The Instructions to Form 1023 provide further guidance:
http://www.housingissues.org/forms/501self.php
Background
FIRST SECTION LABELED "BACKGROUND". To help the IRS better understand your activities you can include an optional short section that describes the background or the need that you are trying to address. Tip: label this section "Background" so that the IRS knows that you are not trying to describe the activities themselves
EdenAcres Background:
There are many known benefits to exposing students to outdoor learning environments:
Using the environment as an integrating context for academic material has been shown to enhance academic achievement.
Outdoor activities and garden-based learning have been shown to have a beneficial effect on student health because they encourage exercise and changes in eating habits.
Place and project-based learning activities such as planting trees or cleaning up a streamed fosters a sense of empowerment for participants and develops connection to community and civically-engaged attitudes.
Connection to nature can lower stress levels and induce a sense of well-being
Recognizing these benefits, many states have adopted environmental literacy standards and encourage outdoor activities for learners. In 2010, Oregon published an environmental literacy plan and is currently working towards requiring environmental literacy for all students in the k-20 school system. This plan lists five elements of an environmental literacy education and suggests that outdoor learning activities can contribute towards student development in each of these areas:
Systems Thinking
Physical, Living, and Human Systems
Interconnectedness of People and the Environment
Personal and Civic Responsibility
Investigate, Plane ane Create a Sustainable Future
Despite widespread support for the idea of bringing students outdoors on a regular basis, there are significant barriers that work against making outdoor classrooms a reality for most students. These barriers include:
Teacher inexperience with the outdoor environment and with developing curriculum that connects outdoor activities to required academic standards
Lack of transportation to outdoor sites
Lack of infrastructure and programming that supports a diverse range of learning activities at outdoor sites
EdenAcres was formed to address those barriers in a systematic way for all learners in our community. EdenAcres is a learning community that explores sustainability education best practices through the development of model learning environments. Our mission is to engage participants in active outdoor learning to foster transition to a sustainable future. Our goal is environmental literacy for all learners in our community. We aim to be our community's on-stop shopping center for outdoor education! To achieve our goal, we will employ the following strategies:
Work with site providers to open dialog, and develop infrastructure and use protocols that support outdoor learning activities within the context of site attributes and site provider mission and interests.
Work with teachers to develop curricula and activities that connect outdoor experiences to the academic content they need to address
Work with both site providers and clients to develop funding sources to cover program costs and transportation
Develop outdoor programming for the general public and for students outside of the k-20 school system and schedule
Work with community partners to develop a stand-alone full-service destination model outdoor classroom
Connect with organizations and individuals to develop a broad base of support for EdenAcres and outdoor education across the community
Over the next two years, EdenAcres will employ these strategies across 3 different activities, as described in the section below.
Activities
SECOND SECTION LABELED "ACTIVITIES" (with separate labeled subsections for each distinct activity).. Provide detailed descriptions for each activity. If you fail to give sufficient detail the IRS may hold up approval of your application until you answer all of their written questions. Include in your narrative a discussion of how each activity will achieve an IRS recognized exempt purpose (refer to the listing of approved charitable purposes in the section above labeled :"Operational Test"). For each activity provide the following details
Using an attachment, describe your past, present, and planned activities in a narrative. If you believe that you have already provided some of this information in response to other parts of this application, you may summarize that information here and refer to the specific parts of the application for supporting details. You may also attach representative copies of newsletters, brochures, or similar documents for supporting details to this narrative. Remember that if this application is approved, it will be open for public inspection. Therefore, your narrative description of activities should be thorough and accurate. Refer to the instructions for information that must be included in your description.
Describe completely and in detail your past, present, and planned activities. Do not refer to or repeat the purposes in your organizing document. You may refer to other parts of the application rather than repeat information provided elsewhere.
If you have a website, you may attach a paper copy to support your narrative description of activities.
For each past, present, or planned activity, include information that answers the following questions.
▪ What is the activity?
Who will the activity serve?
Who is eligible to participate in the activity?
How are participants selected?
▪ Who conducts the activity?
Who are the people that will be conducting the activity?
Will there be paid employees or paid independent contractors?
If so, describe their titles and duties.
▪ When is the activity conducted?
▪ Where is the activity conducted (for example: Los Angeles and San Francisco, California)?
donated space? leased space? building that is owned?
▪ How does the activity further your exempt purposes?
▪ What percentage of your total time is allocated to the activity?
▪ How is the activity funded? (This should agree with the financial data in Part IX.)
Are fees charged? If so, please provide a fee schedule
What percentage of your total time is allocated to the activity?
▪ List any alternate names under which you operate, including any “aka” (also known as) or “dba” (doing business as) names.
Activity 1. Adelante Chicas Outdoors!
▪ What is the activity?
▪ When is the activity conducted?
Who will the activity serve?
Who is eligible to participate in the activity?
How are participants selected?
EdenAcres has partnered with Adelante Mujeres to offer a summer day camp to Latino girls ages x-xx. The camp is designed to engage participants with healthy outdoor activities that develop environmental literacy, promote psycho-social well-being, foster connection to community, and enhance academic achievement through exploration of our four curricular themes:
The Natural World engages students with scientific inquiry, earth physical systems, ecosystems, watershed, soils, botany, biology, and energy
Garden and Table explores cultural connections to land and place; taste memory, community through preparing and sharing food; and a diversity of eco gardening, farming, and foraging methods
Maker's Workshop develops creative thinking and problem-solving skills, investigates materials, considers the built environment, and promotes stewardship of resources for making shelter, clothing, and “stuff”
Health and Well-being encourages healthy eating and exercise, fosters self-awareness, develops social and physical skills, and builds community.
On any given day, students might rotate through activities such as testing water samples, planting trees, recording observations, drawing insects, harvesting and grinding wheat for pizzas, playing games, hiking trails, and dyeing t-shirts, making paper, or building a trellis from materials harvested on site.
The camp serves approximately 35 participants from the Forest Grove/ Cornelius area. Camp is filled on a first come first served basis. The Summer Day-Camp is offered annually and operates daily from 8 am to 6 pm for six weeks in July and August.
▪ Who conducts the activity?
Who are the people that will be conducting the activity?
Will there be paid employees or paid independent contractors?
If so, describe their titles and duties.
The camp is run by instructors hired from our list of qualified independent education contractors. We hire a lead teacher and two assistants for every 18 students. We also hire an additional site support person who ensures that the site is ready for the day’s activities, supports teachers as needed, and maintains the cleanliness and safety of the site.
For more detail, see description of duties in the attached Summer Camp budget.
▪ Where is the activity conducted (for example: Los Angeles and San Francisco, California)?
donated space? leased space? building that is owned?
The camp takes place at the Tualatin River Farm owned by Clean Water Services, who provides the site free of charge. Clean Water Services also provides bus transportation to and from the site free of charge.
▪ How is the activity funded? (This should agree with the financial data in Part IX.)
Are fees charged? If so, please provide a fee schedule
No fees are charged to participants. Program expenses are covered for the next 2 years a through a Metro Conservation Education grant
For additional detail on funding and payments, see attached “Summer Camp Budget”
Activity 2. 6th Grade Outdoors!
▪ What is the activity?
Who will the activity serve?
Who is eligible to participate in the activity?
How are participants selected?
EdenAcres has partnered with Tom McCall Upper Elementary to develop a day-school program that will bring every 6th grader at Tom McCall outdoors at least once during the school year. The program will be implemented over a 2-year span. It initiates with a pilot in the fall of 2015 and expands to include the full 6th grade class in the following year. When fully implemented, the program will offer 3 separate days of outdoor experiences spread over one semester (either the fall or the spring) for each 6th grade student. The program is designed specifically to enhance academic achievement through STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) activities in each of our 4 program themes. The pilot year will bring 4 classes outdoors and the second year will bring all 12 classes outdoors, for a total program impact of about 400 students per year.
▪ Who conducts the activity?
Who are the people that will be conducting the activity?
Will there be paid employees or paid independent contractors?
If so, describe their titles and duties.
The camp is run by instructors hired from our list of qualified independent education contractors. We hire a lead teacher and two assistants for every 18 students. We also hire an additional site support person who ensures that the site is ready for the day’s activities, supports teachers as needed, and maintains the cleanliness and safety of the site.
For more detail, see description of duties in the attached Summer Camp budget.
▪ When is the activity conducted?
6th Grade Outdoors will take place annually during the school year. Specific dates will be scheduled in consultation with 6th grade teachers to best fit their academic schedules.
▪ Where is the activity conducted (for example: Los Angeles and San Francisco, California)?
donated space? leased space? building that is owned?
The camp takes place at the Tualatin River Farm owned by Clean Water Services, who provides the site free of charge. Clean Water Services also provides bus transportation to and from the site free of charge.
▪ How is the activity funded? (This should agree with the financial data in Part IX.)
Are fees charged? If so, please provide a fee schedule
Instructor payments are covered for the next 2 years by a through a grant from Metro through their Conservation Education fund. Additional funding will be proivided through fundraising activities by the Tom McCall Parent Teacher Organization. For additional detail on funding and payments, see attached “Summer Camp Budget”
Activity 3. School's Out! Outdoors
▪ What is the activity?
Who will the activity serve?
Who is eligible to participate in the activity?
How are participants selected?
School's Out! Outdoors is intended to provide Parents with an outdoor learning option for their students on each of the 6 school district in-service days that are scheduled through the academic year. In the first year, School's Out! Outdoors will be offered to 5th and 6th graders. In subsequent years we plan to expand the offering to additional age groups until there is a School's Out option for every grade.
▪ Who conducts the activity?
Who are the people that will be conducting the activity?
Will there be paid employees or paid independent contractors?
If so, describe their titles and duties.
The camp is run by instructors hired from our list of qualified independent education contractors. We hire a lead teacher and two assistants for every 18 students that sign up. We also hire an additional site support person who ensures that the site is ready for the day’s activities, supports teachers as needed, and maintains the cleanliness and safety of the site.
▪ When is the activity conducted?
In service days for the 2015-16 school year are Oct 9, 16, March 11, and April 29
▪ Where is the activity conducted (for example: Los Angeles and San Francisco, California)?
donated space? leased space? building that is owned?
The camp takes place at the Tualatin River Farm owned by Clean Water Services, who provides the site free of charge. Clean Water Services also provides bus transportation to and from the site free of charge.
▪ How is the activity funded? (This should agree with the financial data in Part IX.)
Are fees charged? If so, please provide a fee schedule
School's Out Outdoors is a fee-based service. Parents pay xx for each student that they enroll.
For additional detail on funding and payments, see attached “School's Out! Outdoors" Budget”
Conclusion
▪ How do the activities further your exempt purposes?
The goal of EdenAcres is to foster environmental literacy for all learners in the Forest Grove region. The activities activate partnerships with organizations and community members that serve different groups across the Forest Grove population
▪ What percentage of your total time is allocated to each activity?
▪ How does each activity achieve an IRS-recognized exempt purpose (refer to the listing of approved charitable purposes in the section labeled "Operational Test")