Bright Ideas
Webinar: Non-Profit or For-Profit? Finding the Best Path for Your Program
As programs navigate all of the varied considerations in operating a nature-based education program, an important question is: Should my program operate as a non-profit or for-profit venture? Non-profits can seek charitable funding as they work to turn their organizational visions into reality. For-profit groups can operate nimbly, pursuing opportunties without consulting with a board. And there are many other pros and cons to each model. What's important to consider, and what are the implications of choosing these different pathways?
To help explore these questions, nature-based education consultants Rachel Larimore and David Catlin developed a new resource to help programs consider their options. During a webinar on February 21, 2024, Rachel and David provided an overview of this new resource and answered many of your questions.
Download PDF: Should my nature-based school be a nonprofit or for-profit?
Watch the Recording:
Meet the Presenters
Dr. Rachel A. Larimore is an educator, consultant, speaker, researcher, and author. Her work focuses on the intentional integration of nature to support young children’s holistic development by learning with nature to expand their worlds and live rich, full lives. She has written multiple books including Establishing a Nature-Based Preschool, Preschool Beyond Walls: Blending Early Childhood Education and Nature-Based Learning, and Evaluating Nature: Evaluating Natureness: Measuring the Quality of Nature-based Classrooms in Pre-k Through 3rd Grade. Rachel is the founder and Chief Visionary of Samara Early Learning, an organization focused on helping early childhood educators start nature-based schools or add nature-based approaches into their existing program. Prior to founding Samara, she spent more than a decade starting and directing one of the first nature-based preschools in the United States.
David Catlin
David Catlin has spent the last 42 years planning, designing, developing, and operating nature centers and similar facilities for the Missouri Department of Conservation, the National Audubon Society, and a long list of consulting clients. Many of those projects have involved nature-based preschools. While he gets involved in every aspect of the projects he works on, his special interest is the business of creating and operating them. Catlin has degrees in environmental education and interpretation from Michigan State University and the University of Washington. He currently lives in Springfield, Missouri, and serves as Principal of David Catlin Consulting LLC.
