Washington Lighthouses
Who Benefits
Washington Lighthouse License plate goals
Background : The State of Washington has authorized a program of specialized license plates that can be purchased by vehicle owners. The Lighthouse Environmental Programs (LEP) was selected by the state legislature to participate in this program.
Lighthouse Environmental Programs (LEP) is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization located in Washington State and registered with the Secretary of State's office. LEP was formed in 1994 to oversee financial management of the environmental education outreach programs, W.S.U. Lighthouse Docents, W.S.U. Waste Wise Volunteers and WSU Beach Watchers. These programs are headquartered at the Admiralty Head Lighthouse in Fort Casey State Park on Whidbey Island.
The benefit to LEP is that a major portion of the license plate fee is returned to LEP. The following constraints are part of the agreement with the state.
The following policies apply to the expenditure of these funds.
From the total (gross) annual amount of proceeds from the license plates, LEP sets aside up to 10% of these funds for marketing and administration. All direct and indirect costs of marketing and administering this program are legitimate expenses that must be subtracted from the proceeds provided by the state before any distribution of funds can be made. (To date, marketing and administration have used less then 8% of these funds.)
From the remaining 90% of the funds, 10% will be allocated to the LEP Endowment Fund in an effort to secure the future of LEP and the programs that it supports.
From the remaining 90% of the funds, other Washington State lighthouses manned by volunteers will be allocated 25% of the net proceeds. Procedures for the distribution of these funds are addressed in the LEP Lighthouse License Plate 25% Grant Policy which is available to other lighthouses in Washington State that are open to the public and staffed by volunteers and have 501 c 3 non profit status. The grant program is outlined on a separate page.
From the remaining 65%, the funds from the license plate project will be used to support program coordination that is not readily visible to the general public. Therefore a portion of funds distributed internally will support projects that have high public visibility, and these projects will be identified as such with a license plate fund plaque. In following this procedure, LEP shows supporters of the license plates that their funds are making a difference.
1. Support the WSU Lighthouse Docent Program. Trained volunteer docents presently serve more than 35,000 annual lighthouse visitors by providing tours, lectures, gift shop staffing, and arrangements for lighthouse weddings. These volunteers also provide guided tours of Fort Casey , primarily to school children
2. Support the WSU/Beach Watchers Program. These volunteers receive 100 hours of classroom instruction in protecting the environment of Island County and Puget Sound . They accomplish their goal through educational workshops and research and by encouraging public awareness. One of the Beach Watchers, Janet Orso, provided the license plate's original design
3. Support the WSU/Waste Wise Volunteer Program. These volunteers also receive classroom instruction, approximately 50 hours, and work to encourage recycling, smart shopping, composting, waste reduction and sustainable living in Island County .
4. Support special stewardship projects of the LEP, which benefit the environment and Washington State Parks.
5. Enhance the Admiralty Head Lighthouse museum with high quality interpretive exhibits and select restoration projects.
6. An annual report, detailing the purpose to which funds were expended must be forwarded to the State of Washington from LEP.
Admiralty Head Lighthouse is open to the public through a cooperative agreement between Fort Casey State Park and the WSU/Island County Beach Watchers, Waste Wise Volunteers and WSU/Lighthouse Docents program.
