Every childhood needs nature.
Every child deserves the chance to grow up with a meaningful connection to nature. Together, we’re helping make that possible.
The Youth Nature Access Fund gives our community one simple way to support trusted Central Oregon organizations working together to ensure more children have meaningful experiences in nature.
Why This Matters.
For some children, their first hike happens on a school field trip. For others, their first time spending time along the Deschutes River happens through a camp or community program.
Experiences many of us think of as a normal part of growing up in Central Oregon aren’t part of every child’s childhood.
That’s why the Youth Nature Access Fund exists.
It’s easy to assume every child growing up in Central Oregon regularly experiences nature.
After all, we live among forests, rivers, mountains, trails, and public lands that make this one of the most beautiful places in the country.
The reality is different.
For many children, school field trips and community organizations provide their primary opportunities to experience nature. Rising transportation costs, shrinking school budgets, and reduced funding have made those experiences increasingly difficult to provide.
Nature shouldn’t be something only some children experience.
Why Nature Matters
Time in nature is about much more than recreation.
Research shows it supports children’s physical health, mental well-being, confidence, attention, learning, and social development. It also helps young people develop a sense of curiosity, responsibility, and care for the world around them.
When children spend meaningful time outside, they’re not just exploring nature—they’re building relationships with the landscapes, waterways, wildlife, and communities that shape their lives.
A Better Way to Work Together
No single organization can ensure every child has the opportunity to experience nature.
Fortunately, they don’t have to.
For years, NatureConnect has convened organizations across Central Oregon that share a commitment to outdoor learning and youth development. The Youth Nature Access Fund builds on those partnerships by giving our community one simple way to invest in their collective work.
Instead of supporting one program, your gift strengthens a network of trusted organizations already creating meaningful experiences in nature for children throughout the region.
Meet the Partners
Together, these organizations offer experiences ranging from wildlife education and watershed restoration to outdoor recreation, environmental learning, and youth leadership.
Sunriver Nature Center and Observatory joining in 2027.
Youth Nature Access Fund
What Your Gift Makes Possible
Your support helps participating organizations provide
School Field Trips
Wildlife and Conservation Programs
Transportation to outdoor learning experiences
Hands-on Environmental Education
Camp Scholarships
Outdoor Recreation and Exploration
Every Childhood Deserves Nature
Help Us Reach $50,000
Our goal is to raise $50,000 by October 2026 to support outdoor learning experiences during the coming school year and summer. Every contribution helps remove a barrier between a child and a meaningful experience in nature.
Join Us
Every childhood needs nature.
Imagine a Central Oregon where every child grows up with meaningful experiences in nature, not because of where they live or what they can afford, but because our community chose to make it possible.
When we invest in children’s experiences in nature, we invest in healthier kids, stronger communities, and the future of Central Oregon.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Youth Nature Access Fund is a shared fundraising initiative coordinated by NatureConnect Central Oregon. It supports participating organizations working to connect children with nature through field trips, camps, outdoor learning, and other hands-on experiences.
The fund builds on years of collaboration among Central Oregon’s outdoor education organizations. What is new is the creation of a joint fund that allows the community to invest in their shared work.
Each participating organization brings different expertise, programs, and relationships to this work. Together, they can offer children a broader and more connected range of experiences than any one organization could provide alone.
The fund also helps the organizations address shared barriers—including transportation, program costs, camp fees, limited school resources, and the difficulty of reaching more rural communities. By fundraising collectively, the partners can extend their reach and pursue larger regional, corporate, and institutional funding opportunities that may not be available to them individually.
Please continue supporting the organizations whose work matters to you. Direct donations remain essential to sustaining each partner’s distinct programs, expertise, and mission.
The Youth Nature Access Fund serves a complementary purpose. It brings participating organizations together around one shared goal: removing the practical barriers that prevent children from participating in outdoor learning experiences. Contributions help address needs such as transportation, program fees, camp scholarships, and support for communities that may be harder for any one organization to reach alone.
Giving to the fund offers a way to strengthen youth nature access across Central Oregon rather than supporting only one type of program or experience. It also helps participating organizations coordinate their efforts, extend their collective reach, and pursue larger funding opportunities that may not be available to them individually.
You do not need to choose one or the other. Direct gifts sustain the organizations you already value; a gift to the Youth Nature Access Fund supports their shared effort to create a more connected pathway into nature for children throughout the region.
Donations help participating organizations remove practical barriers that can keep children from accessing outdoor experiences. Funding may support:
- Transportation for local and longer-distance field trips
- Field-trip program fees
- Scholarships for weeklong summer camps
- Mini-grants supporting programs for youth facing barriers to access
Specific examples include $75 to help cover transportation for a local field trip, $300 to provide one child with a weeklong summer-camp scholarship, and $1,000 to provide a community mini-grant.
NatureConnect’s Board reviews the fund twice each year, in January and July. Ten percent of the available funding is reserved for community mini-grants. The remaining funds are distributed among the participating fundraising partners, with each organization’s participation in the shared campaign taken into consideration.
This structure allows the fund to support both the participating organizations and additional community-based opportunities that advance youth nature access.
NatureConnect Central Oregon coordinates the campaign and administers the fund. Donations are designated specifically for the Youth Nature Access Fund and tracked separately in NatureConnect’s financial records.
NatureConnect is both the convener of the shared initiative and one of its participating beneficiaries. Its role includes bringing partners together, coordinating the campaign, managing contributions, overseeing the distribution process, and helping the community understand the collective impact of the fund.
The participating organizations are:
- Camp Fire Central Oregon
- Discover Your Northwest
- The Environmental Center
- High Desert Museum
- NatureConnect Central Oregon
- Think Wild
- Upper Deschutes Watershed Council
Sunriver Nature Center will participate as a spring 2027 campaign partner.
Each organization has its own mission, programs, and areas of expertise. The Youth Nature Access Fund does not combine them into a single organization; it creates a shared way to support their collective goal of connecting more Central Oregon children with nature.
Yes. Businesses, foundations, and community organizations can contribute to the Youth Nature Access Fund through our Corporate Sponsorship Program and help expand access to nature-based learning across Central Oregon.
Organizations interested in making a larger contribution, discussing sponsorship opportunities, or supporting a specific aspect of the campaign can contact Katie at NatureConnect Central Oregon.
NatureConnect and the participating partners plan to share how contributions are put to work, including the field trips, transportation, camp scholarships, mini-grants, and outdoor learning experiences supported through the fund.
Because contributions are pooled, an individual gift may not be matched to one specific child or activity. Instead, donors will see what the community’s collective support made possible across the funding cycle.