Startup Funders

 

Who better than the American Avalanche Association to step up first to the challenge of developing an American snow research center in Silverton, Colorado? At their fall meeting in 2002, the Board of Directors of the AAA unanimously voted to 'seed' the formation of the CSAS with $2,500. Shortly thereafter, the Janss Family Foundation of Sun Valley, Idaho, matched the AAA's contribution with another $2,500. CISSAR, the CSAS's Silverton forerunner established by Chris George in the 1990s, donated its remaining funds. Those initial cash contributions enabled the CSAS to 'open shop' in the fall of 2002. Several other significant in-kind contributors have also nurtured our early organizational development:

San Juan County - $1,181 in donated office rents for Room 8 in the historic Miners Hospital
Holland & Hart - $3,000 in donated legal services
Chris Landry - waived first-year salary, equipped office
Mark Rikkers - $850 in donated website development services

Even more encouraging, our direct appeal to peers and colleagues in the American snow science community yielded nearly $9,000 in "Friends of the CSAS" cash contributions since the fall of 2003. Their vote of confidence in our effort, and their substantial personal investment in this shared vision for an American Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies, propelled us forward.

Building on that foundation, in early 2004 the CSAS was awarded an $80,000 US Forest Service Rural Development, Forestry and Communities grant requested and received on behalf of the CSAS by the Mountain Studies Institute, our sister organization in mountain system science and education here in Silverton. Upon receiving that grant CSAS President Don Bachman stated, "We are particularly gratified and honored to receive this timely funding from the Forest Service". He added, "The Forest Service kick-started American avalanche science and practice in Alta in the '50's. Now, combining these $80,000 with the some $85,000 in 'bootstrap' cash and in-kind investments made by the American Avalanche Association and our peers in snow science and practice, and by the Janss Family Foundation, our Board of Directors, and our staff, we are poised to firmly establish a 21st century national snow science asset. And, we're proud to accept these funds on behalf of the Silverton community, which has an important history of contribution to American avalanche science and lore." Of course, we remain grateful to the Mountain Studies Institute and to former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell for that very important startup grant, and to all those who matched those funds and enabled the CSAS to successfully launch this organization.