Every gift helps build a better California
Start with what feels right for you.
Give once and it goes straight to where it’s needed most. Give monthly and you join Stronghold – CalTrout’s community of donors who fund this work monthly, at any amount, because they’ve decided to stick with it.
- Stronghold donors get a short welcome series, a small welcome token after a few months of giving, and updates built for recurring supporters.
- Give $1,000 or more a year (about $85/month) and you’re automatically part of the Golden Trout Circle too – see below.
Give during our annual end-of-year campaign, and every donor receives our annual thank-you calendar. Give $1,000 or more during that season and you’ll also receive a seasonal gift (this year, a Patagonia sun shirt).
Giving LEVELS
Where leadership giving begins, and the river gives back.
Golden Trout Circle members lead through annual giving, starting at $1,000 a year. Every level funds the science and advocacy that keep California’s rivers flowing, and opens a standing invitation onto the water with our team.
Golden Trout Circle has four levels, and every level shares the same core benefits. As giving grows, so does the annual collection item and access to unique by-invitation experiences.
Golden Trout Circle | Featured level Golden Trout$1,000–$4,999 annuallyAn entry point into leadership giving at CalTrout. | Steelhead$5,000–$9,999 annuallyDeeper annual investment with level-specific stewardship. | Watershed$10,000–$24,999 annuallyLeadership support with eligibility for Trout Camp. | Headwaters$25,000+ annuallyCalTrout’s highest annual giving level, with a distinct signature experience. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access and communications | ||||
| Golden Trout Circle donor communications | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Exclusive invitation to our speaker series | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Signature experiences | ||||
| Priority invitation to CalTrout-led fly-fishing trips | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Priority invitation to Field Tours Half-day restoration site tours, statewide, each spring. | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Trout CampInvitation-only, based on inquiry and availability. | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Annual overnight field experience at a restoration site | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Annual collection | ||||
| Collection pieceEach year's annual collection items follow one conservation theme, expressed differently at each level. It's opt-in: a claim form lets you choose your item, decline it, or redirect its cost to the mission. | Golden Trout selection | Steelhead selection | Watershed selection | Headwaters selection |
| $1,000–$4,999 annuallyLevel-specific annual collection pieceJoin Golden Trout | $5,000–$9,999 annuallyLevel-specific annual collection pieceJoin Steelhead | $10,000–$24,999 annuallyLevel-specific annual collection pieceJoin Watershed | $25,000+ annuallyLevel-specific annual collection pieceJoin Headwaters | |
The annual collection is opt-in, limited to one piece per household each year, and follows one fixed claim and fulfillment cycle.
Golden Trout Circle
Access and communications
- Golden Trout Circle donor communications✓
- Exclusive invitation to our speaker series✓
Signature experiences
- Priority invitation to CalTrout-led fly-fishing trips✓
- Priority invitation to Field Tours Half-day restoration site tours, statewide, each spring.✓
- Trout CampInvitation-only, based on inquiry and availability.—
- Annual overnight field experience at a restoration site—
Annual collection
- Collection pieceEach year's annual collection items follow one conservation theme, expressed differently at each level. It's opt-in: a claim form lets you choose your item, decline it, or redirect its cost to the mission.Golden Trout selection
Access and communications
- Golden Trout Circle donor communications✓
- Exclusive invitation to our speaker series✓
Signature experiences
- Priority invitation to CalTrout-led fly-fishing trips✓
- Priority invitation to Field Tours Half-day restoration site tours, statewide, each spring.✓
- Trout CampInvitation-only, based on inquiry and availability.—
- Annual overnight field experience at a restoration site—
Annual collection
- Collection pieceEach year's annual collection items follow one conservation theme, expressed differently at each level. It's opt-in: a claim form lets you choose your item, decline it, or redirect its cost to the mission.Steelhead selection
Access and communications
- Golden Trout Circle donor communications✓
- Exclusive invitation to our speaker series✓
Signature experiences
- Priority invitation to CalTrout-led fly-fishing trips✓
- Priority invitation to Field Tours Half-day restoration site tours, statewide, each spring.✓
- Trout CampInvitation-only, based on inquiry and availability.✓
- Annual overnight field experience at a restoration site—
Annual collection
- Collection pieceEach year's annual collection items follow one conservation theme, expressed differently at each level. It's opt-in: a claim form lets you choose your item, decline it, or redirect its cost to the mission.Watershed selection
Access and communications
- Golden Trout Circle donor communications✓
- Exclusive invitation to our speaker series✓
Signature experiences
- Priority invitation to CalTrout-led fly-fishing trips✓
- Priority invitation to Field Tours Half-day restoration site tours, statewide, each spring.✓
- Trout CampInvitation-only, based on inquiry and availability.✓
- Annual overnight field experience at a restoration site✓
Annual collection
- Collection pieceEach year's annual collection items follow one conservation theme, expressed differently at each level. It's opt-in: a claim form lets you choose your item, decline it, or redirect its cost to the mission.Headwaters selection
The annual collection is opt-in, limited to one piece per household each year, and follows one fixed claim and fulfillment cycle.
Inside the Levels
This is where your gift takes you.
Beyond the numbers and the checkmarks: a standing invitation to the water you’re working to protect. These are the moments our Giving Circle donors come back for.
All Golden Trout Circle levels
The signature experience · CalTrout-led fly-fishing
Fish beside the people restoring the river.
Golden Trout Circle members get priority invitation to fish California’s most storied wild trout water alongside our staff and donor community — the Trinity, the Fall River, the McCloud, and beyond. You’re on the water with the practitioners and advocates who know every riffle and every reason it still runs. Learn more about fishing trips.
- Priority invitation ahead of general registration
- Small groups, guided by expert guides and joined by CalTrout conservation staff
Watershed & Headwaters
On the Upper Sacramento · By invitation
Trout Camp
Shasta Springs Trout Camp on a spring-fed stretch of the Upper Sacramento — wild rainbows, cold water, a field team that knows every bend. Access is invitation-only: Watershed and Headwaters donors are invited to express interest annually, with spots offered based on availability.
- Multi-day access to Shasta Springs Trout Camp
- Guided water with CalTrout’s biologists
- The kind of fishing most anglers only read about
Headwaters only
By invitation · Once a year
The Headwaters Field Experience.
Once a year, Headwaters donors ($25,000+) are invited overnight to an active restoration site, to see firsthand the water their giving has brought back to life.
More than one way to belong
Four communities, not a ladder.
You might sustain the work through a recurring gift, lead through annual giving, show up year after year, reach a lifetime milestone, or make a legacy commitment. These are separate communities, and many supporters belong to several at once.
Loyal Donor Program
What it recognizes: how many years, in a row, you’ve shown up.
Amount doesn’t factor in. Someone giving $50 a year for two decades has demonstrated something a giving-circle table can’t capture. Each year you continue, we’ll acknowledge your tenure and mark meaningful milestones along the way with a special gift.
Catalyst Circle
What it recognizes: a present, transformational commitment.
Catalyst Circle is by invitation, for donors committing $100,000 or more over three years to work that needs patient, sustained investment. We build each partnership individually, with stewardship shaped around what matters most to you.
Reach out to Sierra Wildeor at swildeor@caltrout.org to inquire.
Cumulative Giving Society
What it recognizes: your total giving over the life of your relationship with us.
Once you reach a lifetime milestone, that recognition is permanent. It doesn’t reset, and it stands apart from whatever else you give in a given year.
Richard May Legacy Society
What it recognizes: a commitment to California’s rivers that outlasts any one gift.
Named for CalTrout’s founder, the Richard May Legacy Society honors donors who’ve documented a planned or estate gift — a bequest, a beneficiary designation, a charitable trust.
See Legacy Giving below for details.
LEgacy Giving
Leave a river to the next generation.
Honoring CalTrout in your will or living trust helps ensure future generations inherit California’s wild rivers and the cold, clean water that sustains them. Bequests, retirement assets, and charitable trusts are all welcome, and most are simple to set up.
Let us know your plans, and you’ll be honored in the Richard May Legacy Society — named for CalTrout’s founder. Visit caltroutlegacy.org to explore your options and the tools available to help you plan.
“In 1971, Richard May and a small but passionate group of anglers formed CalTrout with a simple goal: protect and restore wild trout and steelhead waters throughout California.”
Find Your Level
Your giving questions, answered.
Your donation goes to where it is needed most – it helps fill the critical gaps in between state, federal, and private funding for both projects and operations. Your gift is the stable bedrock that allows us to stay nimble in a quickly shifting funding landscape. Your donation also shows funders that we have a trusted community that believes in our work.
California Trout is a registered 501(c)(3) – your gift is fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Yes — gifts of appreciated stock or mutual funds can support CalTrout’s work while offering you potential tax advantages, and if you’re 70½ or older, you can give up to $100,000 tax-free directly from a traditional or Roth IRA. Please notify us before contacting your broker: reach Sierra Wildeor, Director of Development, at swildeor@caltrout.org or (415) 392-8887 x175. Full instructions and transfer details are on our Stock and IRA Gifts page.
Many companies offer matching gift and volunteer grant programs to double the impact of your gift to CalTrout.
We welcome brand and corporate partnerships of all kinds. From event and project specific partnerships to transformational collaboration, we would be glad to partner to scale your company’s impact in the conservation space. Please reach out to Associate Director of Development, Molly Ancel at mancel@caltrout.org to discuss further.
We welcome gifts in tribute and are honored to send special acknowledgements as is requested. Please reach out to info@caltrout.org and our team would be happy to support.
Please reach out to info@caltrout.org to update or cancel your monthly gift.
Donors who leave a gift to CalTrout in their will become part of the Richard May Legacy Society – your gift is our future. Visit caltroutlegacy.org to learn more about the charitable giving vehicles available or reach out to Director of Development, Sierra Wildeor at swildeor@caltrout.org for support with planning your legacy gift.
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Charity Navigator · 4-Star
Our top rating for accountability and financial transparency, from the largest independent charity evaluator in the U.S.
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87¢ of every dollar to programs
An 86.7% program expense ratio — the large majority of every gift goes straight to conservation, not overhead.
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501(c)(3) since 1971
California’s first statewide trout & steelhead conservation nonprofit. Tax-deductible · EIN 23- 7097680.
Every gift keeps a river flowing
California’s rivers can’t wait. Neither should we.
However you choose to give — once, monthly, or as part of a Giving Circle — your support puts science in the field and dams out of rivers. Pick the path that’s right for you.