National Audubon Society

National Audubon Society

Incorporated in 1905, the National Audubon Society is among the oldest conservation organizations in the Americas. CEO Elizabeth Gray oversees an institution that originated from early 20th-century efforts to stop the plume trade and has since grown into a hemispheric operation. Its work channels donations, grants, and membership revenue into programs that span the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Audubon’s deployment mixes direct land management, citizen-science platforms, and policy advocacy. The organization owns and operates real-asset sanctuaries including the Paul J. Rainey Wildlife Sanctuary in Louisiana and the Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch in Arizona. It co-runs the Christmas Bird Count and eBird with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, generating datasets that inform habitat-priority models like the Migratory Bird Explorer. Policy efforts push for conservation laws and climate initiatives across the hemisphere. The organization employs over 800 professionals and coordinates with a network of community chapters and international partners such as BirdLife International. In September 2024, George Golumbeski became Chair of the Board. Audubon also manages a cash-balance pension plan, a donated art portfolio, and controls one of the few intact Havell Editions of The Birds of America—assets that complement its philanthropic funding base. Audubon is distinct among environmental nonprofits in coupling a major publishing operation—Audubon magazine has run quarterly for 125 years—with direct control over 8 named sanctuaries and an extensive grassroots chapter network. This structure fuses journalism, membership mobilization, and on-the-ground real asset ownership under one governance, supported by a board that appointed a pharmaceutical R&D executive as chair in 2024 (per the firm, September 2024).