Dear Friends,

The Nature Generation is proud to celebrate 20 years of inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards. Ours has been and continues to be a story of unrelenting hope. Hope borne from the belief that we can create real and lasting change to protect our planet if we amplify others’ voices, if we share with children and young adults the important and powerful stories being told by authors, scientists, poets, illustrators, teachers, and many others. While our activities and programs have evolved over the past two decades, we have focused our efforts in three critical program areas: Read Green, Think Green, and Act Green.

Read Green includes our flagship program – The Green Earth Book Award. As the nation’s first environmental stewardship award for Children and Young Adult books, the program has helped to identify and raise the profile of the best environmental fiction and non-fiction books and their authors for almost two decades. Just as critically, we have worked hard to get these amazing books into the hands of children and young adults, where their powerful stories have the most impact.

Think Green provides invaluable free resource guides and tools focused on environmental stewardship that provide educators with ideas and lesson plans that can augment existing curricula. These resources are also fantastic tools that parents and guardians can use at home with their kids.

Act Green is driven by our STEM Seed Grants, which support efforts to engage children and young adults on issues related to STEM and environmental literacy. These grants can be used to fund small-scale start-up efforts or ongoing projects that are focused on environmental stewardship. NatGen’s Seed Grants support organizations of all kinds, including schools, museums, libraries, military or veterans’ groups, or other non-profits.

In our twentieth year, ours is now also a story of multiple generations, cascading across families and communities, extending the reach of the voices and stories that we’ve worked so hard to magnify. Kindergarten students who read our first Green Earth Book Award-winning Picture Books are graduating from college, starting their first jobs, and making decisions as adults that will lead to a better, brighter future for our planet. High school students who participated in our earliest programs and read our first Green Earth Book Award-winning Young Adult Books are now in their mid- to late 30s, some of whom are now inspiring their own kids with books carrying the Green Earth Book Award seal. This is the power of storytelling, echoing across generations to drive impact and to ensure that each new generation reaffirms and strengthens our commitment to protecting the Earth.

Finally – THANK YOU. NatGen is a donor-funded organization. All of our programs are made possible through corporate sponsorships and individual donations from our wonderful supporters. Nothing we’ve accomplished in the past 20 years would have been possible without our committed volunteers and donors. We’d love for you to join us as a donor or volunteer over our next 20 years as we seek to inspire even more children and young adults to become a part of The Nature Generation.

Warm Regards,

Ian Kline, Board Chair & Amy Marasco, Founder and President