Nonprofit that gets city kids to the mountains receives major donation

Big City Mountaineers, a Colorado-based non-profit that has been providing outdoors opportunities for young people from “disinvested communities” since 1990, recently received a pledge of $300,000 from an anonymous donor to help ensure the organization’s long-term viability.

Headquartered in Arvada, the organization serves youth in Colorado as well as Boston, Miami, Minneapolis, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle. It runs week-long backpacking “expeditions” as well as overnight camping trips. Since its inception it has organized more than 1,100 trips, providing more than 45,000 nights in nature, and served more than 11,000 youth.

“Coming out of the pandemic, social unrest, a reckoning with race, class and power, all of this has caused our society to be less mentally healthy — to be more fractured in a tribal sense,” said executive director David Taus. “I would say the most effective way to break down those barriers is to get outside and do something physical. And, it’s one of the best ways to help someone advance their physical health, mental health, social-emotional health, well-being.”

The identity of the foundation making the $300,000 donation is being kept anonymous, but it is a long-time donor to BCM.

“They said, ‘We want to set you up for success in perpetuity. We’d like to help you set up a permanent endowment so the endowment gives you x-amount every year,’” Taus said. “The idea is that over the next five years they will seed that initiative by giving us $300,000.”

Dividends on that $300,000 will provide BCM with $10-$15,000 annually. That will cover only 2% to 3% of the organization’s overall costs of operation, Taus said, but it’s a step toward long-term sustainability.

“The $300,000 gift is the start and the seed of something,” Taus said. “I’m thinking through what goals we have to grow that. Can we find a way to double that? Can we find a way to get that to $1 million? This is the first real push towards a financially sustainable fund that will ensure BCMs long-term success.”

More information on BCM can be found at bigcitymountaineers.org.

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