Massachusetts Audubon Society

The Investment Committee oversees endowment allocation. Erik L. Knutzen, Multi-Asset CIO at Neuberger Berman, serves on the committee, bringing institutional asset-allocation expertise. Day-to-day strategy execution sits with President and CEO David J. O'Neill, while Beth Kressley Goldstein chairs the board.

The 30x30 Catalyst Fund blends traditional grantmaking with direct venture investments in early-stage companies focused on nature-based climate solutions. The organization leverages its extensive land holdings and federal partnerships — including a USDA grant program — to source deal flow that intersects conservation science with scalable for-profit models.

It functions as both. Mass Audubon directly owns and operates 100+ wildlife sanctuaries, runs nature-based preschools and summer camps, and maintains an in-house advocacy arm. Simultaneously, it manages a grantmaking and venture-investing fund. This operating-company structure is unusual among land trusts, most of which only hold conservation easements.

The 30x30 Catalyst Fund is Mass Audubon's dedicated venture and grantmaking vehicle, launched after a $25 million transformational gift from MathWorks in 2021. It targets investments and partnerships that accelerate the global goal of protecting 30 percent of land and water by 2030. The fund represents the organization's formal entry into climate-tech venture capital alongside its core real-asset conservation strategy.

The organization maintains a conventional endowment portfolio to fund its operations, overseen by the Investment Committee, while carving out a specific allocation — the 30x30 Catalyst Fund — for mission-related venture investments. The exact split between traditional asset classes and impact-focused capital is not publicly disclosed.

Mass Audubon holds more than 40,000 acres of land across Massachusetts, including signature sanctuaries like Wellfleet Bay, Drumlin Farm, and Pleasant Valley. These are carried as conservation land on the balance sheet and are not typically liquidated. Realized revenue comes from program fees, not land sales, making the portfolio an appreciating but illiquid perpetuity asset.

Mass Audubon is an independent 501(c)(3) organization and the largest Audubon chapter by membership and land holdings. It operates autonomously, with its own endowment, board, and conservation strategy, dating back to its founding in 1896 — nine years before the National Audubon Society. The two entities collaborate on policy but maintain separate balance sheets and governance structures.