Endowments

Washington Trails Association currently benefits from several endowments and an endowment-style fund that will allow your gift to grow and be used in a sustainable manner over time.

Make a gift with lasting impact by designating your gift to any one or more of Washington Trails Association's funds:

Greg Ball Trail Fund

Greg Ball, founder of WTA's trail maintenance program.

Four years after establishing this Fund, WTA is approaching an important milestone: $500,000 in contributed gifts. To help us reach this mark by the end of the summer 2008, two anonymous donors will match every gift made to the Greg Ball Trail Fund until we reach this goal.

The Greg Ball Trail Fund honors the leadership and inspiration of Greg Ball, who founded Washington Trails Association's volunteer trail maintenance program in 1993. WTA's trail maintenance program now maintains more than 100 miles of trail each year, with more than 2,000 volunteers brushing, clearing and reconstructing Washington's best-loved hiking trails.

The Trail Fund was set up specifically at Greg's request to generate income for trail maintenance in Washington. The Fund provides a steady source of private revenue to match volunteer efforts and stretch limited public dollars so that hiking trails in Washington will remain well cared for generations to come.

With the Greg Ball Trail Fund, WTA is committed to preserving Greg Ball's legacy of quality trail work and a positive volunteer experience.

Make a gift to the Greg Ball Trail Fund online.

Washington Trails Association Endowment

A gift to the Washington Trails Association Endowment will ensure the future of our work for hikers across all program areas – information for hikers, grassroots advocacy, and volunteer trail maintenance.  A gift to our general endowment will provide for the long-range sustainability of the organization. 

All memorial gifts given to Washington Trails Association (that are not otherwise dedicated) are placed in our general endowment fund, forever entwining the legacy of a loved one with our lasting commitment to the hiking community.

The Stusser Endowment for Hiker News and Reports

Washington Trails magazine provides hikers with the information and inspiration they need to hike in Washington—and to take care of the trails they enjoy.  Our website serves thousands of hikers from Washington and around the world by providing up-to-the-minute information about Washington’s backcoutnry.  Among the sites most popular features are the 2,000 trip reports that are submitted online every season.

WTA’s is proud to serve as a hiker’s best resource, a legacy that has a secure future with the help of the Stusser Endowment.  Proceeds from the Stusser Endowment support new features that improve the content and appeal of WTA’s magazine and web site. The endowment’s benefactors, Herb and Isabel Stusser, are long-time WTA supporters with a particular appreciation for the information WTA provides to hikers. 

“I’ve always loved the magazine and have read it cover-to-cover from the beginning,” Herb said.  “It has given our family countless ideas for hiking locations in Washington. As for the web-page, I think it’s fantastic: so much good information in a very easy-to-use format. These two resources are the reason Isabel and I wanted to establish an endowment fund that will help to support and enhance them over the years.”

It is Herb and Isabel Stusser’s hope that by establishing this endowment, they’ll encourage others to support WTA’s key communication tools for the long-term.  Additional gifts to the Stusser Endowment are welcomed and encouraged. To lend your support for helpful, up-to-date information for hikers, simply designate your next gift to the Stusser Endowment. 

Mondal Youth Endowment

The Mondal Youth Endowment will promote outdoor education and trail maintenance projects for young people. It is imperative that WTA take an active role in introducing young people to the wonders of nature in order to create more conservationists for the future.

The idea for the fund came from WTA board member Ken Mondal. “Leaving something of an environmental legacy is important to me and I am glad that I found just the right organization to help me accomplish that,” says Mondal. He hopes his pledge will inspire others to contribute to Washington Trails Association’s youth programs. Additional gifts to the Mondal Youth Endowment are welcome.

“My ultimate hope,” said Ken, “is that the Mondal Youth Endowment will influence many future generations of youth and instill in them a deep love and reverence for our forests and trails.”

To learn more - or to make a contribution - to any of these funds, please contact WTA Development Director Lace Thornberg at (206) 965-8559 or lace@wta.org.