The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Makes $500,000 Grant to the KidsQuest Children’s Museum Capital Campaign

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- KidsQuest Children’s Museum has received a capital campaign grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the amount of a $500,000 challenge grant.

“This grant is great news for families and children throughout the region,” said Putter Bert, KidsQuest executive director. “The Gates Foundation is one of the world’s leading grant funders and it is recognized for funding programs that truly have impact in the community.”

“The fact that they not only chose to support KidsQuest, but chose to do so with a grant of this size, sends a message to the community and to other potential funders,” Bert said. “The message is that families and children need a unique environment in which they can learn and have fun together, and that KidsQuest Children’s Museum is the organization to fill that need.”  

KidsQuest is an innovative, new nonprofit children’s museum that will offer hands-on, interactive exhibits and programs designed to help children and their families explore science, art, technology, culture, and life experiences. The Museum is conducting a capital campaign to fund the 2005 opening of a world-class children’s museum in Factoria Mall.

The demand for KidsQuest Children’s Museum programming has been so high that in response the organization has held weekly activities outside its space in Factoria Mall. These free hands-on activities, sponsored by Qwest, have ranged from making hand puppets and building bridges (with a visit from local engineering firm CH2MHill) to making ice cream in coffee cans. More than 1,000 children and their families have participated in this summer program.

The museum’s exhibits will be geared to children from birth to twelve, with programs offered for toddlers through the middle-school years. Teens, seniors, and other adults will be involved as part of KidsQuest’s volunteer docent program.
“So many people have worked very hard to make KidsQuest Children’s Museum a reality for the community,” said KidsQuest Board Co-chair Sarah Langton. “It’s really gratifying to have hundreds of families attending pre-opening activities as well as internationally recognized funders acknowledging that this is the right time for a children’s museum on the Eastside.”

Individuals or organizations interested in learning more about the KidsQuest Children’s Museum can contact Executive Director Putter Bert at (425) 637-8100 or [email protected].

The KidsQuest Children’s Museum will be an extraordinary new museum for children and families offering exciting hands-on interactive exhibits and activities that integrate art, science, technology and life experiences. The Museum’s goal is to help inspire an attitude of life-long learning and exploration in children.

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KidsQuest is projected to open in Factoria Mall in 2005. The Museum, a private nonprofit, 501(c) 3 institution, will be housed in just under 10,000 square feet of space and will include three permanent exhibit galleries, two learning labs, a museum store, and administrative offices.  The potential audience is vast, consisting of children with their caregivers, grandparents, school groups, educators, daycare centers, and after school groups.  The Museum will reflect and support the diverse needs of the entire community.