Your Gift Makes a Difference!
Contribute to the MMA's 2025 Year End Appeal
The MMA Asks For Your Support, Where Discovery, Wonder, and Education Flourish Under Nantucket's Wide and Star-Filled Skies.
Our year-end campaign is vital to sustaining our operations and inspiring the thousands of learners who walk through our doors each year. While we are fortunate to generate income through memberships, admissions, and programming, this year we’ve seen a decline in grant funding in an increasingly competitive environment. We rely on individual generosity—on you—to keep Maria’s mission shining bright.
From the beloved Barn Owl Party and Stargazer Gala to our joyful Deck the Wharf Bash, your participation and enthusiasm fuel everything we do. These gatherings not only celebrate our community—they sustain it.
A large portion of your support directly underwrites our internship program, a transformative 12-week, experience-based learning residency that brings new energy and curiosity to the island each summer. This year, 32 remarkable interns were selected from 847 applicants, and the Class of 2025 exceeded every expectation. Their work touches every part of our mission—from our Aquarium and Observatories to our Natural Science Museum, Discovery Camps, and after-school programs.
Our guiding theme this year has been observation, and we find inspiration in Maria Mitchell herself. More than 150 years ago, she looked through her telescope on a quiet Nantucket night and discovered a comet—becoming America’s first female astronomer and a lasting symbol of courage and curiosity.
Today, through your support, thousands of learners of all ages see the world through her same lens—one filled with wonder, exploration, and endless possibility. Our educators, researchers, and interns carry forward her legacy every day, inviting children to peer through telescopes, wade into tide pools, and uncover the secrets of Nantucket’s land, sea, and sky.
Your generosity makes this possible.
Join us in keeping curiosity alive on this magical island.
Together, we will ensure that Maria’s spirit—and her stars—continue to guide generations to come.
All donations will support the MMA’s mission to create opportunities for all to develop a life-long passion for science
through education, research, and first-hand exploration of the sky, land, and sea of Nantucket Island.
Dear Friends -
It is my privilege to ask you to support our Year End Appeal. Every day, I find so much joy and inspiration in our work, in the experiences I have with each of you, our members and friends, and in the nature of Nantucket. I work alongside a team of dedicated scientists, teachers, creatives, and leaders who find unity in our mission of discovery and conservation. Your generosity is critical to our ability to deliver programming, provide educational experiences, and to preserve our historic collections and buildings.
Your gift to the 2025 Appeal makes all the difference and we are grateful.
Thank you,
Joanna Roche
MMA Executive Director