"What is the timeline for the Fresno Aquarium?"

This is by far the number one question we hear. (And please understand no one wants it faster than we do!)

We live in an age of immediacy. We order something on Amazon and expect it tomorrow - sometimes even today! We watch massive buildings seemingly appear overnight built by giant national companies like Target, Walmart and Costco.

Normally, when we support something worthwhile with our hard-earned dollars, we naturally want to see results sooner than later.

But some things are different.

Our Fresno-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization is building the Fresno Aquarium, thanks to supporters like you. The progress depends entirely on the community's support. The more people who step forward to help build it, the more quickly we can turn the vision into reality.

Aquariums Are Expensive to Build

A modern Aquarium is not an ordinary building. Behind every exhibit are complex systems for water treatment, filtration, temperature control, animal care, life support, backup power, and public safety. Those systems make Aquariums among the more complicated and expensive cultural and educational facilities to construct and operate.

We are building as funding allows, and are committed to doing so responsibly.

Rather than borrowing enormous sums of money simply to make construction happen faster, we have chosen to build the project in achievable stages.

That means the calendar does not dictate our progress.

Funding and responsible stewardship do.

So, What Is the Timeline?

Our answer is straightforward:

We're building in defined steps, and the next milestone is always more important than making a promise about a completion date we can’t guarantee.

The goal is not merely to announce an opening date. The goal is to build an institution capable of serving Central California for decades.

So we focus on what comes next:

• Put up the walls and roof for the Aquaculture Building.
• Then build each new component when it is properly funded. Not before.
• Then move to the next one.

That may not provide the instant gratification we have become accustomed to in other parts of our lives, but it provides something more important: progress we can sustain.

The Fresno Aquarium Is Already Happening

This is another important part of the answer.

People sometimes think of the Fresno Aquarium as something that will exist only in the future. When the building is done. But this ignores what’s going on now.

The educational mission is already underway. Young people are already being reached. Infrastructure has been developed. Partnerships have been formed and continue to be developed. And every step becomes part of the permanent foundation for what comes next.

The finished Aquarium campus remains our destination and the journey toward that destination is important too.

Building Something Bigger Than the Present

Perhaps the hardest idea in our increasingly immediate world is also one of the most important:

Not every worthwhile endeavor can—or should—be measured by how quickly we can achieve the final result.

Universities, museums, parks, libraries and other enduring institutions often exist because one generation was willing to begin something for the generations that followed.

People in the past planted trees throughout our city knowing that someone else would enjoy the shade in the future.

That doesn’t diminish what they accomplished.

It makes their accomplishments greater.

People supporting the Fresno Aquarium today are doing something similar. They aren’t just contributing to an Aquarium they can enjoy for themselves.

They're building it for our future.

“But Will I See It?”

Our intention is that our supporters see continuing, tangible progress—not someday, but along the way.

• They'll see a building rise.
• They'll see milestones completed.
• They'll see educational programs grow.

Exhibits will come online as they are funded and have reliable revenue streams to maintain them.

And, yes, we want supporters to walk through the doors of the Fresno Aquarium and experience what they helped create. As soon as possible.

But we won't manufacture an opening date simply because a date would be satisfying to announce.

We'd rather make promises we know we can keep:

• We'll keep building.
• We'll build responsibly.
• We'll use the resources entrusted to us carefully.
• We'll celebrate each milestone.
• And we'll keep moving toward the vision that started this effort in the first place.

Good things take time.

But time alone doesn’t build anything.

Persistence does.

And with every contribution received, the Fresno Aquarium moves another step closer to becoming the institution Central California deserves.

So become a Charter Member today or put your name, your family name and your business name on Concrete Blocks, which go straight into our dedicated Building Fund.