Why Pride?

Pride is about the right to be unapologetically yourself. Sharing your voice. Breaking stereotypes. Expressing creatively. Building models for rural thriving. 

Methow Pride fosters rural connection, belonging, and thriving for LGBTQIA+ beings in the Methow Valley through free programming, community education, and celebratory events.

Mission

As a result of our work, we hope to create a rural haven where LGBTQIA+ individuals believe in their creative expression, share their voices, build thriving intergenerational relationships, and find rural belonging.

We ultimately aim to keep LGBTQIA+ people present, safe, and alive in this rural and natural space.

Vision

Build a community of rural belonging for LGBTQIA+ folks in the Methow Valley

Desired Impact

  • We embrace and enable joy as an act of resistance and resilience.

  • We build responsive and collaborative relationships with communities that are rooted in trust and multidirectional learning.

  • We promote queer visibility through inclusive spaces, history holding, and traditions that reflect our community.

  • We work intentionally to enhance safety, care, and creativity.

  • We believe in the power of expansiveness and curiosity to enable non-judgement, radical empathy, and love for all.

Values

Our Staff

Maddie Morgan (they/them), Artistic Director

Maddie serves as Artistic Director of Methow Pride. In this role, they manage all visual communications and branding, including social media content, website design, and merchandise development. Maddie co-leads the Annual LGBTQ+ Art Show with Fireweed Print Shop and Confluence Gallery, coordinating creative workshops and collaborative community art pieces. They value the expansive and inclusive nature of educating via visual art because it welcomes different interpretations from within their community. Maddie loves the Methow Valley because it holds a mysticism in its land and people that cannot be found anywhere else. It is also the space they found the tools to explore their identity and build confidence in their visibility as a queer person and an artist alike.

Celia Gottlieb (she/they), Programs Director

Celia serves as Project Director of Methow Pride. In this role, she manages year-round operations including program design, community education, organizational governance, strategic planning, fundraising, and community partnerships. She facilitates the Gender Sexuality Alliance at Liberty Bell junior and senior high schools in partnership with Room One, hosts intentional events for queer intergenerational community building, and develops programming grounded in community education, peer support, creativity, and celebration—centering the belief that LGBTQIA+ people deserve to belong in rural places and natural landscapes. Celia loves the Methow Valley because of its deeply engaged community, many seasonal pursuits, and endless forest service roads.

Our Leadership

Methow Pride is guided and supported by dedicated volunteers on our Board of Directors and Queer Council. The Board of Directors provides strategic counsel and financial oversight for the organization, ensuring activities are mission and community aligned. The Queer Council, made up of age and identity diverse LGBTQIA+ folks living in the Methow Valley, who provide programmatic, educational, and strategic recommendations to the Board of Directors and Staff.

Board of Directors

Colbey Breed (Founder, Board President)

Katy Williams (Treasurer) 

Kent Woodruff (Secretary)

Sarah Werneken Studen (Founder, Board Member)

Queer Council

Kay Lee
Melaney Olson 
Rose Walker-Young
Shannon Russell
Laura Gunnip
Andrés M
Firn

We are fiscally sponsored by Mockingbird Incubator. Through this trusted partnership, Methow Pride is granted 501c3 status under their umbrella and is guided in organizational compliance and growth. Mockingbird Incubator manages bookkeeping, accounting, insurance, and payroll. They also demonstrate a devout commitment to ethics, equity, accountability, and transparency. Thank you, Mockingbird Incubator, for making this community-based work possible!

Our Fiscal Sponsor: Mockingbird Incubator

Background: Methow Pride isn't technically its own nonprofit. Instead, we partner with another organization that shares their nonprofit status with us. This arrangement is called "fiscal sponsorship," and we're excited to announce that Mockingbird Incubator is now our fiscal sponsor! 

We were previously fiscally sponsored by Room One, but as they expanded to launch Room Two (congrats to them!), their capacity was shifting while our needs were growing. It was the perfect time to find a new fiscal sponsor that could support our evolution. We're still partnering closely with Room One on community education work, including co-facilitating the middle school and high school Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA). We are so grateful for all of their support throughout the years– thank you Room One!

So... what does that actually mean? Think of it like this: Getting your own nonprofit status (called a 501c3) is like buying a house—it's costly, requires significant paperwork, and comes with ongoing maintenance costs. Fiscal sponsorship is more like renting: we get all the benefits of nonprofit status (like being able to accept tax-deductible donations) without having to manage all the complex legal and financial requirements ourselves.

Mockingbird Incubator handles the heavy lifting: bookkeeping, accounting, payroll, legal compliance, insurance, and all that behind-the-scenes administrative work. In exchange, they charge us 10% of our income—which is much less than it would cost us to hire staff and maintain our own 501c3 status.

Why we love this model:

More impact, less paperwork – We get to focus our energy on what we do best: serving our community and running meaningful programs

Small but mighty – This lets us operate effectively even with part-time staff capacity

More resources for programs – The money we save on administration goes directly to our mission

What this means for you: If you write a check to support Methow Pride, please make it out to "Mockingbird Incubator" and write "Methow Pride" in the memo line.

Mail it directly to Mockingbird, and they'll deposit it into our dedicated account.

(Your donation is still 100% tax-deductible, and it all goes to supporting Methow Pride's work!)

We need your help!

This organization would not be possible without the help and support of community volunteers. Interest in joining our force? Email: info@methowpride.com