Support Wolf Ridge
Giving generations of students the opportunity to learn outside.
Established in 1971, Wolf Ridge is the largest accredited residential environmental education center in the United States and the first Environmental Learning Center of its kind to be accredited as a K-12 school. We offer over 50+ classes and experiences to thousands of visiting students each year.
By supporting Wolf Ridge today, you’ll provide a one-of-a-kind opportunity for students to gain the skills needed to become informed citizens, ready to take on the environmental issues facing every generation now and into the future.
1,000+
Graduate naturalists trained and mentored by Wolf Ridge staff
700,000+
Students who have attended Wolf Ridge since we opened in 1971
14,000+
Adventure ropes classes made possible by donor support each year
Make a direct impact with your gift to Wolf Ridge.
- Bring K-12 students to stay on campus with the help of school scholarships
- Help youth attend the largest summer camp in Minnesota focused on environmental education
- Support our endowment for a sustainable future
- Build a campus that serves as a teaching tool for sustainable living.
- Provide organic food from the Wolf Ridge farm for 1000’s of student meals.
Wolf Ridge Annual Reports
Give Today
Your one-time gift or ongoing support is the best way to ensure future generations can experience of Wolf Ridge. Your contribution amounts and frequency can change at any time.
Planned Giving
Make a lasting gift by including Wolf Ridge in your will or estate plan. By joining The Leaders of the Pack you can impact our programming for generations to come.
Endowed Funds
By creating an endowment with our organization—or adding to our existing endowment—you can create a lasting legacy that honors your values for many years to come.
Donors Brought the First Living Building Renovation in the World to Wolf Ridge
In 2017, we completed the Lakeview Student Lodge. It was our first living building project. In 2021, our renovation of the old West Dorm – the new Margaret A. Cargill Lodge – received full living building certification.
To achieve this rigorous standard, the 22,000-square foot Wolf Ridge MAC Lodge has proved its ability to achieve Net Positive Energy and Net Positive Water over a 12-month period, generating more energy than it consumes.
Join The Leaders of the Pack
Are you interested in helping Wolf Ridge achieve its mission but are not ready to write a check and reduce your assets today?
By joining the Leaders of the Pack and leaving a charitable bequest to Wolf Ridge in your retirement plans, will, or revocable trust, you’ll ensure our organization continues to offer the highest quality environmental education for generations to come.
Making Waves Campaign Update
Generous donors made the following projects possible:
- The Margaret A. Cargill (MAC) Lodge was the first renovation project in the world to be fully certified as a Living Building by the International Living Future Institute. The MAC Lodge brings lessons from the classroom back to the dorm room by serving as a teaching tool for sustainable living and construction.
- The Lake Superior Field station now offers trails on our 68-acre site along the Lake Superior shoreline. Facilities include an observation deck overlooking the lake, a classroom yurt, and restrooms. This unique classroom adds vital educational opportunities in freshwater literacy to our extensive curriculum.
- We dramatically improved the housing experience for students in our graduate naturalist training program. The Lakeview Staff House meets Living Building Challenge standards and allows graduate students to live and learn our mission on a daily basis in a Net Zero energy and Net Zero water facility.
- We constructed a new maintenance building with defined space for staff, equipment, and tools. By generating a unified workspace for our facilities team, we are better able to support their efforts to efficiently maintain our world-class facilities.
Volunteering at Wolf Ridge
Making a difference
The Wolf Ridge volunteer program has been thriving for 50+ years, with support from over 500 caring people who have wanted to help educate 12,000+ visitors each year. We are one of the largest rural employers in Lake County, but we also rely on support from volunteers to help keep our programs running safely and efficiently all year long. Volunteer opportunities are flexible and adaptable to individual backgrounds, interests and skills.
Volunteer Voice
Create an Endowment with Wolf Ridge
- You give cash, securities, or other assets to an existing endowment or an endowment you create with our organization. If you can’t give up assets today, consider making the gift in your will or other estate plans, specifying that you would like your gift to be used to fund an endowment.
- You determine if your endowment will be designated to fund a specific program or service. However, we prefer that your gift is given without restrictions to allow our board of trustees to direct the fund to our most critical needs.
- We use a small portion of the fund to support our mission, but the balance always remains invested in order to perpetuate the fund.
With your generosity, you can impact programming and environmental education initiatives that will have a lasting impact on taking care of our environment for generations to come.
Contact Us
Fill out the form below or contact Wolf Ridge development director Meredith St. Pierre.
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