The Donor Party presented by Flylow was established in 2017 as the philanthropic arm of the Alpenglow Sports Winter Speaker Series. 

Each season, over 120 local families make per-show pledges between $500 to $50,000. This is done anonymously and without fanfare for the holistic benefit of the North Lake Tahoe and Truckee communities. Please reach out to us at brendan@alpenglowsports.com if you are interested in joining the Donor Party.

Check out these featured articles in Outdoor Retailer and SFGate. We're also quoted in the NY Times!

Alpenglow Sports has been a small, independent shop in Tahoe City for almost fifty years. We've stayed that way in an era when it's gotten harder, not easier, and the only reason that's been possible is people choosing to walk through our door instead of clicking a button. That choice isn't lost on us.

Somewhere along the way we realized that what we've built here isn't really a store — or just a Winter Speaker Series. It's a group of people who care about this place. And a group of people who care about this place can do a startling amount of good if you point them in the same direction.

So we point them. Four of our staff run the Winter Speaker Series every year — booking the speakers, running the shows, handling the marketing and the logistics. It's about $75,000 a year of work the shop absorbs and bills to nobody, and Alpenglow has never taken an operating fee out of a single gift. That's the whole arrangement, and it's the only thing we'd ask you to notice about us: the shop does the work, and the money goes towards making our community a better place. 

That work is the Donor Party: our customers and our community, giving together collectively, to organizations doing amazing work right here in Truckee and North Lake Tahoe. 

Twenty-one seasons in, the Winter Speaker Series and the Donor Party have put more than $3,000,000 back into the local nonprofit community.

Last season alone we raised $953,385, and every dollar of it went back out the door — to Truckee Roundhouse, Truckee Dirt Union, the Lake Tahoe Waterman Association, Tahoe XC Ski Education Association, Headwaters Science Institute, and Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue. The five shows themselves brought in $718,385, roughly $143,000 a night.

128 Donor Party members committed $597,733 of that total, up from 34 members five seasons ago. 92% of members renew each year. The median gift was $2,272.

Our members give anywhere from $100 to $50,000, and every amount in between. The individual number has never been the point. The point is what happens when a few hundred concerned citizens put their money in the same place at the same time — and then watch their own community get measurably better because of it.

Your commitment is a one-time, 100% tax-deductible contribution to the Donor Party Charitable Fund, held at the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation. Every dollar goes back out the door, minus a 1.75% transaction fee. 

Nonprofit beneficiaries are chosen by a committee of Donor Party and community members. Only small to medium-sized local organizations are considered, and each receives a two-year window of budgetary support — so your gift keeps working after the season ends.

Giving is anonymous. Donor information is shared only with Donor Party organizers and is never made public. While we can be flexible, all contributions should be made by the final show of the season, which generally falls in late February or early March.

For 2026–27 our goal is 150 members and $1,000,000 in Donor Party commitments. Getting there depends less on finding new people than on the people already here stepping up a rung — though we'd happily take both. Please feel free to share this effort!

The Winter Speaker Series is an eagerly anticipated winter tradition for the North Lake Tahoe community. With over 3,000 attendees annually, as well as a dynamic and global live stream component, the 20-year-old Alpenglow Winter Speaker Series has become the premier North American forum for adventure storytelling. 

Five times per winter, a premier outdoor athlete presents an inspirational tale of adventure, creating an unrivaled forum for motivation, inspiration and community awareness. The series runs from December through March at the Olympic Village Events Center at Palisades Tahoe. Every show is FREE to the public and all ages are encouraged to attend.

Each show is dedicated to a different nonprofit that has been selected through a rigorous application process, and to date, the Winter Speaker Series has raised over 3,000,000 for local organizations. Giveaway and bar proceeds, in conjunction with anonymous donations from the Donor Party, raise up to $150,000+ per show for a local nonprofit organization.