Help Us Reach Our Goal of $10,000
Donate Today!
Donate to the Skagit River Poetry Foundation anytime between now and January 1st. Help us raise $10K – we have a donor that will match this gift! That means with your generosity $20,000 will greatly support our mission of building literacy in our area schools and strengthening our community through the power of poetry.
Give your gift today! $25, $50, $75, $100, $200, $500 or any amount you choose.
Why Donate to the Skagit River Poetry Foundation?
We Thank You in advance – your support and belief in our mission helps us continue the important work we do to engage, inspire, and transform our communities lives through the power of poetry. Our mission is to support lifelong literacy and cultural diversity through the writing, reading, performing, and teaching of poetry in Northwest Washington schools and communities.
We are grateful to have your support as we continue growing our community of supporters. It’s donations from you that help us keep poets in our local school districts and allow us to invite poets from all over the nation to visit the Skagit Valley and join our unique Skagit River Poetry Festival. This type of conference is rare where community is created through the written and spoken word – where hearts, minds, and lives are changed by discussing critical issues and sharing lived experiences all through the lens of poetry.
Make a Donation Match with a Family Member or Friend (optional)
Make giving even more fun by matching a donation with a friend or family member. This is a generous and interactive way of supporting our cause! For example, if you plan to donate $100, ask someone else to match your donation and give the same amount.
How Can I Donate?
Donate Online by visiting our donation page on our website.
Donate by Mail:
Send your check or money order to:
Skagit River Poetry Foundation
PO Box 238
La Conner, WA 98257
Make a note on your check that it’s for the $10K Campaign
How Will My Donation Be Used to Change Lives?
Your donation will support our:
Poets in Schools Program
Our Poets in Schools Program places professional poets in school districts in Skagit, Island, and Whatcom counties for one week residencies throughout the school year where poets explore and write poetry with students.
Help pay for part of a teaching poets stipend: $1,500
A teaching poet allows the space for student’s to play with imagination, words, and then create poetry. Concrete Elementary School. March 2024
Testimonials of Impact
Anacortes Elementary teachers:
“….Every voice gets space and time, and every voice is affirmed. There is never enough time at the end of each session for students to share their work because everyone wants to share! It is a remarkably positive and healing experience, and one I’m so grateful to experience each year.”
“Ms. JJ, as the kids called her, was wonderful! My students fell in love with poetry. She did a great job of giving specific, tangible ideas for the kids to build upon. IE. color, senses, etc…I loved how she engaged young learners with lizard, lipstick, and asking ‘who needs some words’. The class grew so much in a short time!”
Concrete Elementary School teacher:
“Today was our second day with Jeffrey Morgan, who is working with Skagit River Poetry Foundation‘s poet-in-residency program. I can not say enough good things about him. The kids love working with him. He makes them feel heard and shows them that he values their ideas. It is so fun sitting back as the classroom teacher and watching them be excited about their writing. Thank you SRPF!”
Student Poetry Anthology 2023-24
Click Here to Download the PDF
Our student anthology is a collection of poetry written in classrooms this past school year, 2023-24. Check out student’s amazing creativity inspired by having a poet in their classroom for a week! Donate today to keep our Poets in Schools Program going strong!
Concrete Elementary students that had poems featured in the anthology proudly hold up their copies of the book! Thank you, Students, for your superb work! Photo by Lisa Dills.
Your donation will support our:
Skagit River Poetry Festival
Our Skagit River Poetry Festival is held every other year in La Conner, WA. You can help us bring poets from all over the nation to the festival as they host workshop and conference sessions for the public and area K-14 students. This year featured poets included Tony Curtis, Ellen Bass, Claudia Castro Luna and 33 others from across the nation and the NW. Sessions covered an array of topics, a few examples were: Laughing Out Loud: Poetry with a Comedic Edge, Poetry & Privilege: Writing Inside & Outside the Margins, Northwest Pastoral: Poetry of Place, Endangered: Disappearing Nature, Voices From the Past: How They Inform Poetry in the Present, Consequences of Silence: Poems That Speak UP/ Speak OUT
Help pay for a festival poet lodging and travel expenses: $2,000
Area students fill Maple Hall in La Conner for poetry festival programming in early October 2024.
Students pose at the Skagit River Poetry Festival. October 2024
Susan Rich and Claudia Castro Luna catch up in Maple Hall
Dublin poet, Tony Curtis, shares from a book at a session called Three Poets Walk into a Bar, comedy in poetry.
Gary Copeland Lilley plays guitar at the session, The Lyre and the Pen: How Music and Poetry Intertwine.
Rio Cortez, Paul Hlava Ceballos, and Samar Abdulhassan ready to present at all-student-day, Pushpins on the Map: Poems Across Borders
Arthur Sze reads to a packed house in Maple Hall at a Poetry Sampler on the last evening of the festival.
Posters inspire attendees. Amanda Gorman’s words: “For there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it / if only we are brave enough to be it.”
Your donation will support our poetry and cultural related events:
We also host events to enrich our community:
- Poet/Teacher Workshops – Poets in Schools Program
- Memoir Writing Workshop
- Ekphrastic Poetry Workshops
- We host the Poetry Out Loud NW Regionals for high school students each year
- Previous events include: Speaking Our Truth: LGBTQ+ Students and Allies, The Healing Heart of the Lushootseed film showing at the Lincoln Theatre, Valentine’s Poetry Workshop, Celtic Storytelling, plus poetry open mic opportunities
- Partnerships with area arts organizations like Skagit Symphony/McIntyre Hall and the Lincoln Theatre
The 2024 Poetry Out Loud NW Regional Competition for high school students was held at Burlington Public Library in February. Our two finalists, Selah Burrows from Lincoln High School in Seattle and Greg Chvany from Mercer Island High School moved on to compete at the state level.