The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) is a regional community funding model that serves citizens of the seven counties around Denver. SCFD is funded by collecting one penny on every $10 in sales and use tax collected in the participating counties. The result is that each year, more than $75 million is distributed to 300+ organizations within the district. These tax dollars provide critical operational support for small, medium, and large organizations.
SCFD funding is tiered, with most funding going to support large Tier I institutions (e.g., Denver Museum of Art, Denver Zoo, Denver Museum of Nature & Science) and regional Tier II organizations (Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Butterfly Pavilion, Colorado Mountain Club). Evergreen Audubon is a Tier III organization (less than $1.8 million annual budget); Tier III organizations receive about 14% of all SCFD funding. Allocation to counties for Tier III organizations is based on sales tax raised within each county, and county cultural councils set funding guidelines and review applications. For example, organizations in Jefferson County can only request up to 25% of their annual expenses or income, whichever one is less.
Evergreen Audubon applied for, and received, its first SCFD grant in 2009 ($7,750), and since that time our award amount has increased significantly. From 2009 to 2022, our annual award averaged $14,586. For 2022, we requested $24,000 and received $22,830, which was $700 higher than our previous highest amount awarded in 2021. Since 2009, Evergreen Audubon has received a total of $204,209 of funding from SCFD. Our awards are considered General Operation Support and have allowed us to pay for the salary of the Evergreen Nature Center (ENC) Director (now the Director of Education and Outreach) and, at times, the ENC assistant. We hope to sustain the award amount of ~$23,000 into the future.
Our applications always emphasize the commitment of members to the vision and mission of Evergreen Audubon and the ENC. In 2021, members donated more than 4,500 hours of volunteer time to Evergreen Audubon programs and made more than $65,000 of individual donations. These are impressive numbers for an organization of 300 individuals and are most certainly noticed by Jefferson County Cultural Council members. The Evergreen Audubon Board truly thanks you for your sustained support, which has helped leverage the continued and appreciated support of the SCFD.