We are writing to share the news that Keith Desrosiers will be transitioning out of the role of Executive Director for Thorne Nature Experience. This is a time to celebrate all of Thorne’s many accomplishments under Keith’s fifteen-year tenure and a time to embrace our future opportunities. We hope you will read below the letters from Keith and Thorne’s Board of Trustees, both of whom are enthusiastic about the future here at Thorne.
LETTER FROM KEITH:
What began 15 years ago as an 18-month transitional leadership consulting contract with an organization whose mission I deeply valued (I was serving on the Board at the time), turned into the most impactful chapter of my career in the environmental nonprofit sector. Today, Thorne is transformed, as am I. And, now is the right time for both Thorne and me to explore new opportunities and to continue to build towards even brighter futures.
Both Thorne and I have grown and changed so much in the past decade and a half. I now have a home in Lafayette and a wife and two beautiful children. Thorne Nature Experience has expanded from 5 employees to nearly 30 and from an annual budget of $400,000 to $3.2 million. Today Thorne serves more than 15,000 youth and families annually, with a focus on equity and inclusion to ensure NATURE FOR ALL.
I want to express my sincere gratitude to all the board and staff I have worked with at Thorne over the years as well as the donors and volunteers and partnering nonprofits and agencies. I also want to thank the parents who enrolled their kids in our programs, because they, like Thorne, know that “Kids Grow Better in Nature.” Together, we achieved so much, including:
- Rebranding Thorne as a nature connection organization
- Establishing Thorne Summer Camp as the gold standard for day camps in Boulder County
- Developing the Nature Immersion Initiative and expanding School Year Programs to serve Title 1 Schools
- Creating the NATURE FOR ALL Initiative, which now awards more than $600,000 annually in scholarships
- Establishing the Collective Impact Projects E-Movement and Nature Kids Jóvenes de la Naturaleza – NKJN is the nation’s largest community scale environmental education project
- Opening Boulder County’s first licensed nature preschool
- Rising to the challenge of the Pandemic by creating and expanding programming to support those families most vulnerable to the Pandemic’s impacts
- Dreaming and building the $6.5 Million Lafayette Nature Center
We did all this together, and along the way Thorne earned recognition in 2019 as the nation’s top regional environmental education center. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU for being on this journey with us and for your support in helping to make Thorne Nature Experience what it is today – a vibrant organization with a talented team of staff and board and volunteers which profoundly impacts our community by both changing the lives of the youth we serve and building the next generation of Earth stewards.
Through the end of the year, I will pour my energy into supporting Thorne with this transition and ensuring Thorne’s next leader and the Thorne staff are well positioned to continue to grow the organization to meet the needs of our community and build Earth stewards through Thorne’s unique brand of joyful, hands-on, place-based environmental education programming.
Yours in gratitude,
Keith Desrosiers
LETTER FROM THE THORNE BOARD:
Greetings Thorne supporters,
The Thorne Board of Trustees is excited about the future of Thorne Nature Experience as we begin our search for Thorne’s next great leader to replace Keith Desrosiers when he moves on from the organization at the end of this year.
Seventy years ago, our soon to be 96-year-old founder Oak Thorne had the vision to create Thorne Nature Experience. It has been amazing to see how Keith has added to the organization’s long history of accomplishments during his tenure in support of our mission to build Earth stewardship by providing youth with joyful, hands-on, place-based environmental education experiences that foster an emotional connection to nature.
We are very thankful to Keith for his 15 years of service and for all the successes that have been achieved under his leadership. We also want to thank all of Thorne’s past and current staff and board members, volunteers, donors, collaborators, and program participants for your role in these successes. This team approach has made Thorne what it is today: one of the most outstanding nature connection organizations in the country.
Through summer camps, school programs, early childhood education programs, and the Nature Kids Jóvenes de la Naturaleza collective impact project, Keith and the dedicated team at Thorne have been working hard to make sure kids in Boulder County are provided the opportunity to joyfully connect with nature. We assure you that the Thorne Board of Trustees remains committed to continuing the effort to make all our programs more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible.
We have organized a search committee that will guide the process of hiring Thorne’s next Executive Director. We look forward to continuing to work together to allow more kids of all backgrounds to connect with and receive the benefits afforded by time spent in nature. We are very excited that our new Lafayette Nature Center, completed with the help of so many of you, will provide a hub for this critical work.
We know that with this focus and your support that Thorne Nature Experience will continue to thrive in the years ahead!
Yours in Nature,
The Thorne Board of Trustees