Much of this article was taken, with permission, from an article by Dena Temple in the August/September issue of The Osprey, the newsletter of Monmouth County Audubon Society. I have made some changes; Dena is of course blameless for any errors that I may have made.

The relationship between the National Audubon Society (NAS) and its chapters has changed over the years to reflect the needs of everyone involved. However, certain recent changes are affecting the way we operate here at the local level. We want you to know about this, and we hope you will be moved to action.

A little history

The National Audubon Society began life in 1905 as a coalition of local bird clubs. Known as the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals, the groups unified to intensify their voices on national conservation issues. This included the New York State Audubon Plumage Law (1910), which banned the sale of plumes of all native birds, and the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

One of the benefits of a unified national Audubon group was the simplification of membership services. The national group maintained the membership records and handled the bulk of the recruiting. Membership in the National Audubon Society was actually two-for-one; when you joined NAS, your dues included membership in your local Chapter as well. All dues money went to one place, where it was divided between the two organizations. NAS provided a glossy, high-quality magazine, advocacy staff in Washington to campaign for important conservation issues, recruitment and renewal mailings, and membership record keeping for Chapters. Chapters, predominantly staffed and run by volunteers, provided a newsletter, local advocacy, and face-to-face contact with the public through programs and field trips.

As in any relationship there have been highs and lows. In the mid-80s, a band of Chapter leaders, unhappy with NAS's handling of Chapter affairs, tried to organize a proxy battle to get a slate of candidates elected. While they collected nowhere near enough ballots to mount a serious challenge, the Board of Directors took their action quite seriously. By 1995 they penned what is now known as the Strategic Plan, which outlines each organization's rights and obligations.

Recent developments

A little over three years ago, looking for ways to become more profitable, NAS began to explore options to "trim the fat." They considered sacred their glossy magazine - it is NAS's main attractant to new memberships and donors. (They did reduce its frequency from 6 issues per year to 4, however.) Also off-limits, apparently, was the mass-mailing budget. If they couldn't reduce their spending, what was left? The Chapter's share of your dues.

Three years ago NAS formed another task force, headed by our Eastern Regional Representative, Dave Pardoe. Pardoe and the rest of the committee recommended that NAS tie the amount of money that Chapters receive to their own profits - Chapters would get a share of whatever was left after costs of direct-mail campaigns and other expenses were deducted. However, so as not to pull the rug out from under the Chapters completely, a phase-down process would reduce the amount of dues paid to Chapters over a three-year period.

Washington Crossing Audubon Society (WCAS) had been receiving an annual dues share of $5.50 per member, which covered about half of our expenses. We use the funds we raise, plus those from the dues share, to cover the cost of our newsletter, our meeting site, field trips, speakers for our programs, community service, and administrative costs like our website and insurance. For example, each issue of the newsletter costs about 50¢/member, between printing and mailing, and we mail 6 issues per year to our members. For the 2001-2002 fiscal year the dues share per member dropped to about $4.12, for 2002-2003 to $2.75, and for 2003-2004 we expect it to be $1.37. After that it will fall to nearly zero.

The tip of the iceberg

But money is only part of the story of the complicated relationship between NAS and the Chapters. Consider this:

• NAS plans to open state offices and Audubon centers in every state by 2020, at a cost of several million dollars each. Where will this money come from? Some will come from the savings realized by cutting Chapters loose financially; the rest, presumably, will be collected through intensive fundraising. So if Chapters try to make up for the lost dues share by ramping up fund-raising, they'll be in direct competition with the ramped-up fund-raising efforts by NAS.

• NAS changed their logo and name to simply "Audubon." Branding Audubon in this fashion, they say, is to symbolize the "one Audubon" idea - with NAS as the one Audubon. This further diminishes the importance of Chapters.

• The Strategic Plan was re-written last year to reflect NAS's move away from grassroots participation toward top-down management, in spite of fierce opposition by most Chapters.

• Until they were called on it, NAS stopped mentioning its network of 500-plus Chapters in their publicity releases.

What can be speculated from this? While it is vigorously denied by NAS, a growing number of Chapter leaders believe that these actions, particularly the opening of state offices and regional centers, point to NAS's plan to disaffiliate itself from its Chapters completely. The Board of Directors of WCAS has discussed this at length. We all care very much about our organization and its future. NAS is the envy of other environmental organizations because of its network of grassroots volunteers, who recruit new members, write the letters, and educate the public on important conservation issues. This is an organization worth fighting to save. At our board meeting on October 1st, the Board decided to formally support a reform movement organized by a significant number of Chapters and Chapter leaders. This movement is called Take Back Audubon.

The reform platform

Take Back Audubon is the vision of Charles "Chuck" Bragg, former NAS Board member and membership chairman of the Santa Monica Bay (CA) Audubon Society. At this writing 44 chapters have signed on in support, including WCAS, as well as over 125 Chapter leaders and individuals. Take Back Audubon is running a slate of nine candidates for available NAS Board positions and will submit five resolutions for consideration at the 2003 NAS Annual Meeting in Cincinnati in December. The resolutions endorsed by the Take Back Audubon movement are simple. In a nutshell, the platform seeks to:

• Provide timely, basic information to members on annual meetings and convenient access to contact information for all Chapters.
• Offer members the ability to place initiatives on the ballot and poll Chapters on matters of Chapter concern.
• Establish election policies that encourage competition for available positions.
• Create written fundraising protocols between state offices, Chapters and Centers.
• Establish democratic reform of the NAS Board.
• Restore the dues share so Chapters can continue to serve their members.

NAS's response

In response to growing support for this movement, NAS circulated a letter to Chapter leaders in July. The letter stated their determination to "find positive and supportive ways to strengthen relationships." An Ad Hoc committee has been formed, and they have established a list of "priority issues" to address, including soliciting Chapter leadership for solutions. After three years of writing letters to comment on policies - policies which were changed in spite of our comments -many Chapter leaders see this as too little, too late - NAS's attempt to thwart divisiveness in the organization for fear of bad publicity and, ultimately, lower donations.

What you can do

First, I strongly encourage you to visit the Take Back Audubon website to read more about this movement, as space does not allow a full discussion. The Website provides important background information that you will want to have, so you can decide for yourself if this is worthy of your support. [Editor: We included a proxy ballot in the Dec/Jan issue of The Crossing and mailed it early to give the membership time to read this message and send in the proxy form.]

Conclusion

Our Chapter firmly believes that NAS and the Chapters are stronger because of each other. Rather than plot against one another, we should be brainstorming more ways to exploit this synergy for the betterment of everyone involved, including birds and the environment. This may sound idealistic, but we must hold onto our ideals, or there's no point in pursuing this. In addition, we must approach this as a POSITIVE step toward closer collaboration, not a war that we must win.

And that's the goal, to show a solidarity of purpose - to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.