Q1 2026 Newsletter

Dear Friend of the Nick Would Foundation,

Please enjoy this quarterly update from the Nick Would Foundation, which is spreading Nick’s love and helping people explore and preserve the outdoors and develop their artistic talent. Read on for the latest information from the foundation and remember… Nick Would.

Nick Would Foundation News!

2025 Grants Awarded

The Nick Would Foundation wrapped up 2025 by giving away $35,000 in grants, continuing our mission of helping people explore and preserve the outdoors and develop artistic talent. The amount eclipses 2024’s $29,000 in grants, with plans to grant even more in 2026. We’re proud to make donations to the following worthy organizations below. Click on their link next to each organization to learn more about them:

• Oregon Adaptive Sports: $1,000 

• Integrated Community’s Newcomer Ski Program: $3,000

• Stern Grove Festival: $1,000

• Friends of the Yampa: $2,000 

• 5 Point Film Festival/Nick Would Video Contest: $3,000 

• Steamboat Springs Free Summer Concert Series: $9,000 

• California’s Windansea Surf Club: $2,000 

• Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club: $5,000

• Public School Ski Sponsorship: $3,000

• Autism Ski Association: $3,000

• The Cycle Effect: $2,000

• Project Valkyrie: $1,000

Have an idea for a recipient? Please fill out an application at the link below, so we can review your organization.

Video Competition Huge Success!

Let’s Call it a Sequel

Following the success of the Nick Would Foundation’s inaugural video competition, last year’s second annual video comp was a huge success, with our esteemed judges looking for everything from overall "Nicky-ness" to storytelling. The winners of the 2025 Video Competition were: 

1. Alex Musco

2. Happ Renna

3. Reyn Gary

4. Ry Mann

5. Griffin Rillos

The 5 Point Film Festival has signed on again to help with this year’s third competition, so roll those cameras. Entries (under age 25) are being accepted until Oct. 1, 2026, with winners announced at the end of the year.

Send your video entries to nickwould11@gmail.com.

Visit nickwould.com for more information.

3rd Annual Nick Would Surf Contest Set

Surf’s up! The Nick Would Foundation hosted its second annual amateur surf competition on La Jolla Shores Beach in beautiful La Jolla, CA, on Saturday, September 13th, to great waves and even better participation. Huge thanks to the Windansea Surf Club for helping to sponsoring this fun, low-key surf event (deemed an “expression session”). It was a blast for participants and spectators alike, with judges looking for enthusiasm, fun, and overall “steeze.” Entrants performed everything from headstands to 360s and switch-foots to board swapping, all in the name of a good time, helping others, and celebrating Nick’s spirit. 

Women’s winner Bella Mattera even donned ski poles and snow pants to reach the podium while men’s winner Liam Casey threw some huge airs and stylish turns on a fish, very similar to Nick’s favorite board at Cal Poly. As well as great surfing, attendees also enjoyed food, libations, raffle prizes, and schwag, including surf comp T-shirts with cool new artwork from Dom. Then after the comp, everyone met for a ragin’ live band and afterparty at Beaumont’s, dancing till the cows came home. The comp even got the attention of the media, with surf website The Inertia covering it (read story here).

RSVP to The 3rd Annual Surf Jam on September 12th August 29th, 2026!

Books for Nick!

“The Pacific Coast Search”

Hats off to Ryan “Rydoh” Doherty, Nick’s friend who wrote a book in Nick’s honor, with all proceeds benefitting the foundation.

“I wrote it in the blur of grief, loss, and love, wanting to honor Nick in the most honest way I knew: through big-wall climbing, arduous bike-touring, and through stories and action,” he says.

The result: a 160-page adventure memoir highlighting a two-year journey fishing in Alaska, biking from Canada to Mexico, and climbing Yosemite’s El Capitan and Patagonia’s famed Fitz Roy to better understand loss and, purpose, and a deeper understanding of ourselves.

“The book holds honest reflections, painful truths, and precious moments of serendipitous connection,” says Rydoh. “It's for anyone who's searching for direction and how to take action in this short life we get to live. Nick embodied this the most—that adventure coupled with sincerity and love is all we need to feel complete.”

It’s worth the read.

For more information on where to purchase the book, visit here.

“Yampa Yearnings”

In other book news, Nick Would Foundation board member, Eugene Buchanan, has released his new book “Yampa Yearnings,” an ode to both his and Nick’s hometown waterway, the last remaining free-flowing tributary to the Colorado River Basin.

With a dedication to Nick and others who left the river of life too soon, the book, as one reviewer Richard Bangs puts it, is “a love letter to one of the last truly wild rivers in the American West….reading it feels like slipping into the current of the Yampa itself: swift, lyrical, surprising. Buchanan knows that this river is more than a waterway; it’s a passage, a portal, a teacher.”

To purchase the book, visit this link here.

Upcoming Events

Steamboat Free Summer Concert Series

Mark your calendars for the weekend of June 19-20. This year’s Steamboat Free Summer Concert Series will is once again set to take place at Howelsen Hill on June 19 at 6 pm, featuring the awesome one and only band Lettuce as our headliner this year.

Come by the VIP tent to support the fund, place your final silent auction bids, share stories, remember Nick, and dance the night away. In town for the weekend?

On Saturday, June 20th from 3 pm – 8 pm, swing by the Simons’ ranch for more live music from the Runaway Grooms, food, and celebrating everything Nick brought to our world.

Silent Auction Take II

Last year’s inaugural Silent Auction Fundraiser was such a success that we’re hosting it again in 2026!

Have something you want to donate? Get ahead of the game by emailing nickwould11@gmail.com.

The silent auction is set to run from June 8-20, supporting Nick’s spirit and legacy and our mission to spread his stoke.

Off the Beaten Path Promotion

Steamboat’s own Off the Beaten Path bookstore is hosting a promotion for the month of September, Nick’s birthday month, where all proceeds from a special drink (called the Nick Would!) benefit the Nick Would Foundation. So, make sure to pop in to the store, get a Nick Would sip, and support the foundation. Huge thank you to Mike and Danielle Skov for supporting the Nick Would mission!

NWF Sponsors IFSA Steamboat Big Mtn Comp

The Nick Would Foundation again sponsored the IFSA Steamboat Big Mountain Freeride competition hosted by the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club January 16-17, 2026. 

“The competition was awesome,” says board member Jack Craig, who was on site to announce and spread the foundation’s mission. “It’s great to see how much the program has grown since Nick participated in it in high school.”

The event featured three days of competition and over 200 competitors.

Merchandise Madness…

Hats, Shirts, Buffs and More!

Want to help spread the Nick Would word (and look stylie doing so)? Hats, shirts, buffs, hoodies, and more headline our Nick Would merchandise line. Choose from ballcaps, T-shirts, buffs, holiday ornaments, and more—all from sustainable lifestyle clothing brand West Lyfe here in Steamboat. Profits go directly to the Nick Would Foundation. Purchase your Nick Would merchandise here.

Heard on the Lift in Steamboat

“Yo, you got any Nick Would stickers? I got a new truck and need to style it out.”

Sticker Slappin’

Jade Morgan sent in this photo of a Nick Would sticker he found in northern Northern California’s Point Arena. Sticker-slappin’ plug: Slap your Nick Would Foundation stickers anywhere you think Nick would want them and upload a photo to the foundation’s Instagram page, describing the where and why of your slap. Happy slappin’!

Our Mission:

To leverage the experience of outdoor pursuits, wildland exploration, and development of artistic talent to extend and expand the light and love Nick brought to our world.

Our Goal: To raise over $1M, give away $100K annually, and positively impact at least 1,000 people every year.