2021 has been a tremendous year for Friends of the San Juans. As you’ve read in our newsletters and as you heard at our Annual Meeting last month, we’ve matured as an organization this year, and we’ve had terrific programmatic successes. In every case, the financial support of our members and donors made those accomplishments possible — thank you!
In the coming year, we will expand our work and increase our effectiveness. Why? It’s no exaggeration to say that climate change and rapid development pressures are approaching crisis proportions in the San Juan Islands — Friends must grow to meet these challenges.
You have a part to play in expanding Friends’ efforts in the coming year to protect what you love — we can’t do it without you! Last year, roughly 40% of our budget came from members and donors like you. In the coming month, you’ll hear more from us about the many opportunities for year-end giving. The amount we raise between now and year’s end will be directly proportional to how much we can accomplish in 2022. It’s time to step up: If you share our concerns about the times ahead, we urge you to consider increasing your annual donation to help expand Friends’ mission-driven work.
We have a $150,000 challenge match from our Board of Directors and core donors! This means your donation is matched, dollar-for-dollar, up to $150,000! Please make your donation or renew your membership before December 20th.
During Friends’ strategic planning this year, one of the fun exercises we did was designing an imaginary new bumper sticker — how would we summarize ourselves in one phrase? One of the ideas we came up with was: FRIENDS — WE GET STUFF DONE. (It’s possible that we didn’t use the word “stuff”…) We love that sentiment, because it captures our can-do, impact-oriented approach to protecting and restoring the San Juan Islands and the Salish Sea. This community’s values — your values — place an incredibly high priority on environmental stewardship and long-term thinking. The core work of Friends is to turn those values into action — we know that’s a key role for Friends in this community. Our members and donors know that a year-end donation to Friends of the San Juans means that together we will take ACTION in the year ahead.
Thank you for your values-based, year-end support for the mission-driven work at Friends of the San Juans. It will take all of us.
