Encounter the wild
Experience the scale and detail of animals from across several continents in a setting designed for discovery.
A once-in-a-generation opportunity at Swan Lake
Help build the home this collection deserves.
Bob VanHorn is offering a collection decades in the making. Together, supporters can help turn it into a public museum where families, students, and visitors encounter the natural world in an unforgettable way.
Photorealistic vision image, not the finished museum
The opportunity
A private life's work can become a public legacy.
“This collection deserves a home where everyone can experience it.”Bob VanHorn, Glidden, Iowa
For decades, Bob VanHorn of Glidden, Iowa, assembled a far-reaching collection representing wildlife from several continents. His proposed gift creates a rare starting point: the collection exists. Now it needs a public home built to protect it, interpret it, and share it.
This campaign is about more than a building. It is about giving the collection context, creating reasons for school groups and families to return, and adding a distinctive destination to the Swan Lake experience.
- 01Preserve the collectionA purpose-built environment is planned to help protect and care for the collection over time.
- 02Make it meaningfulInterpretive exhibits can connect each animal to habitat, geography, conservation, and the story behind the collection.
- 03Open it to the publicThe goal is a museum experience at Swan Lake for local families, student groups, and visitors to the region.
Concept rendering · design not final
A vision for the future home
A landmark shaped by its setting.
This conceptual exterior offers one possible direction: a welcoming museum rooted in the materials, landscape, and character of Swan Lake. Architecture, site planning, and construction details remain to be professionally developed and approved.
Imagine the first visit
A sense of scale no screen can hold.
The proposed museum would bring visitors face-to-face with remarkable animals, then use story, place, and interpretation to deepen the experience.
Immersive scenes could connect animals, environments, and conservation stories in one memorable visitor path.
A central elephant display could create an immediate gathering point for families and school groups.
These images communicate an experience and design direction only. They do not depict finalized architecture, exhibit plans, or the exact arrangement of Bob VanHorn's collection.
Learn through story
Connect wildlife to habitats, geography, conservation questions, and the lifetime behind the collection.
Share it together
Create a new place for family outings, school visits, community programs, and guests discovering Carroll County.
Bob VanHorn discusses the collection and museum vision · Carroll Conservation Board
Meet the story
The collection is real. The museum is the opportunity.
Supporters are not being asked to imagine a collection that might someday exist. They are being invited to help create the public setting around a body of work already assembled over a lifetime.
Watch Bob explain the collection in his own words, then explore what the $6 million campaign target is intended to make possible.
“The community's opportunity is to build a museum worthy of the gift.”
Swan Lake museum campaign vision
Why Swan Lake
A natural setting for a museum about the natural world.
The proposed location connects the collection to an existing outdoor destination and keeps its story rooted in the community where it began.
Rooted in Carroll County
Bob VanHorn's story begins in Glidden. A home at Swan Lake would keep the collection close to its Iowa roots while making it available to a wider public.
Part of a fuller day
A museum can complement the park, lake, trails, and outdoor recreation, giving families and visitors another reason to spend time at Swan Lake.
Built for learning
The vision creates room for interpretation and group visits so the collection can prompt curiosity about wildlife, habitat, and stewardship.
The working campaign plan
What $6 million is intended to build.
The current planning model covers the structure, the museum-quality systems inside it, the visitor experience, and the professional work required to move from concept to a buildable plan.
$6MCampaign target confirmed by project owner
$2.6MBuilding and museum-quality systems
$1.8MExhibits, interpretation, and visitor path
$500KSite work, parking, and utilities
$600KDesign, engineering, and permits
$500KPlanning contingency
These figures are a campaign planning model, not contractor bids. Final scope, design, costs, fundraising phases, and construction timing require professional validation and formal approval. The estimated value of the collection is separate from cash raised for the project.
A campaign for many kinds of supporters
Find the part of the vision that speaks to you.
While online giving is being prepared, the next step is simple: tell the campaign what interests you and receive updates as plans, events, and giving opportunities take shape.
Help lay the path.
Explore community gift levels, including a proposed $1,000 personalized brick or paver in a future entrance plaza or donor walkway.
Explore community givingBring the story to life.
Stay close to exhibit, education, and visitor-experience ideas as the museum moves from vision toward a real plan.
Tell us what excites youBe part of the founding story.
See proposed leadership and naming opportunities, then request a personal conversation with the campaign.
Explore founding opportunitiesStay close to the campaign
Watch the vision become a plan.
Share your name and email to learn more and receive updates as the campaign reaches real milestones. No payment information is requested or collected here.
- Project and design milestones
- Campaign gatherings and collection stories
- Giving information when secure systems are ready
Keep me updated
Tell us what brings you to the campaign. This is an interest form, not a donation form.
Clarity builds confidence
What thoughtful supporters should know.
The vision is compelling, but people deserve a clear line between what exists today, what is proposed, and what still needs to be decided.
Is the museum design final?
No. The exterior, interior, and hero images are conceptual visualizations intended to convey the feeling of a future museum. They do not show finalized architecture, approved exhibits, or the exact arrangement of the collection.
Is $6 million a contractor bid?
No. It is the current campaign target supported by a planning-level cost model. Professional design, local pricing, bids, and approvals will determine the final scope and cost.
Is the collection's value money already raised?
No. The campaign currently presents the collection's estimated value at more than $2 million. That proposed in-kind gift is distinct from the cash and other accepted gifts needed to plan, build, and equip the museum.
Can I donate online now?
Not yet. Secure giving, banking, receipt, and payment systems are still being prepared. You can explore proposed community and founding opportunities now and send an interest form so the campaign can begin a conversation. No pledge or payment is created online.
Are naming opportunities final?
Not yet. Potential recognition can be discussed, but specific names, spaces, availability, duration, and gift terms are proposed until approved and documented by the authorized campaign organization.
When will the museum open?
An opening date has not been announced. The schedule depends on campaign progress, agreements, design, approvals, bidding, and construction. Future updates should be tied to those verified milestones.