By Meghan Williams, Development Associate

In September of 2021, the Conservancy was awarded a $75K matching grant challenge by The Parker Foundation for our Boulder Outlook capital campaign. This campaign is fundraising for the Conservancy’s new office, program, and events headquarters we call Boulder Outlook. It is currently being funded by our Land Fund. 

Receiving the grant wasn’t as simple as writing a grant and getting the funds–the Conservancy was given a short window of time—September 15th, 2021, to January 15th, 2022 —to raise the entire amount. As an added challenge, $25,000 had to come from “new donors” or “lapsed donors,” those who hadn’t given in the past 18 months.

We accepted the challenge and coming up with anything less than $75K wasn’t an option.

Capital fundraising campaigns are always challenging. There is a lot of competition for available donations. We were just about to get to work when we had an anonymous donor offer an additional $25,000 to match all the new donor donations! Meaning for every $1.00 donated by a new supporter, an additional $2.00 was raised.

I am delighted to say that our supporters officially rose to the challenge. In fact, we exceeded the original goal! We are so honored to have the support of the community behind the work we do in the Escondido watershed. Our donors did more than simply donate to this match. They advocated for us, helped us fundraise, and introduced our efforts to their friends, family, and neighbors. We would not have reached our goal without the efforts of all of you. 

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As the Conservancy’s Development Associate, this challenge was tough, but it was also very rewarding. Not only did we raise the amount of money needed to receive the full grant, but I was also able to reconnect with lapsed donors and meet so many new ones. 

I don’t have words to express my gratitude to you, our donors.

Thank you to The Parker Foundation for giving us this opportunity and offering to help us fund this capital campaign. Thank you to our supporters who helped us reach our goals and awarded us with the full matching grant amount (and thank you for not unsubscribing from our mailing list due to my many emails asking for more). Thank you to our staff, board, and executive director for your moral support and your efforts in helping to spread the word. 

You have all helped us get $175,000 closer to the fundraising goal for this project!

Construction at Boulder Outlook is underway!