10 ways your donation builds a stronger pilot community

1. Get and keep more pilots flying: You Can Fly includes initiatives to make flying more accessible and affordable. The program works to “support flying clubs, encourage best practices in flight training, get lapsed pilots back in the air, bring AOPA's resources and expertise to pilot groups across the country, and help high school students learn more about careers in aviation.” There are multiple ways your donation will help get new pilots and keep current pilots flying.
2. Get the aviation STEM curriculum into more high schools: You Can Fly offers ninth and tenth grade aviation science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum to encourage more students to pursue aviation careers. The curriculum has inspired more than 3,500 high school students so far. Your donation can help complete the eleventh and twelfth grade content and get that curriculum into even more schools across the country.
3. Teach the teachers: You Can Fly trains teachers who will be using its high school aviation STEM curriculum. Your donation will help teachers get this training so that they can get more students excited about aviation.
4. Increase diversity in aviation: Currently, only 6 percent of pilots are female and 12 percent are minorities, but that could be changing in future years. The You Can Fly high school aviation STEM curriculum is exposing more women and minorities to aviation. Of the 2,000 students currently enrolled in the program, 25 percent are female, and 51 percent are minorities.
5. Create more lifelong friends of general aviation: From high school students to pilots, those who are helped by You Can Fly initiatives (high schools, flight training, flying clubs, and rusty pilots) enjoy a positive experience with GA and will be more likely to support GA for years to come.
6. Make flight training better: Flight schools and instructors who participate in the You Can Fly Flight Training Experience Survey can learn about areas where they are excelling and where they have room for improvement. Plus, they can learn from schools and instructors that You Can Fly honors for providing outstanding service to their students. This helps raise the bar for flight training professionals nationwide so that more students earn their pilot certificates.
7. Support new and existing flying clubs: Flying clubs are a great way to help make flying more affordable and enjoyable. Your donation can help You Can Fly start more flying clubs across the country and provide advice and resources to existing clubs on how to expand. You Can Fly has helped start more than 100 flying clubs.
8. Make it easier for lapsed pilots to fly again: The You Can Fly Rusty Pilots initiative provides a ground school that gets pilots off to a good start for completing their flight review and returning to the left seat as pilot in command. Donations have made it easier for more than 7,000 formerly rusty pilots to complete their flight reviews.
9. Build a larger, more active pilot community: Your support of these programs will help AOPA build a larger, more engaged pilot community, which will give us a larger constituency and make us more effective in our advocacy efforts at the state and federal level.
10. Spread the joy of flight: Know that your contribution is making it possible for others to experience the rewards (and pure joy) of flying!

To help make a difference, donate to the You Can Fly Challenge by Aug. 31 so that your donation can be matched—and your impact can be doubled! The AOPA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.