Main Menu
Menu
Events
Donate
Main Menu
Menu

DONATE

2025 Spring Fundraiser, with Special guest, Layne Kennedy

We are so excited to announce this year’s fundraiser dinner will be Tuesday, May 6th at 6 p.m., at the Lake Elmo Inn Event Center.  Their chef has promised that this year’s dinner will be as delicious as it was last year.  

We are extremely blessed and fortunate to have award-winning nature photographer, Layne Kennedy, as our guest speaker. Layne is nationally-recognized magazine photographer shooting assignments around the globe for publications like Smithsonian, National Geographic Traveler, National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Book Division, Outside, and Newsweek. His recent books include, Paddle North-Canoeing The Boundary Waters/Quetico Wilderness and A Hard Water World-Ice Fishing And Why We Do It, both by the prestigious Minnesota Historical Society Press.

To order tickets, click the button below. For more information about donating to the SMINC, continue down the page.

Order Tickets

A Helping Hand

We operate the Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center as a community resource according to our Mission Statement. We rely on the generosity of so many friends in the community to keep us going, whether that’s supplying our summer school instructors with resources, bringing in engaging speakers for our Nature for Life series, or just keeping the lights on. We hope you will consider the SMINC as a part of your own charitable giving. You can donate through our safe, and secure electronic donation portal here.
Donate Now

Or, if you want to donate by check, checks may be written to “Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center” or “Friends of Lake Elmo’s Sunfish Lake Park” and mailed to PO Box 241, Lake Elmo, MN 55042. Contributions will be acknowledged by letter. 

Other donation options to consider:

Appreciated stock

If you sell company stock that is worth more than you paid for it, the gain is taxed at short-term or long-term capital gains rates. If you instead donate the shares without selling them, the entire fair market value can be claimed as an itemized deduction, reducing your adjusted gross income and possibly your marginal tax rate (percentage rate on the highest part of your income). Donations may be made as paper stock certificates or as electronic transfers.
The Friends account for stock donations is carried at Cetera, Lake Elmo Bank location. For information contact Steve Madsen, 651-773-4758, madsens@ceteranetworks.com. We pledge to provide your acknowledgement letter in a timely manner, but you need to tell us how many shares you donate, and when, because such information is not always transmitted properly via the electronic transfer mechanism. For further information you may wish to contact your own tax advisor or preparer.

Donor Advised Funds

If you have transferred money to a Donor Advised Fund (such as Fidelity Charitable or a community foundation) the tax advantage has already been recorded, now all you need to do is to direct that a portion of the fund be given to the Friends of Lake Elmo’s Sunfish Lake Park (EIN 81-4091601) and the nature center will benefit.

Individual Retirement Account

(IRA) or 401(k) plans force you to make an annual Required Minimum Distribution beginning at age 70 1/2. If this distribution in taken in cash, it is taxed as ordinary income at your marginal tax rate. If it is donated, the amount can be taken as a tax deduction, and reduces your adjusted gross income and your tax liability. Request that part of your required minimum distribution be taken as a check to donate to “Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center”

Contact Information

Hours:
Monday-Saturday, 9 – 4
Sunday, 11 – 3

651-408-2838

Located in:
Lake Elmo’s Sunfish  Lake Park

Entry Point:
10,000 Stillwater Lane, Lake Elmo MN

Map

Postal Address:
PO Box 241, Lake Elmo MN 55042

Email: info@sminc-lake-elmo.org 

Sign up for our Newsletter or Ask for information

Use the GOLD button below to join our newsletter mailing list and request other information streams. We promise only one email a month unless you request other information, and will never sell your contact information.

If you already get the newsletter and would like to ask a question, make a comment, or request information on volunteering or programs, please click on the white button.

CONTACT US
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP, and optionally REQUEST INFORMATION
Friends of Lake Elmo’s Sunfish Lake Park is a Minnesota Non-Profit Corporation established October 10, 2016 to build and operate the Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center in the Park. It was granted the status of a 501c3 public charity by the IRS in February 2017, and accepts tax-deductible donations.
Friends of Lake Elmo’s Sunfish Lake Park is not affiliated with the City of Lake Elmo. Opinions expressed on this website and our social media accounts are not endorsed by the City of Lake Elmo.
For Information about Park regulations please visit: Lake Elmo’s Park Policy or call 651-747-3900

Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center ©2025

Events
Donate
Scroll to Top