, a nonprofit that assists other nonprofits with vehicle donations.
Donating skips the costs and hassles associated with selling a car, like paying for advertising and insurance, or for car repairs to keep your car in running condition while you wait for a buyer. The donationcomes at no cost to you. Once you've initiated your donation, CARS will reach out to you to arrange the pick-up of your vehicle.You'll receive an initial car donation receipt upon pick-up.
Vehicle donation pick-up is always free to you and most vehicles can be picked up within 24-72 hours. Once your vehicle is sold, we will provide you proper tax forms in time to file.You may qualify for a tax deduction.
Contributing to a particular fund
There are several funds that you can choose from:
Annual Fund
Are you someone who...
- Loves your community nature or environmental learning center?
- Benefits from the conservation and education efforts of the nature and environmental learning center movement?
- Wants to join ANCA in our efforts to strengthen connections to nature?
Are you an ANCA member who...
- Talked with a Mentor or Colleague? Recognize your mentor or mentee — give in their honor!
- Learned something through the ANCA Discussion Forum?
- Realized you are not alone — the ANCA Network is one phone call or email away!
Your support of ANCA's Annual Fund helps all of this continue through allowing ANCA staff to continue to put on ANCA's networking events and platforms, ANCA services like Peer Consults, and our efforts to represent the voice of the profession.
Endowment Fund
A gift to the ANCA Endowment Fund supports our programs and services forever. The fund is invested in perpetuity, according to the ANCA Investment Policy, generating income to support yearly operational needs.
Richard Haley Memorial Scholarship Fund
Established in 2006 in memory of long-time ANCA member Richard Haley, this endowment funds scholarships for ANCA Annual Summit and ANCA Outdoor School Summit participants. Summit scholarships offer nature center professionals the opportunity to attend these national gatherings that might not otherwise be able to afford such valuable leadership training. Preference is given to those who are new in the field, represent centers with low budgets, and are first-time attendees.
Please help us support additional nature center leaders. Donate in honor of Richard and invest in the future of the nature and environmental learning center profession through leaders like this 2023 Summit participant:
“I can say with certainty that it was the best professional development conference I have ever attended. It gave me so much: the ability to enjoy nature at the center we were at and Maine on the field trips. The sessions were incredible — learning from so many leaders in the field that have so many years of great leadership was invaluable to me. I took something valuable from every session and every talk I had.”
Bridging the Gap
While the Richard Haley Memorial Scholarship Fund supports ANCA Summit Scholarships through its annual distribution, we receive significantly more scholarship applications than we can fund each year.
Given this need, every year we lead the Bridging the Gap Campaign, designed specifically to receive donations from organizations, friends groups, and boards to support our peers and invest in our profession. We’ve heard for years that the ANCA Summit is a transformative experience for so many leaders in the field, and as such, receiving a scholarship can make a world of difference for the organizations those leaders serve.
ANCA offers two scholarship opportunities for the Annual Summit:
- Community Scholarships are awarded to senior management staff who demonstrate the greatest need and potential impact the Summit will have on their position; these scholarships provide up to $600. Community Scholarships are competitive, and priority is given to applicants with small budgets and first-time attendees. This scholarship is not available to applicants who have received two or more scholarships in the past.
- Equity Scholarships cover $1000 of Summit registration and travel for attendees who identify as part of or work with underrepresented groups (e.g., urban centers, rural centers, BIPOC, Differently-abled, LGBTQIA+ members). This scholarship is for participants attending an in-person Summit for the first time.
Please help us bridge the gap and bring more professionals to the Summit! Consider a $100 sponsorship from your center, friends group, or board for the ANCA Summit Scholarship Bridging the Gap Campaign. Your contribution will directly support a Summit Attendee in need of assistance.
Operational Reserve
In our Strategic Plan, ANCA 2025, we have identified a strategic priority of having organizational capacity and financial stability to meet our current and future objectives. The ANCA Operational Reserve is an unrestricted fund set aside to support ANCA during difficult financial times. Our goal is to grow the fund to 3-6 months of operational support. Your support of this fund helps ensure our financial stability.
Innovation Fund
Innovation is crucial to the continuing success of any organization.
The ANCA Innovation Fund is an unrestricted fund, established in 2021, to be used at the discretion of the executive director and the board of directors for opportunities that will support and enhance the mission of ANCA.
Further information
ANCA is a 501(c)(3) organization and contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. We endorse the Donor's Bill of Rights, which declares our transparency and accountability to donors, and have earned Candid's Platinum Seal of Transparency,the highest level of recognition for transparency.