Olympic Nature Experience gets a boost with $10,500 grant
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Thanks to help from some fellow nonprofits, Olympic Nature Experience recently received a $10,500 grant to expand programs for children and families.
The grant is from the Benjamin N. Phillips Memorial Fund, through the Seattle Foundation.
Earlier this year, Olympic Nature Experience — a 3-year-old nonprofit that offers nature programs for children and families — found an increasing demand for Owl’s Hollow, its all-outdoor nature preschool, but wasn’t up for the challenge of meeting that demand yet.
“It was only April and we were already full before we had even opened registration for new families,” Sarah Salazar-Tipton, director and lead teacher of ONE, said. “We felt that we have something valuable to offer to our community, but we couldn’t yet expand without a stronger foundation. We needed a plan and a lot of help.”
ONE board members created a plan to develop a home base, hire personnel and expand programs. They soon found help from local, more experienced nonprofits: Olympic View Community Foundation, the Dungeness River Audubon Center and the North Olympic Land Trust, each of which mentored and assisted Salazar-Tipton and staff in applying for their first grant.
“These organizations mentored us and ensured we were ready to apply for our first grant and grow in a way that was sustainable and good for the community,” Salazar-Tipton said.
The organization also found support through local author and business owner Katy Bowman of Nutritious Movement, who donated the use of office space so the organization could hire personnel and expand programs.
The final phase of the plan fell into place recently when Olympic Nature Experience received its first grant.
“This was a huge milestone for us and we are so grateful to our community for its help,” ONE board chairman Kia Armstrong said. “And now we are ready to give back to our community by meeting the need for more nature programs for children and families. We recently expanded our programs and increased the age range for children. We are extremely excited to be receiving such support and are staying responsive to what our community wants.”
To learn more about Olympic Nature Experience, visit OlympicNatureExperience.org.
