Signpost Blog

"Washington Trails Association has a huge impact on health and happiness in our state -- one hike at a time." -- Cristie A., Everett

Thanks, Cristie. And thanks to each and every hiker -- 446 in all -- who joined her in making a gift to trails during The Seattle Foundation's GiveBIG event on May 15. Your amazing outpouring of support truly will help stretch our impact this year.

Your gifts will help clear, repair or build 35+ trails in the next 30 days

More about that in a moment. But first we can't help celebrating the fact that WTA ranked #7 by number of donations out of 1,300 participating nonprofits. You gave an astounding $55,805 to trails -- putting WTA at #27 by amount received.

The 24-hour online event raised a staggering $11.1 million to help make our region a better place to live, work and play. An additional $1 million matching pool will "stretch" these dollars even further and we're eagerly awaiting word from The Seattle Foundation about how much your gifts will be matched by GiveBIG sponsors.

Your GiveBIG contributions will help WTA go where we're needed most, right now.

In the next 30 days, WTA will be working to clear, repair or build more than 35 different trails across the state -- places like Lake Serene near Stevens Pass, Marmot Pass in the Olympics, and the Wonderland Trail at Rainier. Your generosity has increased our ability to say "yes" when a land manager asks for our help to repair winter storm damage.

Your generosity keeps WTA a strong voice for hikers

You'll keep us advocating for State Parks during the special legislative session in Olympia, advocating for King County trail funding, working to keep access to trailheads open. And, as always, your gifts will keep the great ideas for hiking coming your way on our website.

More thanks to GiveBIG sponsors

Last year, YOU helped WTA raise more than $48,000 from The Seattle Foundation's extraordinary one-day GiveBIG campaign. On a day that the Seattle philanthropic community was urging their supporters to give, WTA's members came out in droves to support and promote our work throughout the day.

This year's GiveBIG challenge will be held on May 15

Hikers: help break giving records again this year

Your past GiveBIG donations helped WTA set new records for trails in 2012. You put trails on the map by making WTA 6th overall for gifts received and 21st in total amount received out of 1,200 nonprofits.

You can take this year's GiveBIG challenge by making a special gift to trails on May 15. It's easy! Just visit WTA's page on The Seattle Foundation website anytime on May 15 to grow your gift for trails. WTA will receive 100% of what you give, plus additional matching funds for a portion of your contribution.

Your donations to WTA matched on May 15

The more you and your fellow hikers contribute, the greater WTA's share of matching funds - and the more we can achieve for trails. On top of everything else, every hour The Seattle Foundation will award a "Golden Ticket" worth $1,000 to the non-profit that is selected by random drawing from all donations made in the last hour. Honor the trails you love by being that donor!

>> Remember to bookmark WTA's page on The Seattle Foundation website, then go online and make a gift between 12am and midnight next Wednesday, May 15 -- and encourage your friends to do the same.

Who sponsors GiveBIG?

Spread the word! Washington Trails Association is now hiring for our first Information Systems Manager.

• Do you know what CRM stands for? Can you articulate to your non-techie nonprofit colleagues how it will help them run their programs more effectively?
• Did you go to last year's Dreamforce conference and get more excited about learning Salesforce admin tips and tricks than seeing performances by MC Hammer and the Red Hot Chili Peppers?
• When you login to wta.org to save hikes using My Backpack, do you wonder why you can't also see which trail work parties you're registered for, or see the expiration date of your WTA membership?

If you answered yes to these questions, then you might just be the forward-thinking technology administrator and project manager we're looking for.

Join a great team

The Information Systems Manager will work closely with staff from WTA's fundraising, volunteer trail maintenance and communications teams to manage our Salesforce database. The position will also spearhead upcoming projects to better integrate Salesforce with wta.org and other internal systems.

One of the cool things about coming to work for WTA - besides the great mission, of course - is that each of your 20+ colleagues is a Salesforce user. Those you'll work with most closely are equally excited to help take our Salesforce system to the next level. In fact, your ability to collaborate with us and keep us moving toward our goals is exactly what we need.

How technical is the position?

So how much of a techie do you need to be? You'll be encouraged to work with outside vendors when we need programming and other way-technical expertise (though if you have those skills we'll certainly be impressed.)

Apply by May 31

Click here to view the full job description [PDF} and instructions on how to apply. The application closing date is May 31. The position will be based in our downtown Seattle office at 20-30 hours/week to start with the potential for full time work in the future. Fortunately, WTA offers great benefits even for part-timers.

This week, Washington Trails Association volunteers will brave the chilly winter weather to take care of trail maintenance needs up and down the state, from Larrabee State Park to Cougar Mountain to Cape Horn in the Columbia Gorge.

Those of us back in the office are busy processing your year-end donations. While we're not done counting yet, I want to take a moment to say a huge THANK YOU to the hundreds of individuals who made a year-end contribution—and helped us surpass our $70,000 year-end goal.

We are especially grateful to those of you who stepped up to meet our online challenge in late December. Your gifts were DOUBLED by WTA's board of directors and select members of our Fireside Circle!

Individual members and donors like you power more than half of our work each year. Your generosity gives WTA a great start to 2013 as we gear up for Hiker Lobby Day on Feb. 7, map out which trails need our volunteer crews most in the months ahead, and continue to improve the hiking resources at wta.org.

Whether you're a loyal member or new to WTA, we'd love to thank you in person at our open house on January 24.

Looking for a final hiking challenge of 2012? Here's one that doesn't even require rain gear or snowshoes.

Make a gift to Washington Trails Association by midnight Sunday, December 30—and every dollar you give online will be matched, dollar-for-dollar, up to $20,000. That's right, your gift will be DOUBLED for trails thanks to a group of generous donors.

When you give to Washington Trails Association, you support the nation's largest state-based volunteer trail maintenance program. You help ensure that we remain a powerful voice for the hiking community.

You can give with confidence knowing that Charity Navigator, one of the nation’s leading charity evaluators, has awarded WTA its highest four-star rating for financial health and for our commitment to accountability and transparency.

The donors who have put up this year-end challenge know how important your support is to WTA's work in the year ahead. That's why they have issued a $20,000 challenge to Washington's hiking community.

Charity Navigator, the nation's leading charity evaluator, released a new rating for Washington Trails Association yesterday. What did we earn?  A 4-star rating—again! That's their highest possible rating.

Accountability, transparency, trust

WTA earns top marks for sound fiscal management and for our commitment to accountability and transparency.

In a letter from Charity Navigator, President Ken Berger called our 4-star designation "exceptional" and says that it "demonstrates to the public that [WTA] is worthy of their trust."

We are thrilled to receive this recognition yet again from such a respected source.

So what does this mean for hikers? If you're considering a year-end gift to WTA, you can give with confidence knowing that we'll put your contribution to good use protecting the trails you love.

> Read about what we accomplished with contributions in 2012.

> You can always find WTA's latest financial information, including last year's annual report.

The results are in!

WTA expects to take home $48,000 for trails thanks to your generous donations during GiveBIG on May 2. Our grand total includes gifts from more than 300 hikers, a "stretch" match of $4,400 and a special $2,500 match from the Eleanor Trask Fund at The Seattle Foundation.

With 38,000 donations totaling $7.4 million for more than 1,200 local nonprofits, The Seattle Foundation's GiveBIG event turned into an amazing day of giving to make our region a better place to live, work and play.

According to the Foundation's preliminary results, WTA placed #6 in number of donations received and #21 in total amount received. This is an amazing testament to the value of the work we do every day to protect and maintain trails.

We've said it before, but it bears repeating: THANK YOU for giving big to WTA!

We'd especially like to thank the staff of The Seattle Foundation for their hard work on behalf of WTA and other participating nonprofits. We also hope you'll join us in thanking the GiveBIG sponsors who contributed to the $800,000 stretch matching pool, including: Microsoft, Boeing, the Bezos Family Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, the Seattle International Foundation and the Seattle Sounders.

The past two weekends, Washington Trails Association kicked off the first of what promises to be many trail work parties at Catherine Creek in the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area.

At 11:45pm last night, Washington Trails Association received our final two contributions of GiveBIG 2012. All told, more than 310 hikers gave an astounding $41,092 to support our work to protect and maintain trails. Overall, The Seattle Foundation's event raised $7.4 million for nonprofits statewide.