The Lois Webster Fund
Make an online donation to the Lois Webster Fund
Guidelines & Application
Watch this website for announcement of next grant round.
The Lois Webster Fund (LWF):
It was always Lois Webster’s hope that Denver Audubon Society (Lois was a founder) would have an endowment to support education and research for Colorado’s non-game wildlife. Her dream was realized in 1995 on her 75th birthday when her many friends gave generously.
Donations from others are welcome, encouraged and, frankly, needed. The LWF provides anyone, ASGD members and others throughout Colorado, with concern about birds and other non-game wildlife, funding for vital research and education projects.
The LWF ended the 2007 fiscal year with $61,460. The fund’s Governing Rules allow up to ten percent of the endowment’s value to be used for project funding in any given year. Through 2008, LWF has cumulatively provided more than $40,311 funding 18 projects.
Research Projects:
Over the years, the LWF has funded several Mountain plover studies (Lois’s favorite bird) and has also assisted in supporting bat, pika and flammulated owl studies statewide. A full project list is available for viewing.
Lois Webster – Our Inspiration:
Lois devoted much of her life to environmental education, both as a science teacher for over 25 years with the Aurora Public Schools and as founder and an active member of the Denver Audubon Society. She was born in 1920 in Dodgeville, WI and graduated from Platteville State Teachers College, now part of the University of Wisconsin. She moved to Colorado in 1944 and in addition to teaching, and her many volunteer environmental positions, she was an avid traveler and gardener. She died in Denver in 1998.
She served on the boards of the Colorado Open Space Council (now the Colorado Environmental Coalition), the Colorado Field Ornithologists and the Colorado Native Plant Society. She was a founding member of the non-game Advisory Committee to the Colorado Division of Wildlife. She received many environmental awards including the Sol Feinstone Environmental Award for Outstanding Volunteer Efforts in 1985. She was instrumental in the creation of Barr Lake State Park and active in many volunteer activities related to the Pawnee National Grasslands.
Lois’ Legacy :
Her achievements were numerous, but what she is most remembered for by all of those who knew her was her quiet persistence and abundance of insightful ideas. She could organize a group of volunteers to do almost anything, as it was impossible to say “no” to Lois. Her leadership skills were enhanced by the widespread respect she earned over the years and by her calm, rational approach to even the most complex problems.
The committee includes Doris Cruze (ASGD President), Carol DeStefanis (ASGD Treasurer), Ed Butterfield, Vicki Dreitz, Karen Hollweg, Urling Kingery, Polly Reetz, Allen Stokes, John Wright and Margot Wynkoop. The committee meets regularly to administer the LWF and to review requests for grants. An annual reception and program is held to highlight the results of the recently funded project(s). Many of the committee members were friends of Lois' and have been on this committee since its inception (we couldn't say no when asked to serve by Lois).
For more information on the Lois Webster Fund, email Polly Reetz or Margot Wynkoop.
Make an online donation to the Lois Webster Fund
