The Forever Fund: Securing the Future of the Neilson Spearhead Nature Preserve
At the Neilson Spearhead Nature Preserve, we are doing more than managing land, we are shaping how future generations understand and care for the natural world.
Each year, youth and families come to the preserve to explore, learn, and connect with nature in meaningful ways. Through our Young Naturalists Camps, environmental programs, and community partnerships, we cultivate environmental literacy and lifelong environmental stewards.
But today, this work depends heavily on year-to-year funding.
The Forever Fund changes that.
The Need: From Uncertainty to Stability
Environmental education and land stewardship require long-term commitment, and most funding is short-term.
Without a permanent funding source:
Programs fluctuate with available funding
Growth opportunities are limited
Long-term stewardship becomes harder to sustain
To truly protect this place and expand its impact, we must move beyond annual fundraising and build something lasting.
The Vision: A Permanent Foundation for Impact
The Forever Fund is a permanent endowment designed to support the mission of the preserve, forever.
By building this fund, we will:
Ensure consistent funding for youth environmental education
Expand access to programs regardless of financial barriers
Sustain stewardship of the land for generations to come
Provide long-term stability
Join us in building something that will last for generations.
Progress So Far
The Impact: Felt over Generation
Oliver & Amber
For Oliver, a seventh grader at Bemidji Middle School, Spearhead has been a place to grow up. The 2025 camp would have been Oliver’s fourth year attending the Young Naturalist camp.
Over the years, Oliver has hiked to find berries, played games like camouflage in the woods, and even camped overnight with friends during a special outing of the Young Naturalists camp.
He remembered the overnight trip, “Instead of just being there for a day, you got to be there for like two almost full days, just with friends, family, people you enjoy, who share the same interests.”
His mom, Amber, has seen how much her kids have taken from the program. “I love that there's a safe place that celebrates nature as it is, so the kids can experience that.” Her younger children look forward to learning from their brother. She beams with pride, “He usually teaches my younger kids. So my little one walks around and chews on lemon leaves and other little things that they know, because Ollie taught them.”
Evangeline & Heather
It was at the Young Naturalist program where, 12-year-old Evangeline of Bemidji paddled her first canoe, bushwhacked her way to Lily Pad Lake, and spent long days exploring the woods with her new friends. “I felt like I could really be myself there. It was a really great experience,” she said. When she’s not exploring outside, Evangeline, an active MHAS volunteer, says she likes to read and draw. Her family runs a farm, and she loves all the animals and of course, being outside.
Her mom, Heather, was amazed by how much her daughter carried home. “She was learning so much, making insect balms, I felt like I was learning through her when she came home.”
That’s the ripple effect of the Young Naturalists Camps, children bring home not just skills, but a deeper relationship with nature that touches their whole family.
The Land: Where People Return
For many, Spearhead is not just a place you visit once.
It is a place you return to, season after season, year after year.
Some first came here as children in camp programs.
Now they bring their own children.
Some learned to paddle on this lake.
Now they teach the next generation the same quiet rhythm of water and shoreline.
Some have spent decades walking these trails, watching the forest change and grow.
Over time, something deeper happens.
People begin to care for this place in a personal way.
They notice when something changes.
They feel responsible for it.
That sense of connection is hard to explain if you have not experienced it.
But it is real. And it is lasting.
Why Now
Spearhead has been protected for decades. That protection needs ongoing care.
Each year, the preserve depends on limited and changing funding to maintain trails, support programs, and protect habitat.
The Forever Fund creates stability. It provides reliable, long-term support so this place can continue to serve the community no matter what the future brings.
The Opportunity: A Lasting Legacy
As a founding supporter of the Forever Fund, you have the opportunity to:
Make a transformational, lasting impact
Help secure the future of the preserve
Be recognized as a leader in this effort
Naming opportunities and legacy recognition are available for significant gifts.
How to Support the Forever Fund
One-time gifts: a meaningful contribution today makes an immediate impact.
Multi-year pledges: spread your support over time to build lasting funding.
Legacy gifts: include the Preserve in your estate to leave a permanent mark.
Choose How You Want to Give
You can support the Forever Fund in a way that works best for you:
One-Time Gift
A one-time gift provides support to advance the endowment and strengthen our programs today. Every gift brings us closer to the $1 million goal and ensures that Spearhead remains a place of learning, wonder, and stewardship.
Give once. Make a lasting difference.
A Recurring Monthly or Annual Gift
Monthly donors are the backbone of the Forever Fund.
By giving monthly, even a small amount grows into a powerful gift over time, helping us build the endowment steadily and sustainably.
$10/month = $120 per year
$25/month = $300 per year
$50/month = $600 per year
$100/month = $1,200 per year
Recurring gifts provide reliable support that helps NSNP thrive forever.
Planning a larger gift to the Forever Fund?
Major gifts play a critical role in reaching our $1 Million goal and allow us to discuss ways your support can create a lasting impact.
Have questions? Send us an e-mail.
Contact us: MHAS@SpearheadMHAS.org
Why contact us for larger gifts?
Ensure your gift has the greatest possible impact on the endowment and programs.
Explore special opportunities for recognition and engagement.
Help us plan strategically to reach the $1 million goal efficiently.
A Huge Thank You to Our Early Supporters!
We are grateful to our early supporters, whose gifts have laid the foundation for the Preserve’s future.