Durfee Foundation
For 30 years, the Durfee Foundation has partnered with Earthwatch to give underserved high school students an immersive, experiential learning opportunity that helps to inspire a passion for STEM in teens through the Ignite LA program. Students in this program join leading scientists on 12- to 14-day field research expeditions around the U.S. Through this experience, they gain practical insight into the scientific process, preparing them to engage more deeply with their science curriculum back in the classroom. Through Ignite LA more than 1,500 students have had the chance to travel across the country, build connections with mentors and peers, and contributed more than 84,000 volunteer hours on over 84 research projects.
Before I started my Earthwatch expedition I didn't want to go to college. But after this experience, I became very interested in environmental science and how science is important in our everyday lives. I now want to go to college and major in something that involves how science affects our planet.
— Ignite Fellow, 2016
YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS
Earthwatch depends on donations—above and beyond what we raise from volunteers who participate on our expeditions—in order to deliver our global conservation mission. In fact, volunteer contributions provide only half of the total resources Earthwatch needs to sustain over 40 field research expeditions, a wide variety of educational programs, corporate sustainability trainings, and more each year.