SUTTONS BAY, ON – The finish line is in sight for the Inland Seas Education Association (ISEA) and its $11.1 million Campaign for the Future of Great Lakes Education. An anonymous foundation has come forward with a $250,000 matching challenge grant and will match any donations made to the campaign between now and June 30. With “a hair under $500,000 left to raise” toward the final fundraising goal, ISEA Executive Director Fred Sitkins says the matching grant has the potential to bring the years-long effort to its culmination.
ISEA went public with the Campaign for the Future of Great Lakes Education last summer, but the eight-figure fundraiser actually launched back in 2021. Throughout its four-year quiet phase, the campaign raised the funds necessary for ISEA to purchase a property to the south of its existing Suttons Bay headquarters, acquire a new schooner, and take over stewardship of the nearby Leo Creek Preserve. Last year’s public launch coincided with the announcement that ISEA would be purchasing another neighboring property, the Millside building in Suttons Bay, and converting it into a new educational facility.
Renovations at Millside, which will be renamed the Inland Seas Education Center, are slated to begin sometime this summer.
A rendering of the new Inland Seas Education Center.
