FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 31, 2006

Contact: Kirsten Johnson
Development Communications Coordinator
800-332-4280, ext. 2276

Outdoor Leadership School Awarded Kresge Foundation Grant

Lander, Wyo. – The National Outdoor Leadership School(NOLS) has been awarded an important challenge grant from The Kresge Foundation.  The grant of $500,000 was made to the NOLS International Base Camp Initiative.  This five-year, $10 million capital campaign will establish a Lander campus to support NOLS operations worldwide.  The campaign has two primary linked components – construction of an international headquarters building and the renovation of the historic Noble Hotel.

Based in Troy, Michigan, The Kresge Foundation was founded in 1924 and supports a range of national and international organizations representing almost the entire breadth of the nonprofit sector.  The grant to NOLS was made through the Capital Challenge Grant program to build program facilities and challenge private giving.

NOLS will put these funds to good use through the renovation of the historic Noble Hotel in downtown Lander.  Built in 1918 as a respite for travelers, the Noble Hotel has provided a home away from home for NOLS students and staff for over thirty years.  The support of The Kresge Foundation will not only work to modernize a touchstone for the NOLS community, but will also help to restore a Wyoming landmark.   

NOLS Executive Director John Gans had this to say about the award, “Receiving the Kresge grant is a huge vote of confidence in our organization and in this campaign.  We know The Kresge Foundation does one of the most thorough checks of an organization’s integrity and stability, and we are very pleased to have the opportunity to challenge our donors with this incentive.”

The National Outdoor Leadership School, a non-profit organization, is the leader in wilderness education.  For forty years NOLS has offered courses in the world’s most spectacular classrooms.  Through courses from two-weeks to three months, NOLS teaches leadership skills, wilderness skills and environmental studies to motivated students of all ages.