2022 – 2023 Pool REBUILD to REOPEN Capital Campaign
Get Morton’s Warm Springs back open by helping us to
REPAIR & RESTORE our historic hot springs pools!
For our most recent CAMPAIGN UPDATE, please visit our GoFundMe page HERE!
(We’re posting updates every week!)
(We’re posting updates every week!)
Last fall, Morton’s historic hot springs pools suffered damage from a fraudulent contractor who absconded with money which was never returned (read the full story here). Well we’re very happy to report that, after almost a year of closed pools and very diligent work finding a viable path forward, we now have a sound repair plan, a contract signed and in hand, and permits submitted to reopen the pools this spring!
Now comes the next challenge… The costs on all the bids have ranged between $210-300k for only plaster and tile repair. And there’s other components we have to fix or upgrade to get Morton’s back open. It’s jaw dropping, and at times we’ve really struggled with feeling deeply discouraged, especially as we’d planned on $50k all-in for a few ‘simple’ repairs just one year ago.
Morton’s Warm Springs is the last accessible, naturally spring-fed, outdoor geothermal springs anywhere within our tri-county region, and within the entire greater SF Bay Area. Since 2016, we’ve been slowly restoring this historic gem of a place, bringing it back from the brink of being closed forever and forgotten. We’re committed to ensuring that it will always remain accessible to families, young people, those on fixed incomes, and all the diverse communities Sonoma County is so culturally enriched by and upon which it utterly depends. And we need your help.
Our GoFundMe is looking to raise $50,000 in support of this effort:
www.gofundme.com/f/restore-mortons-springs
Morton’s has over 25,000 people come through the gates each year. If only 10% of all these folks could give an average of just $20 each to this cause, this would get us to $50,000. If we’re able to reach our goal of $50K, we’ll go for a stretch goal of an additional $25,000 to reach a total of $75K raised.
AND! If we can raise $50K or more in community contributions, Morton’s is lining up a small but mighty circle of Matching Fund Investors who will MATCH THE FULL AMOUNT WE RAISE for a grand total of up to $150,000 raised for Morton’s! The rest we aim to raise through a combination of both pre-sale season passes for next year along with a spring fundraising event and silent auction (please get in touch if you’re interested in either or both!)
Help us bring this beloved community treasure back to life. Let’s get Morton’s Warm Springs repaired, renewed and REOPENED for 2023!
The Morton’s Stewards
Laurie Hobbs, Larry Mathews, Sean, Hank and Carole Wadsworth
(and little Aura & Theo)
&…
The Community Support Team for Reopen Morton’sHeather & JulieAnne and the Deerheart Steinberger family
Mimi & Brandon and the Maio family
Michelle & Ari and the Dench/Moshe family
Alania & Scott and the Lindquist family
Join Our Monthly Sustainer Circle
Sustainer Circle members help to sustain and uplift the long-term vision, mission, refurbishment and revitalisation efforts at the Springs. These ongoing patron contributions offer a powerfully supportive foundation to buffer and bolster us from the intense ebbs and flows of a (for the time being) still extremely limited revenue-producing season surrounded by many off-season months of little to no cashflow (where, usually, the lion’s share of all repairs and revitalisation projects must also occur). More powerfully, our Sustainer Circle Members enable our year-round work to remain focused on the longer-arc of cultural and ecological restoration, infrastructure upgrades and improvements, a county use/permit update allowing us to create a true hot springs experience, as well as long-term legacy planning to ensure the accessibility and protection of the Springs for generations to come.
How it works: Sustainer Circle Members contribute automated monthly donations –OR– a single annual donation. This patronage is on an annual basis and membership is auto-renewed each year with 45-day renewal notice. If there are any critical or unexpected shifts which necessitate a change of support mid-year, Sustainer Circle Members may request a change using our a 30-day courtesy Donation Cancellation/Alteration notice form.
Join Our Sustainer Circle: Click here to fill out your application ONLINE today!* (Or download a PDF version of our Sustainer Circle Membership Application here)
*INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUSTAINER MEMBERSHIP ONLINE APPLICATION: The dark blue fields are required and the light blue fields are not. Don’t forget to initial each page at the bottom right and sign the last page. The orange arrow on the left should guide you to the fields still remaining to fill. Once you have filled in all of the required fields, then you can click the COMPLETE button at the top right to submit the form (the COMPLETE button will turn from BLUE to GREEN when you have filled in all required fields). Once we receive payment by credit card over the phone or in person, your Membership is active! Check out the Sustainer Circle Membership details below, or email and ask us about becoming a Sustainer Member today. You can mail in your application, bring it in person, or scan and email it to info@mortonswarmsprings.com. Once we receive your first monthly/annual payment by credit card over the phone or in person, your membership is active!
| SUSTAINER | BUILDER | PATRON | REGENERATOR |
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| $5~$25 / month $60~$300 / year | $30~$75 / month $360~$900 / year | $80~$120 / month $960~$1,440 / year | $150+ / month $1,800+ / year |
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Sustainer Circle Policies
Sustainer Circle Members are individuals. Multiple people (like a couple) or groupings of people (friends or families) are not grouped together under a single membership. Said another way, a couple or a whole family could consider themselves connected to a single “Sustainer Member” or a “Patron Member,” by way of using that member’s guest passes for example, but, for our purposes, we only deal financially with one individual’s card and record one name.
All Sustainer Circle Member Donations primarily fund capital improvements and land-based ecological, restoration and infrastructural improvements which specifically build upon our mission and vision and which help to preserve the future legacy of the Springs.
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- Occasionally, these funds may also sustain basic operational costs during lean times if ever needed. In the current chapter of our organizational life, these funds are going directly towards our efforts in rebuilding the pools and reopening again for the summer 2023 season.
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- After reopening for our summer 2023 season, funds will next support us to complete our 50+ year master site design and legacy planning which is required for us to apply for a new use permit, then support our movement through the permitting process itself (estimated to be between 3-7 years).
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- Finally, once we have a new use permit issued, funds will go towards phased implementation for that legacy plan.
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- Lastly, along the way, some smaller portion of funds will likely always be put towards supporting implementation of smaller, concurrent but adjacent ecological or restoration projects, as well as minor infrastructural repairs and improvements.
Other Ways To Support The Springs
Thank you for considering supporting the Springs–any and all donations are very helpful to us no matter how small! Help us keep the lights on and the mortgage paid as we move through this transformational chrysalis time. We are set up to receive any size donation via cash or check (made out to “Morton’s Warm Springs” and sent to our mailing address in the footer below). You can also donate funds to our project online via Venmo by scanning below or via our PayPal account by clicking below. Through our nonprofit project Restore The Springs we’re also set up to receive tax-deductible donations (see below). If you’d like to donate via crypto, you can scan the below receiving addresses at the bottom of the page (or let us know if you’d prefer to send another type and we’ll send you the receiving address). Lastly, we gladly welcome in-kind donations and we absolutely love and cherish our volunteers! Further info is below for these various donation methods, but please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@mortonswarmsprings.com with any questions!
Tax-Deductible Donations for Restore The Springs
In-Kind Donations & Volunteering
There are countless other ways you can be a part of helping our work unfold fruitfully here. In-kind donations are a type of giving where, instead of giving money, needed goods or services are offered. If you’d like to make a valuable in-kind donation, please reach out to us via our Contact Us page. We also frequently have volunteer days in various spheres and with projects currently underway at the Springs (most often working in our organic garden or with the wildtending and fire mitigation work we do in the landscape), and we’re always looking for good people who would love to volunteer some of their time and camaraderie! Also, if you have any professional skills you’d like to offer in service to the Springs, either gratis, in trade, or at a discounted rate (such as carpentry, plumbing or electrical, gardening and farming, outreach or administrative support) please reach out! This kind of community involvement is not only super helpful, it’s a true delight and a joy for us to work alongside each other, build community and get to know each other in this way! To hear of current volunteer days and opportunities, please reach out via info@mortonswarmsprings.com.Cryptocurrency Donations
