Letter from the Executive Director
Dear Supporters, in March 2020, we were in the process of wrapping up a hugely successful fiscal year.
Our fiscal year runs from April 1st through March 31st. And then, “Bam!” the pandemic hit. So within that first quarter of the new fiscal year that started on April 1, 2020, we were faced with a very bleak picture: a raging global pandemic; social and political unrest; soaring rates of unemployment and loads of businesses going out of business; growing rates of depression; etc. How in the world were we going to meet our programmatic and revenue goals in this newly started fiscal year and stay afloat let alone thrive?
We made some critical and strategic decisions early on that helped us not only stay afloat but thrive—decisions like the following: we immediately announced a team approach with a goal of maintaining all of our staff positions; we immediately emphasized the importance of maintaining our positive and grateful organizational culture; we looked for new ways to serve our communities like our weekly lighting of the Mount Diablo Beacon during the pandemic and our new Nature Heals and Inspires Zoom series—both of which started in April 2020; and we also did a lot of careful financial planning.
Our April 1, 2020–March 31, 2021 fiscal year was recently completed and the results, as outlined in this Annual Report, were incredibly bright despite a fiscal year with much darkness in a national crisis and pandemic period:
- We substantially delivered on our Strategic Plan and programmatic goals;
- We maintained all of our staff positions;
- We completed the fiscal year deep in the black;
- We raised substantial resources for our Forever Wild Campaign so we only have about $333,000 left to raise to complete this $15 million capital campaign; and
- We grew and stewarded our reserves well so that we entered the new fiscal year in April 2021 with a solid financial foundation.
You helped make this incredible success and momentum for our land conservation mission possible. We cannot thank you enough!
With Gratitude,
Edward Sortwell Clement, Jr. Executive Director
Photo at top is of the Save Mount Diablo Summit Beacon.
Download the Annual Report (PDF)
Board of Directors
Jim Felton, President
Burt Bassler, Treasurer
Liz Harvey Roberts, Vice President & Secretary
Keith Alley
John Gallagher
Joe Garaventa
Garrett Girvan
Claudia Hein
Scott Hein
Giselle Jurkanin
Margaret Kruse
Carol Lane
Frank Martens
Bob Marx
Robert Phelps
Malcolm Sproul
Jeff Stone
Achilleus Tiu
Staff
Ted Clement Executive Director
Seth Adams Land Conservation Director
Sean Burke Land Programs Director
Karen Ferriere Development Director
Monica Oei Finance & Administration Director
Margie Ryan Director of Major Gifts & Planned Giving
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Denise Castro Education & Outreach Associate
Hidemi Crosse Senior Accountant
Juan Pablo Galván Martinez Senior Land Use Manager
Shannon Grover Senior Development Associate & Events Manager
Dana Halpin General Office Manager
Laura Kindsvater Communications Manager
Katie Lopez Accounting & Administration Associate
Roxana Lucero Land Stewardship Associate
Joanne McCluhan Executive Assistant
Ian Smith Development Associate & Database Manager
Haley Sutton Land Stewardship Associate
Nature Heals and Inspires
Understanding that nature is the ultimate foundation for our long-term health and well-being, in April 2020 we developed and launched a free public education Zoom series entitled Nature Heals and Inspires to help our communities understand that nature is a critical part of the solution to working through the historically challenging times we were faced with.
Beyond the documented health and psychological benefits of spending time in nature, going outside to connect with nature will also help address one of the most serious environmental problems facing our planet. The lack of meaningful connections between people and nature in this era of “nature deficit disorder” has resulted in us lacking the love and will required to fully address major environmental threats like the climate crisis. Thankfully, nature is a spiritual portal where, if we quietly and respectfully enter it with open hearts and minds, we will be transformed for the better, and in that lies our hope for salvation and survival.
To date, our Nature Heals and Inspires Zoom series has delivered over 20 presentations by an amazing and diverse group of experts (ecotherapists, conservationists, scholars, artists, etc.) exploring this topic of how nature helps heal and inspire us and through this exploration we have been getting important clues on how to align ourselves and our culture with the natural world we are part of. We will continue this popular series so stay tuned for details.
OUR MISSION
Save Mount Diablo . . .
Preserves natural lands through acquisition and cooperative efforts;
Defends Mount Diablo and its foothills from threats through land use planning and public education;
Restores habitat, wildlife, and creeks and builds trails; so you and future generations can
Enjoy Diablo’s parks and its wildlife.
Light from the Mountaintop
One of the bright lights provided to the San Francisco Bay Area during the pandemic and national crisis period was the Mount Diablo Beacon, which Save Mount Diablo staff and volunteers lit every Sunday night after sunset so that the Beacon could shine brightly through the darkness until it was rested after sunrise on Monday.
This dedicated effort ran from April 12, 2020 through April 12, 2021, when it was concluded because COVID-19 vaccines had become well distributed and there were tier level improvements in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Ted Clement, Save Mount Diablo’s Executive Director, stated, “We lit the Mount Diablo Beacon to thank our heroes, to honor those who had passed and were suffering, to bring our communities together, and to remind people to look up to the light and the healing power of nature.”
He went on to say, “I want to thank two special Save Mount Diablo volunteers, John Gallagher and Dick Heron, who helped me with this year-long effort.”
Although Save Mount Diablo concluded its weekly Beacon lightings in response to the pandemic, the organization will continue its regular care and maintenance of the historic “Eye of Diablo” as it has done for years.
Further, Save Mount Diablo, California State Parks, the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors Chapter 5, and California State University–East Bay will continue to organize the annual lighting ceremony of the Beacon every December 7th in honor of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
1 Curry Canyon
2 Rideau Conservation Easement
3 Smith Canyon
4 Highland Springs
5 Big Bend
6 Hanson Hills
7 Anderson Ranch
8 North Peak Ranch
9 Concord Mt. Diablo Trail Ride Association Conservation Easement
Save Mount Diablo in the Media
PRESERVE
Land Acquisition
Concord Mt. Diablo Trail Ride Association
At the end of 2019, Save Mount Diablo and the Concord Mt. Diablo Trail Ride Association signed an option agreement for a project that was 15 years in the making.
The project will permanently protect 154 acres of critical open space on North Peak, part of Save Mount Diablo’s “Missing Mile.” Save Mount Diablo paid a $50,000 option payment, allowing for two years—until December 31, 2021—to raise $1.04 million to purchase a perpetual conservation easement on the land.
Recently, several generous and visionary individuals donated more than $725,000 toward the $1.04 million needed for the acquisition of the conservation easement. Save Mount Diablo is now much closer to reaching our needed total by December 31. To date, we still need to raise $333,000 to preserve the land.
It is truly a unique and special opportunity when we have the chance to permanently protect a large, at-risk open space property in the high peaks area of Mount Diablo! Because of the property’s location high on North Peak, surrounded on three sides by Mount Diablo State Park, protecting this land is very strategic. The property is rich in biodiversity, in part because of the serpentine geology found on North Peak.
Smith Canyon
How often do you have the ability to protect an entire canyon?” Seth Adams
On April 3, 2020 (at the beginning of the fiscal year), and in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, Save Mount Diablo purchased the beautiful and strategic 28.73-acre Smith Canyon property. This incredible blue oak woodland and live oak–bay riparian corridor property could become the recreational gateway into Curry Canyon from Morgan Territory Road.
The acquisition of Smith Canyon provides a second, legal point of access into Save Mount Diablo’s 1,080.53-acre Curry Canyon Ranch. Plus, its connection creates a potential future eastside entrance to Mount Diablo, a dream that has existed for 110 years.
The purchase of Smith Canyon is also important for the conservation of the Curry Canyon area. This incredible property is the quintessential habitat for California red-legged frogs and Alameda whipsnakes, listed species that are likely to be present on the property, as well as American kestrels and golden eagles. In acquiring this property, Save Mount Diablo continues to build and strengthen wildlife corridors for rare native plants and animals in the greater Mount Diablo area.
Acquisitions like this help curtail the climate disaster we are faced with as well. Smith Canyon’s natural environment serves as a carbon sink. Forests and other undeveloped lands absorb greenhouse gases, keeping those gases out of the atmosphere and filtering the air we all breathe.
Stewardship staff and volunteers have been busy restoring the property: removing fences and trash heaps, removing invasive species, doing strategic fire abatement, and building trails. Staff have also been building and installing bird boxes in partnership with The Kestrel Campaign.
DEFEND
Land Use Planning & Advocacy
LAND USE PLANNING
Despite the challenges of COVID, we continue to defend Mount Diablo and its connections to the creeks, foothills, and wider mountain range that give us such amazing views and allow populations of native wildlife and plants to thrive. This past year, we’ve continued to monitor more than 50 agency agendas, work with diverse stakeholders and coalitions, and respond to more than a dozen project and policy proposals.
CONCORD
Although last year we celebrated the transfer of more than 2,500 acres of land from the National Park Service to the East Bay Regional Park District as a new regional park, the City of Concord’s development of the other half of the Concord Naval Weapons Station reuse area has been delayed.
Now things are heating up on the City of Concord’s side again. There is a danger that the city may make an unwise decision about who it chooses as Master Developer of the project. We will work with our partners to avoid that and ensure the community can enjoy an additional 1,000 acres of city parks and open space, including two long linear parks, as well as other community benefits.
ANTIOCH
A massive effort in the summer and fall of 2020 to turn out the vote in Antioch granted us a landslide victory of 79 percent “Yes on Measure T” in November 2020! This win was years in the making, and all the more remarkable in that we and our supporters made it happen in especially chaotic times.
In 2018, Save Mount Diablo and our partners in the Antioch Community Coalition to Save Sand Creek drafted and qualified our “Let Antioch Voters Decide Initiative.” The initiative was crafted to protect three square miles of grassland, creek, and wildlife habitat in the Sand Creek area west of Deer Valley Road in south Antioch. The Antioch City Council adopted our initiative, but we knew bad developers would try to stop us, and they tried. Two of them, Zeka and Richfield, made legal challenges, and the court told the city council to immediately put our initiative on the November 2020 ballot. Although we won in a landslide, Richfield has sued again to try and overturn our victory on the basis of a new state law, SB 330, that wasn’t in place at the time we collected our signatures. Together with our partners, we will continue to defend as much open space protection as we can. 
PITTSBURG
The beautiful hills that lie between Pittsburg and central Contra Costa County face a huge threat. A Seeno company proposes to build 1,500 houses on top of this beautiful scenic ridgeline and next to the new Concord regional park.
The Pittsburg City Council unfortunately approved this project, dubbed “Faria,” in February. Save Mount Diablo filed a legal challenge to stop this hill-covering, park-impacting, view-destroying sprawl project, or at least do away with its most egregious aspects. With our supporters, we will continue to defend parks and fight bad projects, and strive for better environmental review of proposals throughout the Diablo region.
Image: The beautiful Pittsburg hills that would be destroyed by the Faria project, as seen from the San Marco neighborhood in Pittsburg. Credit: Scott Hein.
Defending Diablo’s Wild Lands through Advocacy
Land use advocacy is one of our most effective and important tools to protect the natural lands on and around Mount Diablo, but each victory must be defended as threats reappear again and again. Your support makes it possible for us to continue to defend natural lands like Sand Creek or Pittsburg’s hills before it’s too late.
RESTORE
Stewardship & Habitat Restoration
This fiscal year, we paused all large workdays for the safety of our communities. And yet, despite the challenges of the pandemic, we accomplished some great things.
Stewardship Volunteers Plantings Gallons of Waste & Recycling Collected Stewardship Staff Hours Focused on Restoration Projects Stewardship Volunteer Hours 
With volunteer help, we targeted noxious weeds on nine properties, produced GIS fire footprint maps, finished annual fire abatement, and completed eight summer watering outings to nourish restoration plantings at three properties. Stewards also continued monthly property monitoring outings, and organized small workdays to weed, mulch, and clean up on our properties.
We hosted a Coastal Cleanup workday at Thomas Kirker Creek with the help of a small group of volunteers to remove nine garbage bags of trash. Staff also helped organize and facilitate a collaborative cleanup of graffiti, trash removal, and retro bolting of classic rock-climbing routes at Pine Canyon in Mount Diablo State Park, with the Mount Diablo Interpretative Association, Mount Diablo State Park, East Bay Regional Park District, and Bay Area Climbers Coalition.
In partnership with Lindsay Wildlife Experience and The Kestrel Campaign, we helped release 13 rehabilitated juvenile and injured American kestrels and two western screech owls into the wild lands of Lime Ridge Open Space and Diablo Foothills Regional Park. We also assisted in releasing 16 adolescent ground squirrels in the Curry Canyon area. About 10 kestrels fledged from the nesting boxes at Mangini Ranch, and we installed an additional two nest boxes at our Curry Canyon Lower 200 and Smith Canyon properties. Monitoring cameras were also installed at Curry Canyon Ranch and Young Canyon to support additional wildlife monitoring efforts.
We completed second stage improvements at the Curry Canyon Ranch field station that included ADA-compliant bathroom renovations and replacement of a section of rotted roof. We also installed about 2,000 feet of wildlife-friendly fencing as a creek protection measure and to protect all riparian regeneration from grazing.
As part of our efforts to help address climate change, we initiated a tree caging project to proactively protect volunteer sprouts on our properties. So far, about 50 oaks have been protected at our Curry Canyon Lower 200 and Big Bend properties.
We missed our volunteers this past year! Despite the pandemic, some people were still able to help us out. A total of 278 volunteers donated 2,874 volunteer hours across all our programs.
Thank you so much to everyone who gave their time and skills. We look forward to providing more volunteer opportunities in the near future!
ENJOY
Recreation
2020 was a year where people flocked to open spaces for respite, exercise, meditation, hiking, running, walking the dog, riding their bike, bird watching, botanizing, and other forms of recreation. It was a year when many parks and trailheads saw an increase of up to 400 percent in visits. People were connecting themselves with the wonders of the outdoors, a fantastic way to live, which for many became a new passion as movie theaters, restaurants, etc. were closed because of the pandemic.
Luckily for the Mount Diablo community, Save Mount Diablo and its partners have been busy preserving land for the last 50 years, protecting large areas of open space, from Brentwood to Danville and in between, where people could easily find social distance, breathe, relax, and recuperate.
In 2020, Save Mount Diablo scheduled 24 hikes as part of our Discover Diablo program, a free, public, guided hike series. Because of COVID and county and state restrictions, we had to cancel many of our hikes.
But in the late summer and fall, staff and volunteer leaders were able to lead six hikes when restrictions allowed. To make our hikes fun and safe during these difficult times, we reduced the number of participants who could attend, limiting groups to eight participants. We required everyone to wear masks to maintain social distance and provided hand sanitizer and gloves for extra protection.
Many of our hikes were led on Save Mount Diablo’s own properties, such as Mangini Ranch, Smith Canyon, Wright Canyon, and Curry Canyon, a testament to another benefit of land preservation.
In 2021, we have scheduled 36 hikes, bikes rides, and rock-climbing events. We look forward to leading these and connecting the public to open spaces, all while following applicable COVID regulations.
Save Mount Diablo also took the increase in open space use as an opportunity to help educate the public about the importance of Leave No Trace ethics, and stewardship of the places we love. We all play a huge role in the future of our environment; doing our part to take only pictures and leave only footprints is a great first step toward preserving the beauty around us.
In 2020, Moonlight on the Mountain went virtual—it was our very first 100 percent online fundraiser. Over 500 people came together to attend our gala online, celebrate our successes, and support Save Mount Diablo’s important conservation and education work.
We exceeded our net revenue goal and raised more than $310,000—essential funds that will allow us to continue our work to protect the natural lands and wildlife still at risk.
Free Public Guided Hikes Program
In 2021, we have scheduled 36 hikes, bikes rides, and rock-climbing events. We look forward to leading these and connecting the public to open spaces, all while following applicable COVID regulations.
LEARN
Education & Outreach
Save Mount Diablo educates and inspires people with nature in a myriad of ways.
Here are some of our efforts and accomplishments in education and outreach between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021.
Dr. Mary Bowerman Science and Research Program
Our Dr. Mary Bowerman Science and Research Program awarded a total of seven grants for a variety of research projects. These studies included conservation genetics and gut microbiomes of California ground squirrels, conservation genetics of threatened California endemic thistles, local wildlife corridors, Mount Diablo buckwheat habitat modeling, and conservation of golden eagles in the northern Diablo Range.
We had a very successful, virtual Dr. Mary Bowerman Science and Research Colloquium in December attended by more than 200 people.
OpenRoad with Doug McConnell
We worked with Doug McConnell and his team to create two separate segments on OpenRoad with Doug McConnell. The first focused on our land acquisition work on a key section of North Peak on Mount Diablo (especially our Concord Mt. Diablo Trail Ride Association project), also known as the Missing Mile. The second focused on Save Mount Diablo’s expanded area of interest, which now includes the northern Diablo Range south to the Santa Clara County line, and the importance of Mount Diablo’s connection with the rest of the Diablo Range.
Audible Mount Diablo Guides
Save Mount Diablo Land Conservation Director Seth Adams was featured in a new Audible Mount Diablo guide—Return of the Pine Canyon Peregrines, about reintroduction of peregrine falcons to Mount Diablo, a program we created. We also worked with Joan Hamilton, the producer of Audible Mount Diablo, to create the first video episode for our Diablo Range Revealed series, Diablo Range Revealed: Insights from the Fire Zone.
New Educational Preserve Opening Soon
Save Mount Diablo is excited to announce that we are preparing to open our first educational preserve for public use at our Mangini Ranch property. This preserve will be reservable to groups for educational purposes—these could be a science class, a yoga group, a birding club, a sports team, a plein air painting course, etc.—and is completely free.
Mangini Ranch’s central location in Concord will provide the perfectspot for groups all over the Bay Area to connect to the outdoors in a unique and intimate way, where only they will have private access to the space.
We are currently in the planning stages of the project, building trails, educational signage, and other infrastructure such as a shade structure and a picnic site. Staff is also busy accomplishing restoration projects such as planting California native plants, removing dilapidated fencing, and pulling out invasive, non-native plants such as artichoke thistle in preparation for opening. The preserve will open no later than March 31,2022.
For more information or ways you can help, contact Margie Ryan at 925-765-8181 or mryan@savemountdiablo.org.
FOREVER WILD
The Campaign to Save Diablo’s Wild Lands—Closing the Gap
has been a transformational campaign for Save Mount Diablo that has already resulted in the protection of eight properties totaling 1,527 acres of Diablo wildlands. It’s also enabled us to establish an endowment to ensure long-term reserves for land stewardship, and double our Legal Defense Fund. At the time of this writing* we have $333,000 remaining to reach our fundraising goal and protect the ninth Forever Wild property—154 acres on the northeastern slopes of Mount Diablo owned by the Concord Mt. Diablo Trail Ride Association. We are within reach of this goal because of you—our community of supporters who care deeply about Mount Diablo and its foothills, watersheds, wild lands, and wildlife. We’ve come so far because you believe that healthy, livable communities include ample, close-to-home natural lands and opportunities to access them. This past year we received 100 gifts ranging from $15 to $400,000 totaling $1,805,000 for the Forever Wild Campaign, and each gift was key to our shared success. These investments in Forever Wild and in our community help to keep our home a strong, healthy, and desirable place to live, work, recreate, and connect with the natural world. We are grateful to each and every one of our Forever Wild supporters this past year and in previous years; we hope that as you look around, you feel proud about the impact that you’ve made. *March 31, 2021
Help close the $333,000 Forever Wild gap and keep the Concord Mt. Diablo Trail Ride Association property forever wild.
Contact Margie Ryan at: mryan@savemountdiablo.org or call 925-765-8181.
DIABLO LEGACY CIRCLE
Planning for the Long Term
Hanna Alger is an inspiration. She is an avid walker, a generous philanthropist, and a woman with plans.
She first started walking long distances 10 years ago when her sister-in-law encouraged her to participate in Save Mount Diablo’s 31-mile “Four Days Diablo” hike from Walnut Creek to Brentwood. This introduction to the joys of long-distance hiking was also when Hanna became aware of Save Mount Diablo and the work our organization is doing to protect and steward land on and around Mount Diablo.
Now 86 years old, Hanna takes long walks from her home in Oakland through city streets, around Lake Merritt, or in one of the East Bay regional parks in the Oakland and Berkeley hills, ever appreciative that others had the foresight to preserve that long stretch of natural lands.
She says, “I like that Save Mount Diablo is expanding its focus southward into the Diablo Range where there are far fewer acres of protected land. The role that this organization continues to play in monitoring and, when necessary, challenging development plans in the Diablo region is so important. As the population grows, we will need more housing, but in developing it, we need to think carefully about what we want this region to look like in the long term.”
Although she cannot take daily advantage of the trails on and around Mount Diablo, Hanna wants others today and in the future to have the opportunities she has to walk in nature close to home. That’s why she supports our work each year and why she planned a future gift to Save Mount Diablo.
“I established a charitable gift annuity and named Save Mount Diablo as the beneficiary. A charitable gift annuity is a great way to generate guaranteed monthly income for me today, while promising future support of a cause that I care deeply about. My children understand that this is my gift. It will not be a part of any estate that they may be fortunate enough to inherit. They also know that in supporting the future of Save Mount Diablo, I will be helping to protect a place that has meant a lot to me.”
To learn about the many different ways you can plan a legacy gift, please contact Margie Ryan at mryan@savemountdiablo.org or 925-765-8181 or visit bit.ly/plan-your-gift.
Conservation Collaboration Agreement Program
This year, we’ve successfully held four Conservation Collaboration Agreements (CCAs) with four different schools: Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School, Campolindo High School, De La Salle High School, and Pittsburg High School. Because of COVID-19, we’ve created a safe, modified version of the CCA program.
First, we hold a Zoom presentation during class time to introduce Save Mount Diablo, our mission, and local land conservation issues, and to discuss the solo in nature and environmental service project that all students are required to complete for the program.
We offered field days for small groups of students if county and state COVID-19 health guidelines allowed. This year, we were only able to take out a small group from De La Salle High School to our Big Bend property for the field portion of the program.
In place of field days, we provided students with the option to do the environmental service project and nature solo at home. They received directions on how to do so during the first presentation and from a handout Save Mount Diablo put together with step-by-step instructions. We provided nature journals for all students and dropped them off at the schools for easy pickup.
The final component of the modified CCA program was presented virtually during class time a week or so after the first one as a debrief session on Zoom. This time was an opportunity for students to share what they did for their environmental service project and what they wrote or drew for their solo in nature.
We’re very excited to continue partnering with local schools for our CCA program and are looking forward to safely holding field trips on Save Mount Diablo properties in the near future.
Save Mount Diablo’s Climate Action Plan
This year, our staff developed a Climate Action Plan, which was approved by our Board of Directors in March. The plan will help us contribute to addressing the devastating climate change facing our planet.
Staff established six chapters to focus our efforts. Each chapter features a strategy, potential outcomes, objectives, and action steps to achieve those objectives, and a timeline to follow for the next three years.
The plan’s chapters focus on advocacy and policy, education, financial (fundraising and finance), land acquisition, organizational carbon footprint, and stewardship. Our Climate Action Plan will be an important tool that’s utilized for many years to guide our organization.
AFTERMATH OF WILDFIRES
Diablo Range Revealed
Stretching from the Carquinez Strait to Antelope Valley in Kern County is the rugged 150-mile-long Diablo Range. Although millions of people live just next door, the range remains largely unknown.
In August of 2020, fires swept through nearly 400,000 acres of this mountain range, resulting in the third largest fire in California history—the SCU Lightning Complex. Although the ground looked charred and bleak, we knew there would be an incredible story of regeneration unfolding in front of our eyes.
California’s history is forged in fire. During the Morgan fire of 2013, we’d seen plants return that were missing for 40, 80, or 125 years. Unusual amphibians were even thriving afterwards. We knew that the burnt darkened slopes of the Diablo Range would become vibrant with wildflowers.
In December, we released our first episode of our Diablo Range Revealed project. The project is a collection of blog posts, photo galleries, and videos focusing on the plants, animals, and ecology of the northern Diablo Range—from Mount Diablo to Pacheco Pass. It will observe the Diablo Range over the next three years, focusing on how plants and animals recover from the fire amid rising temperatures and prolonged droughts.
The fire burned a path straight into the heart of the Diablo Range. We hope to use this story of regeneration and growth to help make the mysterious Diablo Range better known.
Learn more about Diablo Range Revealed by visiting our web page at bit.ly/DiabRR
Support
Financials Report: April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021
These pie charts include financial information for Save Mount Diablo’s annual operating results (revenue and expenses), as well as land transaction capital items. Land acquisition includes escrow for the purchase of the Smith Canyon
property for $664,000. Save Mount Diablo’s total revenue for April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 was just over $3.6 million (including restricted and unrestricted funding). The pie chart shows the importance of individual contributions: 80 percent of our funding comes from donors like you! Expenditures for April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 totaled approximately $3.48 million. Program expenses other than land acquisition include stewardship projects on the 19 properties and easements we own, community education and outreach, and advocacy to counter land conservation threats for land conservation.
Numbers are based on unaudited April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 financials. Please go to www.savemountdiablo.org to see our most recent 990 tax returns.
THANK YOU!
To Our Save Mount Diablo Supporters:
Donors, Sponsors, Volunteers, and Friends of the Mountain
Save Mount Diablo extends its gratitude to all donors. Your generous support makes it possible to balance open space with the demands of increasing population and development pressure in our area. Together, we can preserve, defend, restore, and enjoy Mount Diablo and its foothills, and connect Mount Diablo to its sustaining Diablo Range.
- Diablo Legacy Circle—Making a long-term gift is an act of generosity beyond measure. We give special thanks to our Diablo Legacy Circle members, those who have included Save Mount Diablo in their estate planning. Their generosity ensures Mount Diablo, its foothills, and its wildlife will be preserved for generations to come.
- Monthly Donor Circle—This special circle of donors helps provide steady, reliable support by donating monthly. Their generosity ensures Save Mount Diablo can continue to preserve, defend, and restore Diablo’s wild lands.
- Company Matching—Many generous employers will match their employees’ donations, thereby doubling the impact of the employees’ gifts. These companies matched donations to Save Mount Diablo, allowing their employees to help preserve, defend, and restore more land for all of us to enjoy. Ask if your company matches too!
- Young Friends—Our young friends (students and people under the age of 21) are stepping up to become a part of the next generation of future conservationists and activists who will help preserve Diablo’s natural lands for years to come.
We also thank the many foundations, sponsors, and partners who help make all that we do possible. We couldn’t do it without you!
Special thanks to the following contributing photographers and artists whose work is featured in this digital publication: Scott Hein, Stephen Joseph, Nate Campi, Laura Kindsvater, Floyd McCluhan, Ted Clement, Cooper Ogden, Joan Hamilton, Roxana Lucero, Denise Castro, Sean Burke, Chelsea Davis, Al Johnson, and Dan Fitzgerald.
