about us
With a primary focus on those who would never otherwise have access to such opportunities and trauma-impacted youth, our donated lands/facilities in premiere Wyoming locations (including near Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks) have been the home base to over 1200 participants, 350 incredible mentor leaders, and hundreds of volunteers.
Research on the benefits of social inclusion, adult and near-peer mentoring, a new peer group, network growth, nature access and engagement, outdoor adventure, extraordinary experiences, and positive relationship-building align with our 4 decades of direct experience – through Go Beyond we can find a new story of life built of fortitude, resilience, connectedness and growth.
Our HOmaha program is the in-depth core program based in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. 366 hours of programming in year 1 include engaging experiences in partnership with Fontenelle Forest, Henry Doorly Zoo, MW Climbing Gym, UNO Delta Sigma Pi, Beyond School Bells, and others to build toward and from a world-class mountain expedition together.
Professional-level staff and volunteers lead individual, small group, and near-peer mentoring, and build a new peer group and trust as we include families in many activities.
We recruit new participants from an open application and partner referrals, including: Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands, Partnership4Kids, Completely Kids, Boys Town, OneWorld, Boys & Girls Clubs, CUES, and Beyond School Bells. There is no means or merit test. Participants complete a brief application and then, with their caregiver or nominating adult, meet with Go Beyond staff in-person.
The highlight experience of Go Beyond is our 8-14 day Wyoming expedition. Extraordinary experiences are unparalleled in providing an opportunity, and our expertise means we go to world-class destinations led by world-class guides. Our leadership teams prioritize youth-service experience, authenticity, and compassion, creating the most supportive, authentic, and positive space possible and our trips are accessible for any experience level.
For youth who have a strong engagement with the program, Natural Leaders, then, takes the Go Beyond impact to the next level. We provide ongoing small group and near-peer mentoring for youth ages 15-21. We provide volunteer-led, in-house First Aid/CPR training, a 4-part emotional intelligence and self-awareness training course, a youth-led escape room day, event planning and then the chance to join an expedition leadership team as paid staff. And then 2 Natural Leaders are selected for an amazing first job as a pivotal part of each expedition leadership team!
In partnership with the Henry Doorly Zoo, Beyond School Bells, Rowe Sanctuary, the Niobrara Preserve, and others, we also then provide our Natural Leaders unique regional experiential learning opportunities including summer-long, two-week, weekend and day excursions around the country.
Now in 2024 we have launched Go Beyond Abroad – expanding our programs into after-school spaces and in partnership with nonprofit agencies across the region. Look for more information soon and please reach out to our staff anytime with questions!
Ian Kimmer, Executive Director, ian@gobeyondne.org, 218-750-0784
Go Beyond Staff 2024 Gallery
PROGRAM MANAGER MITCH FINDLEY
Our leader! Mitch first went to a Go Beyond camp as a partner (Heart Ministry Center) expedition counselor over 5 years ago. In 2022 he returned as a Go Beyond counselor and then led the Rowe Sanctuary trip for our Natural Leaders. And in 2023, thanks to the generosity of our community, he joined Go Beyond as our full-time Program Manager to lead our 366-hour year-round core program, to build on the potential of our Natural Leaders multi-year growth program, and to lead the volunteer mentoring team. He has been thriving in the nonprofit world ever since, and continues to help expand the Go Beyond program to make it year round, helping to increase the depth of impact and hours spent working with our youth.
A master rock-climber and adventurer with experience around the world, his passion is introducing young people to the outdoors, especially those who would not otherwise have a chance.
He brings incredible experience from 2 international service-work positions (South America and Africa), 5 years as a teacher in urban Omaha schools, and enormous amounts of volunteer work in our local community including soccer coaching, mentoring, and more.
He achieved his Masters in Education degree, with focus on Adverse Childhood Experiences, at the University of Portland, after getting his undergrad in education at Rockhurst University.
In his free time he enjoys climbing, snowboarding, backpacking, pickleball, and reading. His goal is to visit every National Park and with 23 already completed!
An incredibly empathetic and understanding leader, Mitch immediately builds relationships with every camper effortlessly. His easy-going nature is a balance to his professional passion and experience for helping lift young lives to a new understanding of self and others, and his heart is forever dedicated to the service of others.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR IAN KIMMER
Wherever you go, there you are.
Typically I'd leave it there as I don't like talking about me most of the time. And this picture is one of maybe two selfies I'll take in a year. But I know you are reading because you want to know who the people leading you, your child, or this nonprofit organization are. So I'll go first and do the same thing we ask out of everyone in Go Beyond and push through my comfort zone.
To a fault, I am a next-right-step human. Addicts in recovery, like me, will see where that comes from. My dream is to live the most completely honest moment I can. I fail most of the time it seems. Onward again.
In a humbling life's hardest moments one of the only things I had left was a story I had of myself climbing a dusty, dirty, painful and infinitely rewarding mountain in Wyoming once upon a time. Pushing through pain and feeling lost, alone, and scared - pushing on to the top of a peak where the views were infinite and extraordinary and made it blindingly clear I was a small person in a huge world yet to explore - that became the story of my rebuilding. An invaluable archetype to trust and follow again built inside me forever.
That, in part, is what Go Beyond is all about. Our own hero stories, meant maybe only for ourselves, that can be a totally new way of seeing ourselves, others, and our place in this world.
My moral compass is that either you make the world better for you existing, or you don't. I've done enough damage, so now I purposefully let people merge into traffic ahead of me.
I suppose I have relevant professional experience to share as well. I've spent a lifetime chasing deeper woods including time guiding in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, paddling Lake Superior, and digging dinosaurs in Thunder Basin. I was blessed to work with the Multiple Sclerosis community in a health nonprofit across the central plains - an incredible and largely silent group of people you should meet. I've done conservation nonprofit work for an international wilderness area including pretty incredible things like wolf tracking, political work in the US Senate, and in for-profit market research. I've played music at times and traveled thanks to people wanting to listen to it. I've taken outdoor and wildlife pictures that quite a few people looked at thanks to some pretty cool opportunities back in the day. And I spent 5 years living almost off grid in the far north woods of Minnesota logging, hunting, fishing, and gardening to raise a young family.
Reach out anytime to me on anything, please! We are grateful you are here.
Thank you for all you do!
Ian Kimmer
218-750-0784
ian@gobeyondne.org
Bio coming soon!