ANNUAL FUND
Dear Friend:
Thank you for your generous past support of the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center. With your help, we continue to be strong, vibrant, and successful; fulfilling our mission to advance understanding of ecology by exploring New Hampshire’s natural world. Please show your continued support with your gift to this year’s Annual Fund appeal.
As we move toward the end of another busy season, we are delighted to report that trail visitation was up more than ten percent over last year and our lake cruises have never been busier. Attendance at this summer’s Guided Discovery courses was down a little, but the hundreds of youngsters who attended had a summer rich in creative learning and fun. One example of this is our Critter Theater – a partnership with our neighbor The Little Church Theatre. This program offers a unique combination of natural science and the arts.
Partnerships with other non-profit organizations were an ongoing theme this year. Quarterly meetings with our colleagues at the Squam Lakes Conservation Society and the Squam Lakes Association focus our attention on area-wide initiatives and cooperation. As revenue sources are stretched, it just makes sense to work together to support and augment our respective missions. We also partnered with the Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) to create a new ‘Loon Cruise.’ For ten Fridays, a LPC biologist joined a cruise and interpreted the complex biology of Squam’s Loons. Four loon chicks survived this summer and we were able to share their story with sold-out boats of enthralled visitors.
Another exciting joint venture involves the Seacoast Science Center, the Mount Washington Observatory, and the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center. Our four organizations are developing an integrated distance-learning curriculum with pilot-project funding from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. This “Sea, Lake, Summit, Sky” project envisions a series of multi-disciplinary, co-presented, interactive programs available nationwide to any web-enabled classroom.
Summer wrapped up as we hosted the Association of Nature Center Administrator’s Granite State Summit, which brought more than a hundred directors and senior staff from nature centers in 39 states and provinces for five days of workshops, field trips, networking, sharing, and fun. We were privileged and proud to showcase the Science Center to our peers from across the country and the reviews were glowing. All left in awe of our exhibits, facilities, staff, Board members, and amazing volunteers.
We hope that what we do here at the Science Center makes you proud to be a supporter.
Please help make our 2009 Annual Fund campaign exceed last year’s with your generous gift and help us continue to provide outstanding opportunities for you, your family, and all of New Hampshire’s residents and visitors to get Nearer to Nature.
Sincerely,
Iain MacLeod
Executive Director
Peter Wood
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
The IRS and the State of New Hampshire recognize the Science Center as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. Our federal tax identification number is 02-0271824. Unrestricted contributions are tax deductible to the extent the law allows.
Donors to the Annual Fund will be listed in the Annual Report unless requested otherwise. Gifts will be listed in the following categories:
| Benefactor |
$10,000 and above |
| Leader |
$5,000 - 9,999 |
| Partner |
$2,500 - 4,999 |
| Patron |
$1,000 - 2,499 |
| Associate |
$500 - 999 |
| Sponsor |
$250 - 499 |
| Supporter |
$100 - 249 |
| Colleague |
Up to $99 |
For more information please contact Janet Robertson, Development and Communications Director at janet.robertson@nhnature.org or telephone 603-968-7194, extension 12.
Site of interest: GuideStar.org - Connecting people with nonprofit information
RESCUE BILL RESTORES PENSION PROTECTION ACT
IRA ROLLOVER PROVISION HAS BEEN EXTENDED
FEDERAL LAW PROVIDES SENIORS EXTRAORDINARY GIVING OPPORTUNITY
The federal financial rescue package signed into law on October 3, 2008 included a two-year extension of the Pension Protection Act (IRA Rollover Provision), which expired at the end of 2007. The extension is retroactive, allowing tax-free distributions by taxpayers 70 ½ or older from traditional and Roth IRAs to be made directly to qualified nonprofit organizations in 2008 and 2009, in any amount up to $100,000 each year. A spouse with separate IRAs may also give up to that amount. Distributions avoid the penalty on early withdrawals.
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