At Audubon Society, Clearer Mission Means More Donations
August 6, 2013 | Read Time: 1 minute
Since joining the National Audubon Society three years ago as president and chief executive, David Yarnold has helped revitalize the nonprofit’s fundraising revenue by realigning its mission with land conservation, reports Crain’s New York Business.
To prioritize conservation, Mr. Yarnold no longer wants to add lots more education centers and focused instead on a plan to save 64 bird species and 118 million acres. [Editor’s note: See clarification below about changes made to the previous sentence to correct inaccuracies.] To achieve this goal, he reorganized Audubon’s 22 state offices and 570 chapters, dividing the country into four major “flyways” based on the migratory paths of birds, which has increased communication and collaboration among offices and chapters.
Last year, the Audubon Society scored the biggest year-to-year increase in money raised online by a nonprofit, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. The amount jumped 181 percent to $516,008, due in part to a fundraising campaign around the anniversary of the BP oil spill as well as other fundraising efforts.
| Update 8/9/2013: This post should have made clearer that the organization has ended its goal of adding many education centers, not that it would never add more education centers at all. The Crain’s article also misstated what The Chronicle of Philanthropy originally reported about Audubon’s 181-percent increase in online giving. In our coverage, we noted that the gain was spurred by many activities, not just those calling attention to the anniversary of the BP oil spill. Readers who want to dig deeper may want to see our coverage of Audubon’s new strategy from our archive. |
