Ten Thousand Chestnut Challenge

A final Thank You ...

Thank You to everyone who has supported this wildly successful Ten Thousand Chestnut Challenge! Your generosity is tremendously appreciated by us all, and we are humbled by the sheer magnitude of people that joined in to donate and help spread the word.

A side note on the final tally... Our fundraising goal was $50,000 and your donations added up to $101,911 - not only is that more than double our goal, but the "1911"" amount in that total just happens to be the year that SUNY ESF was founded ...

To stay in touch, visit us at www.esf.edu/chestnut
We are also building an email mailing list and will reach out to you all in the New Year.

Thanks again, and Happy Holidays!

Most of your American chestnut nuts are in the mail...

We just wanted you to know that 90% of the "mother" tree nuts were mailed today, and that the remainder will be mailed early next week. Please be sure to refrigerate them as soon as you get them, and don't let them freeze. Instructions and related information are included in the mailing envelope.

Thanks again to everyone for making this campaign a huge success!

We just passed $90,000 !

This is the last week of our Ten Thousand Chestnut Challenge, and because of your generosity, our project team has been inspired to reach even higher and work even harder to finish this crowdfunding campaign off with huge success! Thank you to everyone who has supported this project.

And if you have been meaning to share news about this effort with a particular friend, colleague, business or professional organization … this is the time to do it! We appreciate your help getting the word out – we still need more partners to support the project and help plant wild-type “mother” American chestnut trees.

On this special day in philanthropy, Giving Tuesday, we want to extend a special thanks to Andrew Gundlach and the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation for making a transformational contribution to this crowdfunding campaign. We know your generosity will serve to inspire others to join our Ten Thousand Chestnut Challenge. Thank You!

Thanks to You!
The $50,000 mark is now in our rear view mirror - a great accomplishment for which we are truly grateful. We will continue to work hard to raise as much money and gain as many partners as possible for this effort – the more money we can raise now, the more trees we can begin to grow…

Thank you for becoming a partner (or please join us now!). Even more partners are needed for our project - especially to plant their own wild-type “mother” American chestnut trees now. Please continue to help us spread the word about our Ten Thousand Chestnut Challenge.

Partners will stay connected. We will be working to keep all of our supporters connected and informed after this crowdfunding effort concludes on December 5th. A list server (a subscription emailing tool) is being created for everyone who contributes to this cause – your email address will automatically be included and you will receive your first update early in the New Year. We want to keep you up to date on major project accomplishments and milestones, and to know how your mother trees are doing!

Thank you again, and have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

We zoomed past 75% of our crowdfunding project goal yesterday – and we are not yet halfway through the campaign! It is all because of your generosity and support – Thank You !

By the numbers…
• We have had 4 Challenge donors (so far) providing leadership and inspiring others to support the cause. A HUGE Thank You goes out to:
o Dale L. Travis (ESF class of '59)
o Lawrence Master (recipient of the 2014 Feinstone Environmental Award)
o Paul Tremont (ESF class of '78)
o John Dougherty (New York State Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation Board Member and Volunteer Science and Regulatory Director for the chapter)

• We have had donations from every state in the US. Well, almost every state – (come on Arkansas, Maine, Mississippi, South Dakota and Wyoming!)

• We have international donors from Brazil, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand (even though they don’t display on Fundly’s map) – and one from Armed Forces Pacific from an active duty service member!

• Right now, 178 supporters will be planting wild-type mother American chestnut trees across the US! Awesome!

• We currently have over 390 supporters and donors. Thanks!

• And at this point, we estimate that over 80,000 people have now seen our Ten Thousand Chestnut Challenge through social media, and know a little more about the American chestnut than they did before...

Thank you again everyone, and please help us keep this effort going and help us grow our first 10,000 blight-resistant American chestnut trees!

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported this fundraising campaign so far. We passed 50% of our goal in the first week of our 4-week campaign – and it’s all because of you! Now we can begin to produce many of these blight-resistant American chestnut trees.

We want to share a very special video with you that highlights our blight-resistant trees in action. Be sure to turn your sound on, the music says it all! www.esf.edu/chestnut/timelapse.htm

We are also delighted to announce that John Dougherty (New York State Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation Board Member and volunteer Science and Regulatory Director for the chapter) has offered a personal challenge donation to encourage others to join us on our Ten Thousand Chestnut Challenge.

Thanks to everyone, and please continue to help us by spreading the word to all your friends and colleagues via social media sharing, email, or however you are inspired…

Bill Powell and Chuck Maynard

Lawrence Master (recipient of the 2014 Feinstone Environmental Award) has made a $1,000 challenge! We will double your donation with Larry's challenge gift if you are one of the next ten $100 contributors, so please donate now!

A great big Thank you goes out to Paul Tremont (ESF class of '78) for your leadership and $1,000 challenge!

Paul Tremont (ESF class of '78) has made his $1,000 challenge! The next ten $100 donations will be doubled by Paul's gift, so please donate now! And thank you to everyone helping us through donations and by spreading the word across the globe!

Success !
A huge Thank You goes out to Dale Travis for his leadership in helping to kickoff our campaign with his $5,000 challenge gift. We raised 25% of our entire 30 day campaign in a single day ! Your leadership is an inspiration to us all.