San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum Completes $3.5M Campaign
(Escondido, CA – November 10, 2016) San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum (SDCDM), the only children’s museum in North San Diego County focusing on hands-on science, art, and world cultures, announced the completion of their five year $3.5 million Path to Discovery Campaign at their Annual Celebration on November 9th with around 200 community supporters and partners attending. In the last year alone, over 700 individual donors contributed to raise the final $350,000 toward the Campaign public phase. The Campaign provided funds to acquire the building and land which includes a 7,500 square foot outdoor Children’s Discovery Garden, complete major renovations, buildout the indoor and outdoor hands-on experiences and exhibits, and expand educational programming and operations.
“This level of community support to expand to a new location five years ago has been truly transformational for children and families in Escondido, North County, and the region, and the Museum is well positioned to keep innovating and thriving,” says Executive Director Javier Guerrero. Attendance increased from 15,000 annual visitors in 2011 to around 145,000 annual visitors in 2016, and SDCDM’s new Mobile Children’s Museum allows the Museum to expand its reach from South Bay San Diego to southern Riverside County with mobile school workshops and mobile hands-on exhibits.
“Along with this rapid growth we continue to see major increases in earned revenue, the number of school and group visits, scope of educational programs, and constant development of our indoor and outdoor exhibits designed and built onsite by Museum staff and volunteers. There are so many dimensions to what we do here with exhibits and programs impacting the lives of thousands of people from cradle to career that includes the ongoing Roots Series celebrating cultures in our community, our High School Internship Program, Health and Wellness events, KPBS Kids Workshops, Outdoor Explorer Series, family parenting programs with partner nonprofits, and endless creativity in our Outdoor Art Studio and Exhibits Workshop,” says Guerrero.
To meet the growing needs for hands-on learning experiences for young children as we move beyond the Campaign, SDCDM is focusing its efforts toward its “Access for All” initiatives with a $700,000 fundraising goal to impact more than 90,000 people. “Access for All” is part of the Museum’s mission to make the Museum accessible to everyone, removing any financial or physical barriers to enjoy hands-on, early childhood education experiences focusing on science, art, and world cultures activities.
The three main “Access for All” initiatives are: (1) Admission Fund: provides Free Admission to over 20,000 Active-Duty Military & Veteran Families, Free Admission passes distributed to over 27,800 people through community programs such 2016 WIC, EBT, Palomar Forensic Health, and SD County Reading Programs. (2) Scholarship Fund: provides Field Trip School Scholarships and Mobile Children’s Museum Scholarships to over 20,000 children from low-income and Title-I schools. (3) Membership Fund: provides Free Annual Family Memberships to over 5,200 underserved families through Early Childhood Education partnerships, and over 220 Free Annual Family Memberships available for checkout in schools and libraries reaching around 17,000 people.
“San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum is extremely committed to our vision is to be a model community children’s museum providing access to authentic hands-on learning experiences that develop the whole child, lifelong learners, and global citizens,” says Guerrero.
For more information or to support San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum’s “Access for All” initiative, please visit http://sdcdm.org/access-all.
SDCDM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All donations are tax deductible. Donations via credic card can also be taken over the phone by calling (760) 233-7755 x1009. Donations via cash or check can be dropped off or mailed to: San Diego Children's Discovery Museum, Attn: Path to Discovery Campaign, 320 North Broadway, Escondido, CA 92025.