Impact Stories

Since 2011, the Seattle Foundation has been supporting local nonprofits through #GiveBIG, a one-day online giving campaign. Each year it brings together nonprofits across the Pacific Northwest to ignite powerful, rewarding philanthropy in order to build a stronger, more vibrant community for all. Read more…

Outdoor experiences with The Mountaineers are transformative. We are explorers who seek adventure and challenge. We teach skills and inspire new generations of adventurers, building community and creating lifelong memories. New leaders are forged on windswept ridges and in deep, forested valleys. We come home with a passion to share and a resolution to protect wild places - the places we love. Our outdoor experiences are imbued with commitment and conviction. In short: we adventure with purpose.  Read more…

On Sunday, January 21, a group of 30 donors and volunteers gathered at the Seattle Program Center to celebrate the long overdue completion of the Friction Slabs project. The idea was born in 2012. Plans were drawn and funds were raised, however the process became much more of a lift than anyone could have anticipated. Fast forward six years, and we have (as far as we can tell) the only fabricated friction slab training structure in existence!  Read more…

We're thrilled to announce we've received two grants to help us use the power of the outdoor experience to transform the lives of underserved teen girls. The North Face Explore Fund awarded a $9,000 grant to our Mountain Workshops partnership with Young Women Empowered (Y-WE), and Sports 4 Life awarded a $5,000 grant to fund indoor and outdoor climbing activities for both Y-WE and Beacon Interagency's Climbing Challenge Series. Read more…

At The Mountaineers, we know the power of nature to restore our souls and inspire our spirits. We're proud of the service of our active-duty and veteran members and their efforts to preserve our own Freedom of the Hills for future generations. To celebrate Veteran's Day, we highlight a Mountaineer whose dedication helps our club and our country. Read more…

The Mountaineers lost a good friend and great person when Ben Miller passed away on June 12, 2017, following a 2+ year battle with brain cancer. Read more…

If you were one of hundreds of Mountaineers who woke up early on Wednesday to join us for our second annual fundraising breakfast, Thank You! This early morning adventure to downtown Seattle brought hundreds of outdoor enthusiasts together to celebrate and champion our public lands. The messages shared inspired us with renewed commitment to protect our wild places. As our CEO Tom Vogl said: Read more…

We love Workplace Giving programs as an extra way to support The Mountaineers. They give you an easy way to double the impact of your volunteer time, membership dues, and charitable donations with an employer match! Read more…

We end every staff meeting by sharing what we call "mission moments." These inspiring stories of when we get to witness our mission in action reflect the positive impact of our work on the outdoor community and bring us the warm fuzzies inside. As staff, we find these reminders invigorating, helping us understand the broad reach of our mission to help people get outside. Read more…

For GiveBIG, you helped us raise over $18,000, exceeding our $10,000 match goal. In total, we raised over $28,000, making this our most successful GiveBIG yet! Read more…

GiveBIG is May 10 – the day when nonprofits in Seattle and across the Pacific Northwest rally together to fundraise for important efforts that make living in this amazing place so special. Once again, we’re excited to participate. Last year, we raised over $14,000 from our generous donors. This year, we’re doubling our goal to raise $30k! Will you help us get there? Read more…

Giving back is what Mountaineers do best. In my nearly six years at The Mountaineers I can’t remember a day when I haven't experienced or observed an act of giving time, talent, or treasure from a member. Each of these moments warms my heart and brings a smile to my face. One act stands above nearly all for me – a generous major gift from Jim Lea. Read more…

Today our National Parks celebrate their 100th birthday! We're lucky to have three parks to explore in our own backyard. Whether climbing to Camp Muir on Rainer, paddling across Ross Lake in the North Cascades, or hiking the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympics, these breathtaking places are a gift to all of us every day. Read more…

Meet Our Parks | Your Adventure's Tom Vogl. Together with his oldest son, James, he will do a one day climb of Mt. Shuksan's Fisher Chimneys.  Read more…

The Mountaineers offers the Basic Alpine Climbing Course in five of our seven branches. In this course, students learn the basic skills needed to climb peaks in the Cascade and Olympic ranges. In addition to learning skills, students become part of a climbing community and often connect with lifelong climbing partners. As we near the end of May, our courses are wrapping up their skills sessions, and the climbing season is beginning! Check out the experience that Seattle student, Cody Golden, wanted to share: Read more…

After going through a difficult time in my life, I knew I wanted to challenge myself by trying something I've always wanted to do — climbing! In 2013, I signed up for my first climbing course with The Mountaineers. Read more…

How can we ensure the iconic lands “made for you and me” continue to be the gateway for falling in love with and protecting the natural world? Can our national parks be more inviting and better reflect the rich diversity of America? Will they remain world-class destinations? Can our parks become models for sustainability? Read more…

Anyone who has put together a fundraising gala is likely to agree — the planning phase is type-two fun — enjoyed best in retrospect. Planning this sort of thing is stressful. Ideas, people, logistics. and all the other little details must fall into place. Every step becomes a mini leap of faith. When it all comes together – and the stars align – you’ve created a memorable evening for your guests, while achieving your fundraising goals. The stars definitely aligned for The Mountaineers special event, BREAKTHROUGH: expect the unexpected in April, and we unexpectedly shattered all goals. Read more…

The best part of my job is visiting with donors. It’s satisfying to see a donor’s reaction to the stories I share about the various ways that she has made an impact on the community with her contributions. But it’s even more gratifying to hear how donors began their love affair with the outdoors and what inspired them to make their first gift to The Mountaineers. Read more…

I’m often filled with a sense of gratitude when I start the process of selecting, interviewing and featuring a donor for this column. It the week of Thanksgiving when I wrote this piece, so that feeling of gratitude was amplified and got me thinking about things for which I am thankful. Of course, I’m grateful for the many donors who generously give to the Mountaineers, but I’m also grateful to have a wonderful family. My parents instilled in us a strong work ethic, the value of giving back, and the practices of being thankful, kind and mindful. We belonged to a church so folks modeled many of these qualities, but the concept of giving “time, talent and treasures” was taken to a whole new level when I started working at The Mountaineers. Read more…

Mountaineers members are active people, and we have the numbers to show it! Simply by looking at the trips our leaders have posted online, our membership has done some serious human-powered travel so far in 2015 - over 72k miles and 22 MILLION feet of elevation gain (and we've got plenty of time for more)!  Read more…

When I arrived in June 2011, The Mountaineers had recently achieved 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and fundraising was in its infancy. With the exception of dedicated campaigns to raise funds for capital projects, like the basalt columns in the courtyard of the Seattle Program Center, efforts to raise unrestricted dollars for budding youth, conservation and yet-to-be-developed volunteer programs were just getting off the ground. The concept of inviting members and volunteers – who already give a significant amount of time – to make an additional investment of dollars in these programs was new and risky. Read more…

Thank you! We asked you to GiveBIG on May 5^th, and you DID. Because of you, we raised over $10,000 for The Mountaineers Programs with The Seattle Foundation! Read more…

Do you ever marvel at how beautiful our state is? From lush forests, to magnificent glaciated peaks to the shores of Puget Sound, we live in an awe-inspiring place. Read more…

You’d be hard pressed to miss the invitations and communications over the past couple of months about our Mountaineers BREAKTHROUGH fundraising event on April 11. With an all-star lineup of climbers in the program, you’re probably wondering why we’re writing about it in relationship to conservation. Well, underlying the climbing theme of the evening is the impact story about why anyone should care about The Mountaineers efforts to get people outside – conservation is a primary driver of that story. Read more…

fric·tion
/'frikSH(e)n/
The resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another
slab
/slab/
A large, thick, flat piece of stone, concrete, or wood Read more…

We're teaming up with AmazonSmile to support the mission of The Mountaineers - to get more people outside enjoying the lands and waters of our beautiful Pacific Northwest. Read more…

Those of us who work in the nonprofit sector believe what we do for a living supports a mission to make a difference in the world. In the nine years I’ve spent working in development for nonprofits, I’ve come to appreciate that it’s actually partnerships with donors that truly advance an organization’s vision to make the world a better place. Read more…

In the three years I’ve been with The Mountaineers, I’ve discovered our members live long and rich lives.  Read more…