Our Name | Mission | Purpose | Services | Governance | Sections |Nonprofit Status | Budget/Annual Reports | Awards | Minutes | History | Vision | Website
| AEOE stands for the Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education, the first association of environmental educators in the nation. We are a California organization by and for outdoor environmental educators, established in 1954 as AOE, adding the "Environmental" part to our name in 1971 after the first Earth Day. Our logo, the oak tree, is symbolic of our work of planting seeds in the hearts and minds of children to make the world a better place: seeds of knowledge, seeds of understanding, seeds of appreciation, seeds that we hope will grow into positive actions for a healthy environment for all. California's great diversity of oaks were highly important to the first people, as acorns were their "staff of life." We hope the seeds we sow today will be of equal importance to the Californians of the future. |  |
More AEOE History | Member EE/OE Providers in California | Other states' EE organizations |
Linking to AEOE If you would like to add a link on your website to AEOE, here are graphics and html you may use to create the link.
The Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education supports and inspires educators in their quest for the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential to help all learners understand, appreciate and care for their environment. As an integral part of achieving our mission, we encourage direct experience outdoors.
This purpose is now historical, though we remain essentially true to it and used it to help create our new mission statement:
AEOE (the Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education) is dedicated to the education of children and to helping them increase their awareness and understanding of their natural environment. This organization believes in the potential of education to help children perceive and understand environmental principles and problems.
We encourage carefully planned and sustained programs of formal and informal education. By exploring personal values and providing involvement based on student perceptions, interests and competence, we seek the development of a personal ethic appropriate to the enhancement of environmental quality.
To this end, we continuously support educators in their quest for the skills, attitudes and materials so essential to help learners know and care about their environment.
Note: A Vision Statement describes an ideal future. It is what we want the world to look like when we have completed our Mission. The proposed AEOE Vision Statement reads as follows:
Through regular participation in environmental and outdoor education, learners will gain the knowledge, skills and inspiration to help them understand, respect and care for themselves, their communities and their environment. These values will be reflected in a world where:
For more information and background on the AEOE Strategic Plan and Vision, click here
AEOE offers three quality conferences for outdoor / environmental educators annually: two regional conferences in the fall and a statewide conference in the spring. We also sponsor enriching outings and events several times a year. We provide members with a quarterly regional newsletter, with information pertinent to outdoor/environmental educators in California. We maintain this website with resources for educators, online articles relating to outdoor /environmental education, a calendar of events, inspiration, and a highly used joblist. We do this with an all volunteer board who are dedicated to the cause of promoting environmental and outdoor education in the state and beyond, and with the support of our membership. To join AEOE, Click Here
For more details about our members and who we serve, click here
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GovernanceAEOE is governed by an all volunteer board, which includes the State President, Section Council Chairs and Chairs-Elect, State Coordinating Secretary and Chief Financial Officer, Membership Chair and Public Relations / Outreach Chair. Under the State Executive Board, each section is governed by its section council which includes Chair, Chair-Elect, Secretary, and other positions such as newsletter editor, conference chair, outings chair, and members at large which are appointed by the councils. For more details on goverance, please see the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. SectionsAEOE is organized into two sections, Northern and Southern. Members will be assigned to a section based on where they work. Members outside the state will be assigned to the section of their choice. Any member may subscribe to the newsletter and other mailings of the opposite section, but a person may be a member in good standing of only one section. Click on the map to the left if you are uncertain about your section. |
Interested in serving AEOE on the section boards? Appointed board positions and committees are available. Please contact your Section Chair for more information. Position descriptions for most positions are available.
We have been a operating as a nonprofit organization since our inception in 1954, and in 2006, officially confirmed our 501(c)(3) status with the IRS. (EIN 95-4819097).
BIG NEWS FLASH!!! AEOE, after over 50 years of nonprofit work for California's Environmental and Outdoor Educators, finally has official 501(c)(3) status with the IRS!! This means donations are now tax deductible! We can qualify for nonprofit discounts, grants and funding! This is HUGE and is the result of a tremendous amount of work on the part of the AEOE Board over the last several years, especially from our wonderful volunteer CFO, Zayanne Gardner Thompson!! Congratulations AEOE and Thank You Zayanne!
Read more about AEOE's process of getting nonprofit status - click here!
As part of the process of confirming our 501(c)3 status with the IRS, we have recently unified the AEOE treasury and our Chief Financial Officer has been preparing annual reports. View annual reports (pdf - 56K)
Howard Bell Award
AEOE annually gives the Howard Bell Award to recognize and pay tribute to persons who have made outstanding contributions and achievements in the area of environmental and outdoor education. Please see the Howard Bell page for history, nominations, and previous awards.
Environmental Educator of the Year, sectional award
Each section presents the Environmental Educator of the Year Award at their section Fall Conference. See the Environmental Educator of the Year page for more information and past winners.
Special Awards
Occasionally, AEOE may wish to recognize someone whose contributions to the field are not easily categorized with a special award. This was the case for the Outstanding Service Award created for Maggie Wolfe in 2006, "for tremendous contributions in the field of environmental education through her continued volunteer service." If other awards are created in the future, we will list them here.
Board meeting minutes of the state executive board and the section boards are available here for members and as a public record of the organization.
Our State Historian has maintained the history of AEOE, which celebrated its 50th anniversary as an organization in 2004. Look for history displays at our statewide conferences, with photos and artifacts of the last 50 years of environmental and outdoor education in California.
